Adjusting Your Lighting for a Green Life
August 30th, 2008
You already know to save energy by turning lights off when they are unnecessary, but did you know you could save energy every time you turn on a light? An LED light bulb can use 70 percent less energy than the traditional bulb would use – some estimates are even higher! They can be found with different wattage to add the right amount of brightness to your home.
Anywhere you need light is a good place to install LED lights. While they can be rather expensive, you can find some that are on the affordable side. Once you buy one, it starts paying for itself as soon as it is turned on. LED bulbs are famous for their longevity, with some varieties lasting over 50,000 hours. An LED light bulb would be an excellent choice for using with ceiling fixtures and in regular lamps.
If you find that regular bulbs make your bathroom too hot, try installing LED bulbs instead; they usually do not heat up so much. Desk lamps can also make your office uncomfortably warm; use an LED bulb here, and you can cut down the temperature while still giving your eyes the light they need. The cooler temperature also makes these bulbs a safer choice for lamps that are within the reach of toddlers or children.
You can find lovely LED bulbs that provide the same amount of light as their counterparts, but need 15 times less energy in the form of watts! Some bulbs are manufactured especially for outdoor use, and can save you a lot of money each evening.
If you think that switching to LED light bulbs is too small a step to make much difference, consider what the research shows: if every family in America used just one LED light instead of a regular bulb, the national energy savings would exceed the energy made at one of our biggest power plants. You can see the particular light bulb this refers to here: 5 watt led
Living green can be as simple as switching a light bulb! Why not try it for yourself?
Energy Efficient Hard Drives
August 30th, 2008
Western Digital has announced a new line of hard drives designed with energy efficiency in mind.
Even the tiniest reductions in energy consumption can make a big difference. Case in point, Western Digital announced that their line of external storage units, the Mybook, will now include the new GreenPower hard drives. While individually these units might not make much of a difference, as soon as this technology hits the enterprise market, which should be happening soon, the CO2 savings start adding up (large enterprises can use around 10,000 hard drives for their data-hungry storage needs).
According to WD, each of these drives will save about 13.8kg CO2 per year compared to similar products. For a large data center, say for instance, a bank, that saving could turn out to be around 248 tons of carbon a year. The first of these 3.5 inch hard drives, the 1TB WD Caviar GP, was available as of July 1st.
Green Basics – Thermostat
August 30th, 2008
Some of the best ways to save money and go green are surprisingly easy, and this is a great example. For anyone who works in a location away from home during the day, setting the thermostat to a higher temperature during those hours can save money in cooling costs. But, how much can you expect to save and what temperature differences make sense?
Taking the time to program your thermostat can net up to $180 per year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). With heating and cooling costing an average household about $900 per year, that’s sizeable cut!
Keep in mind though, that if the temperature in your home fluctuates too much, it will cause the air conditioning to run a long time to catch back up. The key is incremental adjustments. The EPA recommends “raising your home’s usual temperature setting by 7 degrees when you’re away and 4 degrees when you’re asleep”.
When you plan to be away from home for a while, turn the air conditioner off by using the hold feature on your thermostat.
And just like cars that require regular maintenance, heating and cooling systems can benefit from the same sort of attention. Checking for air leaks replacing air filters regularly are just a few examples.
Energy Star has produced a video podcast that gives a good overview of how to purchase a good programmable thermostat.
This sort of planning becomes especially important as fuel sources like propane and electricity continue to increase their prices. It’s possible to save money using a manual thermostat as well, but requires more active participation from the household.
Hybrid School Bus Developed
August 30th, 2008
The basic yellow school bus hasn’t changed much in 30 years: a shoe-box-on-wheels built to transport kids safely at low cost.
Now Ewan Pritchard wants to turn that soot-spewing school bus into a clean, green plug-in-hybrid machine. High mileage. No more exhaust cloud at each stop.
When Mr. Pritchard, a mechanical engineer, unveiled his plan to a major bus manufacturer in 2002, snickering officials nearly laughed him out of the room. That was before hurricane Katrina hit, and diesel prices skyrocketed.
“When we first talked about this, manufacturers acted as if we were asking them to build flying cars or something,” says Pritchard, hybrid program manager for Advanced Energy, a small nonprofit energy-consulting company in Raleigh, N.C.
That laughter has subsided. Now, the nation’s biggest school-bus maker has orders for 19 buses from districts in 11 states – including Washington, California, Texas, Iowa, Arkansas, and North Carolina.
In Bradenton, Fla., Manatee School District officials last month became proud owners of the nation’s first two plug-in hybrid school buses. Students are catching the spirit of their new ride, too. Emily Mulrine, a district student, helped name her middle school’s new plug-in hybrid bus “Limpio,” the Spanish word for clean.
Such plug-in hybrid buses use both a diesel engine and an electric motor – plugging into a power socket at night to charge batteries. Environmentalists and energy-security hawks love the idea.
“Buses are a great way to use off-the-shelf technology that can reduce pollution and energy use,” says Roland Hwang, senior policy analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “This move creates greater pressure on the automakers to produce similar technology.”
Indeed, while big automakers tout plans to build plug-in hybrid cars a few years from now, Navistar International Corp.’s school bus division, IC Corp., is already rolling out plug-in hybrid buses. This week, another one will be delivered in Pennsylvania.
Google.org invests in geothermal energy
August 25th, 2008
In the continuing effort to develop electricity from renewable energy cheaper than from coal, Google, through its philanthropic arm Google.org, announced $10.25 million in investments in a breakthrough energy technology called Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS). Today’s announcement also includes funding for research on next-generation geothermal resource mapping, EGS information tools, and a policy agenda for geothermal energy.
EGS expands the potential of geothermal energy by orders of magnitude. The traditional geothermal approach relies on finding naturally occurring pockets of steam and hot water. The EGS process, by comparison, replicates these conditions by fracturing hot rock, circulating water through the system, and using the resulting steam to produce electricity in a conventional turbine.
A recent MIT report on EGS estimates that just 2% of the heat below the continental United States between 3 and 10 kilometers, depths within the range of current drilling technology, is more than 2,500 times the country’s total annual energy use.
“EGS could be the ‘killer app’ of the energy world. It has the potential to deliver vast quantities of power 24/7 and be captured nearly anywhere on the planet. And it would be a perfect complement to intermittent sources like solar and wind,” said Dan Reicher, Director of Climate and Energy Initiatives for Google.org.
Google’s Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal initiative focuses on solar thermal power, advanced wind, EGS and other potential breakthrough technologies. Google has set a goal to produce one gigawatt of renewable energy capacity, enough to power a city the size of San Francisco, in years, not decades.
To advance EGS, Google.org announced funding for two companies and a university:
- AltaRock Energy, Inc.: $6.25 million investment to develop innovative technologies to achieve significant cost reductions and improved performance in EGS projects. For more information, please visit http://www.altarockenergy.com/.
- Potter Drilling, Inc.: $4 million investment in two tranches, to develop new approaches to lower the cost and expand the range of deep hard rock drilling, a critical element to large-scale deployment of EGS. For more information, please visit http://www.potterdrilling.com/.
- Southern Methodist University Geothermal Lab: $489,521 grant to improve understanding of the size and distribution of geothermal energy resources and to update geothermal mapping of North America. For more information, please visit http://www.smu.edu/geothermal/.
“Innovation is the path to massive quantities of cleaner, cheaper energy. The people we’re funding today have a real shot at lowering the cost of EGS, and bringing us closer to our goal of Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal,” added Dr. Larry Brilliant, executive director of Google.org.
Oxygenics Low-Flow Showerhead
August 23rd, 2008
Price: $59.95
Manufacturer: Oxygenics
Seventy percent of the earth is covered by water, but only one percent is available for human consumption. By replacing the hardware on your shower with a low-flow showerhead, you can save over 20,000 gallons of water a year.
Oxygenics’ Five Star Resort Spa showerhead injects oxygen into the water to increase pressure, and uses only 2.5 gallons of water per minute. In comparison, a standard shower uses 4.5. Since the water is aerated into a strong mist, the resulting shower has the added benefit of improving circulation and stimulating cell activity. While you’ll spend around $44 on your new showerhead, you could save as much as $145 a year on your utility bill.
Caroma Dual Flush Toilet
August 23rd, 2008
If you purchased your toilet before 1994, you might want to begin your quest for sustainable living with a greener latrine. Thirteen years ago, before 1.6 gallon-flush toilets became mandatory, toilets used between three and seven gallons per flush (GPF). Today there are innovations in the toilet industry which put the 1.6 models to shame.
Australian-based Caroma sells an inventive dual flush toilet, which offers two different flushes for liquid or solid waste. (Flush number one takes only 0.8 gallons, while flush number two uses 1.6.) According to the EPA, the average family uses 280 gallons of water a day, and toilets account for about 27 percent of that. Even if you already have a 1.6 GPF toilet, switching to a dual flush will save you 28 gallons a day, adding up to 10,000 gallons a year! Caroma’s Dual Flush costs slightly more than a standard toilet, but you’ll make your money back over a few years in reduced water bills.
Elements of a Green Bathroom
August 23rd, 2008
While kitchens use the most energy in a typical home, bathrooms use the most water. According to the U.S. EPA, a family of four could save more than 16,000 gallons of water per year simply by replacing a traditional toilet with a high-efficiency toilet.
“A lot of what makes a bathroom green has to do with water savings,” says Sean Ruck, spokesperson for the National Kitchen & Bath Association. “And consumers can easily incorporate a lot of items that don’t look or perform any differently than traditional materials, for about the same price.”
Since 1994, federal standards have required toilets, showerheads and faucets to use less water, so if you replace pre-1994 fixtures with new ones, you’ll save water right from the start. Low-flow toilets got a well-deserved bad rap for poor performance when those standards first came out, but newer models have largely fixed the problems.
If you’re still worried about getting a lemon, research your options at the Saving Water Partnership’s list of FlushStar toilets (those that meet certain performance criteria) at http://www.savingwater.org/docs/FlushStar.pdf.
“Dual flush toilets are another new product that is gaining popularity,” says Ruck. These toilets feature a dual flushing valve, where users push one button to release about half a gallon of water. Pushing the second button releases a flush with more force and anywhere from 1.2 to 1.6 gallons of water. “Combined with low-flow showerheads and faucets, you’ll notice dramatic water savings,” says Ruck.
Green Bathroom Remodeling
August 23rd, 2008
Bathrooms are among the easier rooms in which to go green. Changing out fixtures manufactured before the water conservation mandates of 1994 will immediately ease your bathroom’s impact on the environment (and your wallet). As consumer demand for green products has grown, manufacturers today are offering more recycled and sustainable options.
THE BENEFITS OF GOING GREEN
In a recent survey of remodelers conducted by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), more than one quarter of the respondents saw a growing demand for green remodeling. And since bath remodels are consistently among the top four remodeling jobs (along with kitchens, room additions and roofing projects), that translates into more green bathrooms today than ever before.
“Americans spent over $230 billion last year on home remodeling, with energy efficient and sustainable products representing an increasing share of the market,” says Mike Nagel, chair of the NAHB Remodelers Council.
An energy efficient and water-wise bathroom can save significantly on monthly utility bills. Using low-flow water fixtures can save thousands of gallons of water per year.
And don’t forget indoor air quality. Since the bathroom is subject to heat, humidity and chemicals from cleaning, hygiene and cosmetic products, ventilation becomes vital. It is also important to reduce volatile organic compounds (VOCs). VOCs are known to cause a range of health problems, from asthma to cancer. They may be contained in building components, like cabinetry, adhesives, caulks and paints.
Algenol Biofuels
August 23rd, 2008
This new direct to ethanol process uses both a new algae and new collection method to produce cost effective ethanol that:
1. Does NOT require food based feedstocks like corn or sugarcane.
2. Does NOT require harvesting.
3. Does NOT require fossil fuel based fertilizers.
4. Does NOT require fresh water.
5. Does NOT require large amounts of fossil fuel.
6. Does NOT require arable land.
7. Does use desert land and marginal land.
8. Does make fresh water from seawater during the process.
9. Does use treated manure instead of fossil fuel based fertilizers.
10. Does have an energy balance over 8 : 1 (energy output : fossil fuel input).
