SAN FRANCISCO — Returning to their ranch-style house in Sacramento after a long summer workday, Jon and Kim Waldrep were routinely met by a wall of heat.
“We’d come home in the summer, and the house would be 115 degrees, stifling,” said Mr. Waldrep, a regional manager for a national company.
He or his wife would race to the thermostat and turn on the air-conditioning as their four small children, just picked up from day care, awaited relief.
All that changed last month. “Now we come home on days when it’s over 100 degrees outside, and the house is at 80 degrees,” Mr. Waldrep said.
Their solution was a new roof: a shiny plasticized white covering that experts say is not only an energy saver but also a way to help cool the planet. The rest of this article can be read here http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/30/science/earth/30degrees.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
The biggest opportunity to improve the nation’s energy situation is a major investment program to make homes and businesses more efficient, according to a study released Wednesday by the consulting firm McKinsey. An investment of $520 billion in improvements like sealing ducts and replacing inefficient appliances could produce $1.2 trillion in savings on energy bills through 2020, the study found. The rest of this article can be seen here http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/30/business/energy-environment/30energy.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
On the Road with Alternative Fuels
July 24, 2009
Drivers now can take a popular tool on the road thanks to staff at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The Mobile Alternative Fueling Station Locator (MAFSL) helps on-the-go drivers find the five closest biodiesel, electricity, E85 (ethanol), hydrogen, natural gas, and propane fueling sites using any mobile device with Internet access. The rest of this article can be read here http://www.nrel.gov/features/20090724_locator.html
These are pretty cool looking, not sure about their reliability and efficiency, but a cool idea.
Brooklyn-based Sustainably Minded Interactive Technologies have released a system of aesthetically pleasing, fluttering photovoltaic leaves that generate electricity using solar and wind energy.
These solar leaves can easily be installed on any vertical wall due to their light weight. The system is also not static which allows the leaves to move around and catch sun from many different directions.
To read more click the following link:
http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/07/02/solar-ivy-photovoltaic-leaves-climb-to-new-heights/
Landmarks & Companies Retrofit for Greener Efficiency
A report by Pike Research, a market research firm in Colorado, predicts that the retrofit market will experience strong growth through 2013 and beyond.
With the economy putting new construction in a headlock the retrofitting market has taken off. Building owners are not only retrofitting to update their spaces for looks they are retrofitting for sustainability and cost savings. Though retrofitting to be sustainable is more expensive up front, owners are counting on cost savings on energy to be more than the retrofit in the long run. The rest of this article can be read here http://www.globe-net.com/other_news/listing.cfm?type=2&newsID=4475
Madison Heights, Ferndale join regional energy initiative
Two more cities have joined the Southeast Michigan Regional Energy Office, bringing its municipal member ranks to five.
Madison Heights and Ferndale joined Roseville, Lincoln Park and Farmington Hills in the initiative Monday night.
The Michigan Suburbs Alliance, WARM Training Center, the Michigan Municipal League and SEMCOG launched the Southeast Michigan Regional Energy Office a year ago to help municipalities become more energy efficient and to adopt green technologies such as wind and solar power in an effort to help the region kick its Rust Belt image.
In early July, the Michigan Suburbs Alliance said interest in the new energy office initiative was increasing as local municipalities looked to stretch new funding for energy efficient improvements from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Article by Sherri Begin Welch of Crain’s Detroit Business.
Software Making Businesses Sustainable
GLOBE-Net (July 20, 2009) Companies with sustainability programs in place have improved their brand, cut costs, and minimized risks from environmental fines. Caps on greenhouse gas emissions are also underway, and companies requiring tools to manage the use of their resources have presented a profitable opportunity to software providers that specialize in offering sustainable solutions. Please see the rest of this article here http://www.globe-net.com/other_news/listing.cfm?type=2&newsID=4467
By Allison Casey of NREL – Over the past few weeks, my husband and I have been shopping for a new patio door. We currently have a sliding glass door that we have always hated—full exposure to winds from the west and to open fields behind our house mean that we always have dirt and dust getting in through that door, not to mention cold air in the winter and heat in the summer. The final straw was a warped and squeaky track, no doubt aggravated by our dog’s constant indecision over whether he wants to be inside or outside (oh, the dilemma!).
Since sliding glass doors are known to be inefficient (and ours was already driving us crazy), we decided that a door that swings, rather than slides, is our best bet. Here are the other features we want in a door:
- Glass, so we can enjoy our gorgeous view of the mountains. Because glass doors are less efficient, we are looking for energy-efficient features such as low-e coatings and gas fills to help control heat transfer through the glass
- Can be tightly weatherstripped to keep air and dirt from blowing through the house
- Can handle the wear-and-tear of frequent use
- Meets the efficiency requirements for a federal tax credit—the U-factor and solar heat gain coefficient both need to be equal to or less than 0.30.
We also decided that we wanted both sides of the door to swing open. Our hope is that the extra-wide opening will allow even more breeze to blow through in the evening, keeping our cooling costs down.
We familiarized ourselves with ENERGY STAR’s purchasing tips, checked for rebates and state, local, and utility incentives that we might be eligible for, and started shopping with our list of requirements in hand.
After a bit of looking, we narrowed our choice to two doors. Oddly, the manufacturer of one of the doors couldn’t confirm for certain that we could upgrade the door so it would meet the requirements for a federal tax credit.
Lesson learned: before you buy anything, make sure that the manufacturer can give you a certification statement stating that the product qualifies for the federal tax credits for energy efficiency. In the case of windows and doors, not all ENERGY STAR products will qualify; and with an available credit of 30% of the cost (up to $1,500), you don’t want to find out too late that your purchase isn’t eligible for the credit!
We are still doing some research and making our final decisions, but this has definitely been a learning process. And once we decide on a door, we aren’t done yet. We then have to find some energy-efficient (and nice looking) window treatments. The fun never stops at our house!
By Allison Casey, a senior communicator at DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, which assists EERE in providing technical content for many of its Web sites.
Induction lighting is one of the best kept secrets in energy-efficient lighting. Simply stated, induction lighting is essentially a fluorescent light without electrodes or filaments, the items that frequently cause other bulbs to burn out quickly. Thus, many induction lighting units have an extremely long life of up to 100,000 hours. To put this in perspective, an induction lighting system lasting 100,000 hours will last more than 11 years in continuous 24/7 operation, and 25 years if operated 10 hours a day.
The technology, however, is far from new. Nikola Tesla demonstrated induction lighting in the late 1890s around the same time that his rival, Thomas Edison, was working to improve the incandescent light bulb. In the early 1990s, several major lighting manufacturers introduced induction lighting into the marketplace.
Despite its high initial cost, induction lighting has many superior characteristics, including the following:
- Virtually maintenance-free operation
- High efficacy—in many cases, 60+ or 70+ lumens per watt
- Long life
- Excellent color rendering index (CRI)—80+ and in some cases 90+
- Choice of warm white to cool white (2,700–6,500 K) color temperature
- Instant start and restrike operation
- No flickering, strobing, or noise
- Low-temperature operation
- Dimmable capability with some units
- High power factor: .90+
Long Lifespan
Experience with using induction lighting at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, New Mexico, has demonstrated the long life in actual usage. WIPP’s first induction lighting system was installed in 1998, replacing high-pressure sodium (HPS) lights. More than 10 years later, all but three of the original 36 induction units are still operating after more than 88,000 hours of continuous, 24/7 operation. Additional systems were installed in 2002 and succeeding years, both indoors and outside, with excellent results.
Having said that, there are some caveats. One induction bulb’s rated life is only 15,000 hours and its output is only 1,100 lumens. It is a self-contained all-in-one screw-in unit that can directly replace a conventional incandescent or compact fluorescent bulb. This bulb targets different applications than those of most other induction lighting systems because of both its lower light output and shorter life.
Two of the top manufacturers of induction lighting systems have an average rated life of 100,000 hours, including the ballast. Some other manufacturers only rate their ballasts for 60,000 hours, even though the bulb may last longer. Check out the warranties before buying. Some manufacturers offer full five-year warranties on the entire induction lighting system. Others offer shorter warranties on some or all components.
Although they may last 100,000 hours, after 60,000 to 100,000 hours of operation the initial lumen output of many of the induction lighting systems drops to 70%—the point where relamping is often recommended.
Applications with High Potential for Induction Lighting
- In hard-to-reach locations that make maintenance costs high, such as street lighting and tunnels, or in high ceilings where there is continuous operation, such as hotel rotundas
- Cold environments, such as supermarket walk-in coolers and freezers
- Where high-quality lighting is required or highly desirable
- Where reliability is highly valued
- Where high lumen output is required
- In areas that require lamps to reach full illumination immediately.
Saving More Energy with Innovative Controls
Some manufacturers are introducing innovative control strategies for additional energy savings.
Although most units cannot be dimmed, at least two systems allow for full dimming. One company has teamed with the University of California Lighting Technology Center at the University of California Davis campus to demonstrate a bi-level induction lighting system. This system has two brightness levels. In areas such as parking garages, the light remains at half brightness in the absence of occupants and moves to full brightness when an occupancy sensor shows the presence of someone entering the area. (PDF 3.0 MB). Download Adobe Reader.
Utility Involvement in Induction Lighting
Utilities throughout the country are installing and/or promoting induction lighting. For example, many Northwest public utilities are offering incentives. One utility in New Jersey has a program offering municipal customers the opportunity to replace older mercury vapor street lighting fixtures with new induction lighting fixtures.
Environmental Drawback
As do standard fluorescent bulbs, induction bulbs contain a small amount of mercury, although it is in a solid state that makes it less harmful in case of breakage. Nonetheless, dispose of these bulbs responsibly at the end of their service life like fluorescent bulbs because of the mercury content.
Article by John Lippert, an employee of Energy Enterprise Solutions, a contractor for EERE. He assists with technical reviews of content on the Consumer Guide Web site.
LANSING (AP) — Democrats who control the Michigan House want more electricity to come from renewable sources.
The proposal discussed Monday calls for 30 percent of the state’s power to come from sources such as wind and solar by 2025. It would build upon a state law adopted last year that requires 10 percent of the state’s power to come from renewable sources by 2015.
Democrats say expanding the standard would improve the market for alternative energy companies that Michigan is wooing to diversify its economy.
Utilities also would be required to help customers decrease electricity usage.
Republicans who run the Senate likely won’t even consider the proposal until Michigan resolves its budget problems for the fiscal year that starts in October.
***article by the Associated Press
