The New York Times, whose affluent subscriber base is shrinking by the day, has realized that the affluence of their remaining readers is also taking a hit.
That must explain this article of surprisingly useful tips for making your IT and communications devices work a little longer and your budget stretch a little further. Most important, they keep our landfills a little less clogged.
If you’re like Warm Home Cool Planet, you’ve probably seen a lot of ads on TV with the little green ‘we’ logo. This is part of a campaign from an organization called REPOweR AMERICA. It’s all part of a plan to build up grass roots support for developing alternative energy and putting it on the grid. Al Gore wants to send a message to your local congressman. Let them know we need to include the development of alternate energy in the economic stimulus plan being developed by the Obama Administration. You’ve seen what the power of Internet can do for politics. Let’s see what it can do for our country-and our planet.
With energy savings of up to 80% over Halogen, retrofitting your MR16 track lighting with LEDs would seem to be a no-brainer. The problem is, well, it’s complicated. The prices on this type of lighting are falling fast, and the bottom line is; making a big investment now might not make sense.
According to Wikipedia, there are few standards for MR16 and MR11 compatible LED lamps, and with a large variety of designs varying significantly in beam control, light quality, efficiency and luminous power, getting the right light for your model of track lighting may be difficult. Or impossible. Most LEDs run on DC current; halogens most often run on 12 volt AC current. So your bulb will need to have an integrated rectifier.
If this is all greek to you, it’s probably not the greatest idea to tackle this solo.
Think twice before placing a huge wholesale order from the Pacific Rim. With reputable sources selling dimmable LED halogen replacements for 30-70 dollars a bulb, you have to wonder about the longevity of a 10 or 15 dollar generic knock-off.
In the pioneering spirit of Warm Home Cool Planet, we appointed ourselves guinea pig and ordered fifty bucks worth of the, ah… affordable bulbs to test in one of our living rooms. We’ll keep you posted on the results.
We’re looking forward to these bulbs hitting the mainstream residential market in the next few years. Stay tuned to this channel.
Or rather, don’t stand by.
By now you’ve read a bunch of articles about how the ‘standby’ or ‘instant on’ mode wastes energy and costs money. But if you’re like us, you may not have turned this information into a set of buying decisions and habits to save energy. This phantom power consumption chart is perhaps more than you needed to know, but it gets at the underlying reality that up to 10% of the US electrical bill may be wasted on phantom powering our gadget cornucopia.
As the Lawrence Berkely National Laboratory puts it;
Limited research suggests that an informed and aggressive approach can reduce standby use by about 30%. Frankly, there are more productive ways to save energy with an investment of an hour but if high standby energy use stands between you and the goal of a zero energy home, then it’s an hour well spent.
Powering down your computer with a smart power strip which also turns off all the stuff attached to your computer can have a substantial impact. Great idea if you’re the type that turns your computer off.
Shifting from desktop to laptop computers is another idea. Laptops have been built with energy consumption in mind in order to extend battery life. For the first time in history last month laptop sales exceeded desktop sales, so maybe some people are getting with the program.
Obviously appliances need to be redesigned green from the ground up.
There’s no way anyone (myself included) is going to re-set the clock on their Sony Bravia flatscreen TV every time they turn the set on. Try to console yourself with the thought that the Sony’s Energy Star rating implies that it’s phantom power draw is relatively minor. (I’m trying to.)
Even though the blinking 12:00 LED clock mocks us as we retrofit our appliances for a reality their designers never considered, we persevere—saving money and energy in the process.
So you’re caught up in the moment, dreaming about solar panels, a wind turbine on your roof, selling energy back to the power company rather than paying a monthly utility bill. But if we are, as President Obama suggested, to put aside childish things and enter a new era of responsibility, we must do first things first.
That means having taking a whole house approach to our energy conservation efforts. it doesn’t make sense to spend tens of thousands of dollars generating electricity you’re throwing away through inefficiency. In the end, it doesn’t matter if you generate energy or simply consume it, what really matters is your net energy footprint.
People sometimes fixate on a single facet of a problem with the best intentions. Dieters pack on the pounds while virtuously wolfing down bags of fat-free cookies. How many times have you heard someone order the super-size double whopper value meal with a diet soda, and thought that soda isn’t really the problem?
The free home energy audit is a good starting place for rethinking your energy diet.
You’ve got to learn to walk before you can run.
Sony has a new line of Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) TVs that use less power when they are switched on. And switch themselves off when they sense no-one is watching.
The Bravia V5 line sets, which will go on sale in most major markets worldwide, are equipped with a small sensor underneath the display that keeps watch of the room to ensure someone is there. If all the viewers leave the room it cuts power to the LCD (liquid crystal display), only to switch it back on when someone returns.
All Sony Bravia V5 models exceed the new EnergyStar 3.0 specification.
The Citizen Patriot newspaper in Jackson, Michigan ran a story yesterday about the new ‘smart’ meters Consumers Energy customers will start seeing in their homes. It’s actually a visual display panel that will allow their customers to see-and control–energy usage in their homes.
When prices peak, special thermostats could automatically dial down or shut off air conditioning. Lights, appliances and electronics could also be controlled through display panels or connections to home computers that show energy usage or notify customers of high energy costs.
Consumers Energy will be installing units in 6,000 homes over the next year. Sounds like a great program, and judging by the comments this article has attracted, Consumers Energy needs all the good PR they can get. Warm Home Cool Planet is happy to help!
Wireless Electricity (or the concept) has been around since 1890 when Nicholas Tesla built a 200 ft, 100,000 watt tower that sent 130 ft bolts into the sky and turned the grass blue. Now, thanks to MIT Asst. Professor and 2008 MacArthur Genius Grant Winner, Marin Soljacic, wireless electricity is close to reality. And it’s greener than you think:
But wireless technology is not only neater (say good-bye to the power-strip Medusa under your office desk), it’s cleaner. The EPA says Americans purchase a total of 3 billion disposable dry-cell batteries every year (part of a worldwide market of about 15 billion) and then throw 2.8 billion of them into landfills. Wireless systems are designed for rechargeable batteries that can be reused hundreds of times before they become trash. Continue reading