Replacing our Desktop Computer with a NAS

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Home NAS device replaces a desktop computer for storage When we tested all our electronics with the Kill-a-Watt, we found out that the ten-year-old desktop was using a lot of energy, even when it wasn’t powered on. Since we were mostly just using the desktop for storing our music and pictures—we’re primarily laptop users now—we thought it would be a good idea to replace the poor old thing with network-attached storage (NAS for short).

A NAS is a mini-server built specifically for storage. If you work in a corporate environment, there are probably more than a few hanging around on your network. Only in the past five years or so have they started to be sold into the home market. It’s basically a tiny computer built around a bay for hard drives. When I started looking, my basic criteria was: 1) something that chews up less electricity than the old Windows Vista desktop (not hard to do) and 2) something that we can access from the laptops and backup our data to.

After some comparison, I chose the Netgear ReadyNAS NV+. It’s a very sexy little silver box that slides right into my entertainment center. The old PC ran at 110W–121W (plus 18W for the monitor) and used 6W when it was off (plus 2W for the monitor). The NAS uses 29W–45W, and just 1W when it’s off. In comparison with other NASes on the market, it’s in the middle of the pack somewhere: not the lightest sipper of electricity but not a workhorse server either. One of the many reasons I chose it is that it has an array of possible energy-saving features, such as:

  • A variable-speed fan—it senses the temperature and adjusts how fast the fan spins automatically.
  • Automatic disk spin-down—most new computers spin down when they’re not in use, but NASes generally don’t.
  • Scheduled startup and shutdown—in case we forget to turn it off at night, although I try to turn it off when I’m not using it.

The electricity draw varies based on what sort of hard disks one puts into the box, so it’s important to look for low-power drives to go with your NAS. I picked the WD Caviar Green drives, but there’s a variety of equally good “green” hard drives on the market now. “Green” in this case indicates only that they spin at a slower speed and thus suck down less energy. This means that they’re a little slower, but you’ll probably never notice on a network-connected server.

Other reasons I chose the ReadyNAS:

  • It has a reputation as a reliable device.
  • It supports RAID (redundant array of independent disks), which allows me to stuff a bunch of hard disks into the box and, if one of them fails, still keep all of my data. Additionally, if I need more storage in the future, I can just stick another hard drive into the box or replace my old ones to expand my storage space.
  • The most silly: I can connect it to my Tivo right out of the box. Tivo’s a funny beast that doesn’t support DLNA like almost every other streaming device on the network (PS3, Xbox, etc). Most other NASes support DLNA, but not Tivo.

All in all, I really love it. I’ve moved my entire iTunes and picture libraries onto it, and they’ve barely dented the total storage capacity (1.8 terrabytes!). It’s hard to describe how freeing it is to finally be able to access all of our files without having to exile myself to the office.

Cross-posted on pragmaticenvironmentalism.com

Home Energy Retrofits Outperform Microsoft

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Home energy efficiency retrofits in Boston have a 39 percent return over five years compared to Microsoft's 7 percent.

Times are tough. If you’ve been unemployed in the last few years, your savings have probably dwindled as you’ve struggled to make ends meet. If you haven’t lost your job, then you’ve hopefully been saving and investing small amounts. But the stock market has been a mess over the last five years, and interest rates for CD’s and treasury bonds are tiny.

If you’re fortunate enough to have money to invest, where should you put your money to guarantee a good return?

Here’s a new investment idea for you: a home energy retrofit. Make your home more energy efficient through low-tech and cost-effective measures like insulation, furnace replacement and sealing your heating ducts.

Huh? Why put money into your house with home prices going the way they’ve been. Well, this isn’t about increasing the resale value of your home: though you can expect that it will at least help. All you really need is to live in your home for five years for this to work in your favor due to the lower utility bills you’ll see every month.

To illustrate the impact of doing a home energy retrofit as an investment, here’s a simplified example.  Let’s say five years ago, a homeowner in Boston named Diane was deciding between buying $10,000 of Microsoft stock as an investment and spending that same amount of money on a home energy retrofit to reduce her utility bills.  What would have been the better five-year investment?

The Microsoft stock worth $10,000 in June 2005 would have turned into just $10,700 five years later (a return of 7 percent over five years), including the increase in stock price and the dividends paid out over the course of the five years. But it turns out that the home energy retrofit would have been the much better investment.  If Diane had spent $10,000 on a retrofit for her 2,000 square foot home in Boston, including attic and wall insulation, sealing and insulating ducts, and air sealing her home to eliminate drafts, the investment would have returned 38 percent over five years, in terms of lower utility bills and increased resale value: even assuming that she only gets back half of the value of her investment at the end.

So…  Retrofitting your home is a better investment than the stock market. And that doesn’t even consider the fact that you’ll be more comfortable in your home and you’ll help reduce our country’s dependence on foreign energy sources.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to do a home energy retrofit, who to do it, and how to get as much of it paid for by your utility and the government, estimate your home efficiency then request an energy assessment for a report with recommendations and expected paybacks.

“If it was my home”

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Deep Horizon oil spill superimposed on Belgium From Strange Maps:

The oil spill is the worst environmental disaster in US history. But it’s a catastrophe of the creeping, cumulative kind, composed of images familiar from earlier ecocides. How to get a grip on its width and breadth? Obviously: a map. Ingeniously: a map of the area affected by the oil spill transposed on your geographic location of choice – your home, for optimum shock effect.

Drink Local, Hike Local too

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Stonybrook State Park by Harvest ZhangCCTV blogger Karen Klinger has an interesting write-up of her stroll around the birthplace of your drinking water last Monday evening. Should you find the tale inspiring, you have two more chances to take part in a guided tour of the upper watershed, and three of Fresh pond. If you attend, or otherwise visit Fresh Pond check out some of the interesting 1) public 2) art versions of the watershed map:

Map of the Cambridge drinking water watershed

Farmers Markets in the Boston Area

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By now most farmers markets should be up and running. Once my CSA starts, I usually don’t buy much at farmers markets, but there’s one nearby any day of the week for impulse purchases. Here’s a quick list of the ones near me:

[Ed. For an easy way to keep track of what markets are open, as well as other local events, try our calendar.]

Mondays

Tuesdays

Thursdays

Fridays

Saturdays

  • Cambridgeport – Corner of Magazine Street and Memorial Drive, 11:00–2:00, 6/12–10/30

Sundays

There are many more than I can list here, but Northeast Harvest has a really complete and up-to-date list. Check it out.

Cross-posted on pragmaticenvironmentalism.com

Eco-pimp my dirty job

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Enjoy a lazy Sunday! by ucumari Although it’d be easy to dismiss “The Lazy Environmentalist” as a simple product placement vehicle for Brita filters and GE CFLs, it can be an entertaining and informative show1. In this Sundance Channel series media personality Josh Dorfman tries to convince small business owners and hobbyists from all walks of life to adopt alternative products and techniques. If you don’t subscribe to this premium channel, recent episodes are also available via Comcast On Demand and clips of episodes can be viewed on the series website. Check it out next time you feel the need to become one with the couch, but there’s nothing good on.

Also for your enjoyment, a 45 minute discussion by Josh to Google employees about his approach to environmentalism:

1. The enlightenment can also be frustrating when many of Josh’s challenges can’t see the forest for the trees, but interspersed are plenty of pleasant surprises.

Peabody Terrace Competition Results

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On March 6th, 84 residents at Peabody Terrace participated in an incandescent light bulb swap for compact fluorescent bulbs. Residents received one free CFL for every incandescent bulb they turned in—over 200 efficient CFLs found homes. The CFLs were provided by the Cambridge Energy Alliance and Harvard Real Estate Services (HRES). HEET, CEA, and HRES organized the promotion and logistics of this successful competition.

During the swap, residents learned about other ways to cut their carbon emissions—seasonable tips also available—and many signed up for a two-month long competition to see who can reduce them the most.

The results are in!

  • Apartments reduced their electricity use by an average of 11%
  • The top six winners reduced their electricity use by 30%
  • And the first place prize winner reduced electricity use by 58%

Winners received several enticing prizes including Smart Strips; credit at Zip Car; and gift certificates/cards from Clear Conscience Café, Shaw’s and Harvest Co-op Market.

Global Warming Solutions Act

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Boston Harbor - Seen from the Top of Mystic River Bridge. In Foreground, Massachusetts Port Authority Shipping Facility Has New Equipment That Permits Direct Loading from Ship to Freight Train 02/1973 by The U.S. National Archives If you’ve been itching to voice your opinion on state global warming legislation, now’s your chance! Public hearings are being held across the state next month to discuss the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Target and Draft Committee Implementation Plan for 2020.

A little background:

In August 2008, Governor Patrick signed into law the Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA), an Act that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions economy-wide by 2050, with a 2020 target set between 10 and 25 percent below 1990 levels.  Massachusetts has already promulgated greenhouse gas reporting regulations under the Act; 2009 emissions will be the first year reported. The Act requires that by January 1, 2011 the Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EOEEA), develops an implementation plan for achieving the reductions required to meet the 2020 target.

The Commonwealth’s technical consultant completed an analysis demonstrating that state and federal policies now in place, or anticipated, have Massachusetts on track toward emissions reductions of 18 percent by 2020. On Earth Day, April 22, 2009, the Secretary announced that hearings would be held around the state to take public comment on a 2020 reduction target between 18 percent and 25 percent. The Secretary also recently released a draft report on this topic: Cost Effective Greenhouse Gas Mitigation in Massachusetts: An Analysis of 2020 Potential.

If you have expertise in the area, or just want to show support for clean energy legislation in the state of Massachusetts, please take note of the hearing dates and locations!

P.S. See also June 3rd‘s Panel on Federal Climate Legislation.

MIT & NSTAR partner for efficiency

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Earth as MIT's Great Dome Just announced this morning:

In an effort to dramatically cut energy use at one of the country’s premier academic and research institutions, NSTAR and MIT are teaming up to launch the single most aggressive efficiency project in NSTAR history. Dubbed “MIT Efficiency Forward,” the program has a goal of cutting electricity use by 15 percent over three years through innovative programs, substantial student, faculty, and staff engagement, and the piloting of new technologies and approaches at MIT.

Read the rest of the press release.

Kempton vs. Sequoia

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Redwood by Michael Nichols Although the expanded fleet of trucks that might eventually be passing through California’s coastal redwood in Garberville should be less polluting due to the administration’s recent move to regulate fuel efficiency of the traditionally exempt trucking fleet, they now face another threat besides vehicular NOX.

CalTrans—the state’s department of transportation—has filed notice that it intends to expand US-101 which currently narrows before passing through the old growth forest of Richardson Grove State Park; view larger map. Besides the destruction of individual trees, the widened road would promote the use of this comparatively lazy country road over the I-5 corridor of the central valley.