Archive for the ‘Energy use’ Category
September 5th, 2008
New Green Home Tech Products Coming Soon
There is so much activity in green tech these days that it can be hard to keep up with it, so here are a few concepts that might be coming to a green home near you. Some are still cost prohibitive, but their innovation serves to move us towards more market-ready solutions.
On the Roof
In power generation, solar continues to heat up. New materials and functionality coming down the pike raises hopes about improved energy production and cost effectiveness. One such invention: solar windowpanes. Created by Japanese manufacturer Nihon Telecommunication Systems, the panes integrate photovoltaic cells capable of powering your cell phone or computer. The panes convert about 8% of the sun’s rays to energy, which is then transferred to your device via USB cable. The panes will also reduce the amount of heat that comes through your house, reducing cooling costs. The catch? They cost $1900/square meter, so for now that’s a steep price to pay for calling your mom or emailing your BFF.
One new technology that may be closer to reality is concentrated photovoltaics. Sunrgi’s system uses a magnifying glass to concentrate the suns rays onto a solar cell, converting more than 37% of sunlight to energy. The panels take up much less space than traditional PV, and don’t rely on silicone. But the big sell here – in addition to efficiency – is cost: the company estimates a price of 5 cents per kilowatt hour, making the technology on par with coal and natural gas. If this turns out to be the case, it could really move solar to the next level of adoption.
Some new technologies are being designed for industrial use, but their concepts hold promise for residential application in the future. For example, a new cogeneration system from SolarWall aims to capture the heat lost by traditional photovoltaic systems and use it for heating. Generally, PV systems are only 8-15% efficient at capturing the sun’s energy – the rest is lost. SolarWall’s product combines PV with a solar thermal system that transfers heat into a building’s HVAC system in winter and away from it in summer. This also serves to shorten the payback period by reducing heating costs.
To keep all of that warm air in, new designs for insulation are hitting the market, like the soy-based and water-blown BioBased Insulation. Many homes are under insulated, but sealing them up tight may also mean reducing the quality of your indoor air. Choosing insulation made from non-toxic materials will help to reduce those chemicals in your home.
Around The House
Why mow your lawn, when the solar hybrid Husqvarna Automower can do it for you? Well, maybe because you don’t have $3,000 to spend on a lawnmower, no matter how cool it is. And this one’s cool. It’s automatic (think Roomba) so there’s no pushing involved. It charges initially via AC power, but then uses its solar power to keep on mowin’. Built in sensors keep it from plowing through your vegetable garden, and when the job is done or the battery gets low, it finds its way back to the garage to recharge. It even has an anti-theft alarm. Now that’s cool.
How would you like a washing machine that uses virtually no water? The British company Xeros is working to market a washing machine that does just that. The new technology tumbles thousands of tiny plastic granules with the clothes to clean them, using less than 2% of the water needed for traditional machines. Feeling skeptical? Tests conducted by the company show that everyday stains like coffee and lipstick were removed, and that clothes were as clean and fresh as those that went through a traditional washing. After “washing” the clothes were also quite dry, reducing the need for mechanical drying. Get me Ripley’s on the phone!
There’s another development in the world of washing machines – a Sanyo model that recycles water for use in future loads. Seems like a good idea, assuming that the water can be filtered enough to actually clean the next load. There’s also an Air Wash function that infuses your clothes with bacteria and odor-killing chemicals without the use of any water. Not so sure about that part…
Eco-friendly TVs are also coming down the pike, like Philips’ aptly named Eco TV. It uses less energy by sensing the amount of ambient lighting in the room, then adjusting its backlighting automatically: the darker the room, the less backlighting. Energy saved! It’s also made of lead-free components, with packaging and manuals made from recycled materials. Of course it’s HD, and has a 42” screen, so you’re not sacrificing viewing pleasure. Just don’t forget to plug it into a power strip, flipping the whole thing off when you hit the hay.
In the Garage
Sure, the Prius is great. But word on the street has it that it’s about to get better, as it’s been reported that Toyota will soon be adding solar panels to the roof, providing enough power to run the air conditioner. OK, so maybe that’s not as exciting as the fuel cell technology that we’ve been waiting for, but at least it will be here in the next year or so.
Another advancement for hybrids is the new plug in kits, like those available from A123 Systems. The kits work by adding an extra battery where the spare tire goes, supplementing the drive train for up to 40 miles (no word on where the spare tire goes now, but surely that’s a small detail). What’s not a detail is the price, upwards of $10,000 once it’s all said and done. Makes us wonder why the electric car hasn’t made more of a comeback?
September 4th, 2008
Sick of Gas? Convert Your Car To Run On Electricity
Written by Clayton B. Cornell, courtesy of Gas2.0
If you can’t buy the car you want, then build it.
Gregg Abott (aka Gadget) custom-converts cars for a living, but instead of tricking out cars to run on biodiesel or get better mileage, he’s hacking them to run on electricity. He’s the owner of Left Coast Electric, a Santa Monica based company with a simple philosophy:
“…if electric cars are going to make a difference, a lot of people have to drive them. They have to be made affordable.”
Which means these guys aren’t putting out $100K Tesla Roadsters, but are converting older models to have the same functionality:
So instead of building cars from the ground up, Gadget and his business partner, Roger Wilson, convert existing cars or shells of cars into electric vehicles by supplying or outfitting them with pre-configured kits loaded with everything an electric car needs except a new motor.
Admittedly, this isn’t for the faint of heart. Each kit costs $10,000 and requires the tenacity to dive into major auto electrical work. But if this type of conversion seems like a daunting task, Left Coast Electric will do the work for you—for $17,000 that is, including parts—which means that for the price of a Prius, your old car could be fully electric.
For $30,000, they’ll even convert your Hummer.
Abott uses nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) D-cell batteries, placed on top of where the motor used to be (and in the bed if it’s a truck) to create the battery array. LCE also buys and coverts old cars, which it offers for sale:
Gadget prefers to work with what he calls “Arcane British Cars, or ABCs — Triumphs and MGs and Austin Healys.” He picks them up at auctions for $200 to $300. “We’ll be converting those, and we’ll sell them on the lot,” he says, for the price of a new Prius ($25,000 to $30,000). But Left Coast also has modularized kits ready to drop into Mazda Miatas and Chrysler PT Cruisers for the “build-it-yourself market.” With NiMH batteries, he can guarantee a range of 60 to 100 miles. And one day, he adds, “We’ll move on to lithium ions.”
The biggest question in my mind is how long the batteries will last (landfill problem?). There are also simpler and cheaper solutions for do-it-yourselfers, like using biodiesel or converting a car to run on straight-vegetable-oil.
But there isn’t much question in my mind that if you want it bad enough, you can do it.
For more information, see the Left Coast Electric’s Website.
September 2nd, 2008
Power-purchase Agreements Reduce Cost of Solar
Written by Matt Nauman, reprinted courtesy of The Mercury News
Lynette Bunyard and Joe Pambianco wanted to add solar panels to the roof of their downtown San Jose home. But instead of shelling out $47,000 for the installation, they found a popular alternative financing method for those who want to go green but don’t want to go broke in the process.
The couple used a power-purchase agreement, or PPA in industry lingo, transacted through a San Francisco company called SunRun. The company works with a homeowner and a solar-installation company; it finances the deal; it owns and operates the solar system, and sells the homeowner the electricity being generated on the homeowner’s roof at a fixed rate (13.5 cents per kilowatt hour) for 18 years.
The result? With the PPA, Bunyard and Pambianco paid about $17,000 to SunRun — or $30,000 less than the original installation estimate from installer REC Solar. (State incentives and a federal tax credit would have reduced the $47,000 estimate to about $35,000.) Their monthly power bill from SunRun is just $80 to $100, while their PG&E bill is negligible — as low as $4 one month this spring. So the couple, who once paid between $200 and $300 a month for electricity before installing solar panels, are thrilled with their savings.
“I talk to people about what almost seems impossible when I look at the numbers,” Pambianco said. “I could pay less up front and less overall. That’s magic.”
Pambianco, a sales trainer with Cisco Systems, and Bunyard, a software programmer with VeriSign, spearheaded a community solar program in their downtown San Jose neighborhood earlier this year. They interviewed solar vendors, got bids, considered financing options, and even negotiated a discount for their group. Ultimately, 35 homeowners participated in the effort, and about 75 percent of those used PPAs to pay for their solar systems.
The concept of a PPA for solar power isn’t new. Major retailers such as Macy’s and Wal-Mart, and governmental entities use PPAs to pay to install solar arrays on their roofs. Now consumers are doing it, too. The take-away from Pambianco: “You don’t have to be independently wealthy to consider getting solar.”
Nat Kreamer, president and chief operating officer of SunRun, uses cell phones as an analogy to explain what his company does. Imagine, he said, if cellular companies tried to sell you parts of the infrastructure needed to make a phone call. Nobody wants that, he said, adding that people “just want to talk on the phone.”
The same is true of solar panels. People want to use the electricity they generate, but they don’t want to have to maintain or monitor the solar panel systems on their homes.
“We only get paid for the power we deliver to our customers,” Kreamer said. Typically, he said, homeowners who install solar panels and use a PPA to finance the deal save 30 percent or more each month on their electricity bill. For example, a family with a $240 monthly electricity bill before adding solar panels would have to make only an $80 payment to SunRun and $40 to their utility after adding solar panels. That’s a 50 percent savings — not typical, but frequently achieved, Kreamer said.
Barry Cinnamon, CEO of Akeena Solar, a solar-panel installation company with locations throughout California, said 20 to 25 percent of residential solar buyers in California now use PPAs. And he expects that number to grow. Also, Cinnamon noted, PPAs “definitely appeal to buyers more strapped for cash.” Only something that makes solar drastically cheaper, such as much higher government incentives or other policies, could derail PPAs, he said.
Dean McConkie, who lives in San Jose’s Santa Teresa area, became intrigued by solar panels after a neighbor had them installed, but was taken aback when he heard how much the system cost. Still, he wanted to reduce his huge electric bill, so he looked into PPAs.
In the end, he decided to use a SunRun PPA, then used a home equity loan to prepay his entire solar-panel lease. McConkie, a manufacturing engineer, questioned SunRun about how it could offer solar for a lower price; after all, it seemed too good to be true. He learned the company receives both federal and state rebates, and is eligible for tax credits and other incentives that homeowners can’t obtain.
SunRun, which does most of its deals in California, has few rivals. Helio Micro Utility, a Berkeley start-up, entered the residential solar PPA market this summer. Solar City, a solar-panel installer based in Foster City, offers a leasing program.
Before going solar, McConkie said he was paying about $258 a month for electricity. This summer, his bills have dropped to $20 or $30 a month. “We love it,” he said.
Click here to find a solar installer near you click here
Click here to learn about solar hot water, another great, lower-cost solar option for your home
Learn about how to buy green power from your utility
Learn how to Go Green and Save Money
August 31st, 2008
Labor Day Tips for Greening Your Office
Mercifully, Labor Day is all about taking a day off to enjoy the last fruits of summer. As you return from the long weekend, are you wondering how you can make your office a greener place, especially now that you’ll be there every weekday until Thanksgiving? (We’re so sorry to point that out.)
Hopefully you’ve seen our article 10 Ways to Green Your Office. Recycling? Check. CFLs? Check. Programmable thermostat? Check. But there is more that you can do to lessen your impact on the environment.
Let’s start at the beginning of a typical day…
On the road…again
Many, many people drive to work, by themselves, each and every day. You know it’s true – you see them on the freeway next to you. Consider this: on average, passenger and light-duty vehicles in the US weigh around 4,000 pounds. The average American woman weighs 163 lbs., and the average man, 190 lbs. That means that we’re using a whole lotta gas to move more than 3,800 lbs. of car around on the freeway!
There are more environmentally-friendly (and often less expensive) ways to face the daily commute.
The best, of course, is biking or walking, which cause virtually no carbon emissions and give you some exercise. Plan a Bike to Work Day for you and your colleagues. Schedule it for a Friday, since those days are usually more relaxed in both dress and attitude. Map out a safe route, take a clean shirt, strap on that helmet, and see how it goes.
If walking or biking just isn’t in the cards, consider taking a bus or train to work. Using mass transit is much more fuel efficient than driving – up to 15 times more efficient, in the case of trains - and gives you time to read the paper, do the crossword, or finish some work. If you’re unfamiliar with the system in your area, get some maps online, ask a savvier coworker for tips, or organize a “buddy-system” for the office.
Some areas aren’t conducive to these modes of transportation, so car transportation may be the only option. If this is the case, consider carpooling. This time-honored method of getting to work has gone 21st century, with websites like GoLoco.org set up to connect people looking to save money, use the HOV lanes, and reduce their impact on the environment. Or go old-school, and start a sign-up sheet. How easy is that?
Need…coffee…now
Now that you’re at work, what’s next? Well, if you’re like us, it’s time for a little caffeinated heaven to grease the wheels. When your delivery system of choice is coffee, choose an organic, Fair Trade, shade-grown variety. Fair Trade practices support local farmers by providing a fair price for their product, allowing them to pursue ecologically- and socially-friendly farming methods. Choosing organic and shade-grown varieties reduces the number of pesticides used in growing.
In addition to the coffee that you choose, consider other steps, like using a reusable mug. Check out our post on being an eco-conscious coffee consumer for more tips to further green your morning java.
Work it, girl
Now that you’ve had your cup of Joe, fire up that computer (because you powered down the night before, right?) and get to work. If that includes planning a little business travel for a meeting or company event, there are many options to help you green it up.
First, don’t go! Just kidding…sort of. Travel is very hard on the environment, with air travel leading the list. Planes, particularly on short-haul flights, use a large amount of fuel, much of which is emitted at high altitudes where it has more of an effect on climate change. For meetings, consider whether it’s really essential to be face-to-face. Look into inexpensive online meeting services, or consider investing in video conferencing.
If you must travel, try to book direct flights, which avoid the heavy expenditure of fuel needed for multiple take-offs and landings. Or even better, take a bus or the train, if possible. Make it company policy to only rent hybrids or compact cars. Stay in eco-friendly hotels. And don’t forget to offset your carbon emissions.
If you’re the lucky soul who plans events for your company, like an annual meeting or Holiday Party, there are many ways to make it green. A few tips:
+ Choose venues with green policies for recycling, composting, etc.
+ Require caterers to use only reusable plates, cups and silverware
+ Ditch the cut flowers, opting instead for live plants. Flowers are often flown in from developing countries with lax environmental standards, and may be laden with chemicals
+ Ask every vendor about green alternatives – most industries now have more environmentally-friendly options available
All of these things will make your event memorable for the right reasons.
You give me fever
You’ve now been at work for a few hours and may be starting to feel a little be crummy…a case of the Mondays? Maybe. But if you often experience a headache, sore throat, or nasal symptoms at work, it might mean that your office’s air quality is to blame.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) may be the cause. Usually resulting from a lack of proper ventilation combined with the barrage of chemicals found in most offices, SBS causes physical symptoms that dissipate soon after leaving the building.
Regardless of whether your office suffers specifically from SBS, every office can benefit from a reduction of chemicals. Look for low- or no-VOC paints, stains, eco-friendly flooring and carpets, and green furniture. Replace cleaning chemicals with healthier non-toxic cleaners. Use natural or less-toxic pest control methods. Maintain indoor plants, which work to clean the air. Open a window. All of these things will improve the quality of the air that you breathe, and may help you to feel better, to boot.
Look at that, time for lunch!
August 29th, 2008
U.S. Could Cut Fuel Use 50% by 2035
Written by Andrew Williams, courtesy of Gas2.o
A new report by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Energy Initiative predicts that a 30-50% reduction in fuel consumption is possible in the US over the next 25-30 years. Initially, this will be achieved through improved gasoline and diesel engines and transmissions, gasoline hybrids and reductions in vehicle weight and drag. In the longer term, the study concludes that plug-in hybrids and, later, hydrogen fuel cells may begin to have a significant impact on fuel use and emissions.
The report, ‘On the Road in 2035: Reducing Transportation’s Petroleum Consumption and GHG Emissions,’ summarizes the results of an MIT research project that assessed the technology of vehicles and fuels that could be developed and commercialized during the next 25 years.
The research team assessed the effect of new vehicle and fuel technologies on the performance, cost and lifecycle emissions of individual vehicles. It then assessed the effects on the total on-the-road fleet of introducing these technologies using “plausible assumptions about how rapidly they could be developed, manufactured and sold to buyers to replace existing vehicles and fuels or to add to the existing fleet.”
Other key findings include:
+ Alternative fuels simpy seeking to replace petroleum are unlikely to lead to a significant change in GHG emissions. In fact, major near-term alternatives like the Candian oil-sands and coal will actually increase emissions;
+ Although some biofuels may prove beneficial, the U.S. emphasis on corn-based ethanol is “not obviously justifiable,” since it has “high economic costs, questionable GHG advantages, and other unfavorable environmental impacts.”
+ No single alternative fuel or technological development is likely to solve the problems of increased GHG emissions. Instead, progress must come from from a “comprehensive, coordinated effort to develop and market more efficient vehicles and benign fuels, and to find more sustainable ways to satisfy transportation demands.”
Other Posts on Fuel Economy:
- EcoDriving: The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers Gift to the Masses
- GM Determined to Think Big With Better Fuel Economy
- Have Your Saturn Converted to an All-Electric Car
- Every Drop Counts: Nissan to Equip Cars With Fuel Efficient ECO Pedals
- Like GM, Ford Decides They’d Better Start Producing Smaller, More Fuel-Efficient Cars
Image Credit - futureatlas.com on Flickr via a Creative Commons License
August 27th, 2008
Sierra Club Rates Green Colleges
The Sierra Club has just released its new feature on green colleges, and it’s a great read. The feature was edited by Lea Hartog and Michael Fox. Here’s the intro:
“NOT LONG AGO small private colleges had a near monopoly on campus environmental initiatives in the United States. But today supersize public universities are nipping at the nimble, hemp-shod heels of those pioneers by adopting green building standards, expanding environmental studies programs, and converting fleets to zero-emission vehicles.
This represents a dramatic shift even from last year, when Sierra ran its 2007 “Cool Schools” roundup and filled all but two of the top ten spots with private colleges. In the following pages, you’ll find a diverse mix of institutions–from North Carolina’s 850-student Warren Wilson College to Arizona State University, the country’s second-largest school with 51,500 students.”
Included in the “Ten That Get It” are such fine institutions as tiny Middlebury in Vermont and the huge University of Florida at Gainesville. They also do a “5 That Fail,” which is a sort of shame circle. Check ‘em all out!
