Tips to conserve energy in peak energy times
I get press releases from the Gov. Rick Perry’s press office, and one came today urging people to conserve energy from 3 to 7 p.m., the peak hours of the day for energy use. In Texas, we’re nearly blowing out our power grid because it’s always scorching outside–even more so than normal nowadays.
Photo by lespowell on morgueFile
These tips are handy:
- Turn off all unnecessary lights, appliances and electronic equipment.
- When at home, close blinds and drapes on windows that get direct sun, set thermostats to 78 degrees or higher, and use fans in occupied rooms to feel cooler.
- When away from home, set thermostats to 85 degrees, turn off all fans, and close blinds or drapes on windows that will get direct sun.
- Do not use your dishwasher, laundry equipment, hair dryers, coffee makers or other home appliances during the peak hours of 3 to 7 p.m.
- Avoid opening refrigerators or freezers more than necessary.
- Use microwaves for cooking instead of an electric range or oven.
- Set your pool pump to run in the early morning or evening instead of the afternoon.
EASY energy savings
Mother Earth News has an amazing article about eight really cheap, really easy things you can do to save money on your energy bill. The author spent about $400 to make energy efficiency upgrades, and ended up saving $907 on his energy bill that year. It’s a pretty good, quick return on investment. Here’s the rundown list of the upgrades. Go check the article for in-depth explanations of each one.
Grants for smart grid technology
Photo by david.nokonvscanon on Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nikonvscanon/)
The New York Times Green blog reports today that General Electric has partnered with venture firms to offer $200 million in funding to people who come up with smart ideas for clean energy and a smart grid.
From now until Sept. 30, budding smart-grid entrepreneurs will be able to submit their proposals in one of three areas that the investors see as central to ramping up use of renewables:
• Maximizing penetration of clean energy into the grid.
• Improving the efficiency of the grid.
• Helping electricity customers use energy more wisely.
Green home creates energy, conserves as much as possible
Photo: Ferrier Custom Homes
Ferrier Custom Homes in Ft. Worth, Texas, built a home from reclaimed materials that is a “zero energy home.” The home has a wind turbine to create its own electricity. The builder used a highly-insulated material for the exterior walls and roof, which keeps heat inside during the winter and helps keep the AC inside during the summer. The home has an efficient air conditioning system too, and other green features.
Capturing wasted heat, turning to power
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OnEarth Magazine has an interesting article about thermoelectrics, a new technology that seeks to capture wasted heat from electronics, processing facilities and other devices and turning the heat into usable energy.
Along with wind turbines and solar panels, the next clean energy frontier could take the form of an array of tiny semiconductor chips wrapped around anything from a smokestack to a computer server, turning heat into usable energy. Imagine a laptop that runs twice as long, powered in part by the heat generated by the microprocessor. Researchers envision cell phones with double the talk time and cars that go farther on a gallon of gas — all powered in part by heat that would otherwise be wasted.
Pretty cool. According to the article, if researchers can harness this technology, it could make a huge impact on the amount of electricity we use on a daily basis.
… today scientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimate that nearly two-thirds of the energy generated in the world is lost as heat. If we could reclaim just 3 percent of our waste on a daily basis, they say, we could offset half the nation’s electricity needs.
U.S. veterans fighting against climate change
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OnEarth has a great article about a group of U.S. military veterans who are touring the country talking to groups about how important it is for the U.S. to make drastic moves towards using green energy to combat climate change. America’s dependence on oil compromises the country’s national security, they say.
At each stop the veterans get off the bus and share their stories, eyewitness accounts of the ways in which America’s dependence on oil affects not only which wars we fight but also our ability to wage war. In their own words, the vets say what many people have said before: America must become energy-independent, invest in renewables, and commit to a future that eradicates the threat of climate change — not because it’s the feel-good thing to do but because this nation’s security may depend on it.
“Hidden” costs of uranium mining
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Writing for High Country News, Jen Jackson cautions people that although some fossil fuels have extremely apparent consequences (i.e. Gulf oil spill), uranium mining has more subtle but equally important and devastating consequences.
Cancer deaths do not occur suddenly, inside a mine. Instead, they happen slowly and at a remove from the time and place of exposure. The deaths occur at home or in the hospital, surrounded by grieving loved ones rather than reporters with TV cameras. The family mourns, but the nation goes on about its business; nobody makes speeches. Mining disasters are horrible, but uranium takes an even more deadly toll. And it’s not just the miners who are affected. It’s also the families that live near the mine or the mill.
She writes of a recently acknowledged “cancer cluster” in a town nearby a uranium mill in Utah.
Now, 600 cases of cancer — a number that is growing each year — have been confirmed among current and former Monticello residents. The town has a population of just under 2,000. The Utah Department of Health has finally labeled what is occurring in Monticello as a cancer cluster that does not appear to be a random occurrence.
Three ways to go solar, three different budgets
Natural Home has a feature story this month about how to convert to solar power on three different budgets. In the first example, a man outfitted his home with solar cells for $39,700 before rebates. In the second example, a family rents their solar cells for $50 per month, and can buy electricity from the power company if their system doesn’t produce enough. In the third example, a woman paid extra each month for a local utility company’s program that provided her home with solar power produced in excess by other local businesses that had installed their own solar systems.
NIMBY isn’t just for nuclear power anymore
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Folks in the desert in Marfa, Texas are in a huff because they say a planned 600-acre solar power plant will mar the quiet beauty of their community. The solar development by Tessera Solar will provide 27 megawatts of electricity that could power up to 4,000 homes in faraway San Antonio. Although many of the artist types that live there are pro green energy, they seem to solidly believe the old saying that we all hear when nuclear power plants want to move into an area: Not In My Backyard.
Michael Webber, associate director of the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy at the University of Texas, calls the clash between conservation groups and clean-energy developers a “crazy conundrum.” Both are trying to do right by the environment, but they end up at odds because solar installations require so much land. But Webber says the potential for noise and light pollution from the Marfa project is minimal, and the prospect of Texas-based environmental groups launching major opposition is unlikely. Plus, the solar plant could be a windfall for a small, poor county like Presidio, he says. In addition to about 100 initial construction jobs and 20 long-term jobs at the site, the company will have to pay property taxes on potentially many millions of dollars worth of solar equipment it installs. “It might be a game-changer for them,” Webber says.
Clearing hurdle towards electric-car ownership
Nice! Electric car charging stations are coming to the Austin area. My dream within the next few years, if my freelance business takes off, is to sell my old gas guzzler and buy a fully electric car. Before that’s a viable option, though, the recharging infrastructure must be in place.
The California company that brought the first public electric-car charging station to Austin now plans to bring an in-home version to the area.
Coulomb Technologies said it will provide — for free — 5,000 charging stations, both public and in-home, to Austin and eight other cities over the next year.
Photo by kahanaboy on morgueFile (http://morguefile.com/creative/kahanaboy)
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