The Energy Challenge - No Furnaces but Heat Aplenty in Innovative ‘Passive Houses’ - Series - NYTimes.com
From the outside, there is nothing unusual about the stylish new gray and orange row houses in the Kranichstein District, with wreaths on the doors and Christmas lights twinkling through a freezing drizzle. But these houses are part of a revolution in building design: There are no drafts, no cold tile floors, no snuggling under blankets until the furnace kicks in. There is, in fact, no furnace.
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Monday, December 29, 2008
The Energy Challenge - No Furnaces but Heat Aplenty in Innovative ‘Passive Houses’ - Series - NYTimes.com
Sunday, December 07, 2008
Environmental and Urban Economics: UCLA's Institute of the Environment Issues a New "Report Card"
Environmental and Urban Economics: UCLA's Institute of the Environment Issues a New "Report Card"
So, the Prius tends to be found in Malibu and Santa Monica but not in Beverly Hills. This piece may soon appear as a UCLA Institute of the Environment Report Card Brief. Today, my colleagues have issued a new article on an important public health issue. I encourage you to tread this; New UCLA Institute of the Environment Report Card Piece on Air Pollution
Green By Design � Solar Hot Water—It’s So Hot, it’s Cool
Green By Design � Solar Hot Water—It’s So Hot, it’s Cool
Some folks see the world in terms of ‘guy things’ and ‘chick things’. You know—men like rugged, practical stuff, and women prefer sensitive, impractical stuff.
I wasn’t so convinced of this notion until my wife and I built the Nolalu Eco Centre, and I now must admit to seeing strong evidence in support of la différence. Case in point: our male visitors usually make a bee line for the high-tech solar and wind power stuff, whereas most women are more interested in our considerably lower-tech solar domestic hot water system. So which is the more practical sex here?
Sorry guys: it’s the ladies. Sure, those big, shiny solar panels and all the paraphernalia are pretty cool, not to mention the more Freudian implications of men’s obsession with all things tall and erect (we’re talking wind towers here). But as far as common sense is concerned: nothing beats the efficiency and reliability of a solar hot water system.
About 14% of the average North American home’s energy bill goes to heating water for showers, baths, doing dishes, laundry, etc. Only heating the house takes more energy.
So what can the sun do to meet our hot water needs? As it turns out, a lot. A good solar thermal hot water system can take care of 40-70% of your hot water energy needs, depending on the system and amount of sun hours you get. Solar thermal is a proven technology that has been around for a long time, is very low maintenance, affordable, and retrograde-friendly to nearly any home with good southern exposure.
Saturday, December 06, 2008
WattzOn � Home
WattzOn � Home
Purpose
It is becoming clear that the enormous amount of energy needed to support all of our lives is having a profound effect on the world's climate. We need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels by increasing alternative energy infrastructure, but we also need to immediately start using less energy altogether. How do you fit in? How much of an impact do you have and what steps can you take to minimize it? WattzOn provides a framework for thinking about climate and energy in the context of your own life. Learn more about the background behind WattzOn here (or check out this shorter version from the 2008 Web 2.0 Summit), and in this video presentation.
Purpose
It is becoming clear that the enormous amount of energy needed to support all of our lives is having a profound effect on the world's climate. We need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels by increasing alternative energy infrastructure, but we also need to immediately start using less energy altogether. How do you fit in? How much of an impact do you have and what steps can you take to minimize it? WattzOn provides a framework for thinking about climate and energy in the context of your own life. Learn more about the background behind WattzOn here (or check out this shorter version from the 2008 Web 2.0 Summit), and in this video presentation.
Monday, December 01, 2008
Amazon.com: Rayovac Universal Battery Charger for Rechargeable AA, AAA, C, D, and 9-Volt Batteries: Health & Personal Care
Solar Sky Light
Solar Sky Light: "Our Solar Sky Light can easily be installed, in less than two hours, on just about any type of roof application. The 21' commercial units deliver up to 1400 watts of light, yet you need not worry about heat loss or gain as you often see with standard skylights!"
Skystream 3.7 Compact Wind Turbine and Wind Energy System
Skystream 3.7 Compact Wind Turbine and Wind Energy System
Take control of your home’s energy needs by harnessing a free resource—the wind. How? With a residential wind generator from Skystream®. Designed for homes just like yours, the smart, modern Skystream 3.7 converts wind into electricity you can use. It lowers your electric bill by as much as 80%, protects you against volatile electricity prices, reduces your dependence on foreign oil, and produces clean energy that doesn’t affect global warming. Most importantly, it provides independence and stability for you and your family.
Whirlpool Duet Front-Loading High-Efficiency Washer GHW9150P Review: Powered by ConsumerGuide and HowStuffWorks
Michelin Unveils Active Wheel in Affordable Electric Car : TreeHugger
Michelin Unveils Active Wheel in Affordable Electric Car : TreeHugger: "The Holy Grail of Eco-transportation
Could this be the technology that revolutionizes transportation? Will the company that invented the air-pressure tire trump that achievement by making electric cars affordable and practical? Michelin's Active Wheel system is the holy grail of wheel technology: a wheel with an integrated drive motor that has succeeded to meet unsprung weight limitations.
The Active Wheel frees automobile designers from the restrictions posed by the need for engine, transmission, drive shaft, differential and exhaust systems. Imagine the possibilities. Curiously, the prototype which Michelin will partner to bring to the roads in 2010 may not be what you imagined."
Could this be the technology that revolutionizes transportation? Will the company that invented the air-pressure tire trump that achievement by making electric cars affordable and practical? Michelin's Active Wheel system is the holy grail of wheel technology: a wheel with an integrated drive motor that has succeeded to meet unsprung weight limitations.
The Active Wheel frees automobile designers from the restrictions posed by the need for engine, transmission, drive shaft, differential and exhaust systems. Imagine the possibilities. Curiously, the prototype which Michelin will partner to bring to the roads in 2010 may not be what you imagined."
Boosting the power of solar cells - MIT News Office
Boosting the power of solar cells - MIT News Office
New ways of squeezing out greater efficiency from solar photovoltaic cells are emerging from computer simulations and lab tests conducted by a team of physicists and engineers at MIT.
Using computer modeling and a variety of advanced chip-manufacturing techniques, they have applied an antireflection coating to the front, and a novel combination of multi-layered reflective coatings and a tightly spaced array of lines -- called a diffraction grating -- to the backs of ultrathin silicon films to boost the cells' output by as much as 50 percent.
The carefully designed layers deposited on the back of the cell cause the light to bounce around longer inside the thin silicon layer, giving it time to deposit its energy and produce an electric current. Without these coatings, light would just be reflected back out into the surrounding air, said Peter Bermel, a postdoctoral researcher in MIT's Research Laboratory of Electronics who has been working on the project.
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