Category Archives: energy conservation measures

Solid State Lighting – Why state of the art energy solutions are not applied

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Residential energy conservation has stagnated somewhat in the last 3 or 4 years. I do not know what the dampers are, whether it is price or attitude for instance. New houses are a lot more efficient but the efforts to improve existing housing stock have stalled. Here is an article about those latest techniques.

http://www.nyserda.ny.gov/Energy-Efficiency-and-Renewable-Programs/Residential/Emerging-Technologies-and-Accelerated-Commercialization.aspx

Emerging Technologies and Accelerated Commercialization (ETAC) in the Residential Sector

Opportunities to achieve energy-efficiency gains in the residential sector beyond traditional building and retrofit techniques have been limited by underutilization of emerging technologies that are commercially-available, but face barriers to widespread adoption in the industry. Technologies and techniques such as solid state lighting, lighting controls, home energy management systems, smart-grid integration, micro-combined heat and power, and super insulation have proven benefits. But they have seen limited market adoption, due to obstacles such as upfront costs, consumer and builder awareness and the lack of infrastructure support, including activities such as supply chain development, sales training and installer certification.

The ETAC initiative seeks to address the barriers to market acceptance by facilitating in-field demonstrations and the subsequent technology transfers. Widespread, large-scale demonstrations will incorporate these technologies into energy-efficiency projects, where the savings potential will be monitored and validated. In parallel, other marketplace needs will be addressed, such as the development of a training curriculum for designers and specifiers, installer-certification standards, consumer-education materials, and maintenance processes. Following the demonstration period, results will be communicated to the marketplace via various means such as case studies, presentations, and webinars.

While this specific initiative is focused on emerging technologies in the residential sector, NYSERDA will also demonstrate emerging technologies for the multifamily and commercial/industrial sectors through parallel ETAC initiative

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Go there and read. More next week.

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Syracuse Goes Green – Grows a shopping center out of a brownfield

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This was sent to me by the Destiny USA management. I agreed to run it because they seem to have done a good job. CES can not endorse comercial endeavors nor should this be considered a commercial advertisement as we have received no money to perform this task. When folks do good for the planet we reserve the right to talk about it.

http://www.destinyusa.com/green

History of Destiny USA LEED® –Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design LEED® Tenants City and Federal Commitments On-site Green initiatives

History of Destiny USA

 

Carousel Center opened its doors on October 15, 1990 after several years of land redevelopment and renovation on the shores of Onondaga Lake in Syracuse, NY. The super-regional shopping center was developed on a former Brownfield site; one so ravaged by environmental negligence that the New York Times[m1]   called it “a kind of monument to 20th century environmental arrogance, its future written off by government and business alike.”

Robert Congel and Pyramid Management Group welcomed the responsibility of this cleanup after drawing up plans to build a new shopping center in Syracuse. Originally, plans were created for a different location but Mr. Congel redirected his attention to “Oil City.” It was an opportunity to cleanup the lakefront disaster and make it the thriving economic engine that it is today.

Destiny USA is continuing to build upon Mr. Congel’s history of projects that improve Syracuse environmentally. This project is taking a path of leadership in the commercial retail industry by cooperating with the United States Green Building Council (USGBC, USGBC on Destiny USA)[m2]   to get its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) for Core and Shell certification. After meticulous work, the USGBC deemed the 1.3 million square foot Core & Shell expansion its LEED® Gold Certification on February 6, 20

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Should SolarCity Change Its Name – Changing their name to EfficiencyCity

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I mean really if they are going to drop their insistence on solar panel installations as part of a retrofit then why keep the name? Are they now a software company or are they now a software and then install whatever company? Good questions with no answers. It would be like Tide if it were to stop making soap and started making dishwashers. Would they keep the name and why?

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/a-peak-at-solarcitys-new-energy-efficiency-software?

Has SolarCity Created the Amazon 1-Click for Energy Efficiency?

 

“We believe SolarCity has the best database of residential energy use of anyone in the world.”

 

Stephen Lacey: June 28, 2013

 

After SolarCity shifted its energy efficiency strategy and pulled back from doing residential retrofits in-house, the solar services behemoth is moving straight into intelligent efficiency.

 

GTM’s Eric Wesoff recently reported on SolarCity’s evolving business plan and the resulting changes that company executives say will scale residential efficiency in the same way solar services have scaled residential solar.

 

But solar is very different from efficiency. For the most part, solar is very standardized and installations are uniform from home to home. Efficiency retrofits encompass an extraordinarily broad category of activities and skills. Incentives are also quite different for efficiency, making it more complicated from a financial perspective. That’s why only a handful of U.S. solar contractors have offered efficiency as an in-house service.

 

SolarCity decided that doing the retrofit work itself was not the best way to scale. Instead, it has turned from manpower to the power of big data.

 

The secret sauce is a “simulation engine” that shows homeowners exactly how much they’re spending on energy everywhere in their house. The initial database was created using information from 16,000 home energy audits performed over the last five years. It relies on an algorithm developed at the Department of Energy that crunches 100 million calculations per home for each individual energy efficiency audit (which is still performed by SolarCity when installing solar).

 

“The simulation software looks at every component in a home in relation to one another,” said SolarCity COO Peter Rive. “Every ten minutes, it thinks about what one thing is doing and about its effect on the rest of the systems within the home.”

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Petersburg Is An Energy Producer – At the high school no less

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This story makes me so proud.

http://business-news.thestreet.com/sj-r/story/petersburg-school-nominated-solar-energy-program/1

Petersburg school nominated for solar energy program

Dan Petrella 06/18/2013 – 11:22 PM EDT

PETERSBURG — The PORTA School District could soon add more solar power to its alternative energy portfolio.

Thanks to a wind turbine, solar panels and geothermal heating installed in 2009 at PORTA High School, the district has been saving about $350,000 a year in energy costs, School Superintendent Matt Brue said.

Now, a former student who works for Joule Solar Energy in New Orleans has nominated PORTA Central School for a program that aims to bring solar panels to schools through crowdfunding

Oakland, Calif.-based Mosaic offers an online platform for individuals to invest in solar projects.

When Bob O’Hara received an email from Mosaic saying that the company was looking for schools to work with, he thought of PORTA Central.

O’Hara, 29, attended PORTA schools through eighth grade before enrolling at Sacred Heart-Griffin High School in Springfield. He moved to New Orleans after graduating in 2002 to attend Tulane University, but he still visits his parents in Petersburg regularly.

He likes to check out the wind turbine at the high school on his visits and thought PORTA Central would be a good candidate for solar panels because of its long, south-facing roofline.

O’Hara said he also knows the district has been facing budget cuts due to dwindling state funding.

“One way to be able to invest in a school is to help them with their energy costs,” he said.

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Energy Efficient Dryers – In Europe no less

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Good article and it just goes to show that America is always behind. We cede way to much to the powerful and pay the price. I would be willing to bet that we could half those numbers again with the proper research and development.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/williampentland/2013/06/11/europes-clothes-dryers-consume-half-as-much-energy-as-americas/?ss=business%3Aenergy

William Pentland

William Pentland, Contributor

Europe’s Clothes Dryers Consume Half As Much Energy As America’s

Like the vast majority of U.S. households, I own a clothes dryer that accounts for a non-trivial share of my electricity consumption. Like the vast majority of my fellow Americans, I would likely pay a lot less to dry my clothes if I lived in Europe.

Based on a new study by Ecova, an energy consulting firm in Spokane, WA, Europe’s embrace of new heat pump technologies is largely responsible for the transatlantic disparity in the energy efficiency of clothes dryers. Unlike Europe, heat pump technology has yet to arrive in North America.

There are 87 million residential dryers in the U.S. These clothes dryers account for 6% of residential electricity consumption, which is roughly equivalent to the electricity consumed annually by the entire state of Massachusetts (60 billion kWh per year). The annual cost of operating America‘s clothes dryers adds up to about $9 billion.

The energy efficiency of North American clothes dryers has made at most modest gains over the past two decades. By contrast, the energy attributed to washer use has decreased by about 70% since 1992.

Ecova compared the energy consumption of currently available European heat pump dryers to North American conventional electric dryers spanning a wide range of sizes, prices, features, and manufacturers.

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The Nest Thermostat Is A Smart One – A utility company’s wet dream

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I think that the Smart Grid is a 2 edged sword. On the one hand it makes integrating renewable energy sources into the grid much easier. On the other hand it could be a step towards big brother. Whatever the case it is coming no matter what.

http://gizmodo.com/5995249/how-nest-will-save-you-more-money-by-teaming-up-with-utility-suppliers

How Nest Will Save You More Money By Teaming Up With Utility Suppliers

Jamie Condliffe

The smart thermostat from Nest just got a little smarter: by teaming up with utility providers, the device can now predict when power will be in high demand and price, and tweak your heating accordingly.

The new system links the device to a collective, cloud-based knowledge of utility companies. If you’re with an Energy Services-aware power company, the thermostat will learn of upcoming peak energy periods—where power is in high demand and prices rocket as a result—which are sometimes known as rush hours. With that data, it will fine tune your heating, using less energy while it’s expensive.

The cloud will also feed the device data about seasonal discounts, allowing it to fine tune the heating to save you as much cash as possible over the longer term, too. Sadly, only Austin Energy, Green Mountain Energy, Reliant and Southern California Edison have joined forces to make the scheme happen so far. There are deals to be had with provides, though—customers of National Grid can get a $100 rebate through Nest, and Reliant offer a free thermostat with some plans—and it seems likely that other provides will join the fold soon.

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A Vermont Super Efficient House – Using the Scandanavian Model

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Well I got a new computer and so I am back. The old computer is getting the data transferred from it so I can have it on the new system.  I do not have many tools at hand as a result. This  system has to have the data transferred to it soon so I will not post here again for awhile. But here is a sign of progress.

http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/homes/rossetto-vermont-house

Super Energy-Efficient Home in Vermont

Waitsfield, VT

Oct 10 2008 By Rob Wotzak

Modest House Built to Scandinavian Green Standards

This modest home may not seem out of the ordinary, but energy efficiency specialist Efficiency Vermont calls it extraordinary — “Best of the Best” and “the most energy efficient home in the state,” to be specific. With a HERS score of 95.3 out of 100, and four years of energy bills to document its performance, the building deserves the accolades. Builder Al Rossetto leaves nothing to chance: he has used the same construction details to lock in five-star Energy Star ratings for every home he has built since.

Is Vermont the new Scandinavia?
The shallow, frost-protected footing is possibly this home’s most unusual detail. Northern Vermont’s deep frost line and rocky soil make building conventional foundations a challenge. A shallow bed of gravel surrounded by a horizontal apron of rigid foam insulation — a system used in Scandinavia for decades — worked well here.

When paired with an insulated concrete form (ICF) foundation, this system ended up saving energy and materials. The walls and roof are all structural insulated panels (SIPs), which go up quickly and provide a tight shell. Energy efficient windows with triple glazing and multiple low-e layers (also standard equipment in Scandinavia) complete the package.

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The Swedish continue to dominate in the housing industry – They put America to shame

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This house is air tight and over powered. These are 2 things that really turn me on. A night in that house would be a continous orgasm. Oh and did I mention that the house is in Sweden.

http://www.mnn.com/your-home/remodeling-design/blogs/villa-%C3%A5karp-a-super-efficient-home-that-scores-an-a-in-surplus-ene

Villa Åkarp: A super-efficient home that scores an A+ in surplus energy production
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After construction wrapped up in 2009, Villa Åkarp’s energy-plus ambitions have come true: The super-insulated Swedish home’s rooftop solar system generates an excess of 600kWh annually.
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Tue, Sep 11 2012 at 5:36 PM
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Keeping up with today’s mini-trend of (shockingly) non-IKEA-related housing news coming out of Sweden, I thought I’d revisit a notable residential building project located outside of the city of Malmö that I first made mention of way back in November 2009.
When I intially caught wind of said project, Villa Åkarp, it was under construction with the lofty ambition of becoming an energy-plus (or positive) home. In other words, the three-bedroom, two-bathroom home is not only influenced by stringent Passivhaus building standards that focus on energy recovery and conservation (high amounts of insulation, triple pane windows, thermal recovery, strategic building orientation, etc.), but energy generation as well. Thanks in part to a 32-square-meter rooftop photovoltaic array, the now-completed residence produces significantly more energy than it consumes. In all, the airtight home’s solar panels produce around 4,200 kilowatt hours (kWh) of juice per year (mainly during the summer months) with a surplus of around 600kWh annually that’s fed back into the grid in a partnership with local green utility provider E. ON. That’s enough energy to power another energy-efficient home for two months.

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Green Energy For Illinois – These people can help

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No comment neccesary.

http://www.justenergy.com/?s_clid=7804bf19f3166eb04ed5c04eedc42a69&gclid=CJjW0qm1orQCFao7MgodOhAAdg

Learning Center

In many province and states across North America, you have the right to choose your natural gas and/or electricity supplier. Our Learning Center will help you make an informed decision by providing you with an overview of how energy markets work and your rights as a consumer.

Customer Care Center

At Just Energy, our customers are at the forefront of everything we do. Through our Customer Care Center, you will learn about the many convenient services available to Just Energy customers, our customer bill of rights and answers to some of our frequently asked questions.

Efficiency Center

Find ways to save money, energy and the environment through our Efficiency Centre. Take advantage of tips to cut your household, business and transportation costs. You can also save up to 30% on everyday items for your home and business through our SmartShop.

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Save the nukes for when the Sun dims – that is if humans are even around

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Most Christians (and many other end of the Earth religions) assume that humans will be here when it happens. I got my doubts about that. The way we are treating the Earth we may be extinct in 50 years. Very few species make it for a couple million years let alone the billions we have to go but if we were smart we would be saving the nukes for the end.

http://www.energy-net.org/NONUKES.HTM

Why a Nuclear Free World is Important

We are now facing an energy crossroad as a culture. Everyone was effected by the price of gas that peaked during the summer of 2008. The world has fallen into a consumer trap where a growing number of people around the world are using finite oil resources to drive to work. The energy it takes to drive a car is like having 700 human slaves pushing that vehicle for a few cents per hour. The era of oil is rapidly coming to an end as the entire planet hunts down the last accessible oil reserves. At the same time, the burning of fossil fuels is polluting the air and water. There is a global shift to move away from oil driven cars. This means electric cars or better, redesigning our communities so we work close to home.

Thirty years ago, energy and environmental activists warned Americans about this coming crisis but were drowned out by the energy industry and the media’s failure to be honest with the public. In 1992, one half of the world’s Nobel Laureates signed onto a call that the world had 20 years to deal with our growing global energy and population crisis. That call was ignored by America’s leaders and the media. Some experts say we only have a few years to keep from being bankrupted by energy costs and global carrying capacity collapses.

The nuclear power industry has been claiming that it can rescue us from climate change and the coming energy crisis. Wrong! The arguments from this failed industry should not be trusted and in fact, represent a disastrous misuse of economic resources at such a critical moment. Their last experiment in Science Fiction has left the world neck deep in deadly wastes and economic boondoggles.

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