Chop your electric cost for free but don’t cut bats from your tree
Updated: 2011-06-30 16:43:14
Smart Grid Blog News updates on smart grid technology Home About Contact Us Videos Downloads Chop your electric cost for free but don’t cut bats from your tree Posted by Derek on June 30, 2011 News Hello there If you are new here , you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this . topic You’re paying for utility reduction programs you may be missing and baby bats are again at . risk Retired long-haul trucker Sharon Ramsey reduced her electric cost last week thanks to a program available to Texas homeowners with air . conditioning via Chop your electric cost for free but don’t cut bats from your tree Corpus Christi Caller-Times Related : posts Robert F . Kenney , Jr Free energy for all , says Kennedy at CC9 Michigan gets 5M for smart grid job training Detroit Free Press A
Jun 29 2011 Renewable Energy : A New Corporate Responsibility Posted by : Jonathan Marshall Several well-known American companies , including Kohl's department stores , Whole Foods and Intel , are among the world's leading corporate buyers of renewable energy , according to a global Corporate Renewable Energy Index launched yesterday by Bloomberg and the Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas On a percentage basis , Kohl's topped the charts with 100 percent of its electricity coming from renewable supplies like wind , solar , biomass and geothermal . Whole Foods , which buys all of its electricity from wind farms , came in a very close . second Other American firms in the top 20 include Adobe Systems , News Corp . BNY Mellon Corp . Starbucks , MetLife , State Street Corp . and Johnson .
Jun 28 2011 Ample Hydro Greens PG s Energy Mix Posted by : Jonathan Marshall My colleague Paul Moreno submitted the following report Plentiful rain and snow this past winter not only ended California s drought , they gave a healthy boost to PG E's hydroelectric power--benefiting the utility's customers , the environment , and the power . grid That's because hydroelectric power is less expensive than most other forms of power available in the market . Hydropower also generates energy without producing greenhouse gases and helps increase the percentage of PG E's renewable generation for the . year During the hotter months of the summer , typically in July and August , hydropower helps PG E meet peak-demand periods . When the river systems are under control , water flows can be routed through
: Blog Read our latest posts on renewables and energy efficiency Authors Learn more about our passionate blog authors Xcel Energy Visit the Xcel Energy website Search : for Uncategorized Tuesday June 28, 2011 by Dan Hauser tags clean energy David Hasselhoff electric vehicles EVs prius comments 0 Talking to electric vehicles : Where’s The Hoff when we need him Do you remember the show Knight Rider , featuring David Hasselfhoff and KITT , the smooth-talking Trans Am , that aired back in the early 80s I remember going over to my friend Art’s house and finding his dad glued to the TV set every Friday night watching what I thought was a lame show . But maybe it wasn’t so lame , after all . Turns out that Mr . Hasselhoff and the folks at NBC were ahead of their . time According to news reports ,
Jun 27 2011 Racing Toward Sustainability Posted by : Jonathan Marshall Auto racing isn't a sport I normally associate with environmental sustainability . At least , it wasn't before I learned what Infineon Raceway has done to green its popular track in Sonoma County On Saturday , the raceway unveiled its new array of 1,652 solar panels , installed in partnership with Panasonic . The 353-kilowatt generator is now powering 41 percent of the track's energy . needs Panasonic also provided a more efficient , solar-powered LED video board to replace the previous board visible from Highway 37, cutting the raceway's energy . needs PG E supported the development of the new solar system and selection of the LED message board technology . nbsp Once the solar installation's output is verified , PG E
Jun 24 2011 Climate Changes Posted by : Christine Cordner Several stories on the science and politics of global warming caught our attention this : week Continued levels of environmental damage could threaten the world's oceans and leave them at high risk of a mass extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history , according to a recent inter-disciplinary study by marine scientists from around the world . The main causes of this extinction would be global warming , ocean acidification and a lack of oxygen . For instance , acidification is occurring faster than in the past 55 million years , and with the added man-made stressors of overfishing and pollution , undermining ocean resilience , it . found The rate of sea level rise along the U.S . Atlantic Coast is greater now than at
Jun 23 2011 Thirteen : A Lucky Number for Recycling Posted by : Jonathan Marshall The folks who work on the 13 th floor of PG E's main headquarters building in San Francisco apparently never got the memo about 13 being an unlucky number . In fact , they've recently taken the lead in a contest between nine floors of PG E employees across three buildings to see who can reduce their landfill waste the . most The 13 th floor gang was doing a creditable job even before the contest began last month . They were already diverting 67 percent of their trash to compost or recycling streams . But once their competitive juices started flowing , they managed to boost that rate to an impressive 89 percent and significantly improved the quality and accuracy of their waste sorting as . well Rival floors
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Global Energy Growth
BP recently released their highly respected annual Statistical Review of World Energy for 2011. Most of the news stories on the report have focused on the exceptionally strong growth in global energy consumption. While that is without a doubt a major story that I will discuss [...]
Jun 21 2011 Alert Yourself to A SmartMeter Benefit Posted by : Christine Cordner With the National Weather Service issuing heat advisories across much of California , many PG E residential electric customers are heralding the beginning of the hot summer season by turning up air conditioners . But along with those welcome blasts of cool air comes the risk of bill over the next few . months Bills can soar much faster than many residential customers realize because of California's tiered rate system , which bumps up the cost of electricity the more a customer uses over the course of a month . The rate per kilowatt-hour , the basic unit of electricity rises with use from 12¢ for those with limited demand to 34¢ for heavy users . The difference can add up to hundreds of dollars a . month PG E
Jun 21 2011 A Crystal Ball for California's Climate Posted by : Jonathan Marshall The week is off to a really hot start breaking well past 100 degrees in some parts of PG E's service territory . But today's abnormal will become distressingly commonplace in coming decades , according to a new website hosted by the California Energy Commission on the statewide impact of global . warming Called Cal-Adapt it offers color-coded , zoomable maps to show projected changes in temperature precipitation snowpack sea levels and wildfires from some or all of the decades 1950 through 2090. The maps reflect data from several leading research centers , including U.S . Geological Survey and Scripps Institution of Oceanography , and U . C . Merced's Climate Applications . Lab You'll detect a clear and
: Blog Read our latest posts on renewables and energy efficiency Authors Learn more about our passionate blog authors Xcel Energy Visit the Xcel Energy website Search : for Renewable Energy Tuesday June 21, 2011 by Dan Hauser tags solar panels solar power solar technology solartac comments 0 Bright Spot : SolarTAC facility serves as sun laboratory In 2010, Xcel Energy ranked fourth in the Solar Electric Power Association’s SEPA list for new solar watts-per-customer . Part of what is driving this growth in solar development is state renewable energy . standards Colorado is a great place for solar energy production , so it seems fitting that the state serves a role in developing more advanced solar technologies . The industry took a large step in this direction in early June with the
Jun 20 2011 There's a Great Future in Steel Posted by : Jonathan Marshall A self-taught metallurgist from Detroit may hold the key to a breakthrough in vehicle fuel efficiency with his invention of a remarkable new kind of steel lighter and stronger than any previously . fabricated According to a news release from the University of Ohio , where the new steel has been tested and analyzed , inventor Gary Cola's novel heat treatment makes steel 7 percent stronger than any steel on record in less than 10 seconds . In fact , the steel , now trademarked as Flash Bainite , has tested stronger and more shock-absorbing than the most common titanium alloys used by industry . rdquo Flash Bainite is also , pound for pound , said to be twice as strong as the best aluminum alloys . Also attractive is
Jun 17 2011 Climate Changes Posted by : Christine Cordner Several stories on the science and politics of global warming caught our attention this : week Acting quickly to reduce black carbon , methane , and other emissions that create soot and smog may help limit temperature increases tied to global warming , according to a recent report These short-lived emissions can have immediate climate , health and agricultural benefits because , unlike carbon dioxide which can remain in the atmosphere for centuries , they persist only for a much shorter time , it . said Climate blogger Joe Romm in a recent blog post noted June 2011 has broken a slew of heat records , just another development that underscores the relationship between hotter temperatures and climate change . Looking at a range of data
Jun 16 2011 Power Guzzlers Posted by : Jonathan Marshall Joe Sixpack used to come home from work , turn on the tube and settle down with a beer to watch Monday Night . Football Now his big flat-panel TV is always on , drawing residual power even when the screen is black . It's connected to a set-top box that's always on as well , ready to jump to one of 499 other channels if the game gets too dull . The set-top box is connected in turn to a digital video recorder DVR also on around the clock , so he can watch Monday Night Football on Tuesday , without any of the . commercials All those devices draw a lot more electric power than the old setup . In fact , the set-top box and DVR together use more juice than the EnergyStar-rated refrigerator that keeps his beers icy cold , according to a new
Jun 15 2011 Energy Sprawl--or Hot Air Posted by : Jonathan Marshall Last week , noted renewable energy opponent Robert Bryce reignited an old claim against wind and solar power in a New York Times opinion column complaining that they consume vast amounts of natural resources most notably , land . rdquo Such profligate use of resources is the antithesis of the environmental ideal , rdquo he charged . Bryce asserted that the country must focus instead of developing natural gas and nuclear power as future energy . sources His either-or mentality , mirrored by some environmentalists who equally disdain natural gas and nuclear power , has no place in the real world . The United States will need all of them as we transition to a cleaner , low-carbon . economy Bryce estimates the land required to
: Home by Sector Biofuels Carbon Smart Grid Renewables Solar Storage Transport Water Cleantech News Submit Blog Press Release Advertise Jobs About About Cleantech Blog What is Cleantech Bloggers Bookshelf Contact Cleantech Blog Blog With Us Cleantech Blog’s Parameters for a Workable Energy Policy Cleantech Investing : A Primer on Risks Rossi Energy Catalyzer : The New Fire” On June 15, 2011, in Blog by David Niebauer by David Niebauer I recently listened to an astounding podcast of an interview with Dennis Bushnell , Chief Scientist at NASA’s Langley Research Center , talking about low energy nuclear reactions LENR and devices that are apparently generating significant energy in the form of heat , with very little input of raw material and no radioactive . waste Bushnell credits Andrea
Jun 14 2011 Crazy Weather on the Sun Puts Us at Risk Posted by : Jonathan Marshall The weather's been acting crazy everywhere monster floods in the Mississippi Valley and Colombia severe droughts in northern Europe to China fires raging in parched Arizona and Russia and even a rash of killer tornadoes across the United States The weather has been wild on the Sun as well . Last week , according to NASA's Goddard Space Center a spectacular coronal mass ejection CME sent a huge cloud of particles roaring from the Sun at 1,400 kilometers per second The eruption , which took scientists totally by surprise , covered nearly half the Sun's surface . We've never seen a CME this enormous , quot said NASA astrophysicist Phillip Chamberlin Fortunately , most of the high-energy particles that boiled
Jun 14 2011 Gax Taxes : Polemics and Policy Posted by : Jonathan Marshall When the CEO of a major automaker calls for higher gas taxes , that's news , even if it can't compete with a congressman's misuse of . Twitter Last week , Dan Akerson , CEO of General Motors , told the Detroit News that he favors raising the relatively low federal gasoline tax of 18.4 cents per gallon by 50 cents to a dollar to motivate consumers to buy more fuel-efficient cars and spare the . environment People will start buying more Cruzes and they will start buying less Suburbans , rdquo he told the . paper As he acknowledged , that's not a politically popular position . Sure enough , Glenn Beck condemned the idea with colorful language that need not be repeated here . For good measure , Beck also dismissed the
Blog Read our latest posts on renewables and energy efficiency Authors Learn more about our passionate blog authors Xcel Energy Visit the Xcel Energy website Search : for Energy Efficiency Tuesday June 14, 2011 by Dan Hauser tags Bulb Blasters CFLs energy efficiency Lighting comments 0 Bursting Edison’s Bulb I recently downloaded a new app to my iPhone called Bulb Blasters . OK , full disclosure : it’s a game created by Xcel Energy that involves using a powerful laser-equipped CFL to blast incandescent bulbs that descend the screen a la Space Invaders . When I showed it my brother , he rolled his eyes . I’m not sure whether it was because he’s jealous of my ultra-cool phone or because he’s an incandescent bulb fan . Probably a little of both . The former issue he can fix by buying a new
Stump the Scientist is back everybody! We are about to hit the 1 year anniversary of this feature on ...
Blog Read our latest posts on renewables and energy efficiency Authors Learn more about our passionate blog authors Xcel Energy Visit the Xcel Energy website Search : for Uncategorized Friday June 10, 2011 by Tim Laughlin tags comments 1 Taking Control of the Heat Earlier this week , temperatures soared into the triple digits , reaching record highs for the Twin Cities . After a wicked winter , I actually welcomed the heat with open arms . That is , until the temperature inside my house hit a steamy 86 degrees even with curtains closed and fans circulating . And while I pride myself on keeping an energy efficient and comfortable home , I was in a bit of a . pickle With the fans not cutting it and no central air on which to rely , my only other option to beat the heat was a lone window air
Blog Read our latest posts on renewables and energy efficiency Authors Learn more about our passionate blog authors Xcel Energy Visit the Xcel Energy website Search : for Uncategorized Thursday June 2, 2011 by Dan Hauser tags comments 2 Sometimes it takes a community to harness the sun’s power The house in which I grew up sat on a narrow plot of land only 15 feet separated us from the neighbor’s home . Consequently , my mother didn’t have much room to grow produce in a garden . She wanted more than three tomato plants , so for one summer in the mid-70s she took part in a community garden . Dozens of other local homeowners faced similar space restraints and joined her in the pursuit of fresh . vegetables Fast forward more than 30 years later . Another kind of community garden is on the