Standby Power - leaky electricity

All those devices on stand-by, like your microwave, DVD player and TV, are idol using power even when they’re not in use. The typical microwave uses more power in stand-by then when in use. Sure, when it’s cooking something it uses 100 times the amount of energy that it takes to power the digital clock. However, you’re cooking only 1% of the time and the digital clock always running.

According to the Ecomomist

…(A) study which estimated that standby power accounted for approximately 5% of total residential electricity consumption in America, “adding up to more than $3 billion in annual energy costs”. According to America’s Department of Energy, national residential electricity consumption in 2004 was 1.29 billion megawatt hours (MWh)—5% of which is 64m MWh. The wasted energy, in other words, is equivalent to the output of 18 typical power stations.

It turns out that the 5% was an estimation. When they actually went into homes and tested the amount of power being used by devices in standby mode — the numbers ranged from 7% to 13% for a typical western household! Imagine that, up to 13% of the electricity in America is being used while nobody is using the devices.

Wind Farm Potential in America

Here’s a guy who believes wind can reduce our dependency on gasoline by 38% in the next ten years. The video on the front page of his web site outlines his plan. Basically, he’s pushing wind power to relieve the electric grid from using all our natural gas, and then using the (domestic) natural gas to power vehicles like cars, trucks and buses. Read more

The price of gas & oil

These prices make alternate fuels seem reasonable. Some people hope that gas will climb to $10 a gallon or more, so that people will be really ready to adopt new technologies which let us do more for less. Electric vehicles, smart grids, nuclear power, high speed rail from NY to FL, from CA to WA and from PA to CA, etc.

Solar Powered Hybred Cars

The 2010 Toyota Prius is going to have solar panels on the roof! They are supposed to power the air conditioner on hot days. Others think it’s a sort of PR stunt. You’re not going to get much power from a few panels on the roof of a car, however, it’s somthing. Mazda had solar panels on the roof of a car in the past, which was intended to power fans on hot days when the car was parked. These were discontinued because nobody bought them.

L.E.D - the future of lighting

These light emitting diodes bulbs fit right into a regular light bulb socket but they only use 1 watt of power! Not only that, they only last 100,000 + hours (that’s 11 1/2 years) before you need to change them. Of course, they only use 1/100th the power of a regular bulb and they can run on 6v or 12v DC batteries (perfect for a solar solution). I’m pretty sure they’re expensive, however, the prices of these LEDs are coming down, and when they do, you can say good-bye to the compact florecent lights. But that’s not all, check out this nano LED breakthrough where they claim to improve the efficency by 7.5 times

Low MPG Cars, Truck and Automobile Reviews

Here is an analysis of some low mile per gallon cars. The page contains reviews and specifications on the most fuel efficient vehicles currently available in the US today. Some of them get over 50 miles per gallon. In the coming years, more and more options like these will be available. If everybody went from driving a 21 MPG car to a 42 MPG car, well, we’d only need 1/2 the amount of oil. I’m sure that’s the last thing that Exxon and the Saudi Arabian Princes want us to realize.

Recycling Paper

They used to say that it couldn’t be done. However, 56 percent of the paper consumed in the U.S. during 2007 was recovered for recycling — this was an all-time high. That’s nearly 360 pounds of paper for each man, woman, and child in America. (EPA, 2008) That’s 63 million tons of recycled paper. Read more

Solar Energy Facts

The sun is the main source of almost all energy on earth — even fossil fuels (coal, gas and petroleum) began life as plants whose energy came from the sun millions of year ago. Of course, the sun is also the original source of most renewable energy sources too — solar, wind, hydro — because the sun actually gives energy to the atmosphere, which creates wind, rain and ocean currents. Read more

Quick Energy Efficiency Tips & Facts

Here are some fun facts about easy things we all can easily do to save money on our heating bills.

• If every American household replaced one of its incandescent light bulbs with a compact fluorescent bulb, it would save the same amount of energy as a large nuclear power plant produces in a year.
• You can save 10 percent or more on your energy bill by reducing the air leaks in your home.
• By strategically placing trees, shrubs, and other landscape structures to block the wind and provide shade, residents can reduce the energy needed to keep their homes comfortable during heating and cooling seasons.
• Only 10 percent of the energy consumed by an incandescent bulb produces light; the remainder is given off as heat. Technologies developed during the last 10 years with fluorescent lighting can help cut lighting costs 30 to 60 percent while enhancing light quality and reducing environmental impacts. And LED lights are about to even beat that.
• Recycling an aluminum can saves 95 percent of the energy required to produce a replacement aluminum from bauxite.

Souce eia.doe.gov