that GREEN blog

I’m getting set for a long summer road trip with my friends. I know we won’t be doing the atmosphere any favors by driving cross-country, but we’d like to limit the damage as much as we can. Does it matter where we stop for gas along the way? Is one brand of pumping station better than another?

It’s true that driving coast-to-coast is going to produce some heavy carbon emissions, but there are some ways to reduce your impact on the environment. You can save energy, for example, by keeping your windows closed—and your A/C on—as you coast down the highway. When you stop to refuel, don’t bother getting high-octane gas if your vehicle isn’t designed to use it. And, as you suggest in your question, try to avoid the pump stations run by the world’s nastiest corporate villains.

No fossil fuel company has a clean record when it comes to the environment. Drilling, transporting, and refining oil produces massive amounts of greenhouse gas. The industry also pollutes the air with soot and other chemicals, and as we’ve seen in recent weeks, companies like BP end up releasing tons of hazardous waste into oceans and streams. Even so, some companies are more diligent about their environmental responsibilities than others. Activist groups have made an attempt to rank the major oil companies according to their records; see, for example, the lists compiled by Greenopia, Sierra Club, and the Better World Handbook. While Greenopia’s list is the most up-to-date, it includes both the ubiquitous “supermajor” oil companies (like ExxonMobil and Chevron) and smaller refiners whose gas stations might be harder to find. To simplify things, let’s separate out the big and the small, and focus on the two metrics that should be first in your mind when you’re about to fill up your tank: the amount of oil spilled by each company and the amount of CO2 emitted per barrel of production.

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From: Home Power – Free

As the price of fossil fuels rise, it may be time to start pondering other options for your household power requirements. It’s not as difficult as you might imagine and with the breakthroughs in photo voltaic technology, you can now assemble your own panels for very little money.

And also being capable to build them cheaply, you’ll be able to take advantage of the federal government tax rebates that are on offer as well as local incentives to lower your expenses even more.

So how does constructing your own panels actually help other than financially?

1. Build them as you need to.

Perhaps the very best grounds for mastering exactly how to construct your own residential solar panels is that you could then start to add your solar energy system into your household energy system one panel at a time as your finances enable. In the event you purchase solar electricity panels, you frequently have to pay for them all simultaneously and if you do decide to buy them singularly, it is advisable to have a consultant come out every time and setting up charges often usually are not worth just getting individual panels.

By being able to build them as you can afford to or as you require them, you are in control and having the ability to install them yourself means very little or no additional expense on the part of servicing and guaranteeing they continue to generate electricity.

2. Build them and make an income

There is certainly a growing market place for used and self made solar energy panels. There’s also plenty of people who wish to make the most of this know-how but don’t possess the skill set or the space to create their own. An incredibly profitable market place to tap into and make an extra income.

“Going green” is a concept that can be applied to almost every area of your life, including how you select your home’s window treatments. Most people see window treatments as a way to decorate or have more privacy in their homes, but there are a few characteristics you can look for in blinds, shades or draperies that make them more eco-friendly.

The first of these characteristics is energy efficiency. This is not only good for the environment; it’s good for your wallet too. Energy efficient window treatments can help drastically reduce your energy bills by providing thermal protection. In the winter, certain window treatments can help provide insulation by preventing heat loss. Others can be effective in the summer by reducing heat gain. Your location and the type of material you select are both factors in a window treatment’s energy efficiency.

Checking the R-Value and Shading Coefficient ratings of the material is the best way to determine how energy efficient it is. The R-Value tells you the material’s effectiveness at preventing heat loss and the Shading Coefficient will tell you how much heat is coming through the window. So, if you live in a region where temperatures are colder for most of the year, you want to go with a material that has a high R-Value and low Shading Coefficient.

The next characteristic you want to look for in a “green” window treatment is whether or not the material is made from recyclable or renewable materials. Try and find products that are made from natural materials like cotton, hemp or silk and are not treated with pesticides or other harmful chemicals. The impact a treatment has on air quality is a factor in this as well. GREENGUARD certified products are your best bet as they have been tested for chemical emissions. The GREENGUARD Environmental Institute is a non profit organization whose mission is to improve public health and quality of life by improving indoor air quality.

Sustainable manufacturing is the final characteristic you should look for in an eco-friendly window treatment. This means selecting a product that is manufactured without the emission of greenhouse gases, generating waste, or using non-renewable or toxic materials. A product’s entire life cycle and its full impact on the environment and the surrounding community are considered in sustainable manufacturing. The goal is to be able to manufacture in a way which is so sustainable that it is able to continue far into the future.

There is no one treatment that encapsulates all of these characteristics and unless the product comes with some sort of certification statement, you may have to do some research into a product to find out just how eco-friendly your window treatment is. But if you follow these guidelines you should be able to select a treatment that is best for you, your wallet and the environment.

Jon Wellinghoff, chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, raised a lot of eyebrows recently when he suggested that the US may no longer need to build conventional power plants – that efficiency and renewable energy might meet our needs.

He has since clarified his position, saying much will depend on how we think about energy, its use in the system, and market response.

Still, critics say he overestimates green technologies. Are they right? Reading over the most recent report by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy gives one pause about underestimating technology.

We know that semiconductors have given us computers, cell phones, the Internet – they’ve changed the way we live and work. But often semiconductors are thought of as the source of energy gluttony. We are all plugged in much more than we were 20 years ago.

Steve Nadel, ACEEE director, calls this “the high tech energy paradox,” in his introduction to the report. “Analysts tend to pay more attention to the energy-consuming characteristics of semiconductor devices than to their broader, economy-wide, energy-saving capacity.”

Turns out that in making life easier for us, semiconductors also have been taking a lot of strain off our power system. ACEEE looked at how we might have accomplished tasks without the semi-conductor and found it would have taken a lot more energy.

“Computers and servers show us that it can be easier to make decisions, and that it is easier to move electrons than it is to physically move people and goods,” says the report.

In fact, technologies that use semiconductors saved us 775 billion kWh in 2006 alone. Without semiconductors we would have used 20 percent more power that year. Or put more strikingly, had it not been for semiconductors, we would have built 184 additional, large power plants.

The report goes on to extrapolate that the semiconductor industry is likely to lead to even greater savings in the future.

Semiconductors could support an economy in 2020 that is 35 percent larger than today, but uses seven percent less electricity. By 2030 the economy could be 70 percent larger and use 11 percent less power. What does this mean in practical terms? About $1.7 billion in electricity savings, a lot less carbon dioxide and many more jobs, says the report.

Such startling projections make Wellinghoff’s statement seem less dramatic.

Here I’m in danger of sounding like a sales pitch on the jacket of a paperback. But if you read only one energy efficiency report this year, make it this one: “Semiconductor Technologies: the Potential to Revolutionize U.S. Energy Productivity. http://www.aceee.org/press/e094pr.htm. It is an eye opener.

Renewable & Alternative Energy Resources

Visit Elisa Wood at www.realenergywriters.com and pick up her free Energy Efficiency Markets podcast and newsletter.

The clean energy industry may not be popping the champagne cork, but it is at least holding the bottle in hand. While not unscathed by the recession, the industry sees growth in several sectors, according to recent reports.

For example, use of smart meters—a key technology for better energy management and efficiency – is increasing at a rapid clip. A study by ABI Research, “Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMM and AMI),” forecasts that the number of smart meters installed worldwide will reach 76 million this year, up from 49 million in 2007. Smart meters will benefit from an estimated $4.5 billion that the US plans to spend on smart grid initiatives as part of the federal stimulus package.

“We don’t think that the economic crisis is having a significant effect,” says Sam Lucero, senior analyst for ABI Research. “Utilities’ smart metering deployments are typically multi-year plans developed in the context of regulated market environments, and not terribly susceptible to short-term economic fluctuations.”

Press reports indicate that two other energy-cutting products are poised for significant growth this year. Moneynews.com quotes analysts who say demand response companies are likely to see recovery in 2009 following a dramatic fall in stocks of some leading companies. Meanwhile, industry insiders say they expect continued expansion for combined heat and power, a resource that has won new federal tax incentives and state support. See my article in the January/February issue of Cogeneration and Onsite Power Production magazine for more details.

Not all the news is good though. Greentech Media and the Prometheus Institute for Sustainable Development project that the global market for photovoltaics will shrink 15% this year to $12 billion. This is solar energy’s poorest performance since 1994, according to the report. At the same time, Lux Research says this year’s solar shakeout – caused by oversupply of cell and module capacity – will push solar prices closer to grid parity and precipitate expansion.

Meanwhile, expect to read a lot more about the clean energy sector in the coming year. William Brent’s Search for Cleantech reports that members of the media foresee heightened coverage of the cleantech sector in 2009 (and it certainly wasn’t light coverage last year.) Seventy-five percent of bloggers, mainstream newspapers, magazines and broadcasters surveyed say readers and editors will demand more coverage of the sector. So while the champagne may not be flowing yet, the information certainly is.

Visit Elisa Wood at www.realenergywriters.com and pick up her free Energy Efficiency Markets podcast and newsletter.

Article Source: http://www.alternativeenergybase.com