See How Much Energy Your Neigbours Use

I spotted this on Springwise a while ago but thought it was quite interesting and I’d share.

A company called Positive Energy in America works with local utility companies to let people know not only their energy use but also their neighbours. It adds a social side to energy use and I’d suggest they hope a bit of competitiveness – trying to use less than a similar house.

It’s a nice idea to try and change people’s behaviour, whether it works or not remains to be seen.

6 Sources Of Limitless Energy

These might actually work! The Business Insider’s Green Sheet goes through six sources of permanent alternative energy at various stages of development. There is no guarantee they will work, of course, but researchers are spending billions of dollars into trying to find alternative energy technologies that provide power as consistently fossil fuels.

Wind, algae, waves and more are used, so take a look.

Cut Your Energy Bills

Consumer Reports magazine outlines a few ways you can save $1,500 per year on your energy bills.

If you go the cut your energy bills link and navigate the subsections that are linked to in the left hand column of the overview article.

The story delves into the myriad ways that most homes waste energy, emphasizing the financial cost of energy inefficiency and breaking down the different ways every home can become more energy efficient. Consumer Reports conducted a nationally representative survey of 2,014 Americans for the report and found some intriguing data on how people are and aren’t saving energy.

For example Shades of Green tells us 83% always run a full load in the dishwasher, 40% buy green cleaning products, 16% recycled a CFL, and only 3% use an alternative energy source, such as solar, wind, or geothermal.

It also talks about tax credits, energy audits and is really worth taking a look at.

How To Cut Up To 40 Percent Of Your Utility Bill

Sears that it has selected Southern California for the national launch of an important new in-home service that can save homeowners up to 40% of their utility costs (according to Sears).

The Sears in-home energy audit is the latest one way homeowners can help make their home a little greener and make a dent in their utility costs as well. After a successful Orange County launch last fall, Sears has expanded its Sears Blue Climate Crew Home Energy Audit to all of L.A. County .

In contrast to the informal, do-it-yourself nature of free utility audits, the Sears audit is a comprehensive, four-step in-home diagnostic test that uses infrared cameras, giant door blowers and other state-of the-art technology to assess a home’s energy-efficiency, safety and comfort. The Sears audit is priced at $550 – a cost that is applied toward certain home improvement expenses implemented by Sears. Currently, L.A. homeowners can receive an introductory price of $275.

Participants receive a customized “roadmap” to improving their home’s energy efficiency — which can translate into reduced energy usage and up to a 40% reduction in their energy utility bills if they make the recommended improvements. You can watch how they do an audit here.

To prepare all you need to do is clean your fireplace, find your last 12 months of utility bills, spare 4 hours from your life, and of course, pay. Depending on your home, this could be a great way to save money (and energy) in the long run.

How Painting Your Roof White Can Help Save The Planet

Another post for you, written by Ben from Big Green Smile. This time he talks about painting your roof…

“Drive smaller cars, install efficient light bulbs, insulate our lofts, plant trees and don’t fly. Most of us are familiar with the dos and don’ts of climate change but here is something new for your arsenal in the fight. Paint your roof white. A little bit ‘out there’ perhaps but this is the vision of Hashem Akbari, a US scientist based at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California.

“The Greeks have been doing this to their beautiful villages for centuries of course but Hashem Akbari believes that painting the grey and let’s face it rather dull buildings of our own towns and cities white will have a tangible benefit in curbing global warming. White/light roofs reflect approximately 50% of the sunlight whereas on black/dark surfaces this is just 10-20%.

“Akbari calculates that a mass movement to paint our roofs white could result in 0.03% additional sunlight being bounced off the earth; enough to cancel out a tremendous 44bn tonnes of CO2, which is the projected increase for the next decade.

“With carbon emissions still rising, painting everything white is not the only answer, by Akbari’s own admission. The idea needs mass contribution for it to be effective but compared to other measures it is relatively simple, does not need protracted long negotiations for it to be effective and is relatively cheap.

“Studies in Los Angeles have shown that replacing two thirds of rooftops and road surfaces with reflective surfaces would cool the city by 2-3C. Although the UK does not have the hot climate of California there are benefits to be had anywhere that has need of air conditioning, and that certainly counts London. Akbari would ultimately like to see his idea included in carbon offsetting schemes and has calculated that every 10 square meters of re-painted reflective surface is preventing the release of a ton of carbon dioxide.

“Time to get the painting clothes on then.”

Find Out How Much Energy You’re Using

The Energy Detective (or TED) is a device that monitors your home energy use in real-time and reports it on an electronic display so that your can see how much energy you’re actually using. Yes, you could go and take a look at how fast your electricity meter is spinning, but that’s not practical, or any fun!

The device can tell you when electronics in their home are actually costing you money and so you can conserve energy much more efficiently. It’s really a great way to promote energy conservation, and it can apparently save its users between 10 and 20 percent on their energy bills.

With TED, you can find out just how much energy your computer, dishwasher or air conditioner is using and conserve accordingly. There is also no need to worry about how much the next power bill will be, because you can display usage in $ and cents as well as kilowatts so will know what your bill should be in advance.

If you’re really interested, here’s a nice video review from Mavromatic is embedded below (click here if you can’t see it) as they did not respond to my request to review one:

Would you find a system like this useful? Saving money and saving energy is a goal many of us have and I wonder whether this device would provide an easier way of measuring and conserving energy use, and reducing the size of your bills. It also has computer software that syncs with your PC for a more detailed look, but that might be overkill. Take a look at the top 10 reasons to use The Energy Detective.

Will Carpet Save £156m Of Energy?

Apparently carpeting a room could help UK 26 million households save £60 each (around £156m) in heating bills this winter. Carpet insulation is 10 times higher than that of hard flooring and is one of the most effective thermal insulators.

As carpets have low heat conduction, up to 30 days heating every year can be saved in the home, resulting in up to 6% of energy-saving costs On average, a UK family’s heating bill is now £1,000 per year, which could represent a saving of £60 per household or £156 million across all UK households.

Check our more information on Fun On The Floor, a new campaign that, according to the press release, redefines the art of carpeting, through showing the latest and greatest new ideas in fluffy flooring in a completely new light.

Next Page »