Conservation

Car idling costs over 10 billion gallons of gas each year in U.S. The average American idles his or her engine about 16 minutes a day. That means we burn about 10.6 billion gallons of gas each year to go absolutely nowhere. That gas is wasted. According to automotive experts you can make a Toyota Corolla get the same gas mileage as an 18-wheeler by sitting in the car with the air-conditioner running while waiting in a school pickup line. Experts concur that if you’re waiting for more than 30 seconds, you’ll save gas by stopping and restarting your engine. You’ll keep the air cleaner, too. Some cities and states even have anti-idling laws to prevent air pollution. link

Man's call to America: Turn off that air conditioner. Stan Cox, in his book, Losing Our Cool, argues that our climate-controlled lifestyle in modern America is unsustainable, that Americans rely too much on air conditioning. He's not against having air conditioning available during heat emergencies. But Cox says comfort research proves that most people can acclimate to warmer temperatures. "Office workers who have an air-conditioned workplace will have a temperature range they're comfortable in, that may reach up to 78," he says. "Whereas those who work in a non-air-conditioned workplace, they were happy up to 89 degrees." That's if they had plenty of air movement. Cox says fans are a must, and shade makes a big difference. David Orr, who teaches environmental studies at Oberlin College, agrees that cutting back on air conditioning isn't all that hard to do. "I don't think anyone would ask at this point to go cold turkey on air conditioning," Orr says. "But what is reasonable is to use it only sparingly, or as necessary. When you use it, buy the most efficient equipment you can possibly buy." NPR _____________________________________________

(See also the What You Can Do page to conserve energy and reduce your carbon footprint.)

E-Waste. The Basel Convention. Some 53 million tons of electronic waste was generated worldwide in 2009, and only about 13% was recycled. The Basel Convention is an international agreement governing the handling and trade of hazardous waste. Executive director Jim Puckett says the "U.S. has been asleep at the switch.” More than 165 countries have ratified the convention, but the United States has not - read more Hundreds of thousands of computers and cell phones are discarded in America every week. The USA is the only leading nation not regulating export of hazardous waste such as lead and mercury in electronic waste. It takes a little effort to do the right thing and recycle safely, but check locally where you can recycle responsibly. More
August 2012: 5-fold increase in e-waste collections as Europe beefs up electronic equipment and devices waste directive - link

May 2010: INTERPOL global e-waste crime group meeting. Identifying and implementing a worldwide strategy to combat the illegal traffic in electronic waste was the focus of a three-day meeting co-hosted by the U.S. EPA Office of Criminal Enforcement which provided a forum for more than 100 representatives and experts from 21 countries and 12 nongovernmental organizations, the largest ever such gathering of involved countries and agencies. link

November 2009: Worldwide, consumer electronics now represent 15% of household power demand, and that is expected to triple over the next two decades, according to the International Energy Agency, making it more difficult to tackle greenhouse gas emissions. To satisfy the demand from gadgets will require building the equivalent of 560 coal-fired power plants, or 230 nuclear plants, according to the agency" link

August 2010: E-Waste becomes a top priority for EPA action - link
Where to donate or recycle electronic products - EPA
Four green ways to get rid of cell phones and chargers. link

Phantom loads/Ghost power. Many household appliances are never fully switched off, but spend most of the time in a standby mode. According to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory a typical American home has forty products constantly drawing power. Together these amount to almost 10% of residential electricity use. link The wasted energy, in other words, is equivalent to the output of 18 typical power stations. Turning of computers when not in use extends their life and saves energy: and do you need that clock display on the microwave 24/7? more

January 2012: The California Energy Commission has approved first-in-the-nation efficiency standards targeting about 170 million so-called vampire charging systems that waste as much as 60% of the electricity they suck from outlets. The regulations generated strong opposition from appliance and consumer products makers. But they are expected to save enough electricity to power 350,000 homes, equivalent to a city the size of Bakersfield. The rules also are projected to shave an estimated $306 million a year off residential and commercial electricity bills. link

June 2011: Atop TV sets, a power drain runs nonstop. Those little boxes that usher cable signals and digital recording capacity into televisions have become the single largest electricity drain in many American homes, with some typical home entertainment configurations eating more power than a new refrigerator and even some central air-conditioning systems. link

March 2011: Energy efficiency canceled out by more and more gadgets. Americans are using energy more efficiently in their households with better windows, insulation and products that meet Energy Star standards, such as refrigerators and clothes washers. Yet those gains are being canceled out by the proliferation of electronic devices now used in homes, including a growing number of personal computers, DVRs and rechargeable gadgets, according to new data released by the Energy Information Administration. Over half of US homes boast three or more TVs. link

The consumption from these hidden phantom loads in the USA
is said to equal the electricity use of Greece, Peru and Vietnam combined!

Overview - September 2012: There are now more than three million data centers of widely varying sizes worldwide, according to figures from the International Data Corporation that now exist to support the overall explosion of digital information.The number of federal data centers grew from 432 in 1998 to 2,094 by 2010. Stupendous amounts of data are set in motion each day as, with an innocuous click or tap, people download movies on iTunes, check credit card balances through Visa’s Web site, send e-mail with files attached, buy products on Amazon post on Twitter or read newspapers online. Nationwide, data centers used about 76 billion kilowatt-hours in 2010, or roughly 2% of all electricity used in the country that year,

Most data centers, by design, consume vast amounts of energy in an incongruously wasteful manner. Online companies typically run their facilities at maximum capacity around the clock, whatever the demand. As a result, data centers can waste 90% or more of the electricity they pull off the grid. Worldwide, digital warehouses use about 30 billion watts of electricity, roughly equivalent to the output of 30 nuclear power plants, according to estimates industry experts compiled for The Times. Data centers in the United States account for one-quarter to one-third of that load, the estimates show. link

May 2012: Apples North Carolina data center will use renewables 100% by end of year. Apple plans to use exclusively solar power to run all three of its high-consuming server centres. (The Malden data center will host a 20MW solar farm and be completed by the end of 2012.) Apple plans on using coal-free electricity in all three of its data centres, with the Maiden facility coal-free by the end of 2012. link
Solar Update

March 2012: $10 LED's possible soon. UK-based clean tech firm, ZETA Controls, is poised to launch a new patented LED light bulb design dubbed the LifeBulb that is shaped like a conventional incandescent bulb. An aluminum cage fitted with small light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are positioned to diffuse light in the same way as a 60W incandescent bulb while using just 9W of energy. One of the other main barriers to adoption of LEDs has been the high upfront cost, but the company's first shipment of bulbs, due next month, will be cheaper than current alternatives and there is the potential to reduce the price further if Zeta proves successful in its search for a manufacturing partner. "The first bulbs are being made by hand and we will sell them for £19.99, but once we get a licensing deal with a manufacturer we reckon the price will fall to $15 and then at scale you could get the price below $10 a bulb," he said, adding that the heat dissipation of the new design also extends the life of the bulbs allowing the company to offer a 25-year guarantee. link

April 2010: Breakthrough on LED efficiency: General Electric (GE) thinks it may have solved the problem with the launch this week of a low wattage LED bulb that provides the same light output as a traditional incandescent bulb but uses less energy while lasting 25 times longer. The new GE Energy Smart LED bulb is expected to consume just 9 watts while producing 450 lumens, a significant improvement on many current LED bulbs that produce 350 lumens or less. GE said that the bulb would also prove remarkably durable. Based on an expected 25,000-hour rated life, and average use of 4 hours per day, GE says the bulb should last 17 years – that is 25 times longer than a general service 40-watt incandescent or halogen bulb and more than three times the life of a standard 8,000-hour rated life CFL. link LED prices are coming down quickly. The Department of Energy expects a 60-watt equivalent LED bulb to cost $10 by 2015, putting them within striking range of the price of a CFL bulb.

May 2010: Half of commercial lighting will be LED by 2020. The rapid expansion in the LED market will be driven by continually falling costs in solid-state lighting, combined with performance increases that will see adoption of the technology reach an inflection point within the next five years, according to Clint Wheelock, managing director at Pike Research. link

LED (light emitting diodes) technology: In the U.S., 78% of the public is completely unaware that traditional (incandescent) light bulbs will be phased out in 2012. [The new federal lighting efficiency standards mean 100-watt bulbs can no longer be made from January 2012, 75-watt bulbs will cease manufacture from January 2013 and 60 and 40-watt bulbs will follow from January 2014. They mirror similar rules already in place in the EU where incandescent bulbs are gradually being phased out.] By law in 2012 bulbs must be 30% more efficient than current incandescent versions beginning that year. LEDs consume a fraction of the electricity that incandescent bulbs and even CFL light bulbs consume. While LED bulbs cost more than their counterparts, they last 10-20 years, and LEDs differ from CFLs in that they contain no mercury, a very toxic element. Since LED bulbs operate cooler, the decrease in temperature can also keep your home cooler during summer months. The challenges being addressed are the high prices for LEDs and improving the light emissions. more

LED Lights, Raleigh NC. City officials in Raleigh, North Carolina are hoping to make the Capital City the "world's first LED city." Raleigh is teaming up with RTP-based Cree, Inc. in order to "save money and help the environment," and in a pilot program completed late 2006,
an LED-equipped parking deck purportedly burned "40% less energy" than those with "standard lighting systems." Additionally, the quality and brightness of the lighting was said to have improved, which paved the way for LEDs to hit up street lights, architectural and accent lighting, and pedestrian and walkway lights over the next 18 months. If things go as planned, the entire city will "convert permanently to LED lighting," hopefully saving around $80,000 a year in parking deck utility bills alone. link

According to the Department of Energy, in the next 20 years rapid adoption of LED lighting in the U.S. can:

Transportation.. The USA is currently the largest single consumer of energy. Transportation includes all vehicles used for personal or freight transportation. Of the energy used in this sector, approximately 65% is consumed by gasoline-powered vehicles, primarily personally owned. Diesel-powered transport (trains, merchant ships, heavy trucks, etc.) consumes about 20%, and air traffic consumes most of the remaining 15%.

March 2010: Ford Motor Company program turns off computers. The company could save $1.2 million and reduce CO2 emissions by 16,000 tons to 25,000 tons annually by just turning off laptops and desktop computers. A new program called PC Power Management, can also shut down computer systems not in use, especially when left overnight and on weekends, to further reduce energy use. Ford's green efforts have earned it the Environmental Protection Agency's coveted 2010 Energy Star Award for the fifth consecutive year. link
August 2011: Survey finds 39% of U.K. employees at small businesses are guilty of leaving PCs on overnight costing up to £30.8m a day. link

June 2012: Starbucks and Staples join corporate conservation effort. The Better Buildings Challenge is part of the Obama Administration's comprehensive strategy to improve the competitiveness of American industry and business, by helping companies to save money by reducing energy waste in commercial and industrial buildings. Under the Challenge, private sector CEOs, university presidents and state and local leaders commit to taking aggressive steps to reduce the energy used in their facilities and sharing data and best practices with others around the country. With the addition of today’s partners and allies, nearly 70 organizations have now joined the Better Buildings Challenge. Together, these organizations account for more than 1.7 billion square feet of building space, including more than 300 manufacturing plants, and have committed almost $2 billion to support energy efficiency improvements nationwide. link

Each of us can make serious cutbacks in our lifestyles to impact these numbers. Driving at 55 instead of 65 mph cuts CO2 emissions of American cars by about 20% according to the International Energy Agency. Throughout Europe eco-driving is the new trend (link) Personally my 13 year-old Hyundai which normally attained 32.5 mpg, now gets 46 mpg - a 40% improvement. Also check out ecodrivingusa Even a 20% reduction is like cutting a $3.60 gallon of gas to under $2.90.

Residential.. On average, about half of the energy used in U.S. homes is expended on space conditioning (i.e. heating and cooling). Different figures are often quoted for how many homes can be supplied by so many megawatts. One cited recently, to provide an example, is that 500 MW can supply 80,000 US homes, but 280,000 German homes. This indicates how much more energy Americans use compared to Europeans. Raise the thermostat setting. Cooling below 75 degrees in the summer can double a bill. For each degree cooled below 78, cooling bills can rise by as much as 10 percent. On the other hand, raising the thermostat from 73 degrees to 76 degrees could save 30 percent on air conditioning costs. See other Duke Energy tips on reducing energy use in the home.

U.S. households could cut emissions sharply - study: A research team led by Michigan State University identified 33 specific energy-saving actions ranging from weather-stripping of homes and using slow-flow shower heads to reducing laundry temperatures and driving at highway speeds of 55 miles per hour and under. The actions would appreciably reduce energy consumption and either cost little or offer attractive returns on investment without requiring changes in lifestyle. link

June 2010: Switching off lights has bigger impact than you might think. Switching off lights, turning the television off at the mains and using cooler washing cycles could have a much bigger impact on reducing carbon dioxide emissions from power stations than previously thought, according to a new study published this month in the journalEnergy Policy. The study shows that the figure used by government advisors to estimate the amount of carbon dioxide saved by reducing people's electricity consumption is up to 60 percent too low. link

The Natural Resource Defense Council offers some simple ways that will save energy which you all can do today: link

LEED - What is it? In the United States and in a number of other countries around the world, LEED certification is the recognized standard for measuring building sustainability. link

Why homeowners should care about LEED certification
LEED building is still largely voluntary in the private building sector, though many state and federal agencies now require LEED Certified construction for all new building projects. So why should homeowners ask for LEED Certification with new homes, major remodels, and even smaller projects? Let's start with savings. Because LEED Certified homes comply with green building standards they are far more energy efficient than traditionally built homes. That translates to substantially lower heating and cooling costs and lower utility bills. And since LEED building also utilizes many Energy Star rated building materials, from insulation to appliances to roofing materials, you can expect to get substantial tax breaks from a LEED approved home, as well. link
Two recently released studies, one by the New Buildings Institute (NBI) and one by CoStar Group, have validated what the green building community has known all along: third party certified buildings outperform their conventional counterparts across a wide variety of metrics, including energy savings, occupancy rates, sale price and rental rates. link