2nd Green Revolution

Today at the National Bike Summit in Washington, DC Google will announce that Google Maps will now include biking directions in the United States. The easy to use Google Maps previously had directions by foot, car, and public transportation. The lack of directions for bikes was, according to TechCrunch, “the most-requested feature for the service, as some 57 million Americans ride bikes.”

Working with Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, a nonprofit group that converts old rail lines into bike trails, Google now has information on some 12,000 miles worth of trails in the U.S. Of that, Read the rest of this entry »

Roughly half the electricity produced in this country comes from coal (EIA). In order to reduce consumption and residential lower our energy bills, it is imperative to scour one’s home for so-called energy vampires – items that draw electricity from the outlet even when they are seemingly not in use. Also referred to as the “phantom load”, these may be as simple as phone chargers remaining plugged in, or even as innocuous as a toaster oven that draws power to run one of three or four clocks in the kitchen or electric toothbrushes that remain plugged in despite being fully charged. Read the rest of this entry »

Bloom Energy had the official public unveiling of their solid oxide fuel cell technology today in Silicon Valley. After years of flying under the radar as a stealth start-up, the company made it’s debut on the world stage with a bang. California governor Arnold Swarzenegger was on hand as was former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Google co-founder Larry Page, venture capitalist John Doerr, and executives from eBay, Walmart, Coca-Cola, and FedEx. These companies have been generating energy from Bloom Boxes (units that contain stacks of these fuel cells) on a trial basis. According to TechCrunch, “Five Bloom energy boxes about the size of a parking space each now provide 15 percent of the power at eBay’s campus. Walmart is testing the boxes in two locations where [they are] carrying 60 to 80 percent of the energy load of an entire store.” A video describing the technology can be found here. Below is Bloom Energy’s explanation of how their technology is more flexible and better than “hydrogen” fuel cells. Read the rest of this entry »

For those interested in learning more about the burgeoning field of carbon management, on March 2nd from 9am-10am PST(Noon EST), Fluid Market Strategies is hosting a webinar on the topic. Specifically, the event will “look at future regulations and why organizations must assess the carbon emissions in their operations, products, services and supply chain to improve operational efficiency, reduce costs, increase sales and gain a competitive edge.” This could be informative for entrepreneurs, small business owners, and any organization that is interested in reducing costs. Fluid is a “privately held for-profit S-Corporation…founded in 2005 as a marketing and program management firm.” The company focuses on projects with an environmental or social benefit, specializing in energy efficiency and conservation.

We’ve been in contact with the event’s host and will provide more details next week.

- Justin Manger

• American household emissions come primarily from driving, electricity and home heating. Outside of America’s low-car outlier, New York, emissions from driving range from an average of 22,500 pounds of carbon dioxide per year in places like Providence and Boston (reflecting about 1,000 gallons of gas bought each year) to an average of 32,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per year in places like Greenville, S.C.

• Carbon emissions from San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose, California were the lowest among American metropolitan areas, but “are still more than four times the emissions in the brownest Chinese city (Daqing) and 10 times as high as the household emissions in the average Chinese city.”
• The average household in San Francisco uses about seven megawatt hours of electricity per year, which is associated with about 7,000 pounds of carbon dioxide. The average household in Orlando, Fla., or Memphis, Tenn., uses about 18.5 megawatt hours of electricity per year and that creates about 26,400 pounds of carbon dioxide.

• Average July temperatures are the best predictor of electricity usage.
• Home heating is the third major source of household emissions. Carbon dioxide emissions from that source range from less than 1,000 pounds per year in Florida cities, to more than 16,000 pounds per year in Detroit.

Source: New York Times

In a site visit to IdleAire’s Denver facility last year, we were impressed with the “provider of comprehensive in-cab idle reduction and driver lifestyle services to the long-haul trucking industry.” But the company couldn’t make it through the recession and, as of January 29th, went bankrupt. The company provided a place where truck drivers could park, shut off the engine (along with its noise, fumes and vibration) and still stay warm or cool while having access to the comforts of home. Providing a comfortable place for drivers to rest while reducing pollution from idling trucks, we praised the company for taking a triple bottom line approach to business. But, as they say on their website, the challenges of the recession were too great to overcome: Read the rest of this entry »

In his holiday letter to members, Rick Fedrizzi, President, CEO and Founding Chair of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) mentioned some statistics that speak to the boom in green building:

• 27,373 people joined Greenbuild 2009 in Phoenix
• 14 million people are employed by a USGBC member company
• Of the 4,328 LEED-certified projects in existence, some 2,090 – more than 48%! – achieved certification in 2009
• Nearly half of all certifications in LEED’s eight-year history occurred during one of the toughest economic years in memory
• Some 33% of LEED-certified homes are affordable homes, and USGBC has worked to bring LEED Platinum affordable homes to the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans
• With the financial support of USGBC’s individual and organizational donors, five recipients of the USGBC Young Leader Awards and 39 other deserving students and professionals attended Greenbuild 2009 on full-conference scholarships.

- Rick Fedrizzi
President, CEO and Founding Chair
U.S. Green Building Council

Last month’s lengthy post titled “Inefficient Devices and the Laws of Thermodynamics” failed to relate the abstract laws of thermodynamics to everyday life. This post aims to tie the two together in a more easily digestible package.

Devices that consume excessive amounts of energy, convert energy inefficiently, or perform tasks that can be accomplished with less energy are wasteful and need to be replaced. This latter option, achieving a goal with less energy (i.e. carpooling instead of driving individually or cooking indoors on a cold day and leaving the oven ajar to release heat throughout your home) represents a version of low-hanging fruit.
Read the rest of this entry »

Last weekend’s post “Global Freezing” brought up a couple of important points about why society needs to change its collective behavior. In fact, behavior (along with technology) was posited as the main pathway to achieve energy independence.

One tool currently on the market that encompasses both the technological and behavioral changes needed is the smart meter. Several posts on 2nd Green Revolution have dealt with this topic. Earlier this month on NPR, reporter David Kestenbaum interviewed Dan Reicher, software developer at Google. Host Steve Inskeep provided the following introduction: Read the rest of this entry »

In finance, a good rule of thumb for managing a budget and staying out of debt is “Don’t spend more money than you make.” This same simple premise can also be applied to energy management. Take homes, for example. With efficiency gains, energy conservation, and home energy production through solar power, geothermal power (see one homeowner’s perspective) and other types of renewable energy, it is becoming possible to create or retrofit a home to be energy neutral. ZETA Communities is designing houses that don’t use more energy than they make. Partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy, ZETA’s zero energy homes

provide one of the first nationally scalable solutions to these unsustainable environmental impacts. Using a whole-systems design approach, high performance materials, and an innovative mechanical core, ZETA homes require 40%-60% less energy overall and 65% less energy for heating, cooling, and hot water than a comparable structure (based on data published by ZETA’s partner: U.S. Department of Energy’s Building America program). To achieve net zero energy, ZETA homes use grid-tied photovoltaic systems and other clean energy sources.

The Wall Street Journal has an interactive feature that shows how ZETA’s design features listed below can allow homes to produce as much energy as they consume and create a healthier environment for their inhabitants. Read the rest of this entry »