Get Energy Smart! NOW!

Well, if the Guardian can talk about people who are doing things that could help save the world, so can others … In the under-30 crowd, Mathias Craig is the cofounder of blueEnergy, a nonprofit “harnessing the power of the wind to illuminate homes, schools and rural clinics in an impoverished region where nearly 80 […]

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That popular show, ripping apart a home and putting together an extraordinary new one in just one week, chose to go solar this week.  While far from the greenest show (What effort to recoup / reuse all the material from torn down homes? What discussion of above code insulation or other energy efficient choices?),  this […]

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India is making the choice to seriously subsidize solar power to kick start its solar industry.  While renewables already account for 7.5 percent of India’s electrical generation capacity (of 127 gigawatts), hopes are that this will expand significantly. As for the subsidy levels, “My ministry will provide financial assistance amounting to 12 rupees (30 cents) […]

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Adelaide, Australia, has become the home for an-all electric city bus, the Tindo.  The icing on the cake: the Tindo (aboriginal word for sun) will get its electricity from a $AU550,000 solar PV system on Adelaide’s central bus station.  Even better: rides are free as part of Adelaide’s public transport system.

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Physical infrastructure (buildings) is, in short-hand, responsible for about one-third of global energy use and one-third of global warming (rough-hand guide way to think).  There are many ways to change this equation, strengthening building codes is one clear arena.  In my community, for example, 20 years ago, the ceiling “R” (insulation level) requirement was R-13, […]

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A new NGO just launched into higher-gear with a gala presentation from Ken Livingston, Mayor of London, in London’s City Hall Reading Room. SolarAid seeks to help developing communities leapfrog through polluting energy toward a renewable (solar) energy future. It has real backing, including a commitment of five percent of solar century‘s profits.   Its core […]

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Berkeley, California, is providing a new path toward financing renewable energy programs, providing financing for individual home owner’s solar power systems.  Well, not far from Berkeley, Marin County is providing a different path toward making solar systems more accessible to its citizens. In this case, however, the County government is (at most) a follower rather than […]

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There are many rows to hoe to foster an Energy Smart culture, one that will enable us to create a Prosperous, Climate Friendly Society.  Being Energy Smart begins at Home, but individuals will not, cannot create this path toward a sensible future alone, we work, live, and prosper in communities. And, well, isn’t that what […]

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Have you ever been steaming hot at the beach or at that kid’s soft ball game and wanted to buy a soda (and, well, of course, recycle the soda can) … but there wasn’t one around? Or, there were semi-lukewarm ones available at exorbitant rates? Well, Solar Vending seems to have come up with a […]

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Green Roofs are becoming blase, perhaps, as design moves into living walls.  A number of the Solar Decathlon teams have incorporated some form of living wall, think garden on the walls of the house.  These walls help cool the house in the summer (reducing solar gain), water management (reduced storm water runoff as they take water […]

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