Guest Post by Madeline Binder

Solar energy is rapidly being integrated into American culture as an accessible source of low cost electricity. However, many people are intimidated about converting their homes to a solar energy home. There are two problem that really are keeping people from converting to solar energy, (1) ignorance about the process and (2) concerns about the aesthetics of the panels.

Getting to Know Solar Energy

The first problem that is keeping Americans from converting en mass to solar energy is a simple lack of common knowledge about solar energy. People are concerned about the price and the practicality of converting to solar energy. Fortunately, both concerns can easily be resolved.

What you first need to know about a solar energy conversion is that it is practical for nearly any location in the United States. The conversion process involves installing enough solar panels to meet your energy consumption needs, installing a circuit breaker that connects the solar panels to your homes central grid and installing either a battery or a special transformer that will allow a bidirectional flow of power from your local utility provider.

(more…)

EarthTalk® is a weekly environmental column made available to our readers from the editors of E/The Environmental Magazine

Dear EarthTalk: ​There are a number of companies out there now doing “energy audits” for the home, after which they try to sell you attic insulation and other products and services. Is this just a scam or would it be wise for me to look into this?  – Bill Richards., New York, NY

For the most part, companies offering energy audits are reputable and legitimate and will help you both save money and reduce your carbon footprint if you follow their advice in regard to upgrading things like insulation, windows and appliances. “A home energy assessment, also known as a home energy audit, is the first step to assess how much energy your home consumes and to evaluate what measures you can take to make your home more energy efficient,” reports the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). “An assessment will show you problems that may, when corrected, save you significant amounts of money over time.”

“During the assessment, you can pinpoint where your house is losing energy,” adds DOE. “Energy assessments also determine the efficiency of your home’s heating and cooling systems [and] may also show you ways to conserve hot water and electricity.”

(more…)

Guest post by Lewis Davies

Stock up on eco-fuel for winter by recycling autumn leaves

Autumn is a spectacular season heralding the end of summer with a cascade of red, brown and golden falling leaves. Most of us appreciate nature’s beauty at this time of year, but consider the task of raking up and bagging the leaves to be a painful chore with little benefit. However, the leaves that fall from the trees in this season are a great source of carbon-neutral fuel that we can stock up on to last us through the winter.

Bagging up leaves (and other so-called “garden waste”) for the refuse collectors to take away, and pile on top of already heaving landfill sites, is a tragic and unnecessary end to their lifecycle. For those of us with a stove, cast iron or clay chiminea or firebowl we are passing up on the chance to do a little bit for the environment – and for our wallets.

(more…)

Guest post by Greg Tornga

A renewable energy primer for the home

Coal, oil and gas = fossil fuels = nonrenewable = will one day not exist

Solar, wind, plant, hydrogen, heat, ocean and flowing water = renewable energy = is constantly replenished by the earth’s atmosphere.

Introducing Solar Powered Energy Into the Home

The term ‘solar powered’ means powered by sunlight.  Scientists have found ways to convert sunlight into electricity through the creation of Solar Photovoltaic Technology.  You must be seeing solar panels popping up in all sorts of locations – homes, businesses and even lined up in big fields. This is a way to create renewable energy and bring us one step closer to removing the need for non-renewable materials on which to live.  Typically, 10-20 solar panels are used to electrify a home.  They are mounted at an angle facing the south or they can be installed to track the sun’s movement.  You can find additional information and resources on how to install solar panels at your home at the website for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

(more…)

EarthTalk® is a weekly environmental column made available to our readers from the editors of E/The Environmental Magazine

Dear EarthTalk: Why don’t we reprocess and re-use our nuclear waste like France does? Would it be possible for us to start doing so?  - Albert Jukowsky, Silver Spring, MD

Reprocessing nuclear waste to extract more energy from it, while expensive and controversial, is indeed to this day still practiced in France, the UK, Russia, India and Japan—but not in the United States, where it was invented. The process involves breaking down spent nuclear fuel chemically and recovering fissionable material for use in new fuels. Proponents tout the benefit of reducing the amount of nuclear waste, resulting in less highly radioactive material that needs to be stored safely.

Nuclear reprocessing was first developed in the U.S. as part of the World War II-era Manhattan Project to create the first atomic bomb. After the war, the embryonic nuclear power industry began work to reprocess its waste on a large scale to extend the useful life of uranium, a scarce resource at the time. But commercial reprocessing attempts faltered due to technical, economic and regulatory problems. Anti-nuclear sentiment and the fear of nuclear proliferation in the 1970s led President Jimmy Carter to terminate federal support for further development of commercial reprocessing. The military did continue to reprocess nuclear waste for defense purposes, though, until the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War made continuous ramping up of our nuclear arsenal unnecessary. (more…)

GM Announced it would be placing a 516 Kilowatt solar array on it’s property in Detroit.  This move will save GM approximately $15,000 annually in electricity costs.  The Detroit-Hamtramck plant is responsible for the production of the Chevy Volt, the second greenest car out there.  The conversion will include 6 acres of solar arrays behind the plant.  Of course, GM will be reaping the benefits of this choice by co-marketing alongside the Volt.

A second GM plant being built in Maryland will pull 9% of it’s energy from a large solar array on the roof.  This plant will make electric motors, and various hybrid and conventional transmission systems.

This move suggests GM is riding the green bandwagon of tax credits and consumer opinion.  Although they’re making the second greenest car, it’s better than nothing, right?  The truth is that big American business will not change behavior until it is more profitable than the status quo.

Courtesy of EcoGeek

In my neck of the woods, Nuclear power is a big issue.  In southern Vermont, we have an aging nuclear power plant that, despite major red flags, continues to get the stamp of approval from the seemingly inept Nuclear Regulator Commission.

That leaves community members up in arms.  In a state as small as Vermont, that means all ~650,000 of us.  We are concerned, in the wake of the Japanese nuclear power plant crisis, that businesses are ignoring the environmental and health risks in order to seek higher profits.

Our power plant happens to be the exact same design as the Japanese plant.  This makes us all shake and shudder considering the entire state lies within the fallout area if a similar disaster were to strike locally.  The problem and consequent risk associated with this design is in the waste-fuel storage.  The U.S. has desperately small storage capacity for spent nuclear fuel, which continues to give off radiation and heat for decades if not hundreds of years.

As a consequence, spent fuel sits at active nuclear plants awaiting transport to non-existent long term storage facilities.  So what can we do with all that waste?  Feed it to Algae of course!

Stronium 90, a major and high-risk radiation associated with nuclear fuel is effectively sequestered by bright green pond algae.  Strontium 90 has a half-life of 30 years (meaning half of it is gone in 30 years) and is drawn to bone.  This results in a high rate of bone cancers among those exposed.

The algae grabs the Strontium 90 and holds it as barium-strontium-sulfate crystals, allowing cleanup workers to zero-in on and collect toxic sludge.  That won’t help my daughter from being exposed to radioactive clouds when our power plant inevitably fails, but it might help in the cleanup efforts.

Source

Image via Wikipedia

Going green is not just about new construction and technology, it’s about retrofitting and reusing existing foundations.  The tallest skyscraper in America, the Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower), is getting a green retrofit.

Converting just the south side of the 56th floor will generate 2 MW of electricity.  The windows will be replaced with high power density photovoltaic windows.  They produce as much electricity as a standard photovoltaic panel, while still allowing daylight in and reducing heat loss.

The resulting ambiance is calmer and cool, much like a tinted car window.  Only this window generates more electricity than is used within the room.

Imagine the application of this technology on the desert skyscrapers of the middle east, that are baked with direct sun 12 hours each day.  Then again, it’s hard to justify clean energy when you’re floating on a lake of oil.

Source:
inhabitat.com

Related articles

• Willis Tower goes solar (physorg.com)
• Willis Tower to get greener windows (ubergizmo.com)

Smart grid technology is all the rage.  As utilities and governments invest in systems to monitor home energy use in real time, products are coming to market that interface with the grid.

This is one entry for GE’s Ecomagination Challenge.  It reminds people of that image of a polar bear swimming with no ice to rest on because of global warming.  It changes color depending on the energy being consumed by the home.  Research shows that when people are shown the real time cost of energy going into the home, they are more likely to reduce their consumption.

As one person described to me recently, when there is a meter in your house that shows how much your energy consumption is costing you right now, even your kids will run around turning off lights.

The bear changes it’s glow from green to pink when your home energy use goes above a pre-determined level.

Source