Mobile phone users probably don’t know it, but a charger left plugged into a wall wastes electricity – enough to power 24,000 homes for a year, or brew three to four million cups of coffee each day. The new AT&T ZERO Charger, available in May, does not waste power when left plugged in, and also improves charging efficiency when powering a device.
The AT&T ZERO Charger will also make life easier for customers, with a ‘block and cable’ design for maximum interchangeability, allowing them to use the same charger for future handsets and will, over time, cut the number of chargers produced, thus reducing future landfill waste.
The charger works by automatically sensing when a mobile phone is not plugged in to the charger thus cutting the power supply from the wall socket. The charger will be sold in packaging using 100% recycled paper as AT&T recently announced a transition to smaller and more eco-friendly packaging for the wireless device accessories sold in their stores. The change will eliminate more than 60 percent of the paper and more than 30 percent of the plastic previously used for their products. A big GREEN thumbs up for doing this!
The ZERO charger will be available starting in May at AT&T retail locations nationwide or at www.wireless.att.com. For more information on the ZERO charger, visit www.att.com/ZERO.
There is a shortage of light emitting diodes (LED) in the USA due to increased consumer uptake as people rapidly begin to use them in place of power hungry incandescent bulbs. According to a recent Department of Energy report on LED technology it states that 7% of electricity used America is to light our homes and businesses. Although that number is down significantly in the last few years due to the adoption of efficient lighting, there is still a great deal of ground to be gained. Further adoption will be because of continued innovations in more subdued color LEDs which will begin to make their way to the market. The DOE expects this further adoption to result in even larger decrease in energy use.
A small change like using this technology has a BIG impact as the cumulative savings of the continued adoption of LEDs over the next 20 years could lead to saving 1.500 terawatt-hours which based energy prices today is around $120 billion. The savings would eliminate the need for 24 new large power plants, to say nothing of the decrease in carbon emissions. So don’t delay get the LED out today!
You can now lower your energy bills by installing a solar powered attic fan. It works regardless of the time of year, to save you up to 30% on your cooling costs.
During the hot summer months attic temperatures can exceed 160 degrees, and small, passive roof vents are often unable to dissipate this heat, which drives temperatures and cooling costs through the roof. In the winter the heat trapped in your attic can melt the snow that accumulates on your roof, which could then refreeze, leading to destructive and costly ice damming.
Also keep in mind, moisture from everyday activities such as showering and cooking produce water vapor that migrates into the attic, and could lead to mold and mildew. And if it saturates your insulation, it could cause fungal decay and destruction of your roof frame and decking. So it helps all year long by reducing your energy bills and potential for indoor pollution today.
Paper accounts for 47% of it, Food waste 18%, Plastic 15%, Yard Waste 9%, Wood 3%, Metal 3%, Glass 2% and Other 3%. So if we could get rid of or greatly reduce the first four categories listed we can reduce overall garbage by as much as a WHOPPING 89%!! How? Read below for two easy ways to reduce your trash, save your community money and cut down on your carbon footprint.
Recycling
Another “YesterYear” technology that has been around for quite some time is recycling. It is easy to do and if you have young children they will probably teach you or guilt you into to it as they are now taught its benefits in school. Many municipalities require at least some level of recycling for containers of glass, metal and #1 or #2 plastics and newspapers. These types of materials are the most valuable and allow them to make money to at least cover the cost of collection. So what about all that junk mail, card board packaging, used electronics and fluorescent lights? Well many municipalities will also take these materials however you have must take them to their respective recycling centers, so it does requires an effort. If your municipality does not take some of these items yet go here find where to recycle it.
Is it worth the effort?
Well the picture shown tells the tale. The picture on the left is our garbage can and next to is two of three of our neighbors trash cans both are holding trash from one week. We have a household of five people, two adults and 3 children. They have two adults and one child. The difference is we make an effort to recycle as much as possible beyond what the town requires, they do not. Essentially our energy usage and carbon footprint is less because of our recycling efforts. This is easy enough for everyone to do with a small amount of effort and thought.
Composting
Circular Compost Bin
Another big way we cut down on trash is by composting. We take all our food scraps, grass clippings, leaves and other yard debris and put them in a composting bin. The one pictured is one of many types available. This particular model allows you to spin it frequently speeding up the process of decomposition turning it into “black gold”. We use this black gold as a natural soil enhancer as it contains many natural nutrients that plants and shrubs need. This also allows us to not have to use fertilizers for feeding our plants. This added benefit makes this an even more Eco friendly solution. Doing both these simple things adds up to big energy savings and reduces your carbon foot print. A good site to start with to learn about it is Master Composter.
We all take it for granted however water could be the next major shortage the world faces. Water is the basis of all life, and less than one percent of all the earth’s water is available for the many billions people on the earth. We only have a tiny share of freshwater available to meet our many needs. Crop/Garden irrigation, industry production needs, drinking water, and even sanitation all require fresh water yet we seem to quickly forget this or take it for granted.
The average lifestyle requires almost 1,800gallons a day to support, with much of this going to support our dietary needs. If we all realized this and learned how to conserve just a little more water each day, it could add up to tremendous savings not only in conserving fresh water but also in energy used to create it. Below are a few easy to do things that if done in a big way can have a huge impact with water conservation. They include:
Be smart by choosing your landscaping to make sure it is tolerant for your climate. Use native plants and grasses that are drought tolerant that can thrive on natural rainfall.
Install low-flow shower heads, faucet aerators and fix leaky faucets. Also turning down the temperature on your hot water heater to 120F. By reducing the need for mixing hot and cold water to get the ideal shower or bath temperature will not only save water but will reduce your energy bill as well.
Replace your old toilet with a low-volume, ultra low-volume, or dual-flush model. Or better yet if you are a commercial property owner install the “no-flush” urinals now found in many airports. Doing above this can cut your water usage by almost a third!
Run your dishwasher and washing machine only when full saves water usage and reduces your energy bill. If the appliances are more than 10 years old consider replacing them with a water and energy efficient model.
Do away with buying unnecessary items. By buying less things you shrink your water footprint. Also rather than throw away what you no longer need recycle or repair the broken item. One man’s trash is another mans treasure so recycling them, giving the item away or donate them to a charity. Get into the habit of buying higher quality longer use re-usable products rather than throw-aways.
Shave time off your shower time. Millions of people doing even the little things makes a difference. See our article in one of the posts below on a nifty device to help you do this.
Also see our SAVING $ tab for more ways to conserve and save money!
In this brief talk, Saul Griffith unveils the invention his new company Makani Power has been working on: giant kite turbines that create surprising amounts of clean, renewable energy.
About Saul Griffith
Inventor Saul Griffith looks for elegant ways to make real things, from low-cost eyeglasses to a kite that tows boats. His latest projects include open-source inventions and elegant new ways… Full bio and more links
By building a wind generator you can not only reduce your monthly electric bills, you will also be helping out the planet. A wind generator will also make you less dependent on fossil fuels, possibly enable you to go completely off the power grid, and you will be using clean energy that will always be around.
Two reasons building a wind generator stops people before they get started:
1) High costs 2) Size
These two things were true a couple of years ago. Today though, with less than $200 and some common hand tools, you can build one yourself. Even if you live in a residential neighborhood, you can still use a wind generator without causing the undo attention of your neighbors. The benefits don’t stop there either. Deciding you build one yourself can get the whole family involved. How much fun would it be to make it a father/son project one weekend? That’s right, I said one weekend. Many plans out there will only take one weekend to complete! See this site to get how to plans for Wind Generation Projects.
Building a wind generator doesn’t take much in the way of supplies. One can build one in a weekend with a set of plans, some common hand tools, and a suitable space to work with the blades. If you aren’t the type of person that feels comfortable using power tools, see if you can get a neighbor involved and possibly open their eyes to the advantages of renewable energy.
The basis for any good wind generator is a good set of plans. Look for plans that have step-by-step instructions that are easy to follow. Once you have the plans in hand, there are only a couple of items you will need to purchase like a pole, blades, DC motor, and batteries if you would like to store the energy you harness in case of emergency.
Once you have completed the building of your wind generator, there truly is no feeling like it. You will know that you will be cutting costs on your electricity bill and helping the environment at the same time. Over time, you may also be able to completely eliminate your electricity bills and have the utility company paying you for the surplus you generate.
To learn more about this great opportunity, head on over to Earth4Energyto start researching some different products right now! Or if you do not want to build one see Harvistor for a new low cost highly efficient design that will soon be available in the US.
In a quick turn away from yesteryear technologies which can save energy, I digress with publishing a recent article that I came across from Sandia National Labs located in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Of the many alternative fuel technologies proposed, this is one of the most promising alternatives since it does not interfere with our current food chain as it recycles waste and or can be easily cultured to grow yielding an endless supply.
Project converts dairy wastes to energy, other products
As part of a project to create alternative sources of energy, researchers at Sandia National Laboratories are cultivating green algae that holds promise as a new supply of biofuel.
“People have been growing algae for centuries for food supplements for use by man and animals,” said Cecelia Williams, project lead. “It now has the potential to supply our energy needs too.”
Beginning in the 1950s, the Department of Energy recognized algae as a potential feedstock for energy and biofuels and funded the Aquatic Species Program between 1978 and 1996 with $25 million to investigate the production of biofuel from microalgae. DOE terminated the program in the mid-1990s due to low petroleum prices and other priorities. It has only been in the last few years that DOE has once again become interested in algae as a potential source of fuel.
Recently Williams and other Sandia researchers have grown green algae in a 12-by-30-foot greenhouse using a simulated dairy effluent, the nutrient-rich liquid remaining after bacterial digestion of dairy manure. The solids from the digestion of dairy manure can potentially be used to develop fertilizer and feed and the liquid serves as a nutrient source for algae. The algae are typically cultured for several days, followed by harvesting and dewatering, after which the algal oil is extracted. The algae produce lipids, the most useful being neutral oil made up largely of triacyglycerides (TAG) that can be converted to biofuels.
Williams said that growing algae for biofuels eliminates many problems associated with traditional biofuels.
“The current generation of biofuels [starch- and sugar-based ethanol and oil crop-based biodiesel] rely on the use of commodity crops and therefore compete for use of food crops, primarily corn,” she said. “Also, they are very farm-intensive and use a lot of good farming land, fuel and fertilizer inputs and fresh water.”
Algae ponds, on the other hand, can be put on marginal land and grown with non-fresh brackish water produced from energy mineral extraction (petroleum, natural gas, coal-bed methane), or nutrient-loaded wastewater from municipal and agricultural sources. The Southwest has the potential for being a leader in manufacturing this new type of biofuel because “it has lots of barren land that can’t be used for anything else, lots of sunlight and a lot of marginal water,” Sandia researcher Brian Dwyer said.
Sandia scientist Ron Pate noted that Sandia is bringing into play its scientific and engineering expertise to grow and process specific types of algae for biofuels and other useful coproducts. Sandia’s work in this area ties into broader biofuels efforts supported by DOE’s Office of Biomass Program (OBP) that focus on addressing challenges to commercially viable algal biofuels production. This includes participation in the development of the National Algal Biofuels Technology Roadmap Report, which is still in preparation and partnering with others on proposals to establish consortia for algal biofuels and for advanced fungible biofuels with potential funding from OBP. The Algal Biofuels Consortium specifically proposes a broad-based collaboration with Sandia and other national labs, industry and university partners that would pursue research and development of algal biofuels as an affordable, scaleable and sustainable solution that can contribute significantly to meeting the nation’s transportation fuel needs.
Williams anticipates that the Sandia research will have the potential to provide new jobs and economic development to New Mexico, the seventh largest dairy-producing state in the nation. The state’s dairy industry employs more than 5,000 people and has an annual impact of nearly $2.7 billion.
The 340,000 dairy cows in New Mexico produce large quantities of manure and nutrient-rich effluent water that represent a significant waste management problem and regulatory expense to the state’s dairy industry. These and other agri-industrial waste streams represent a valuable and underused feedstock for recycling of energy, biofuels, reusable water and other coproducts. The DOE Algal Biofuels Technology Roadmap currently in draft suggests the use of non-fresh water sources, including agricultural effluent, for algal biomass production. Besides providing a source of non-fresh water and the recycling of needed nutrients, the use of these waste streams in an integrated biorefinery will help to alleviate disposal regulatory requirements on dairies and other confined animal feeding operations in New Mexico and the broader United States.
Sandia’s greenhouse algae project was conceived by Pate and Kyle Hoodenpyle (Ag2Energy) and has been funded by the New Mexico Small Business Association (SBA) and the New Mexico Technology Research Collaborative. The SBA funds Sandia to work with the private-sector partners Ag2Energy and the Pecos Valley Dairy Producers, one of the largest collections of dairy producers in New Mexico. TRC funding lasted one year and the SBA funding is in its final year of a three-year funding cycle.
Future money to research dewatering algae and monitoring the health of algae ponds will come from Sandia’s internal Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program and possibly new direct-funded projects from DOE. This research will also allow the greenhouse algae ponds to support other aspects of Sandia’s algae biofuel research portfolio by using the data and information generated from these experiments to evaluate or verify both systems and process models. These models are essential for understanding the economics and risk associated with both the R&D and the scale-up that will be required to make algae an economically viable fuel source for the nation. The ultimate goal is to make algae-derived biofuels competitive with petroleum-based fuels.
Sandia National Laboratories is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, an autonomous Lockheed Martin company, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. With main facilities in Albuquerque, N.M., and Livermore, Calif., Sandia has major R&D responsibilities in national security, energy and environmental technologies, and economic competitiveness.
Sandia National Laboratories is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, an autonomous Lockheed Martin company, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. With main facilities in Albuquerque, N.M., and Livermore, Calif., Sandia has major R&D responsibilities in national security, energy and environmental technologies, and economic competitiveness.
