It’s rare that you’ll encounter a home owner today who says that if they had the option, they wouldn’t want to reduce their carbon emissions or reduce their energy consumption, and in turn, the costs of home ownership. The problem is, that in many cases, greener home technology is just out of reach of many North Americans because of the high costs that are still associated with the options available on the market. This has been the case with voltage optimization technology that can accomplish the above goals, but until recently, it’s only been attainable to large organizations looking to optimize their energy use because of cost. A UK company has decided to address this lapse in the industry by introducing the VPhase, an affordable voltage optimization technology for home owners.
By Becky Striepe •
July 13, 2009
[University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Creative Commons photo by jdickert]
Not only has the University of Illinois, Urbana outpaced its goal to reduce energy consumption by 10% by the 2010 fiscal year, they’re expecting to save $5 million dollars in energy costs to boot!
By Nick Chambers •
March 27, 2009
What does a Tesla Model S really cost to operate? Crunch the numbers and the results may be a bit surprising.
By now we’ve all heard about the new four door, seven seater (5 adults + 2 kids), all electric eco monster from Tesla — the Model S. We’ve seen the pictures of the gorgeous beast and we’ve had our chance to let the lust settle.
But the thing that’s been bothering me, and surely many of you, is that it still feels like Tesla is making cars with a decidedly un-populist bent. Tesla has been claiming for a long time now that their business plan is to start with the high end market, make some money, learn some lessons, and subsequently release cars that the rest of us can afford — using that money and those lessons to get there.
By Dawn Killough •
March 19, 2009
JELD-WEN went on a search for the house with the worst heating costs in the United States, then they cut those costs in half!
By Dave Tyler •
January 29, 2009
Californians installed 158 megawatts of solar power capacity in 2008, according to a state report released Wednesday. That’s double the amount installed in 2007.
California now has a total of 441 MW of solar power, the highest level of solar installations in the country, the California Public Utilities Commission reported.
By Nick Chambers •
August 1, 2008
According to a survey commissioned by Cars.com during July, about 50% of US consumers don’t believe that Obama or McCain has a magic rabbit up their sleeve that will lower prices at the pump any time soon
Turns out, 50% of people in the US are wiser than I thought: there is no quick fix or simple solution.
Another interesting result from the survey: 48% of consumers don’t see McCain or Obama as having a particular advantage when trying to work with the auto industry to bring more fuel efficient or plug-in vehicles to the market in the future.
By Jake Kulju •
July 2, 2008
A new study, “Awnings in Residential Buildings: The Impact on Energy Use and Peak Demand,” conducted by the Center for Sustainable Building Research at the University of Minnesota, has found that awnings over windows on residences can save energy costs and reduce energy use throughout the year.
