Cops based near Oxford in the UK have revealed that they are unable to to use flashing blue lights on their new electric car - in case it drains too much power from the battery.

The Thames Valley police force is testing out the £20,000 ($33,000) Mitsubishi iMiev in an effort to improve its environmental credentials. Apart from this quite obvious setback, they have been pleased with the silent, emission-free car, capable of travelling 100 miles on a single charge (with the lights off).

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[Creative Commons photo by KeWynn Lee]

Nabih Tahan’s “Passive House” on Grant Street in Berkeley is the first one in California. It uses a ventilator to recycle the heat that radiates from the appliances, reducing the use of heat from fossil fuels by 80%-90%.

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According to the US Department of Energy, over 1/3 of Americans’ energy bills goes towards heating their homes. By taking steps to reduce the energy devoted to home heating, you can lower your CO2 emissions by hundreds to thousands of pounds. As temperatures drop this winter, there are a few things you can do before reaching for that thermostat. The average American spends $1900 annually on energy bills, so on top of conserving fossil fuels, these tips should save you some cash, too!

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1. Turn down the thermostat when leaving the house.  Even better, purchase a programmable thermostat, so you won’t have to remember!

2. Seal air leaks on exteriors walls, doors, and windows with caulk or weatherstripping.  To check for leaks, hold a lit incense stick next to the opening and watch the smoke, or walk around with a damp hand to feel for air flow.

3. Seal leaking ducts with mastic sealant or metal tape.  There are firms that will come out and test your ducts for leaks and fix them for you.  Check in the phone book under “duct sealing” or “duct testing.”

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According to Braden

I don’t want to be conveyed as a hippie. I want to get the message to the mainstream. People need to know that in fact there is a great solution sitting right in front of us.

At the heart of the house’s ability to be energy efficient and furnace free, is its design: using a combination of south-facing windows and extensive insulation, heat loss is near-negligible due to the design being almost airtight.

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Some of the helpful tips include lowering the temperature setting by 8 degrees when you’re away or asleep in the winter, or raising the temperature setting by 7 degrees when you’re away and 4 degrees when you’re asleep in the winter. Take advantage of the “Vacation” and “Hold” features to manage temperatures while you’re away from home for an extended period. More helpful tips from the EPA:

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Editor’s note: While we’ve discussed home geothermal systems a number of times around the Green Options Media network (see the list at the bottom), we’re glad to bring you today’s post from GreenBuildingTalk on the subject. They not only provide an overview of the technology, but point you to some cutting-edge models of geothermal heat pumps. This post was originally published on Thursday, May 15, 2008.

With energy costs on the rise, homeowners are looking for ways to offset higher bills. Geothermal heat pumps are one of the best options, as they currently offer the highest efficiencies of any heating and cooling system available today. A study by MIT emphasizes the potential for geothermal, and manufacturers are offering more options for consumers. While at the Midwest Builders show, I stopped by ClimateMaster and WaterFurnace booths to learn more about their newest offerings. Before diving into the respective systems, let’s review the three main components of a geothermal system; the heat-pump unit, the liquid heat-exchange medium (open or closed loop), and the air-delivery system (ductwork).

The heat pump simply moves heat energy from one place to another, just like your refrigerator or air conditioner. But a major difference is that air conditioners and refrigerators transfer heat in only one direction, while a heat pump can transfer heat in two directions, thereby heating or cooling the space. In the cooling mode, the geothermal heat pump takes heat from indoors and transfers it to the colder earth through either groundwater or an underground earth loop system. In the heating mode, the process is reversed.

The buried pipe, or earth loop, is the most important technical advancement in heat pump technology to date. The idea to bury pipe in the ground to gather heat energy began in the 1940s. But it’s only been in the last twenty-five years that new heat pump designs and more durable pipe materials have been combined to make geothermal heat pumps the ultimate in efficiency. The two main types of loops available are open and closed. An open loop system is less expensive to install, but over time could require more maintenance. A closed loop system is more expensive up front, but requires almost no maintenance. As manufacturers phase out R-22 (HCFC) refrigerant, there have been more environmentally friendly liquid mediums brought into the marketplace to use in your system. The most common antifreeze solutions in the U.S. and Canada are propylene glycol, methyl alcohol, and ethyl alcohol.

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Forced air systems are the most common heating systems in California and are used in most new construction elsewhere. They have two big advantages: they are cheap to install, and they provide heat at a moment’s notice. Having “instant-on” heat is vital for intermittent use spaces like ski cabins. Otherwise, forced air is the least energy efficient and least comfortable way of heating a typical home. Why?

Ventilation and Heat Loss

For the health and well-being of its occupants, a home must exhaust stale air and refresh it with new air drawn from outdoors. Forced air systems heat and blow this air, via ducts, throughout your house. Since new air is continually entering and leaving, you are heating the outdoors.

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Each week, the Chicago Architecture Foundation and Chicago Green Technology Center graciously host “lunch time seminars,” inviting some of the leading industry professionals to discuss building issues they are involved with. On 5/1/08, they hosted Joe Gordon’s “Solar Hot Water and Heating- Is It Right for You?” presentation. The seminar provided the audience with information on how solar thermal works, how much space you’ll need, incentives, and how to determine cost benefits. Mr. Gordon also discussed how the cost of solar hot water and heating will likely keep increasing, due to the high cost of copper that is used in these systems.

Joe Gordon has worked for Solar Service, Inc. for over four years and has fielded thousands of inquires from developers, architects, owners and institutions about whether solar hot water and heating would work for them. Visit Solar Service’s gallery to see unique ways panels can be installed.

This story contains additional media. Click here to view the media.

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They milk 1000 cows at Wapnö castle outside Halmstad, Sweden, and during the process of cooling the milk from 37 to 3 degrees C, they have devised a way to capture that heat and use it to warm up the castle and workshop buildings.

Parked next to my mouse, this little device brings the temperature of my 8×12 office up from shivery to cozy - not quite enough to take my lovely handknit wool socks off, but a great antidote against a dreary January, and a definite cat magnet.

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Our attire should reflect the outside temperature in our region, and thus our homes would not have to kept as warm if we dressed appropriately. According to Live Earth, just lowering your thermostat two degrees will save 4% on your energy bill and prevent 500 pounds of CO2 from entering the atmosphere! Two degrees is hardly noticeable when proper layers are worn. Even for families like mine that heat with wood, conservation is still important, and less word burned is better for our environment too.

I have heard many people complain about making small changes in their lifestyles for the environment, and many people simply write off small changes as not enough. We all need to make small sacrifices to bring about positive climate change, and it is one way to feel empowered as an individual. I may not be able to afford the electric vehicle of my dreams, but I can afford to wear a sweater I already own. I always look forward to the cooler temperatures and wearing layered clothing. If adding an extra layer can help reduce my carbon footprint, then I am ready to bundle up!

When most people hear the word "solar," they automatically think "expensive." Gary Reysa, the publisher of BuildItSolar.com, has demonstrated again and again that this doesn't have to be the case; with the right (easily-available) materials and a little time and elbow grease, almost anyone can add useful, valuable solar features to their home or other building.

Gary's $350 Solar Heater plan has gotten quite a bit of play both on- and off-line — I was one of a number of bloggers to write about it, and Home Power magazine and Mother Earth News have also featured the project. That's not surprising — for a really small investment in time and money, Gary now has a clean, green heater for his workshop. Keep in mind that he lives in Montana, too; if this works for him there, it will likely work for you, too.

Materials

Please note: I've included the dimensions from Gary's plan, but you'll probably need to adjust them. As he notes in the article from Home Power, you'll want to have as big a wall space as possible.

• 10 Suntuf corrugated polycarbonate panels, 2 x 8 ft.
• Black window screen, 4 x 70 ft.
• Lower sill & studs, 2 x 6s, 68 ft.
• Paint, caulk, lag screws, etc.
• Upper sill, 2 x 8s, 22 ft.
• Glazing 1 x 1 in. supports, 130 ft.
• Suntuf “wiggle” closure strips, 40 ft.
• 200 Screws with EPDM washers

Build Your Solar Heater

Gary's the pro here, so rather than trying to excerpt or edit his instructions, I'll let him take over… from the Mother Earth News and Home Power articles:

It took me about three, eight-hour days to build and install the collector. Follow these suggestions and you may be able to do it in less time!

1. First, measure your building’s south wall to determine what changes you will have to make to the collector design. Pay particular attention to the vertical height available and to stud spacing. Next, lay out the vent locations. They should be offset enough from the wall studs to allow the verticals to be lag-bolted from inside the building. Mark the vent locations on the inside and outside of the building to ensure no conflicts exist. After you are certain the layout is correct, take a deep breath, and cut all of the vents.
2. For the frame, cut the top sill long enough to lap over the end verticals by at least 1 inch (2.5 cm). Bevel the back of the top sill so that it slopes about 10 degrees when fitted against the siding. Next, cut all the verticals, noting that the two end verticals are longer because they extend below the lower sill. The tops of the verticals must be cut to match the slope of the top sill. Gang the verticals together and cut the notches for the two, 1- by 1-inch horizontal glazing supports.
3. Prime and paint everything. Although you do not need to repaint the siding under the collector, painting it a dark color will improve the collector’s efficiency slightly. Keep in mind that a muted version of this color will show through the collector screen, so be sure it meets your aesthetic sensibilities. After the paint has cured, mount all of the verticals to the siding. Take care to keep everything level, plumb, and straight—this will save you a lot of four-letter words later. I fastened the verticals to the wall sheathing and siding from the inside using lag bolts. If your siding is not strong enough for this, consider mounting the verticals from the outside, using lag screws through the verticals and into the wall studs.
4. Next, attach the top and bottom sills. Use flashing above the top sill if desired. Then, seal the collector frame with silicone caulk. Mount the battens that will support the screen absorber. Staple the window screen onto the battens. You can fold the edges of the screen to make it fit in the slightly less than 48-inch (122 cm) bay widths.
5. Make five 4- by 8-foot (1.2 x 2.4 m) glazing panels by joining pairs of the 26-inch-wide by 8-foot-long corrugated panels. Overlap the panels by one corrugation, and apply a light bead of silicone between the overlapped sheets. Fasten the overlapped corrugations to a 1- by 1-inch wood strip using screws with EPDM washers.
6. Install the horizontal 1- by 1-inch glazing support strips to the collector frame. The surface of the strips should sit flush with the surface of the collector’s frame when installed in the notches of the 2 by 6s. Do any cleanup, caulking, or other work you need to do inside the collector frame now! You won’t be able to get to the inside after the glazing is applied.
7. Next, mount the glazing panels. Install the “wiggle” closure strips, which fill in the contours of the corrugations, on the top and bottom sills. Run caulk beads on the first set of verticals and mount the first glazing panel section. (You’ll quickly find out how square your frame is.) Fasten the panel sections to the frame using screws with EPDM washers. Install the rest of the sections in the same way. Overlap each new section over the last section by one corrugation, using a bead of caulk in the overlap. Make the flapper valves for the ten inside top vents. I used two thicknesses of plastic garbage bag for each flapper. Before attaching the flapper, attach 1/2-inch hardware cloth over each vent. Then, staple the flappers along the top edge of the vent, just above the vent opening.

That's it! Want to find out more about the science behind this, or the performance of the unit. Check out the article.

Right?

What do you mean, wood burning can be green?

In fact, masonry heaters (which are also sometimes called “Finnish heaters” or “Russian heaters”) can be a green source for heating a home. While a traditional fireplace may be only 10% efficient (which is to say not!), a masonry heater can be 90% efficient. A well insulated house (even in a cold, Canadian location) can be heated on a single cord of wood per season. In a sense, a masonry heater is to a traditional fireplace what a compact fluorescent (or, even better, and LED light) is to an incandescent bulb.

The key, as is the case with passive solar heating, is thermal mass. When heating is taking place, you want to capture and store as much of that energy as you can, so that you can use it throughout the day. The masonry heater does this with a large structure containing a series of baffles, all of which gets heated up from a fast, hot-buring fire. By using a series of baffles in the structure, the heater ensures that most of the heat goes into the stone of the heater itself, rather than shooting up the chimney to be wasted, as is the case with a traditional fireplace.

Once heated, the thermal mass of the heater slowly radiates heat into the surrounding space over the course of a day. Because the heat radiates from the thermal mass in a straight line, spaces in direct line of sight to the heater are going to be better served than small closed-off rooms away from the heater. A masonry heater is not likely to be something that can easily be added to an existing home. The design of the entire house needs to be considered in order to get the best use from a masonry heater.

The carbon impact with this kind of wood burning is actually fairly benign. Firewood contains recently sequestered carbon, carbon removed from the atmosphere during the life of the tree. This carbon is re-released to the atmosphere when the wood is burned, where it can be reclaimed by other trees and plants. Fossil fuels, on the other hand, have had their carbon sequestered for millions of years. By burning fast and hot, the masonry heater produces less of the soot, creosote and other by-products that are formed when a fire smolders and burns slowly. This makes it less polluting as well as more efficient.

A masonry heater doesn’t make sense for every location (nor does any other technology). It would make no sense to have one in a city where the firewood needed to be trucked in from a distant source. But for a location where firewood is a readily available local resource, it can be worth considering. And with a masonry heater, burning wood can be a green heating method.

Sources:
Alternative-Heating-Info
Green Mountain Soapstone
Heat Kit
Tulikivi