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I cover a lot of upcoming or future technology, but it’s time to step into the present and aim for the past. Today we’re going to look at a technology available right now that can make some wanton energy waste history. It’s a surge protector that stakes the hearts of vampire electronics without hassling you, the sleeping victim.
Vampire appliances are pretty much anything you can plug in that still sucks energy when it’s supposedly turned off. Some are pretty obvious - the clocks on your microwave or VCR/DVD player burn all day, everyday. We know they’re not “off” because we cans see their LEDs glow. But other electronics, from your television to your cell phone charger also draw power when they’re plugged in but not in use. Check out a handy graph from Good Magazine. Some gadgets are notorious, like your plasma TV. Estimates claim that 5% or more of U.S. energy usage is insidiously wasted by “stand-by mode” or certain misleading “off” buttons. A whopping 5% may not sound like much, but it adds up to about $1 Billion dollars per year - and energy prices will probably continue to rise.
Be honest - how many times would you go around the house unplugging everything before it got old? Smart greenies have been switching off their surge protectors, but it’s easy to forget while watching your favorite late-night TV show or blogging at 4am. So what can we do about these metal-toothed Nosferatu in our midst? How about a surge protector that turns off all your appliances for you?
In January, Scientific American writers unleashed an ambitious plan to halt global warming, eliminate our dependence on petroleum and the substantial trade deficit, boost the economy and create 3 million jobs, and brighten the dismal forecasts for the mid twenty-first century.
The plan is conceptually simple but would be substantial to implement:
- Construct a 30,000 square mile array of solar panels in the Southwest,
- along with concentrated solar power arrays and,
- a massive direct-current power transmission backbone to distribute electricity throughout the country.
- Excess power produced by the photovoltaic arrays would be distributed and stored as compressed air in below-ground caverns.
Development of such a system could provide almost three-quarters of the nation’s electricity by 2050.
By Joshua S Hill •
February 20, 2008
In what continues to be a disappointing view of how the world views the environment, Kansas lawmakers have overturned a 2007 decision rejecting a coal-fired power plant expansion in the state. Kansas Secretary of Health and Environment Rod Bremby rejected the expansion of Sunflower Electric Power Corp’s western power plant last year, citing health concerns associated with carbon dioxide emissions and global warming concerns.
This decision immediately caused outrage amongst
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Chicken poop ain’t pretty, but it’s potential as an energy source has a number of large-scale poultry operations taking a second look at the smelly stuff. The price tags on such projects can climb pretty high, though: Georgia’s Green Power EMC project, for instance, was projected to cost $20 million when announced in early 2006. These costs may make such projects prohibitive in the developing world, where they could raise living standards of impoverished people while helping them “leapfrog” over Western development patterns based on fossil fuels. South African farmer Shelby Tyne (shown above) believes he’s hit upon the cost-benefit sweet spot for this technology: for $37,000 dollars, Tyne and partner Derrick Hilton have built a biogas plant that powers the entire farm… without even pushing maximum capacity.
Tyne tells the story of the biogas plant in this Facebook video (note: you do have to be a member of Facebook to watch it). His and Hilton’s Greenways Farm had taken chicken poop off of a neighboring farmer’s hands for a number of years to use as fertilizer, but stockpiling the litter created pollution problems. Tyne’s solution: put the poop into methane digesters, and use the resulting gas as fuel for both cooking stoves and a generator. He quickly figured out that with the amount of chicken litter they normally used, the farm could create 11,000 kW h of electricity per month: more than three times what it normally consumed. On paper, the project looked like a no-brainer.
By Joshua S Hill •
October 31, 2007
It’s true. I’m in love with Google, and everything they do! From the rumored GPhone, which is apparently to be announced soon, to the simplicity and reliability of their search engine. But, most importantly, and relevant to my role here at Green Options, is their role in leading businesses towards a greener tomorrow.
Boston, Massachusetts, hosted the 3rd annual Conference on Clean Energy this past Monday and Tuesday. Panel discussions by clean energy
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By Celsias •
October 13, 2007
Editor’s note: Our weekly post swap with Celsias continues with a subject most people would rather not discuss: poop. Celsias writer A. Siegel reviews Dave Praeger’s book Poop Culture, and muses on the waste involved in dealing with our wastes. This post was originally published on October 11, 2007.
To carry the book openly or to stash it away, that is a question one faces when reading Dave Praeger’s Poop Culture: How
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By Joshua S Hill •
September 24, 2007
Editor’s note: As commenter pointed out, there was an error in the post originally — the land space presented in Mills’ presentation is 92 miles square, not 92 square miles. We apologize for the mistake, and have corrected it.
Throughout the past decade or so, whenever anyone has proposed the idea of implementing a solar power generation system, they have been mocked and scorned, especially within the United States where it was believed
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By Amy Stodghill •
August 8, 2007
Saving energy at home will not only create less demand on the power grid, but will also save you money in electricity costs. Here are some simple things you can do to reduce your energy use.
Unplug. Whether it is the cell phone charger or the TV, when it is plugged in it is using electricity. Simply unplugging electronics and appliances while not in use will cut that phantom power
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By Philip Proefrock •
February 5, 2007
Co-generation is a systems approach for producing poth power and heat. Combined heat-and-power (CHP) plants produce electrical power, and use the heat from that production to also provide heat to local buildings (often through underground steam or hot-water piping systems). These systems have been most often found at hospitals and universities, where a large number of buildings can be efficiently served by a combined facility such as this.
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