Surplus + Slump = Stupidity |
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Sunday, December 11, 2011
Surplus + Slump = Stupidity
Green Energy
Green Energy
Sun power has become one of today's lowest cost renewable energy technologies. Solar Panels are becoming a more common sight in the world.
Solar power
Solar power technologies provide energy generation by means of heat engines or photovoltaics. Once converted its uses are only limited by human ingenuity. A partial list of solar applications includes space heating and cooling through solar architecture, potable water via distillation and disinfection, daylighting, hot water, thermal energy for cooking, and high temperature process heat for industrial purposes.
Solar water heating panels
Solar technologies are broadly characterized as either passive solar or active solar depending on the way they capture, convert and distribute sunlight. Active solar techniques include the use of photovoltaic panels, solar thermal collectors, with electrical or mechanical equipment, to convert sunlight into useful outputs. Passive solar techniques include orienting a building to the Sun, selecting materials with favorable thermal mass or light dispersing properties, and designing spaces that naturally circulate air.
Benefits of Solar Energy
Solar Electric power is an energy source that is clearer, more reliable longer lasting and environmentally Friendlier than nuclear and fossil fuels.
Lower your electric bills with energy conservation energy efficiency and solar electricity.
» A more sustainable, clean energy source than fossil fuels or nuclear energy.
» Reduces greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutants and decreases our impact on climate change. This, in turn, increases the traditionally non-quantitative ‘quality of life’ measures such as better respiratory health, decreased work or school absenteeism from smog-related asthma, and mitigating the broader personal and socio-economic impacts of climate change.
» Helps citizens develop an energy conservation ethic, increasing their independence from outside energy sources and decreasing their annual energy costs.
» Reduces the need to import energy from abroad and is an energy source unaffected by global price fluctuations
Creates employment opportunities and new sources of income.
» Solar Electricity is Clean, Reliable, Safe & a renewable source of Electricity.
Green Energy Innovations Offers:
» Cost Effective Solutions for Today's Challenging Economy.
» The Latest Technologies to save Money & our Planet.
» Secure a Better Tomorrow through Efficient Energy Usage.
" I'd rather put my money on the Sun & Solar Energy. What a Source of Power.
I hope we don't have to wait till Oil & Coal run out before we tackle that. "
Thomas Edison
More information
Today there are several incentives for renewal energy.
Find all state, local, utility and federal incentives for renewable energy & energy efficient products at:
DSIRE
Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency
Visit :dsireusa.org
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Nanotechnology emerges in energy efficiency
Nanotechnology emerges in energy efficiency
At the University of Leicester in Leicester, England, nanotechnology is taking the forefront in the construction of energy efficient materials.
Worldwide, demand for energy is increasing, placing greater stress on limited resources such as oil. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the transportation industry, which accounts for the use of 20 percent of the world’s energy and is a leading cause of pollution.
A post graduate researcher at the University of Leicester is working to fabricate light, strong materials using nanotechnology materials. He hopes to create lighter components for both the automotive and aerospace industries, which focus their research and development on alternative energy sources, such as bio-fuels and electric batteries.
“The Kyoto agreement and the European Commission suggest that the automotive manufacturers should reduce their vehicle weight to minimize CO2 emissions and conserve finite oil (fossil fuel) reserves,” Sinan Kandemir, the researcher leading the effort, said.
He believes his research will yield quicker results than the automotive industry’s research into alternative fuels.
Light materials, such as aluminum and magnesium, have been proposed to replace steel in car bodies. However, according to Kandemir, these lighter metals lack the strength required to keep passengers and drivers safe.
He suggests the use of nano-sized ceramic particles, which can be incorporated into light metals. This would modify the physical properties of light metals, increasing their strength, but maintaining a lighter weight, requiring less fuel to propel the car.
"These nano-composite materials save weight and offer greater performance whilst contributing to the fuel efficiency and reducing greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere,” Kandemir said.
This is not the only research into energy efficiency and nanotechnology being conducted. On the other side of the world, a University of Utah USTAR researcher, Ling Zang, Ph.D., is also investigating the use of nanotechnology in energy efficiency.
Specifically, his current research is on nanoscale imaging and molecular probing, nanostructures, optoelectronic sensors and nanodevices. Among his goals are achieving real applications in renewable energy and other areas of study.
One area he cites as an area that can benefit from nanotechnology is solar power.
“Silicon dominates current solar panel technology, and that can be expensive,” Zang said in “Nanotechnology will help us move to utilization of alternative materials, and even to paint-on materials, by reducing production costs and increasing efficiency.”
Zang is the editor of the book, “Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy through Nanotechnology.”
At the University of Leicester in Leicester, England, nanotechnology is taking the forefront in the construction of energy efficient materials.
Worldwide, demand for energy is increasing, placing greater stress on limited resources such as oil. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the transportation industry, which accounts for the use of 20 percent of the world’s energy and is a leading cause of pollution.
A post graduate researcher at the University of Leicester is working to fabricate light, strong materials using nanotechnology materials. He hopes to create lighter components for both the automotive and aerospace industries, which focus their research and development on alternative energy sources, such as bio-fuels and electric batteries.
“The Kyoto agreement and the European Commission suggest that the automotive manufacturers should reduce their vehicle weight to minimize CO2 emissions and conserve finite oil (fossil fuel) reserves,” Sinan Kandemir, the researcher leading the effort, said.
He believes his research will yield quicker results than the automotive industry’s research into alternative fuels.
Light materials, such as aluminum and magnesium, have been proposed to replace steel in car bodies. However, according to Kandemir, these lighter metals lack the strength required to keep passengers and drivers safe.
He suggests the use of nano-sized ceramic particles, which can be incorporated into light metals. This would modify the physical properties of light metals, increasing their strength, but maintaining a lighter weight, requiring less fuel to propel the car.
"These nano-composite materials save weight and offer greater performance whilst contributing to the fuel efficiency and reducing greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere,” Kandemir said.
This is not the only research into energy efficiency and nanotechnology being conducted. On the other side of the world, a University of Utah USTAR researcher, Ling Zang, Ph.D., is also investigating the use of nanotechnology in energy efficiency.
Specifically, his current research is on nanoscale imaging and molecular probing, nanostructures, optoelectronic sensors and nanodevices. Among his goals are achieving real applications in renewable energy and other areas of study.
One area he cites as an area that can benefit from nanotechnology is solar power.
“Silicon dominates current solar panel technology, and that can be expensive,” Zang said in “Nanotechnology will help us move to utilization of alternative materials, and even to paint-on materials, by reducing production costs and increasing efficiency.”
Zang is the editor of the book, “Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy through Nanotechnology.”
Energy efficiency growing factor in home sales
Energy efficiency growing factor in home sales
European Union legislation will require all homes advertised for sale starting in 2012 to publish energy efficiency ratings. These compulsory ratings will provide buyers important energy efficiency information as part of a plan to reduce household carbon emissions by 29 percent by 2020.
This is just one aspect of the growing influence energy efficiency has on home sales as consumers are looking for accurate information regarding the efficiency of homes they are considering purchasing.
In the United States, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) said builders are constructing smaller homes with a strong focus on energy savings and performance. Rather than fancy amenities such as vaulted ceilings, multiple bedrooms, and large foyers, builders are including features such as insulated front doors, programmable thermostats, high performance appliances, and energy-efficient lighting.
A readership survey conducted by consumer magazine Better Homes and Gardens showed that home buyers are seeking homes with increased energy efficiency features. Among features respondents indicated they want in a new home were:
Highly efficient HVAC systems (76 percent of respondents)
Energy Star compliant appliances (79 percent of respondents)
Energy efficient home design (66 percent of respondents)
Natural lighting (65 percent of respondents)
Another indicator in the United States concerns MLS, or Multiple Listing Service. All homes for sale in the United States must be listed on the MLS, a database available to real estate agents and related professionals. A new addition, called the Green MLS Toolkit, is a cross-industry effort designed to help homebuyers quickly find “green” homes for sale and is being used by real estate agents and brokers with clients looking for specific energy efficient standards in a new home.
A challenge remains with older homes as new homes in the United States are far more efficient than older ones, making the aging homes less desirable.
However, there are efforts underway to help improve the energy efficiency of aging homes, giving them a higher resale value. Testifying before the United States Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which is discussing a slate of new energy efficiency laws, Ohio custom homebuilder Tony Crasi laid out some interesting statistics.
"The introduction of modern energy codes in the early 1990s has significantly improved the efficiency of new construction," he told the committee. "In fact, the Energy Information Administration reports that homes built between 1991 and 2001 consumed 2.5 percent of total energy output in the U.S. By contrast, the 94.5 million older, existing homes consumed 18.4 percent of U.S. energy consumption, meaning the most inefficient housing is the most plentiful."
He testified in favor of policies that would, “promote an effective retrofit plan for older, less-efficient housing that allows builders and remodelers to create the benefits of energy efficiency for all housing."
While energy efficiency is a strong selling point for homes, challenges remain, particularly associated with existing older inventories, which comprise the largest number of homes available for sale.
European Union legislation will require all homes advertised for sale starting in 2012 to publish energy efficiency ratings. These compulsory ratings will provide buyers important energy efficiency information as part of a plan to reduce household carbon emissions by 29 percent by 2020.
This is just one aspect of the growing influence energy efficiency has on home sales as consumers are looking for accurate information regarding the efficiency of homes they are considering purchasing.
In the United States, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) said builders are constructing smaller homes with a strong focus on energy savings and performance. Rather than fancy amenities such as vaulted ceilings, multiple bedrooms, and large foyers, builders are including features such as insulated front doors, programmable thermostats, high performance appliances, and energy-efficient lighting.
A readership survey conducted by consumer magazine Better Homes and Gardens showed that home buyers are seeking homes with increased energy efficiency features. Among features respondents indicated they want in a new home were:
Highly efficient HVAC systems (76 percent of respondents)
Energy Star compliant appliances (79 percent of respondents)
Energy efficient home design (66 percent of respondents)
Natural lighting (65 percent of respondents)
Another indicator in the United States concerns MLS, or Multiple Listing Service. All homes for sale in the United States must be listed on the MLS, a database available to real estate agents and related professionals. A new addition, called the Green MLS Toolkit, is a cross-industry effort designed to help homebuyers quickly find “green” homes for sale and is being used by real estate agents and brokers with clients looking for specific energy efficient standards in a new home.
A challenge remains with older homes as new homes in the United States are far more efficient than older ones, making the aging homes less desirable.
However, there are efforts underway to help improve the energy efficiency of aging homes, giving them a higher resale value. Testifying before the United States Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which is discussing a slate of new energy efficiency laws, Ohio custom homebuilder Tony Crasi laid out some interesting statistics.
"The introduction of modern energy codes in the early 1990s has significantly improved the efficiency of new construction," he told the committee. "In fact, the Energy Information Administration reports that homes built between 1991 and 2001 consumed 2.5 percent of total energy output in the U.S. By contrast, the 94.5 million older, existing homes consumed 18.4 percent of U.S. energy consumption, meaning the most inefficient housing is the most plentiful."
He testified in favor of policies that would, “promote an effective retrofit plan for older, less-efficient housing that allows builders and remodelers to create the benefits of energy efficiency for all housing."
While energy efficiency is a strong selling point for homes, challenges remain, particularly associated with existing older inventories, which comprise the largest number of homes available for sale.
Encouraging Energy Efficiency Through Competition
Encouraging Energy Efficiency Through Competition
It is a challenge in Iowa, along with the rest of the United States, to find effective tactics to change behavior to increase energy efficiency and conservation. Iowa has long been a leader in energy efficiency program spending, but huge potential remains to reduce our electricity use. New methods of encouraging energy savings through behavior change show significant promise. In particular, Department of Energy Secretary Chu recently referred to the potential to reduce energy consumption by the power of harnessing people’s competitive spirits. This report looks at how energy-reduction competitions have encouraged behavior changes that save energy and money, at little cost.
Many of Iowa’s investor-owned utilities, rural electric cooperatives (RECs), and municipal utilities have programs that provide monetary incentives to customers interested in improving the efficiency of homes and businesses, mostly as rebates for appliances, weatherization or insulation upgrades. In a striking example of the popularity of such programs, the state’s 2010 appliance rebate program exhausted its funding within hours of opening. While such incentives have succeeded in reducing energy consumption and lowering monthly utility bills, programs to encourage community-wide improvements through changes in behavior may have a more widespread and longer lasting effect on consumption.
Examples of Competitions
Recently, friendly competitions or challenges have begun to be used to encourage energy-saving behavior change. The largest and best known was conducted in Kansas between six towns. Organized by a nonprofit group in partnership with local governments, investor-owned and municipal utilities, the 2009 competition was designed to determine which town could reduce its energy usage by the highest percentage over the course of a year. The entire population of each town was encouraged to participate. Organizers performed energy audits, provided tips and information about the best ways to save energy, assisted in installing technologies to improve efficiency, updated participants on progress and held events to motivate and educate participants about issues of energy independence, environmental quality, and the financial savings potential. [1]
Though one of the main goals of the Kansas competition was to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, organizers found that mentioning “climate change” deterred participation because the term and issue have been politicized. There was a wide range of ages, income status, ethnicity and cultures among the participants, and organizers sought to emphasize values with broad appeal. Competition organizers found the following messages resonated: patriotism (not relying on foreign energy sources), frugality (saving money on utility bills), and civic pride (winning the competition). [2]
The combined use of these motivators yielded unprecedented involvement with over 11,000 people participating. Over 6 million kilowatt hours of energy were saved during the yearlong event and an additional 7 million kilowatt hours of future savings were put in place. Participants saved over $1.2 million in avoided energy costs, which exceeded the investment in supplies and volunteer hours for the competition by a factor of 27. [3] Overall energy savings in the victorious community were over 5 percent. The Kansas competition is now in its second year and has grown to include 16 communities.
Yearlong Kansas Energy Challenge Yielded Big Savings
Source: Climate and Energy Project
Competitions are becoming popular on college campuses, with competitions between college dormitories, buildings or between colleges themselves. In Iowa, Luther College’s sustainability coordinators and Environmental Concerns Organization (ECO), a student environmental group, have organized monthlong competitions between campus residence halls to see which can reduce electricity consumption the most. Students participate by signing the Energy Conservation Pledge, which is found on the Luther Sustainability website. The website also has links to energy-saving tips for dorm residents, a “dashboard” where students can check their teams’ progress, opportunities to volunteer and information about other student and community competitions throughout the country. Competition organizers found the use of social media such as Facebook was instrumental in recruiting participants, as was the $1,000 cash prize awarded to the winning residence hall. [4]
As of November 2010, the Luther competitions saved 7,014 kilowatt hours of energy. In November 2010, Luther participated in the Campus Conservation Nationals (CCN), an energy competition between 40 colleges around the country. Over the three-week competition, participating institutions saved a total of 500,000 kilowatt hours of energy equal to $50,000.
Loras College in Dubuque recently began a similar energy competition among dormitory residents. In four residence halls, monitors track the use of electricity, steam and water. Dorm residents will be exposed to educational programs regarding behavioral and technical methods to save energy, and the dorm that saves the most will be awarded a prize. At the University of Northern Iowa, individual dorm floors have competed against each other as well.
Minnesota has used competition since 2006 to reduce energy use. The Minnesota Energy Challenge has over 27,000 participants on 1,100 teams. [5] Minnesotans can join teams online, where they can also sign up to engage in specific energy-saving actions, get technical assistance and connect with other participants. Thus far, the challenge has led to a pledged reduction of 216,550,759 pounds of carbon dioxide. This reduction would save Minnesota residents almost $13 million annually. [6]
Dubuque has tried competition to reduce water use. Working with IBM Research division, the city performed a pilot study that allowed volunteer residents to see their water consumption in near-real time. They could also compare their use with other Dubuque residents participating in the pilot and compete with them to reduce their water consumption each week. Usage information was available to participants through a website. Over the course of nine weeks, participants used an average of 6.6 percent less water than nonparticipants. [7]
The Psychology of Competitions
Competitions build upon people’s innate desire to do “better” than others, or at the very least to not do worse, or to “keep up with the Joneses.” This can manifest itself as neighbors wanting to have better lawns, bigger houses, newer cars, or, in this case, lower utility bills. One key element to this is knowledge, so people must have access to information about how their performance or behavior compares to that of others.
Using social conformity to foster a competitive spirit among participants is an important aspect of competitions to reduce energy or other resource usage. More formally known as descriptive norms messaging, this tactic highlights the “standard” behavior of a given population in order to encourage other individuals to behave similarly. In study after study, people are more influenced by what their neighbors or peers are doing than by other means of persuasion. [8] Whether it’s switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs from incandescent, or using a fan instead of air conditioning, or reusing hotel towels rather than getting a new one each day, people want to do what others are doing, or do it better.
Appealing to a Team Effort: It Works
Placards were placed in hotel bathrooms asking guests to reuse bath towels rather having them washed after every use. Half of the placards asked guests to reuse their towels to “help save the environment.” [9] The other half were asked to “join fellow guests in saving the environment.” The result? Twenty-five percent more guests reused their towels if they were in a room with a placard that asked them to do as their fellow guests were doing, compared to guests who only received the environmental messaging. [10]
Companies such as OPOWER, Microsoft and IBM are taking advantage of this understanding of human nature to design products that Iowa utilities could take advantage of to help reduce energy demand. OPOWER, for instance, has developed a user interface allowing clients to monitor their household energy consumption and compare it to that of similarly sized “efficient” and “average” households in their geographic regions using the web, mail or phone. This multichannel communication allows for exchange of personal and comparative energy use data with a wide range of customers. Thus far, OPOWER has seen consistent and long-term reductions in energy consumption across all geographic regions, ages, and income brackets monitored, averaging a 2.5 percent reduction in energy use. [11] IBM has invested heavily in researching water use in Dubuque and will be moving beyond its water pilot project into energy and transportation as well.
Iowa utilities, too, are taking advantage of this understanding and giving their customers information about average energy use. In 2011, Kalona-based Farmer’s Electric Cooperative began including a graphic on monthly bills that shows the range of residential electricity usage among FEC customers for the month. It also lists the average kilowatt-hour usage and asks customers to notice how they compare. When the “Power Usage Indicator” was introduced, FEC encouraged customers to challenge themselves to reduce their usage to reduce FEC’s peak demand and keep rates low. If it is indeed human nature to want to do want to keep up with what friends, neighbors and peers are doing, then including this information will drive continual reductions in energy usage at virtually no cost to the utility.
Farmer’s Electric Cooperative’s Power Usage Indicator on Customers’ Monthly Bills
Lessons Learned
There is tremendous potential to make use of competitions and other tools to influence Iowans’ resource-consuming behaviors, especially when used in conjunction with existing utility programs such as rebates and energy audits and with state and federal tax credits for energy efficiency and renewable energy. Iowa utilities moving in this direction should keep in mind some of the lessons learned from the groundbreaking competitions.
Individual commitments are important — Information campaigns and promises of lower energy bills are often effective at encouraging participation, but organizers of past competitions have found that seeking individual commitments from participants leads to more significant and lasting reductions in energy use. Whether in the form of signing pledges or establishing personal milestones, individual goal-setting makes energy efficiency more approachable and practical.
Be specific and targeted — The more specific the better in giving advice to homeowners about how to reduce energy use. Many local utilities perform free energy audits for residential and commercial customers, and similar audits can be used in energy contests to perform pre- and post-competition assessments of home or building energy efficiency. Audits also can be used to recommend efficiency upgrades that are the most cost-effective and provide the biggest return on dollars invested. People produce greater short- and long-term savings when they can target the greatest sources of energy waste in their own homes, rather than when they follow general energy saving guidelines (Crane-Smith, 2011).
It’s important to be fair — Teams need to know they are competing on a level playing field. It is not fair to compare a community where a large industrial facility has very inefficient lighting that could be easily replaced against a community that does not. Also unfair would be comparing a community with new housing stock vs. a town full of century-old homes. A community with a utility that offers excellent energy efficiency programs is likewise at an unfair advantage over one that has only minimal offerings. Therefore it is important to have the right teams and participants in a competition from the beginning.
Contests can increase knowledge about utility programs — From the utility’s perspective, investing time and labor in energy contests may be useful, as interaction with customers can lead to better working relationships with the public. Such interaction can increase participation in a utility’s energy efficiency programs, as citizens become more knowledgeable about and interested in responsible energy use.
Websites are important tools — Initially competition websites were used to inform people about energy-saving steps, events and other news, but they have become more interactive. Signing pledges, online communicating with team or community members via blogs and social networking features or even accessing real-time energy use data are all valuable uses for the internet in competitions. Websites can set the tone and brand the competition with colors, logos and other graphics. Because of the ability to update websites quickly and easily they can be very important for updating participants with new information and news. However, it is also important to realize that internet access may be limited in some rural communities and some people may not be connected or be comfortable using online tools.
There are different ways to measure success — Monitoring and informing teams of their progress can be a source of motivation for participants, but only if success is measured in a meaningful and relatable way. Competitions have measured progress in terms of kilowatt hours of energy reduced, dollars saved in energy costs and pounds of avoided carbon dioxide emissions. Depending on the audience, one of these methods may be more relevant than the others. Other ways to measure success include simple attendance at educational events or counting the number of energy audits performed.
Community is key — The force holding any energy contest together should be the community on which it is centered. Although responsible energy use is the ultimate goal of a competition, the focus should be more about community building and stewardship than energy and the environment. Whether towns divide themselves into teams or consolidate into one, the formation of teams can allow participants to unite based on common identities and to act collectively in pursuit of a common goal. Whole-town events provide opportunities for citizens to gather, and organizers can have a presence at existing community festivals to further incorporate energy efficiency into civic values. Every town is different, and organizers that tailor their competition to meet the needs of each community and have input from community leaders from the beginning will have greater success.
The language used matters — Choice of language can have a significant impact on participant responses to competition leaders. Many issues related to energy and the environment are politically charged, and certain words or phrases can quickly quell participants’ interest in energy efficiency and the leaders’ credibility, ultimately jeopardizing the goals of the competition. Mentioning climate change or global warming may be particularly detrimental. Energy independence, reducing costs, doing the right thing and reducing waste are other potentially effective ways to frame the issue, but it is important to remain flexible depending on the target audience.
Information Sharing and Competition Could Yield Significant Savings
If Iowans and Iowa utilities were to embrace this fast growing field of practices to reduce energy use, the results could be significant. With just the change of sharing information on bills about others’ energy use, OPOWER has shown energy can be reduced by 2.5 percent and others have shown average savings of nearly 2 percent. [12] The winning town in the Kansas challenge reduced their consumption by 5.5 percent. For comparison, Iowa’s investor-owned electric utilities have a goal of reducing consumption with their energy efficiency programming by about 1.5 percent annually.
As more states and communities try to harness peoples’ desire to conform and to out compete, more and better practices will continue to emerge. Iowans could learn from the lessons of completed trials and adapt to incorporate emerging ideas and set a goal of 5 percent electricity use reduction through changing behavior. This would save over 2 million MWh of electricity annually, or nearly 40 percent of the output of the Duane Arnold nuclear power plant near Palo. [13] Five percent is an aggressive target, but by layering an improved knowledge of what drives consumers’ behaviors on top of existing utility programs, it may indeed be possible.
Conclusion
As utilities search for ways to lower energy demand, they may find it useful to understand the increasing volume of research on how to change behaviors in energy use, including studies of competitive drives and the desire for social conformity, and how these can encourage sustainable choices. Competitions can be powerful motivators, whether organized as events with prizes or as personal competitions stoked by utility bill or website notices comparing household energy use with that of neighbors. These efforts are capable of driving significant reductions in energy usage. This potential should be explored further and, where possible, utilities should implement changes that will save energy and money.
It is a challenge in Iowa, along with the rest of the United States, to find effective tactics to change behavior to increase energy efficiency and conservation. Iowa has long been a leader in energy efficiency program spending, but huge potential remains to reduce our electricity use. New methods of encouraging energy savings through behavior change show significant promise. In particular, Department of Energy Secretary Chu recently referred to the potential to reduce energy consumption by the power of harnessing people’s competitive spirits. This report looks at how energy-reduction competitions have encouraged behavior changes that save energy and money, at little cost.
Many of Iowa’s investor-owned utilities, rural electric cooperatives (RECs), and municipal utilities have programs that provide monetary incentives to customers interested in improving the efficiency of homes and businesses, mostly as rebates for appliances, weatherization or insulation upgrades. In a striking example of the popularity of such programs, the state’s 2010 appliance rebate program exhausted its funding within hours of opening. While such incentives have succeeded in reducing energy consumption and lowering monthly utility bills, programs to encourage community-wide improvements through changes in behavior may have a more widespread and longer lasting effect on consumption.
Examples of Competitions
Recently, friendly competitions or challenges have begun to be used to encourage energy-saving behavior change. The largest and best known was conducted in Kansas between six towns. Organized by a nonprofit group in partnership with local governments, investor-owned and municipal utilities, the 2009 competition was designed to determine which town could reduce its energy usage by the highest percentage over the course of a year. The entire population of each town was encouraged to participate. Organizers performed energy audits, provided tips and information about the best ways to save energy, assisted in installing technologies to improve efficiency, updated participants on progress and held events to motivate and educate participants about issues of energy independence, environmental quality, and the financial savings potential. [1]
Though one of the main goals of the Kansas competition was to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, organizers found that mentioning “climate change” deterred participation because the term and issue have been politicized. There was a wide range of ages, income status, ethnicity and cultures among the participants, and organizers sought to emphasize values with broad appeal. Competition organizers found the following messages resonated: patriotism (not relying on foreign energy sources), frugality (saving money on utility bills), and civic pride (winning the competition). [2]
The combined use of these motivators yielded unprecedented involvement with over 11,000 people participating. Over 6 million kilowatt hours of energy were saved during the yearlong event and an additional 7 million kilowatt hours of future savings were put in place. Participants saved over $1.2 million in avoided energy costs, which exceeded the investment in supplies and volunteer hours for the competition by a factor of 27. [3] Overall energy savings in the victorious community were over 5 percent. The Kansas competition is now in its second year and has grown to include 16 communities.
Yearlong Kansas Energy Challenge Yielded Big Savings
Source: Climate and Energy Project
Competitions are becoming popular on college campuses, with competitions between college dormitories, buildings or between colleges themselves. In Iowa, Luther College’s sustainability coordinators and Environmental Concerns Organization (ECO), a student environmental group, have organized monthlong competitions between campus residence halls to see which can reduce electricity consumption the most. Students participate by signing the Energy Conservation Pledge, which is found on the Luther Sustainability website. The website also has links to energy-saving tips for dorm residents, a “dashboard” where students can check their teams’ progress, opportunities to volunteer and information about other student and community competitions throughout the country. Competition organizers found the use of social media such as Facebook was instrumental in recruiting participants, as was the $1,000 cash prize awarded to the winning residence hall. [4]
As of November 2010, the Luther competitions saved 7,014 kilowatt hours of energy. In November 2010, Luther participated in the Campus Conservation Nationals (CCN), an energy competition between 40 colleges around the country. Over the three-week competition, participating institutions saved a total of 500,000 kilowatt hours of energy equal to $50,000.
Loras College in Dubuque recently began a similar energy competition among dormitory residents. In four residence halls, monitors track the use of electricity, steam and water. Dorm residents will be exposed to educational programs regarding behavioral and technical methods to save energy, and the dorm that saves the most will be awarded a prize. At the University of Northern Iowa, individual dorm floors have competed against each other as well.
Minnesota has used competition since 2006 to reduce energy use. The Minnesota Energy Challenge has over 27,000 participants on 1,100 teams. [5] Minnesotans can join teams online, where they can also sign up to engage in specific energy-saving actions, get technical assistance and connect with other participants. Thus far, the challenge has led to a pledged reduction of 216,550,759 pounds of carbon dioxide. This reduction would save Minnesota residents almost $13 million annually. [6]
Dubuque has tried competition to reduce water use. Working with IBM Research division, the city performed a pilot study that allowed volunteer residents to see their water consumption in near-real time. They could also compare their use with other Dubuque residents participating in the pilot and compete with them to reduce their water consumption each week. Usage information was available to participants through a website. Over the course of nine weeks, participants used an average of 6.6 percent less water than nonparticipants. [7]
The Psychology of Competitions
Competitions build upon people’s innate desire to do “better” than others, or at the very least to not do worse, or to “keep up with the Joneses.” This can manifest itself as neighbors wanting to have better lawns, bigger houses, newer cars, or, in this case, lower utility bills. One key element to this is knowledge, so people must have access to information about how their performance or behavior compares to that of others.
Using social conformity to foster a competitive spirit among participants is an important aspect of competitions to reduce energy or other resource usage. More formally known as descriptive norms messaging, this tactic highlights the “standard” behavior of a given population in order to encourage other individuals to behave similarly. In study after study, people are more influenced by what their neighbors or peers are doing than by other means of persuasion. [8] Whether it’s switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs from incandescent, or using a fan instead of air conditioning, or reusing hotel towels rather than getting a new one each day, people want to do what others are doing, or do it better.
Appealing to a Team Effort: It Works
Placards were placed in hotel bathrooms asking guests to reuse bath towels rather having them washed after every use. Half of the placards asked guests to reuse their towels to “help save the environment.” [9] The other half were asked to “join fellow guests in saving the environment.” The result? Twenty-five percent more guests reused their towels if they were in a room with a placard that asked them to do as their fellow guests were doing, compared to guests who only received the environmental messaging. [10]
Companies such as OPOWER, Microsoft and IBM are taking advantage of this understanding of human nature to design products that Iowa utilities could take advantage of to help reduce energy demand. OPOWER, for instance, has developed a user interface allowing clients to monitor their household energy consumption and compare it to that of similarly sized “efficient” and “average” households in their geographic regions using the web, mail or phone. This multichannel communication allows for exchange of personal and comparative energy use data with a wide range of customers. Thus far, OPOWER has seen consistent and long-term reductions in energy consumption across all geographic regions, ages, and income brackets monitored, averaging a 2.5 percent reduction in energy use. [11] IBM has invested heavily in researching water use in Dubuque and will be moving beyond its water pilot project into energy and transportation as well.
Iowa utilities, too, are taking advantage of this understanding and giving their customers information about average energy use. In 2011, Kalona-based Farmer’s Electric Cooperative began including a graphic on monthly bills that shows the range of residential electricity usage among FEC customers for the month. It also lists the average kilowatt-hour usage and asks customers to notice how they compare. When the “Power Usage Indicator” was introduced, FEC encouraged customers to challenge themselves to reduce their usage to reduce FEC’s peak demand and keep rates low. If it is indeed human nature to want to do want to keep up with what friends, neighbors and peers are doing, then including this information will drive continual reductions in energy usage at virtually no cost to the utility.
Farmer’s Electric Cooperative’s Power Usage Indicator on Customers’ Monthly Bills
Lessons Learned
There is tremendous potential to make use of competitions and other tools to influence Iowans’ resource-consuming behaviors, especially when used in conjunction with existing utility programs such as rebates and energy audits and with state and federal tax credits for energy efficiency and renewable energy. Iowa utilities moving in this direction should keep in mind some of the lessons learned from the groundbreaking competitions.
Individual commitments are important — Information campaigns and promises of lower energy bills are often effective at encouraging participation, but organizers of past competitions have found that seeking individual commitments from participants leads to more significant and lasting reductions in energy use. Whether in the form of signing pledges or establishing personal milestones, individual goal-setting makes energy efficiency more approachable and practical.
Be specific and targeted — The more specific the better in giving advice to homeowners about how to reduce energy use. Many local utilities perform free energy audits for residential and commercial customers, and similar audits can be used in energy contests to perform pre- and post-competition assessments of home or building energy efficiency. Audits also can be used to recommend efficiency upgrades that are the most cost-effective and provide the biggest return on dollars invested. People produce greater short- and long-term savings when they can target the greatest sources of energy waste in their own homes, rather than when they follow general energy saving guidelines (Crane-Smith, 2011).
It’s important to be fair — Teams need to know they are competing on a level playing field. It is not fair to compare a community where a large industrial facility has very inefficient lighting that could be easily replaced against a community that does not. Also unfair would be comparing a community with new housing stock vs. a town full of century-old homes. A community with a utility that offers excellent energy efficiency programs is likewise at an unfair advantage over one that has only minimal offerings. Therefore it is important to have the right teams and participants in a competition from the beginning.
Contests can increase knowledge about utility programs — From the utility’s perspective, investing time and labor in energy contests may be useful, as interaction with customers can lead to better working relationships with the public. Such interaction can increase participation in a utility’s energy efficiency programs, as citizens become more knowledgeable about and interested in responsible energy use.
Websites are important tools — Initially competition websites were used to inform people about energy-saving steps, events and other news, but they have become more interactive. Signing pledges, online communicating with team or community members via blogs and social networking features or even accessing real-time energy use data are all valuable uses for the internet in competitions. Websites can set the tone and brand the competition with colors, logos and other graphics. Because of the ability to update websites quickly and easily they can be very important for updating participants with new information and news. However, it is also important to realize that internet access may be limited in some rural communities and some people may not be connected or be comfortable using online tools.
There are different ways to measure success — Monitoring and informing teams of their progress can be a source of motivation for participants, but only if success is measured in a meaningful and relatable way. Competitions have measured progress in terms of kilowatt hours of energy reduced, dollars saved in energy costs and pounds of avoided carbon dioxide emissions. Depending on the audience, one of these methods may be more relevant than the others. Other ways to measure success include simple attendance at educational events or counting the number of energy audits performed.
Community is key — The force holding any energy contest together should be the community on which it is centered. Although responsible energy use is the ultimate goal of a competition, the focus should be more about community building and stewardship than energy and the environment. Whether towns divide themselves into teams or consolidate into one, the formation of teams can allow participants to unite based on common identities and to act collectively in pursuit of a common goal. Whole-town events provide opportunities for citizens to gather, and organizers can have a presence at existing community festivals to further incorporate energy efficiency into civic values. Every town is different, and organizers that tailor their competition to meet the needs of each community and have input from community leaders from the beginning will have greater success.
The language used matters — Choice of language can have a significant impact on participant responses to competition leaders. Many issues related to energy and the environment are politically charged, and certain words or phrases can quickly quell participants’ interest in energy efficiency and the leaders’ credibility, ultimately jeopardizing the goals of the competition. Mentioning climate change or global warming may be particularly detrimental. Energy independence, reducing costs, doing the right thing and reducing waste are other potentially effective ways to frame the issue, but it is important to remain flexible depending on the target audience.
Information Sharing and Competition Could Yield Significant Savings
If Iowans and Iowa utilities were to embrace this fast growing field of practices to reduce energy use, the results could be significant. With just the change of sharing information on bills about others’ energy use, OPOWER has shown energy can be reduced by 2.5 percent and others have shown average savings of nearly 2 percent. [12] The winning town in the Kansas challenge reduced their consumption by 5.5 percent. For comparison, Iowa’s investor-owned electric utilities have a goal of reducing consumption with their energy efficiency programming by about 1.5 percent annually.
As more states and communities try to harness peoples’ desire to conform and to out compete, more and better practices will continue to emerge. Iowans could learn from the lessons of completed trials and adapt to incorporate emerging ideas and set a goal of 5 percent electricity use reduction through changing behavior. This would save over 2 million MWh of electricity annually, or nearly 40 percent of the output of the Duane Arnold nuclear power plant near Palo. [13] Five percent is an aggressive target, but by layering an improved knowledge of what drives consumers’ behaviors on top of existing utility programs, it may indeed be possible.
Conclusion
As utilities search for ways to lower energy demand, they may find it useful to understand the increasing volume of research on how to change behaviors in energy use, including studies of competitive drives and the desire for social conformity, and how these can encourage sustainable choices. Competitions can be powerful motivators, whether organized as events with prizes or as personal competitions stoked by utility bill or website notices comparing household energy use with that of neighbors. These efforts are capable of driving significant reductions in energy usage. This potential should be explored further and, where possible, utilities should implement changes that will save energy and money.
Encouraging Energy Efficiency: A Tax Fix Everyone Can Get Behind
Encouraging Energy Efficiency: A Tax Fix Everyone Can Get Behind
Pretend you are a small business owner. You happen to own the building where your business is housed, which has helped you weather the recession. Things seem to be getting better, and you have the opportunity to make some investments in your company that could really pay off in the long run.
You’d like to figure out how to cut your operating expenses, especially utilities, which have gone up and up and up over the last 10 years. You know your building is pretty old and leaky, and that much of that energy you buy is wasted. You’ve heard the President talk about efficiency retrofits and think that might be a smart investment that will cut your energy bills and pay for itself.
But there is a problem. If you invest in your own building energy efficiency, you will have to pay federal taxes on the value of the investment. If you were to keep wasting energy, all that wasted money would be completely deductible from your taxes.
That’s right; in effect our tax code unintentionally subsidizes wasted energy. Despite the economic benefits (not to mention the domestic job creation and the environmental benefits), investments to create energy efficient, better buildings do not receive the same treatment under the tax code as wasted energy.
That’s why USGBC is working with a diverse coalition of industry and environmental organizations, like the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Real Estate Roundtable, to change that. It’s our highest priority to convince Congress that energy efficiency is at least as valuable to the nation’s prosperity as wasted energy.
We’ve proposed changes to fix Section 179D of the tax code, and existing policy designed to encourage energy efficient new construction to make it usable for existing buildings. You can read more about those changes here.
The positive impact of this tax code tweak would be immense – 77,000 new jobs and immense savings on energy bills where we live and work. Those are benefits that will be felt not only by those who do the work, but also by everyone who works in an office, stays in a hotel, shops at a mall, or lives in an apartment.
But what will be the cost to the treasury? Not much if anything for one major reason – all those investments we want to encourage will drastically decrease the total amount of money spent on energy at businesses across the country, thereby lowering the total expenses deducted from their taxes for years to come. Instead of deducting wasted energy, they will reap energy savings and reinvest that money in much more productive ways.
This is one tax fix that nearly everyone can get behind. We plan to advocate tirelessly for these changes on behalf of our members, many of whom own the buildings, make the more efficient products, and will design and engineer the retrofits. Stay tuned for opportunities to get involved.
Pretend you are a small business owner. You happen to own the building where your business is housed, which has helped you weather the recession. Things seem to be getting better, and you have the opportunity to make some investments in your company that could really pay off in the long run.
You’d like to figure out how to cut your operating expenses, especially utilities, which have gone up and up and up over the last 10 years. You know your building is pretty old and leaky, and that much of that energy you buy is wasted. You’ve heard the President talk about efficiency retrofits and think that might be a smart investment that will cut your energy bills and pay for itself.
But there is a problem. If you invest in your own building energy efficiency, you will have to pay federal taxes on the value of the investment. If you were to keep wasting energy, all that wasted money would be completely deductible from your taxes.
That’s right; in effect our tax code unintentionally subsidizes wasted energy. Despite the economic benefits (not to mention the domestic job creation and the environmental benefits), investments to create energy efficient, better buildings do not receive the same treatment under the tax code as wasted energy.
That’s why USGBC is working with a diverse coalition of industry and environmental organizations, like the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Real Estate Roundtable, to change that. It’s our highest priority to convince Congress that energy efficiency is at least as valuable to the nation’s prosperity as wasted energy.
We’ve proposed changes to fix Section 179D of the tax code, and existing policy designed to encourage energy efficient new construction to make it usable for existing buildings. You can read more about those changes here.
The positive impact of this tax code tweak would be immense – 77,000 new jobs and immense savings on energy bills where we live and work. Those are benefits that will be felt not only by those who do the work, but also by everyone who works in an office, stays in a hotel, shops at a mall, or lives in an apartment.
But what will be the cost to the treasury? Not much if anything for one major reason – all those investments we want to encourage will drastically decrease the total amount of money spent on energy at businesses across the country, thereby lowering the total expenses deducted from their taxes for years to come. Instead of deducting wasted energy, they will reap energy savings and reinvest that money in much more productive ways.
This is one tax fix that nearly everyone can get behind. We plan to advocate tirelessly for these changes on behalf of our members, many of whom own the buildings, make the more efficient products, and will design and engineer the retrofits. Stay tuned for opportunities to get involved.
20 THINGS YOU CAN DO TO CONSERVE ENERGY
20 THINGS YOU CAN DO TO CONSERVE ENERGY
Whenever you save energy, you not only save money, you also reduce the demand for such fossil fuels as coal, oil, and natural gas. Less burning of fossil fuels also means lower emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the primary contributor to global warming, and other pollutants.
You do not have to do without to achieve these savings. There is now an energy efficient alternative for almost every kind of appliance or light fixture. That means that consumers have a real choice and the power to change their energy use on a revolutionary scale.The average American produces about 40,000 pounds of CO2 emissions per year. Together, we use nearly a million dollars worth of energy every minute, night and day, every day of the year. By exercising even a few of the following steps, you can cut your annual emissions by thousands of pounds and your energy bills by a significant amount!
Home appliances
1. Turn your refrigerator down. Refrigerators account for about 20% of Household electricity use. Use a thermometer to set your refrigerator temperature as close to 37 degrees and your freezer as close to 3 degrees as possible. Make sure that its energy saver switch is turned on. Also, check the gaskets around your refrigerator/freezer doors to make sure they are clean and sealed tightly.
2. Set your clothes washer to the warm or cold water setting, not hot. Switching from hot to warm for two loads per week can save nearly 500 pounds of CO2 per year if you have an electric water heater, or 150 pounds for a gas heater.
3. Make sure your dishwasher is full when you run it and use the energy saving setting, if available, to allow the dishes to air dry. You can also turn off the drying cycle manually. Not using heat in the drying cycle can save 20 percent of your dishwasher's total electricity use.
4. Turn down your water heater thermostat. Thermostats are often set to 140 degrees F when 120 is usually fine. Each 10 degree reduction saves 600 pounds of CO2 per year for an electric water heater, or 440 pounds for a gas heater. If every household turned its water heater thermostat down 20 degrees, we could prevent more than 45 million tons of annual CO2 emissions - the same amount emitted by the entire nations of Kuwait or Libya
5. Select the most energy-efficient models when you replace your old appliances. Look for the Energy Star Label - your assurance that the product saves energy and prevents pollution. Buy the product that is sized to your typical needs - not the biggest one available. Front loading washing machines will usually cut hot water use by 60 to 70% compared to typical machines. Replacing a typical 1973 refrigerator with a new energy-efficient model, saves 1.4 tons of CO2 per year. Investing in a solar water heater can save 4.9 tons of CO2 annually.
Home Heating and Cooling
6. Be careful not to overheat or overcool rooms. In the winter, set your thermostat at 68 degrees in daytime, and 55 degrees at night. In the summer, keep it at 78. Lowering your thermostat just two degrees during winter saves 6 percent of heating-related CO2 emissions. That's a reduction of 420 pounds of CO2 per year for a typical home.
7. Clean or replace air filters as recommended. Energy is lost when air conditioners and hot-air furnaces have to work harder to draw air through dirty filters. Cleaning a dirty air conditioner filter can save 5 percent of the energy used. That could save 175 pounds of CO2 per year.
Small investments that pay off
8. Buy energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs for your most-used lights. Although they cost more initially, they save money in the long run by using only 1/4 the energy of an ordinary incandescent bulb and lasting 8-12 times longer. They provide an equivalent amount of bright, attractive light. Only 10% of the energy consumed by a normal light bulb generates light. The rest just makes the bulb hot. If every American household replaced one of its standard light bulbs with an energy efficient compact fluorescent bulb, we would save the same amount of energy as a large nuclear power plant produces in one year. In a typical home, one compact fluorescent bulb can save 260 pounds of CO2 per year.
9. Wrap your water heater in an insulating jacket, which costs just $10 to $20. It can save 1100 lbs. of CO2 per year for an electric water heater, or 220 pounds for a gas heater.
10.Use less hot water by installing low-flow shower heads. They cost just $10 to $20 each, deliver an invigorating shower, and save 300 pounds of CO2 per year for electrically heated water, or 80 pounds for gas-heated water.
11.Weatherize your home or apartment, using caulk and weather stripping to plug air leaks around doors and windows. Caulking costs less than $1 per window, and weather stripping is under $10 per door. These steps can save up to 1100 pounds of CO2 per year for a typical home. Ask your utility company for a home energy audit to find out where your home is poorly insulated or energy inefficient. This service may be provided free or at low cost. Make sure it includes a check of your furnace and air conditioning.
Getting around
12.Whenever possible, walk, bike, car pool, or use mass transit. Every gallon of gasoline you save avoids 22 pounds of CO2 emissions. If your car gets 25 miles per gallon, for example, and you reduce your annual driving from 12,000 to 10,000 miles, you'll save 1800 pounds of CO2.
13.When you next buy a car, choose one that gets good mileage. If your new car gets 40 miles per gallon instead of 25, and you drive 10,000 miles per year, you'll reduce your annual CO2 emissions by 3,300 pounds.
Reduce, reuse, recycle
14.Reduce the amount of waste you produce by buying minimally packaged goods, choosing reusable products over disposable ones, and recycling. For every pound of waste you eliminate or recycle, you save energy and reduce emissions of CO2 by at least 1 pound. Cutting down your garbage by half of one large trash bag per week saves at least 1100 pounds of CO2 per year. Making products with recycled materials, instead of from scratch with raw materials, uses 30 to 55% less for paper products, 33% less for glass, and a whopping 90% less for aluminum.
15.If your car has an air conditioner, make sure its coolant is recovered and recycled whenever you have it serviced. In the United States
Home Improvements. When you plan major home improvements, consider some of these energy saving investments. They save money in the long run, and their CO2 savings can often be measured in tons per year.
16.Insulate your walls and ceilings. This can save 20 to 30 percent of home heating bills and reduce CO2 emissions by 140 to 2100 pounds per year. If you live in a colder climate, consider superinsulating. That can save 5.5 tons of CO2 per year for gas-heated homes, 8.8 tons per year for oil heat, or 23 tons per year for electric heat. (If you have electric heat, you might also consider switching to more efficient gas or oil.)
17.Modernize your windows. Replacing all your ordinary windows with argon filled, double-glazed windows saves 2.4 tons of CO2 per year for homes with gas heat, 3.9 tons of oil heat, and 9.8 tons for electric heat.
18.Plant shade trees and paint your house a light color if you live in a warm climate, or a dark color if you live in a cold climate. Reductions in energy use resulting from shade trees and appropriate painting can save up to 2.4 tons of CO2 emissions per year. (Each tree also directly absorbs about 25 pounds of CO2 from the air annually.)
Business and community
19.Work with your employer to implement these and other energy-efficiency and waste-reduction measures in your office or workplace. Form or join local citizens' groups and work with local government officials to see that these measures are taken in schools and public buildings.
20.Keep track of the environmental voting records of candidates for office. Stay abreast of environmental issues on both local and national levels, and write or call your elected officials to express your concerns about energy efficiency and global warming.
Passive houses offer affordable energy efficiency
Passive houses offer affordable energy efficiency
As the need for energy efficiency grows, Americans are becoming more interested in a European solution – passive houses.
Many measures that increase energy efficiency – solar panels, wind turbines, highly efficient appliances, and heating and air systems – carry with them significant upfront costs. Those costs may deter consumers.
However, passive houses offer substantial energy use reduction at lower prices. According to the Passive House Institute US, overall energy savings of up to 90 percent are possible without applying active technologies. This can account for significant savings, given that according to the United States Energy Information Administration, 48% of greenhouse gas emissions annually derives from buildings and 39% of all electricity generated by U.S. power plants goes to supply the building sector.
According to Germany’s Passive House Institute, passive construction in Europe must meet an annual heating requirement that is less than 14kWh/(m2a) (4755 Btu/ft2/yr), and it cannot be attained at the cost of an increase in the use of energy for other purposes.
Additionally, the Institute requires that the combined primary energy consumption of the living area may not exceed 120 kWh/(m²a) (38039 Btu/ft²/yr) for heat, hot water and household electricity. Passive homes utilize a combination of factors including super-insulation, an airtight building shell, high-performance triple-glazed windows, a balanced energy recovery ventilation system, and the limitation of thermal bridging to reduce energy use and carbon emissions .
According to the Passive House Institute US, about 10 percent of construction costs are tied to passive technologies and building methods
While at one time, passive houses have been more expensive to build, that is no longer the case. According to Germany’s Passive House Institute, costs are now in line with normal building standards in that country, as was the case with the Passivhaus Apartments at Vauban, Freiburg, Germany.
So far in the United States, only a few hundred homes meet the strict standards for a passive house. The first in North America was building in Urbana, Illinois in 2003. Meanwhile the first U.S. passive retrofit occurred in July 2010 when a 223 square-meter home in Sonoma, California was remodeled.
While a new trend in U.S. Construction, the Passive House Institute estimates the total number of passive houses to be 15,000 to 20,000 worldwide, with a heavy focus in Germany and Scandinavia. However, as these homes establish a track record of significant energy savings at a reasonable upfront cost, demand for these types of homes should increase around the globe.
Many measures that increase energy efficiency – solar panels, wind turbines, highly efficient appliances, and heating and air systems – carry with them significant upfront costs. Those costs may deter consumers.
However, passive houses offer substantial energy use reduction at lower prices. According to the Passive House Institute US, overall energy savings of up to 90 percent are possible without applying active technologies. This can account for significant savings, given that according to the United States Energy Information Administration, 48% of greenhouse gas emissions annually derives from buildings and 39% of all electricity generated by U.S. power plants goes to supply the building sector.
According to Germany’s Passive House Institute, passive construction in Europe must meet an annual heating requirement that is less than 14kWh/(m2a) (4755 Btu/ft2/yr), and it cannot be attained at the cost of an increase in the use of energy for other purposes.
Additionally, the Institute requires that the combined primary energy consumption of the living area may not exceed 120 kWh/(m²a) (38039 Btu/ft²/yr) for heat, hot water and household electricity. Passive homes utilize a combination of factors including super-insulation, an airtight building shell, high-performance triple-glazed windows, a balanced energy recovery ventilation system, and the limitation of thermal bridging to reduce energy use and carbon emissions .
According to the Passive House Institute US, about 10 percent of construction costs are tied to passive technologies and building methods
While at one time, passive houses have been more expensive to build, that is no longer the case. According to Germany’s Passive House Institute, costs are now in line with normal building standards in that country, as was the case with the Passivhaus Apartments at Vauban, Freiburg, Germany.
So far in the United States, only a few hundred homes meet the strict standards for a passive house. The first in North America was building in Urbana, Illinois in 2003. Meanwhile the first U.S. passive retrofit occurred in July 2010 when a 223 square-meter home in Sonoma, California was remodeled.
While a new trend in U.S. Construction, the Passive House Institute estimates the total number of passive houses to be 15,000 to 20,000 worldwide, with a heavy focus in Germany and Scandinavia. However, as these homes establish a track record of significant energy savings at a reasonable upfront cost, demand for these types of homes should increase around the globe.
ENERGY EFFICIENCY & CONSERVATION
ENERGY EFFICIENCY & CONSERVATION
BENEFITS OF ENERGY EFFICIENCY & CONSERVATION
Energy which is saved by improvements in efficiency has, in practice, often provided good environmental benefit and provided a net cost saving to the energy user. Building insulation, fluorescent lighting, and public transportation are some of the most effective means of conserving energy, and by extension, the environment.
Energy conservation is the practice of increasing the efficiency of use of energy in order to achieve higher useful output for the same energy consumption. This may result in increase of national security, personal security, financial capital, human comfort and environmental value. Individuals and organizations that are direct consumers of energy may want to conserve energy in order to reduce energy costs and promote environmental values. Industrial and commercial users may want to increase efficiency and maximize profit.
On a larger scale, energy conservation is an element of energy policy. The need to increase the available supply of energy (for example, through the creation of new power plants, or by the importation of more energy) is lessened if societal demand for energy can be reduced, or if growth in demand can be slowed. This makes energy conservation an important part of the debate over climate change and the replacement of non-renewable resources with renewable energy. Encouraging energy conservation among consumers is often advocated as a cheaper or more environmentally sensitive alternative to increased energy production.
tax breaks
Governments can provide incentives to consumers and businesses to adopt green measures like tax breaks for:
• Hybrid vehicles
• Home insulation
• Solar hot water heating
• Alternative power sources such as compact wind turbines.
Architecture
Governments can encourage or legislate for 'green' design. Houses and offices can be designed to conserve energy in many ways:
• Control heat loss by sealing windows and doors
• Smaller homes that need less power for light and heat
• Use of natural air currents instead of air conditioning
• Better insulation to reduce the need for heating and air conditioning
• Protect windows from sunlight in summer
• Use of natural light instead of electric lighting
• Use of renewable energy such as compact wind turbines and solar panels.
public lighting
Environmentally aware governments are increasingly using new energy-efficient light bulbs, and particularly the new LEDs (light-emitting diodes) for public lighting of bus shelters, public spaces and streets.
airlines
Governments can work together to allow airliners to fly in as straight a line as possible, instead of negotiating their way around different airspaces. Legislation could force plane design to be more economical and for jets to be towed instead of burning fuel while taxiing.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Sustainable Energy & Economy
Sustainability advocacy
Many business leaders find it challenging to lead others on the path to sustainability - and not necessarily because they’re working with a tough audience (although that happens too). Rather the trouble lies in their inability to communicate in way that generates real-world action and measurable results. But certain individuals seem to have cracked the code - they’ve figured out how to turn environmental conversations into sustainable changes for their companies, and for the environment. What exactly are these leaders doing differently, and how can we learn from them?
Principle I: Emphasize the business necessity.
Aspiring change leaders must have their heads wrapped firmly around the financial implications of their pet environmental initiatives. Environmental strategy consultant believes that creating a compelling business need is by far the most critical factor for getting decision makers on board with green initiatives. The good news for aspiring sustainability leaders is that the case for business necessity is getting easier to make with every passing day.
“Customers are asking questions about environmental performance,” and “Companies like Wal-Mart will give more shelf space to those companies that can reduce their footprint. Employees demanding more from companies they work for is another clear force that creates a compelling business need - it’s tough enough to compete for the best talent without turning them off on values-driven and environmental issues.”
The take-home? When seeking to serve the sometimes elusive triple bottom line, make sure you start with the bottom-line that decision makers value most- cold, hard cash. This topic is sure to get them listening.
Principle II: Frame environmental goals in terms of the other’s self interest.
With work demands and obligations bombarding them at every possible moment, how can we get organizational leaders to make our green initiative a priority? Here’s the secret of all motivational conversationalists: Take the perspective of the person you are speaking to and frame your agenda so that it occurs to other person as highly relevant to their own personal goals.
Of course, to accomplish this requires that we do a minimal amount of homework to learn more about our audience. What are their goals? How do these goals relate to our proposal? What do they have to gain by our success? This may seem like a lot to think through up front, but if we are willing to make a habit of this sort of analysis our persuasive abilities will skyrocket.
A good example comes from environmental initiatives for one company. Which has a distinguished track record of leading change in the organization and attributes much of the success to this simple habit? “There are multiple benefits to all environmental initiatives, so the language we use to impart the message has to mirror that diversity,” “For example, if I’m promoting an energy conservation initiative such as a lighting retrofit for the facilities, I will need to alter my message based upon my audience. I need to address the financial savings on our utility bill to the finance folks, the labor and maintenance benefits to the technicians in the field, and the quality of light with clients or tenants of the facility.”
Principle III: Appeal to enlightened self-interest.
Once you’ve framed your proposal in terms of ever-pressing financial imperatives and the other person’s self-interest, feel free invoke the “better angels” of your audience’s nature. Invite them to see how jumping on board with your initiative will also serve the more high-minded planetary and humanistic bottom-lines. Sometimes the best way to do this is directly, by discussing the positive global impact that your green proposal will create in terms of waste and greenhouse gas reduction. Other times it may be preferable to first be discreet, seeking topics that evoke in your audience a feeling of selflessness and a desire to contribute.
Creating rapport through meaningful conversations. “A great tactic is to look around and find something that the person you’re talking to really cares about. I’ve found that a universally powerful topic is children. If you can get people take a second to think about their children, and the effect that their choices might have on them, they seem to open up and be much more willing to consider higher causes like the environment.” Whatever your angle, remember that - beneath the cynicism and chaos - people want to do the right thing. You are, in fact, giving them a fresh opportunity to do just this.
Principle IV: Use humor to melt defensiveness.
Unfortunately, for most people there is still a huge gap between environmental awareness and environmental action. This gap often causes them to feel slightly guilty and defensive when the topic of saving the environment is even raised. If we don’t overcome it, this subtle mental block can make our audience unreceptive and make our words more likely to fall upon deaf ears. What are we to do? How can we get past this mental filter and raise our audiences to consider new possibilities? One strong approach is with humor.
One company has turned the tactic of using humor to overcome environmental guilt into an art by designing a stylish faux legal contract called an “Environmental Guilt Waiver.” This contract bestows clients and friends with a “24-hour exemption from all existential torment in connection with the environmental crisis” for making simple positive environmental choices in their daily life. The result? After receiving the waiver, clients who might normally be resistant to discussing the environment open up more easily and take a more active interest in the topic. “Making people feel guilty doesn’t help the environment,” “People want to have fun and be part of the solution. We’re doing what we can to make saving the planet a more pleasant experience!”
Principle V: Paint an inspiring vision.
John F. Kennedy gave us the image of a man on the moon. These world leaders knew that all great accomplishments start out as little more than compelling images that capture our imagination. Granted, few people will ever reach the heights of power and influence that these historical figures attained, but each of us can nonetheless draw from that same well of wisdom when we seek to cause changes in our own work-life sphere.
Want to be a true visionary? Simply do this: envision the end result that you are seeking to cause for your organization and help others see it too. Make it vivid, make it compelling, make it believable and make it personal. What are the implications for your audience of this goal coming to fruition? How will their life - and the life of their organization - be changed as a result of small efforts made today? If you can get others in your organization to use their imagination to experience your environmental proposal in this way, you will generate astounding levels of motivation for your cause.
Principle VI: Stick with it.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither were our current environmental challenges. As you do your part to reinvent the wheel in a new shade of green, remember to be patient and - even more importantly - be persistent. No matter how eloquent, business savvy and sincere we may be, sometimes the only way to get through to people is with good old-fashioned repetition. Allow yourself to be the squeaky (green) wheel that gets the grease!
Someone once remarked that breaking up with someone is a lot like trying to tip over a refrigerator…you have to rock it a few times before it actually topples over. Getting people to change their environmental thinking and behaviors is the same way. So stick with it. Be persistent. After all, how much does environmental change really matter to you? Are you in it to win a popular contest or to do the right thing? Are you willing to continually raise the issues that matter to you most, even when those around you don’t seem interested? If so, you are a true leader, and success is only a matter of time.
YJ Draiman, Energy, Telecom & Water Conservation Specialist
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