LED Lighting Could Help Reduce CO2 Emissions 50 Percent Over 20 Years

Just by switching to LED lights, we could decrease carbon dioxide emissions from electric power use by up to 50 percent in just over 20 years. A recent report by McKinsey & Company states that making this switch is possibly the most cost-effective way to tackle global warming using existing technology.

From The New York Times:

LEDs are more than twice as efficient as compact fluorescent bulbs, currently the standard for greener lighting. Unlike compact fluorescents, LEDs turn on quickly and are compatible with dimmer switches. And while fluorescent bulbs contain mercury, which requires special disposal, LED bulbs contain no toxic elements, and last so long that disposal is not much of an issue.

“It is fit-and-forget-lighting that is essentially there for as long as you live,” said Colin Humphreys, a researcher at Cambridge University who works on gallium nitride LED lights, which now adorn structures in Britain.

The switch to LEDs is proceeding far more rapidly than experts had predicted just two years ago. President Obama’s stimulus package, which offers money for “green” infrastructure investment, will accelerate that pace, experts say. San Jose, Calif., plans to use $2 million in energy-efficiency grants to install 1,500 LED streetlights.

LEDs have a high initial cost, no doubt – an outdoor spotlight can cost up to $100, compared to $7 for an incandescent bulb. But, imagine not having to change that light bulb again for 20 years or more, and paying pennies on the dollar for power consumption compared to ‘regular’ light bulbs.

They’re still not perfect, being better suited for directional lighting than general lighting needs, but scientists are already finding new ways to address these problems. It’s a start!

Link [The New York Times]

Photo credit: ledlite-power.co.uk

Enter the Instructables Energy Efficiency Competition & Win a Mac Book Pro

Want to help improve energy efficiency, and win yourself a brand new 15″ MacBook Pro from Apple? Create an energy-saving Instructable and explain why or how your project saves energy – whether it’s a whole new invention or an improvement upon an existing product. Instructables and EarthJustice are teaming up to sponsor creative thinking on energy efficiency. Instructables is a web-based documentation platform where passionate people share what they do and how they do it, and learn from and collaborate with others.

From Instructables:

Quick, what renewable-energy resource is cheap, perfectly clean, and available almost everywhere?
Energy efficiency.

Improving energy efficiency is the fastest, cheapest, and cleanest way to power our lives, so Instructables has teamed up with Earthjustice to help spread the news through their United States of Efficiency campaign. Even small changes in the efficiency standards for appliances, lights, and machines can create huge savings in electricity and natural gas – we can help fight global warming, create green jobs, and save scarce resources and money at the same time!

Five first prize winners will receive a Kill-a-Watt, and five runners-up will get an Instructables Robot t-shirt, patch and stickers. Check out the current submissions and communicate with your fellow inventors at the Instructables EarthJustice Contest page. You can also get more inspiration at the Instructables ‘Saving Energy’ page.

The contest started Thursday, March 26th and the entry deadline is May 6th, 2009. Be sure to read the official rules before getting started. Good luck!

Link [Instructables]

Poll: How Green Could You Be?

How many energy-saving home projects would you be willing to take on if stronger tax incentives were in place? That’s what the National Trust for Historic Preservation is asking, to get a sense of public opinion before moving a tax credit proposal through Washington. They’re asking us all to take a quick survey to indicate which green projects – from buying new appliances to repainting – we’d be willing to tackle.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is currently working with the new administration and Congress on a legislative idea that would save you more green in going green. We have proposed that the federal Nonbusiness Energy Property Credit – which currently allows taxpayers a 10% credit capped at $500 for energy-saving products – be significantly expanded for owners of historic and older homes to 20% with an annual maximum limit of $5,000. Under our plan, all costs associated with energy upgrades would qualify (including materials and labor). Homeowners would simply have to be mindful of local preservation ordinances in planning their projects.

All you have to do is check off the projects you’d be most likely to complete from among 11 choices – it’ll take you less than a minute.

Green building isn’t just about creating all-new structures. Historic preservation is an important element of sustainable development, and retrofitting existing buildings to be more energy-efficient is a big step toward fighting global warming.

Link [National Trust for Historic Preservation]

Los Angeles Switching to LED Street Lights

The street lights in L.A. will get a little brighter – and greener – this summer, when the city plans to switch to LEDs. It’s being billed as the largest effort by a U.S. city to reduce pollution by retrofitting incandescent street lights to be more energy-efficient.  The city will begin the replacement process this July, and it will continue over a 5-year period.

Former President Bill Clinton was on hand as Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa unveiled the plan on Monday, calling it “a great day in Los Angeles”.

From MSNBC:

The project is expected to reduce carbon emissions by 40,500 tons and save $10 million annually.

“This is the best place in the world — in the U.S. at least — to lead this,” Clinton said, citing the city’s ongoing environmental efforts. “This is like taking 6,000 cars off the road.

“If every major city followed your lead, we could eliminate 2 1/2 coal-fired power plants.”

Villaraigosa hailed the effort, saying it would help make Los Angeles the “cleanest, greenest big city in the U.S. We are building a bridge to a sustainable future.”

Of course, Los Angeles has a long way to go to be the ‘greenest big city in the U.S.’, especially considering its smog problems and lack of decent public transportation. But, this effort is definitely commendable. Imagine if more cities did this – the impact would be tremendous. Keep it up, LA!

Link [MSNBC]
Photo credit: Flickr user jondoeforty1

Utilities Guilt Customers into Energy Efficiency with Frowny Faces

Would seeing a big red frowny face on your electric bill make you want to be more energy efficient? Sacramento utility companies found out that it actually works, with a new ‘grading’ system that lets you know how your electricity consumption compares with that of your neighbors. It’s keeping up with the Joneses in a whole new way, and it just might foster a competitive spirit that will help the city cut way back on energy use.

From The New York Times:

Last April, it began sending out statements to 35,000 randomly selected customers, rating them on their energy use compared with that of neighbors in 100 homes of similar size that used the same heating fuel. The customers were also compared with the 20 neighbors who were especially efficient in saving energy.

Customers who scored high earned two smiley faces on their statements. “Good” conservation got a single smiley face. Customers like Mr. Dyer, whose energy use put him in the “below average” category, got frowns, but the utility stopped using them after a few customers got upset.

When the Sacramento utility conducted its first assessment of the program after six months, it found that customers who received the personalized report reduced energy use by 2 percent more than those who got standard statements — an improvement that Alexandra Crawford, a spokeswoman for the utility, said was very encouraging.

The idea is spreading, with 10 major metropolitan areas, including Chicago and Seattle, preparing to implement it. They decided to use smiley faces only in light of Sacramento’s experience with complaints from customers who received frowny faces.

Oh, those poor frowny-face receivers. Don’t you just feel so sorry for them? Their ability to gobble up energy guilt-free like Lindsay Lohan at a coke party has been disturbed, and the utility company hurt their poor little feelings.

This is actually a really interesting idea, considering the studies that have shown that rivalry produces real results. Colleges have been doing it for years, holding competitions between dormitories to conserve energy. Hey, whatever works!

Link [The New York Times]

Generating Wind Power in Your Backyard

Ever wonder if you could generate wind power in your own backyard? You don’t have to have a ton of land or extremely windy conditions to benefit from a wind turbine. Smaller models around 15 feet in diameter perched atop a 40- to 100-foot tower are popping up at homes, farms and businesses all over the country. Green Living Ideas gives us the scoop on how to determine whether wind power is right for your property, and how to get started.

From Green Living Ideas:

Many models of residential-scale wind turbines can be connected to the electric grid so that a consumer has power even when the wind isn’t blowing.  Grid interconnection also means that if the consumer doesn’t use as much electricity as the turbine produces, the excess can be fed backwards into the grid for credit on the consumer’s monthly electric bill.

Small wind turbines are also popular choices for people who live in remote locations, away from the electric grid.  Uses for these off-the-grid turbines include powering cabins, pumping water on farms, and even powering accessories on sailboats.  For these applications, the turbine charges batteries to supply electricity even when the wind doesn’t blow.

Small wind systems are most practical for individuals or businesses located in areas with above-average wind speeds, and with at least half an acre of open land to allow the wind to “stretch its legs.”  Regions where electricity prices are also especially high make small wind systems an attractive investment.

Green Living Ideas also offers information about pricing, zoning, and preparing neighbors who might be opposed to the idea.

For those who can afford the initial expense, wind power is a great way to generate your own energy and lessen your dependence on fossil fuels, and hopefully it will become more affordable through tax credits in the future.

Link [Green Living Ideas]
Photo credit: Symscape.com

Google Rebuts Claims about CO2 Cost of Searches

The UK’s Times reported last Sunday that doing two searches on Google uses about as much energy as boiling a kettle of water, an allegation that Google is denying on their official blog. The information in theTimes article was supposedly based on research by Harvard University physicist Alex Wissner-Gross and delves into the “secrecy” of Google’s energy consumption and carbon footprint.

From the Times Online:

While millions of people tap into Google without considering the environment, a typical search generates about 7g of CO2 Boiling a kettle generates about 15g. “Google operates huge data centres around the world that consume a great deal of power,” said Alex Wissner-Gross, a Harvard University physicist whose research on the environmental impact of computing is due out soon. “A Google search has a definite environmental impact.”

Though Google says it is in the forefront of green computing, its search engine generates high levels of CO2 because of the way it operates. When you type in a Google search for, say, “energy saving tips”, your request doesn’t go to just one server. It goes to several competing against each other.

It may even be sent to servers thousands of miles apart. Google’s infrastructure sends you data from whichever produces the answer fastest. The system minimises delays but raises energy consumption. Google has servers in the US, Europe, Japan and China.

Google responded by explaining on their blog why the “7g of CO2” number is “many times too high”.

Google is fast — a typical search returns results in less than 0.2 seconds. Queries vary in degree of difficulty, but for the average query, the servers it touches each work on it for just a few thousandths of a second. Together with other work performed before your search even starts (such as building the search index) this amounts to 0.0003 kWh of energy per search, or 1 kJ. For comparison, the average adult needs about 8000 kJ a day of energy from food, so a Google search uses just about the same amount of energy that your body burns in ten seconds.

In terms of greenhouse gases, one Google search is equivalent to about 0.2 grams of CO2. The current EU standard for tailpipe emissions calls for 140 grams of CO2 per kilometer driven, but most cars don’t reach that level yet. Thus, the average car driven for one kilometer (0.6 miles for those in the U.S.) produces as many greenhouse gases as a thousand Google searches.

On Monday, January 12th, Alex Wissner-Gross denied singling out Google, saying his study focuses on the internet in general and that the Times apparently had an ax to grind with Google. Tech News World has the scoop:

“Our work has nothing to do with Google. Our focus was exclusively on the Web overall, and we found that it takes on average about 20 milligrams of CO2 per second to visit a Web site.”

And the example involving tea kettles? “They did that. I have no idea where they got those statistics,” Wissner-Gross said.

Wissner-Gross, who manages the Web site CO2stats.com to help educate people about energy efficiencies on the Internet, has been inundated with press requests since the Times story was published. The Times quoted him correctly in the story as saying, “A Google search has a definite environmental impact” and “Google operates huge data centers around the world that consume a great deal of power,” he confirmed.

“I don’t think anybody would disagree with those statements,” Wissner-Gross said. “Everything online has a definite environmental impact. I think everybody can agree on that, including Google.”

As Fast Company points out amidst all of these accusations and rebuttals, the real story here is that there is, and will continue to be, dialogue about the energy costs of the information age. It’s a reminder that there’s a carbon cost to everything we do on the computer, from watching videos to playing games. Awareness is spreading about how our use of such technology has an impact on the earth’s resources, and that will undoubtedly continue in the years to come.

Link [Times Online] + [Google] + [Tech News World] + [Fast Company]

Green Funerals: Swedish Town Recycles Heat from Crematorium

How would you like to know that the heat you’re enjoying in your home came from burning bodies? We’re not talking about starting a funeral pyre in your living room (that would be, uh, illegal, among other things). But, if the rest of the world uses the Swedish town of Halmsted as an example, we could be kept warm with heat recycled from crematoriums.

From Treehugger:

“It was when we were discussing all these environmental issues that we started thinking about the energy that is used in the cremations and realised that instead of all that heat just going up into the air, we could make use of it somehow. It was just rising into the skies for nothing,” said Lennart Andersson, the director of the cemetery in the town of Halmstad.

Because cremation of human remains can release toxins, like mercury from dental fillings, the filtration of the off-gases is extremely important. In order to effectively clean the emitted gases, they must be cooled from around 1000°C to under 150°C. Recovery of this heat for warming first the crematorium buildings and later to feed the public heating system will save costs and use less water as well.

This is a very interesting concept. After all, as Andersson said, that heat is wasted while people across the world are paying out the nose for fossil fuel heat. Using this sort of ‘byproduct energy’ only makes sense, and if we thought this way about everything, we could undoubtedly uncover thousands of creative ways to recycle and save energy.

Link [Treehugger]
Photo credit: Hub Pages