At the Cop15 climate negotiations in Copenhagen on Tuesday, a group of advocacy groups and high-tech companies including Google and Intel urged governments to ensure consumers get real-time information on energy use.
Giving consumers regular data on consumption will help them take steps to be more energy-efficient and will be an effective way to cut greenhouse gas emissions, according to the coalition.
Studies have shown (click for PDF) that access to detailed information, rather than only getting a monthly bill, can reduce energy use by 15 percent in a home.
When aggregated at large scale, these savings would be significant. If all households in the developed countries achieved a 15 percent energy savings by 2020, it would be the equivalent of taking 200 million cars of the road in the European Union and shutting down 124 coal power plants, according to the coalition.
"By empowering citizens with information and tools for managing energy, governments and businesses around the world can harness the power of hundreds of millions of people to fight climate change--and save consumers hundreds of billions of dollars in the process," the group statement said.
The call to action was signed by Google, General Electric, Intel, Dow, Whirlpool, venture capital company Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers along with a number of non-governmental organizations, including the National Resource Defense Council, The Climate Group, the Alliance to Save Energy, The Energy Future, and the Center for American Progress.
There are already a handful of home energy monitoring displays available. But millions more will be installed in the coming years as part of utility-run smart-grid programs, although not all home energy displays need a smart meter to function. More sophisticated products will provide information on a small display, the Web, or a TV, and give consumers recommendations on how to program appliances and lighting for efficiency.
Although real-time energy information is helpful, time-of-use electricity prices are also needed to give consumers financial incentive to use energy-hungry appliances, such as dishwashers, at off-peak times.
The coalition at Copenhagen said that national governments should ensure consumer have access to real-time or near real-time energy use data; pricing; and the carbon intensity of electricity sources.
NARRAGANSET, R.I.--Homeowner Kim Hageman wanted to "go green" at home without giving up any digital comforts.
Three weeks ago, the public relations and marketing executive, her husband, and their two children moved into a house built from the ground up to be both low energy and high tech. It is the first home to get the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED for Homes certification in the state of Rhode Island.
It's far more energy efficient than most because the building is tightly insulated and uses a ground-source heat pump, also called geothermal, for heating and cooling. The builders and homeowners followed a number of other environmentally sensitive guidelines to get the LEED certification, including using recycled materials from local sources and a large cistern for most outdoor watering. Through recycling, the entire construction project, which included tearing down an existing building, only sent one dumpster to the landfill.
The building is cutting edge when it comes to high tech, too. It has a home-automation system from Control4 to access movies and music from the TV and touch-screen displays around the house. That system also doubles as the energy management console, giving teh family a way to control temperature and lighting, as well as get real-time data on electricity use.
Since the family has just moved in, Hageman can't say yet whether the energy monitoring system has helped conserve electricity. But at the very least, Hageman knows how much she is spending on average per day. In theory, that information will allow the Hagemans to notice a high consumption rate and turn off unused electronics and lights.
Hageman said she decided to create an LEED-certified green home because she wanted to do something to help the environment and because she thought it would be good for her public relations and marketing business.
One of the biggest challenges of the entire 14-month project was finding qualified contractors versed in green-building design and products. Now, she hopes the house will serve as a resource for other homeowners looking to incorporate some of its features, such as using sustainably forested wood, water-efficient appliances, and a rainwater harvesting system.
The contractors followed the Consumer Electronics Association's guidelines for a "green" audiovisual installation, where wiring is minimized and the technology upgradeable. Hageman estimates that the system uses about half as much wiring as another comparably high-tech home.
The house still has a significant environmental footprint simply by its size--more than 4,500 square feet. But the Hagemans have made a number of energy efficient choices up front, such as using foam insulation throughout and EnergyStar-rated appliances. They are also considering a sizable solar electric array, which could make it a net zero energy home.
GE's 2.5-megawatt wind turbines, installed at a wind farm in Germany.
(Credit: General Electric)Power company Caithness Energy has given General Electric a $1.4 billion contract to supply wind turbines and 10 years' worth of maintenance for an Oregon wind farm, GE announced Thursday.
The massive 845-megawatt wind farm, Shepherds Flat, will be located near Arlington, Oregon, but span approximately 30 square miles and cover parts of Oregon's Gilliam and Morrow Counties.
GE estimates that it will supply 338 of its 2.5-megawatt wind turbine models to be installed between 2011 and 2012. Although they have been used in Europe and Asia, the company says the Shepherds Flat project will include the first U.S. installations of these specific GE turbines.
"When completed, [the Shepherds Flat project] will be larger than any wind farm currently in operation around the globe," GE said in a statement.
Of course, that comment depends on how you decide to calculate what constitutes a single farm and whether it matters if the wind farm is on land or in the ocean. In July, for example, Texas announced plans to host two 750-megawatt offshore wind farms in the Gulf of Mexico.
Regardless of whether this wind farm will be the largest, or among the largest in the world, there's no question that once completed, it will make a significant impact on power supply.
Shepherds Flat, which has been contracted to provide to power utility Southern California Edison, is predicted to generate about 2 billion kilowatt-hours per year. That's enough power to supply about 235,000 households annually, according to statistics provided by GE.
That power does not come without significant layout costs. New York-based Caithness Energy predicts that the project setup will cost $2 billion, including necessary improvements to area roads and power connection equipment to the grid in order for the wind farm to be operational.
GE and Caithness Energy have also touted how the project will bring some jobs to American workers. An estimated 400 workers will be hired for construction of Shepherds Flat, scheduled to break ground in 2010 and be complete in 2012, and an estimated 35 permanent workers will be hired to operate the wind farm. The estimated number of jobs to be created for the wind turbines' assembly, in a GE plant in Pensacola, Fla., was not disclosed.
The days of learning about your electricity consumption once a month are the on the wane.
Driven by consumer interest in energy and utility smart-grid programs, home energy information displays are poised to enter people's kitchens and living rooms in large numbers over the next few years, Pike Research forecast in a report on Thursday.
The research company predicts there will be 28.1 million users of energy displays by 2015. About half of the users will have actual devices, while more than 11 million will access that information from Web-based dashboards and 2.6 million from mobile phones, according to Pike Research.
The purpose of these displays is to guide consumers in lowering their energy consumption. Simply making people aware of their electricity use will drive people to make behavior changes to cut their utility bills and environmental footprint. Studies have found that a combination of more detailed information and utility-run incentive programs can help consumers shave between 5 percent and 15 percent off their bills.
For example, a display might show that electricity usage is above normal at a given moment and send someone to turn off unused electronics. Getting historical data and information on different appliance usage, too, can lead people to make adjustments. More advanced home energy management systems will allow a person to program heating and cooling and to participate in utility efficiency programs to cut energy use during peak times.
Still, since many of these products are still not on the market, it's not clear how effective they will be at improving home energy efficiency and whether consumers will continue to use them regularly.
There are already a number of home energy monitoring devices which can cost anywhere from less than $100 to a few hundred dollars. But the field is getting crowded with a number of providers from very different fields. The smart-grid stimulus program is expected to result in over 1 million homes getting these displays for free from utilities.
Both Microsoft and Google offer Web dashboards, although their functions vary. There are also dozens of companies, including a number of start-ups, which make devices or software to run on displays.
In many cases, information is gathered through a smart meter, which has a two-way communications link with the utility. But in many smart-grid programs, utilities are not making detailed energy usage available to consumers in real time, in part because of security concerns, says smart-grid executives.
Although the home networking standards are still in flux, many energy information display companies are developing gateways using home Internet connections to read existing meter data and software to provide efficiency recommendations to consumers.
(Credit:
Easy Energy)
Outdoorsy types are sure to love mobile solar chargers, but what about those who rarely see sunlight? (No, we're not referring to "Twilight.")
Easy Energy will launch the YoGen, a mobile charger that solely relies on hand power. The pocket-size charger lets you generates energy by repeatedly pulling a ripcord, similar to the way a lawnmower is started.
YoGen Max generates energy through a foot pedal.
(Credit: Easy Energy)The Las Vegas-based company created this product as a part of its mission to "satisfy the enormous worldwide demand for practical, compact, 'green energy producing' manpowered chargers." Easy Energy is also in the process of launching YoGen Max, a laptop charger that lets you generate energy by continually pressing a foot pedal.
Similar technology can be credited to Baylis, a company that created a wind-up MP3 player in 2008.
Preorders can be placed at the YoGen store and will ship within the next month. The $40 charger is available in black or clear, but you'll have to choose between Apple and ... Read more
The Panasonic TC-P50V10 plasma flat-panel HDTV.
(Credit: Panasonic)Panasonic plans to invest $1 billion by 2012 to develop green technologies for the home that would include energy-monitoring systems, marking a major shift in the company's focus.
Panasonic President Fumio Ohtsubo said in an interview with the Bloomberg news service this week that growing consumer interest in more efficient products has led Panasonic to decide to develop new core businesses.
"Our growth is not enough . So we want to change our fighting ring from our current categories to a different field," Ohtsubo told Bloomberg.
The company plans to offer home energy management systems, as well as develop existing interests in lithium ion batteries for electric cars, solar panels, and smart appliances.
Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean that the world's leading plasma-TV manufacturer is getting rid of its star product.
As one of its green product ideas, Ohtsubo told Bloomberg about a system in development that would allow people to monitor the electricity generation of their solar panels and the electricity use of ... Read more
If you need more evidence that energy storage is much more than lithium ion batteries, take a look at the latest smart-grid utility storage projects.
The Department of Energy on Tuesday announced that $620 million in stimulus funding is going to 32 smart-grid programs, which will be coupled with another $1 billion in private money. A total of $770 million from government and industry sources in the next few years will go to energy storage, giving a number of storage technologies a dose of real-world experience. (See this PDF for details.)
(Credit:
PG&E)
Notable in the list is the prominence of compressed-air energy storage and flow batteries, two technologies rarely discussed just a few years ago. Also in the mix are flywheels and using batteries for distributed energy storage in communities.
It's unlikely that all the DOE-aided projects will immediately prove to be commercially viable. But storage has clearly emerged as a key component in the vision of the smart grid. A number of start-ups are developing technologies they hope can address a ... Read more
Dozens of home energy monitors are coming to market, but nobody knows whether only hybrid Prius owners will use them.
Whole home energy monitors, or displays, are designed to help consumers conserve energy by providing far more detailed information than a monthly bill. These types of devices are already available, but millions more are poised to enter U.S. homes in the next two years, largely through utility-run smart grid programs.
The gadgets themselves vary, but the common thread among them is the ability to capture a stream of energy information from a meter at a given moment. Simply by surfacing real-time data, either with a small device or Web software, it's believed the system will prompt people to change their habits and ratchet down consumption by 5 percent to 15 percent, according to studies (PDF).
But even as more sophisticated and user-friendly products come to market, it's unclear whether consumers will track energy use regularly, particularly once the novelty wears ... Read more
The California Energy Commission on Wednesday unanimously approved the first energy efficiency standards for televisions in the state over opposition from the Consumer Electronics Association.
The rules mandate that televisions sold in California starting in 2011 consume 33 percent less electricity than current models and 49 percent less by 2013. The regulations affect TVs that are 58 inches wide and less.
Video: In this episode of The Green Show, CNET's David
Katzmaier explains the factors that affect TV power use. (He's
introduced at about 1:38 minutes in.)
Although it's a state-level regulation, it is potentially significant outside California as other states are considering adopting similar rules. Unlike voluntary programs, such as the Environmental Protection Agency's EnergyStar program, the rules mandate certain levels of efficiency. For example, a 42-inch TV that consumes 183 watts or less by 2011 needs to consume 115 watts or less by 2013, the Commission explained in its statement.
The effort to regulate television efficiency, which was backed by California utilities and environmental groups, will save money ... Read more
EcoFactor has been awarded Cleantech Open's national award, which includes $100,000 in seed capital.
The awards ceremony for one of the leading environmental start-up competitions took place at the Masonic Center in San Francisco following a day-long conference in which contestants and venture capitalists had a chance to mingle.
EcoFactor has developed software that works in conjunction with a two-way thermostat to better maintain stable desired temperatures in homes. The system relies on outside data like weather as well has the thermal habits of the home, and self-regulates based on those factors. The process helps heating and cooling home systems run 20-30 percent more efficiently, according to company statistics.
"Being named the Cleantech Open national winner really validates our solution and our business model, and proves that the market is looking for energy-efficiency solutions that don't ask people to change their behavior or sacrifice comfort," EcoFactor CEO and co-founder John Steinberg said in a statement.
Out of the 12 national finalists, there were also 2 chosen as runners-up: Micromidas, which developed a ... Read more
