Dinogy - Energy Blog » Tips, Tricks, and News to help you save Energy

I was reading an interesting article in the newspaper yesterday about how large office buildings in New York City are using large amounts of Ice in favor of traditional air conditioners. And... they are saving lots of money by doing so.

While it does take energy to make the ice, much more energy is saved using this method vs standard air conditioning. The article states that one building, Credit Suisse, is saving 2.15 million kilowatt-hours annually, which at current power prices would be over $300,000 in savings annually. The actual savings may be much higher than my calculation since the ice is made during off-peak hours, and the energy is saved during peak hours.

Speaking of solar lights - have you seen the Bogo Light? It's a LED solar powered flashlight with a twist. You may have heard of a BoGo sale meaning Buy One Get One, however in this case BoGo stands for Buy One Give One. The company is donating one flashlight to charity for every light purchased. Turns out these flashlights can make a big difference in third world countries, where kerosene lanterns are used for lighting. Replacing 52 kerosene lanterns, BogoLight estimates reduces green house gases the equivalent of one automobile in the US.

From what I hear the flashlights are also very well designed and work really well. It fits nicely in the hand, and also lights up a wider area than typical flashlights.

Here's a clip from the BlogLight Blog:

We have started passing out our traveling BoGo lights - the light has a tag which explains the program, and then asks the recipient to use it for a couple of days, then pass it on to a friend. Each light is numbered and has a code, so people will shortly be able to log on and provide their generic location and their comments.

Outdoor lighting can create great atmosphere for your home or business, but it can also take it's toll on your electricity bill. This year we are seeing a big push in solar powered outdoor lighting. We have seen everything from solar powered tiki torches to solar powered flood lights.

We have created a page of solar powered lighting products that you can browse through.

The first ever O'Reilly Energy Innovation Conference will be held August 22-24, 2007 in San Francisco, at the epicenter of conservation and technological innovation. The event will be a convergence point for emerging technologies in energy distribution and generation, architecture and construction, as well as transportation. The conference will investigate new technologies applied to conservation and efficiency improvements, and feature radical new tools for increasing supplies and mitigating environmental impacts.

Early registration is now open for attendees and media. To register for the Energy Innovation Conference, visit: http://conferences.oreillynet.com/pub/w/59/register.html

Energy Innovation will be of interest to existing power company (gas, electric, water) IT managers, CXO's, government agencies, environmental agencies, investors and VCs, entrepreneurs, researchers, academics, activists, hackers, and alpha geeks tinkering with power and energy technology or anyone interested in building the next wave of innovative energy technologies.

The list of speakers and topics is growing and includes visionaries and industry leaders. A brief highlight of speakers:

• Terry Swack, Founder & CEO, Clean Culture
• Houston Kempton, Environmental Chemist, Watershed Consulting
• Mark Bramfitt, Principal Program Manager, Pacific Gas and Electric
• Bruce Nordman, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• Alec Brooks, General Motors
• Paul MacCready, AeroVironment, Inc.
• Peter Williams, IBM
• Julie Jorgensen, Cogen America

The program is still taking shape, and the preliminary sessions can be reviewed here: http://conferences.oreillynet.com/pub/w/59/sessions.html

To see the current list of speakers, visit: http://conferences.oreillynet.com/pub/w/59/speakers.html

Energy Innovation will feature an exhibit hall where companies offering energy conservation-related products and services will display their latest innovations to the more than 500 attendees that are expected at the convention.

Looking to save a little energy this summer? Buy a Push Reel Lawn Mower, you know those mowers that don't have an engine, and use your own power to mow the lawn. These mowers have come a long way over the years and are now much easier to push than older reel push lawn mowers.

These mowers can be hard to find, since your local hardware store would probably rather have you buy more expensive mowers, but you can buy them online.

Back in February we pointed out that unplugging your cell phone charger when it's not in use could save up to 190 megawatts a day in the US alone.

Today Nokia announced that all of their new devices will alert users to unplug the charger once the battery is full.

Mobile phones sounding a beep and displaying an alert -- "Battery is full, please unplug the charger" -- could save enough electricity to power 85,000 homes annually, Nokia said.

Curious to know just how much energy will be saved each year by the new day light savings time law change of 2007? We certainly were, so here's our back of the napkin calculation.

To calculate this estimate we will assume that every person in the US will be running one 60W light bulb for one extra hour for 21 extra days (since that's how many days it was moved up).

The population of the united states is 298,444,215 (according to the CIA July, 06). Multiply that by 60 watts, and then by 21 days. Now divide that result by 1000 to convert it from watt hours to kilowatt hours (which is how you pay for energy).

The amount of energy saved by the new law is 376,039,711 KWh each year.

I realize that kilowatt hours don't mean much to most folks so let's convert that into dollars. Using the average price of electricity in the US 10.6 cents / kilowatthour, that is a savings of $39,860,209.40.

In a January, 2007 issue of Business Week Magazine there is an ad for Home Depot that states that they saw a 25% increase in sales of Energy Star products last year (in 2006).

Did you know that individuals can qualify for a one time federal income tax credit of up to $500, by making energy efficient home improvements?

Here's how you can qualify for the Residential Energy Credits:

• Install Energy Star Exterior Windows - deduct 10% up to the total cost, up to $200.
• Install Energy Star Exterior Doors - deduct 10% up to the total cost, up to $500.
• Install Energy Star Central Air, Heat Pump, or Water Heaters - up to $300 of the total cost including installation.
• Install a new Furnace or Boiler - deduct up to $150

Be sure to check with the product manufacturer (by phone or web site) to see if a product qualifies for the Home Energy Efficiency Improvement federal tax credit. And remember to consult with your Accountant or Tax Preparer as well.

For more info please see: here and here.

Did you know that when you unplug your cell phone from its charger, the charger is still drawing power? The same goes for your laptop computer, your iPod, and many more of our digital devices that have rechargable batteries. It may be a small amount of energy for each device, but over time this bad habit can slowly add up to a lot of wasted energy.

Let's just look at cell phones, of which there are an estimated 190 million in the United States. A quick back of the envelope calculation says that the combined stand-by usage of all those cell phone chargers, each drawing a measly watt, could add up to 190 megawatts per day. That's enough to power approximately 100,000 homes.

Via: Matter Magazine