Green Education Prospectus
Green Job Growth
Source: Pew Charitable Trusts, 2009, based on the National Establishment Time Series Database; analysis by Pew Center on the States and Collaborative Economics.
Green Job Distribution
Source: Pew Charitable Trusts, 2009, based on the National Establishment Time Series Database; analysis by Pew Center on the States and Collaborative Economics.
Tag Archives: energy efficiency
The [Not So] Guilty Pleasure of Air Conditioning: Coming Soon With Solar AC
There’s nothing quite like the feeling of walking out of the oppressive heat of a midsummer day into the perfect chill of a well air-conditioned building. Air conditioning is one of those modern conveniences like the cellular telephone: it hasn’t really been around that long, but now that we are used to it we wonder how people ever survived without it. However, there’s a high price tag – in most modern buildings air conditioning accounts for the single largest energy expenditure for the summer months and in many places for much of the year.
With conventionally powered electrical compressor heat pumps, that means that some of the first suggestions that an Eco Consultant is going to give a homeowner or business to reduce utility costs are going to have to do with optimizing the use of climate control systems in order to curb the appetite of these energy-hungry machines. But what if this wasn’t necessary? What if the hotter it got, the cheaper it got to run your AC? What if you could crank your thermostat to “cold” and let it rip without feeling the least bit guilty or apprehensive about what the bill at the end of the month was going to look like? Continue reading
Cars Are Getting Cleaner, Faster
Taking a deep breath nowadays might just be a little bit healthier than it was just a few short years ago. It’s common knowledge that cars and transportation are a leading contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and other airborne pollutants. However, according to recent figures new cars today are cleaner than ever before. Of course most consumers expect that cars will get cleaner as time goes on; as part of the natural progression of technology and the demands of continuing legislation regulating vehicle emissions. What might come as a surprise is how quickly the change is happening.
Of course progress is most noticeable among the cleanest of the herd. Average carbon emission figures for the cleanest cars dropped by 21 per cent over the last four years. According to consumer information website Green-Car-Guide.com, cars in the low-emission group emitted an average of 102.8 grams of CO2 per kilometer driven for the 2010 model year (CO2 is considered to be the primary contributor to global warming). In 2006 the same group recorded an average emission of 131.1 g/km. The difference of28.3 g/km represents the 21 per cent drop.
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Posted in Car, Energy Efficiency, Green, Sustainable Living
Tagged alternative fuel vehicles, alternative fuels, carbon dioxide emissions, carbon emissions, cars, clean cars, clean diesel, eco friendly, electric cars, energy efficiency, environment, fuel efficiency, global warming, green, green cars, green economy, green environment, green living, hybrid cars, sustainability, sustainable living, suv
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5 More Green Living and Eco Friendly Apps for Iphone and Android
These days our phones are so much more than just simple communication devices. The Apple [Nasdaq: APPL] iPhone and Google [Nasdaq: GOOG] Android platforms are revolutionary. They are our lifelines, and they also provide us with help on things that many people would never imagine a phone can do. With that in mind, here are 5 more green related apps that Eco Institution found when researching our last article.
Carbon Tracker – The Carbon Tracker app is a GPS-enabled program that helps users to actually calculate and account for their carbon footprint from daily commuting, business trips and vacations. The cool thing is that you can actually set goals for maximum emissions per month and then check up on your progress. It can also be networked for use by more than one person for businesses and universities. Continue reading
Posted in Energy Efficiency, Green, Sustainable Living, green education
Tagged android, apple, carbon dioxide emissions, carbon emissions, eco friendly, energy, energy conservation, energy efficiency, environment, Google Inc, green, green environment, green living, iphone, iphone 4, smart phones, sustainability, sustainable living
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Watchdog Group Releases Latest Scorecard of State Energy-Efficiency Rankings
The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) released their fourth annual State Energy Efficiency Scorecard last week. The poll is a broad, comprehensive analysis of a variety of different factors that contribute to progress in increasing overall energy efficiency including information about residential, commercial, industrial and transportation energy use in each state. It looks at laws, policies, programs and incentives that residents are exposed to concerning energy use and how that successful they are at increasing efficiency and reducing waste. According to their website, the ACEEE is an independent, non-profit watchdog group that is focused on the advancement of energy efficiency as a means of promoting economic prosperity, energy security, and environmental protection.
The 2010 poll put California in the number one spot for the 4th year running. The state has occupied the top spot since the ACEEE began publishing its findings in 2006. According to information in the report, California nabbed the top spot because of its efforts in consumer energy efficiency programs and incentives, utility decoupling, alternative business models, reward structures for consumer efficiency and policies establishing efficiency as a priority resource.
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GroundedPower Combines Home Energy Tech with Social Media Tools to Help Consumers Rein in Electricity Use
As the technology has become more accessible and cheaper, a number of companies have brought home energy displays to the market that are designed to help consumers track electricity use in their homes in real time. However, few of their offerings have been quite as promising as the new power management suite being released by Massachusetts based company GroundedPower.
Power monitoring devices have seen increased popularity recently as utility companies are making the transition to smartgrid configurations. Many power companies that are deploying smart grid technology have begun to supply power meters to their customers as a way of helping them to keep tabs on energy use. However the concern is that customers may not remain committed to using the monitors once the novelty of having the device wears off and they will fall back into old patterns. Continue reading
The Future of Solar Renewables: New Quantum – Dot Photovoltaics
Solar power has always been the renewable energy source that captures the imagination. Free, instant electricity with no moving parts and nothing to wear out –you just point your panel at the sun and plug in. It’s such a wonderful concept that it’s always been in the back of every renewable energy ecogeek’s mind. On top of that, it’s a commonly quoted figure that the sun blasts the earth with enough energy in an hour to produce a year’s worth of electricity. It all sounds very promising and seductive; the problem is that solar panels just aren’t very efficient. In fact most modern solar panels are only able to convert around 25% of the energy that hits them into electricity. That’s not very much and because of that solar panels just haven’t been very successful when it comes to development as a means of mass power generation.
But wait – there’s more! That’s not the only thing that is having a negative effect on the popularity of solar power. The other issue (and probably the killing stroke) is expense. Solar panels use components and materials (gold, to name one) that are extremely expensive. Because of that, the panels are very costly. The truth of the matter is that not everyone is committed enough to alternative energy that they have desire to shell out thousands of dollars to purchase a machine that only does its job at ¼ to 1/3 efficiency. Continue reading
Green Automaker Standings Announced for 2010
As the concern over global warming and its connection to vehicle emissions has increased over the past few years, alternative fuel vehicles and other green automobiles are now becoming more popular. Cars have been singled out as one of the major contributors to air pollution, so to minimize the effects that cars have on the environment different car manufacturers have made varying versions of their own green autos. This year the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) awarded Honda Motor Co. [NYSE: HMC] as the “Greenest Automaker” for the fifth consecutive year for its effort to reduce carbon emissions.
Toyota and Hyundai were tied at second place. Honda beat them by only one point. Toyota almost made it to the top this year but lacked effort in reducing carbon emissions. Hyundai’s fleet showed considerable improvements in fuel efficiency which put it in a contender spot. In order to determine the rankings, the top eight car manufacturers’ average per-mile smog pollution and global warming emissions of its vehicle fleet were studied. The top eight car manufacturers are Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, Toyota, and Volkswagen. Continue reading
Corporations Moving Toward the Use of 100% Renewable Energy
The use of renewable energy has passed a critical threshold with companies aiming toward making the transition to the use of 100% renewable energy. Environmentalists, ecosystem advocacy groups and the blossoming wind and solar industries are on board pushing for the exclusive use of renewable energy wherever possible.
From a technical standpoint it is seen as being a realistic goal through the use of the Cradle to Cradle principle. The Cradle to Cradle principal entails the use of 100% renewable energy while maximizing an organization’s environmental, social and economic impacts. Cradle to Cradle is a holistic, economic, industrial and social framework that seeks to create systems that are not just efficient but fundamentally waste free. It moves beyond traditional sustainability goals of only reducing negative impacts to instead creating a wholly positive or beneficial mark on the planet.
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Posted in Green, Green Government, Renewable Energy, Solar Energy, Sustainable Living, Wind Energy, green education
Tagged carbon dioxide emissions, carbon emissions, clean energy, cradle to cradle principle, eco friendly, electricity, energy conservation, energy efficiency, environment, renewable energy, renewable energy companies, steelcase, wind energy
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Mobile Phone Manufacturing is Getting Greener
When asked to name one thing that they can’t live without, many people have the same answer: my mobile phone. Mobile phones have become more than just useful gadgets these days. Plain and simple, make our lives easier. From making a last minute call for pizza or working on the go, to engaging yourself in a social media network or sending that last-minute email from the train, mobile phones are part of our lives. And because many people find it important to own a mobile phone, reports have indicated that in 2009, mobile phone ownership exceeded 1 billion units. And of course just like anything else, increasing mobile phone use and manufacturing has had environmental impacts.
Of course making phone calls through our mobile phones uses electricity, which contributes to the production of carbon dioxide (CO2). This is the chemical largely responsible for global warming. So just like any other appliance, the more hours you spend making a phone call using your mobile phone adds up to the amount of CO2 added in the atmosphere. Continue reading
“Carboholics” (Carbon-Loving) US & China are Unlikely Marriage for Energy Efficiency Project
The saying “two heads are better than one” comes to mind when trying to work through a particularly difficult crossword puzzle; but how universal is this old adage? Are say, two countries better than one? Our leadership seems to be hedging their bets towards the conclusion that this is in fact the case. In line with this spirit of collaboration comes the latest in a series of interesting (and sometimes unlikely) pairings in the environmental research and development field. Berkeley Lab has been chosen to lead a cooperative US-China project called the Clean Energy Resource Center (CERC).
The project was conceived in 2009, beginning with a meeting between United States President Barack Obama and President Hun Jintao of China. The meeting was held in Beijing to establish a basis for the cooperative effort, which will work to develop efficient energy-saving buildings and cost-effective / waste reducing construction processes in the next five years. It is a dubious mating for the more cynical among us, especially considering the United States’ seemingly uncontrollable construction fetish (for wastefully assembled “throwaway buildings” which are simply replaced every 10 or 15 years or whenever they go out of style) and China’s love for all things carbon (if you recall the vicious smog that threatened the health of Olympic Athletes during the Beijing Summer Games and the mysterious “air scrubbers” that the Chinese government was supposedly using to keep the rampant pollution under control). Continue reading
Posted in Green, Green Government, Sustainable Living
Tagged berkely lab, california, carbon dioxide emissions, carbon emissions, china, clean energy resource center, eco friendly, electricity, energy, energy conservation, energy efficiency, environment, hun jintao, obama, sustainability
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