It’s the campaign season for the 2020 USA Presidential election, and of course there are some crazy things happening. Recently an issue arose over Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s work for McKinsey and Associates, and are there any skeletons in his closet because of that. Buttigieg managed to get McKinsey to release…
Last year when I was covering the Dieselgate problem (the Volkswagen committing fraud by finagling emissions testing protocols) I had a haunting thought — in how many industries are the manufacturers pulling similar tricks? Our society has caused governments to enact emissions controls, energy efficiency measures, and more, in the name…
Energy efficiency programs got a shot in the arm today with an open letter to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) calling on California’s utility companies to “aim higher in their efforts to help customers save energy.” Utility companies have made impressive gains…
Semiconductor maker Cree announced on Monday a ground-breaking new LED replacement for streetlights. The newly unveiled XSPR LED Residential Street Light series brings the advantages of LED lighting to municipal street-lights, while being priced low enough that cost savings from lower electricity bills pays for its purchase within a year.…
The Energy Department (DOE) announced on Friday a $9 million investment meant to help homeowners and businesses save money while using less energy, and therefore have a smaller environmental impact. The investment is into “building envelope technologies” meaning items like better insulation in windows and roofs, and heating/cooling (HVAC) with…
You may be good about saving energy at home, wearing sweaters, turning down the thermostat and using CFL or LED light bulbs, but what about at the office? A new project announced on Tuesday by the Univ. of Nottingham aims to look into workers attitudes around energy conservation in the…
One modern miracle is the common streetlight, making it safer to walk the streets at night for example. But streetlights are costly for cities to maintain, consume a lot of electricity, and because electricity is usually generated by burning fossil fuels, streetlights indirectly cause nasty environmental side effects. According to…
What is the carbon footprint of a websearch on Google? Or of sending an email through a gmail account? We ask this because Google operates data centers around the world. Data centers at Google’s scale consume a large amount of electricity. In most cases this represents a large emissions footprint…
Winter is coming up, making it time to think about improving the insulation on your house. This will reduce heating needs, helping you save money on energy bills, while helping the environment. Adding insulation to your house may seem daunting, but there are a few simple things which will help…
Consumer watchdog magazine, Consumer Reports (CR), has announced on Friday test results of compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFL) and light emitting diode lightbulbs (LED) show significantly better test scores for LED’s over CFL’s. While LED’s are more expensive than CFL’s, Consumer Reports recommends their purchase, and recommends the purchase of either…
