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HOME STAR Legislation Idled Until Fall as Energy Bill Stalls in the Senate

Shana Fong — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 17:52:29 +0000

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced on Tuesday that he will postpone a vote on the Clean Energy Jobs and Oil Company Accountability Act of 2010 until after the August recess. Reid told reporters that the scaled-down energy bill, which includes the proposed HOME STAR retrofit incentive and financing program, lacks enough votes to pass this week. Here’s how Politico summed up the situation:

It initially appeared that the slender offshore drilling package was a “must-pass” bill with political momentum, but it became evident during the past week that Reid lacked the votes within his own caucus to force the issue as the Republicans held firm against it.

Central to the offshore drilling reform bill was a title to eliminate the $75 million liability cap on damages oil companies must pay in the case of spills and other disasters. Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Mark Begich (D-Alaska), both close allies of the oil industry, made clear they opposed that provision.

The deeply partisan atmosphere in the Senate ensured that there would be no opportunity to amend the bill with a scaled-down compromise liability title. Reid’s staff had made clear that if the bill were to come to the floor, it would be subject to a only straight up or down vote.

Supporters of the HOME STAR legislation are now focusing their efforts on a renewed push to get the law enacted in the fall when Congress is back in session.

Read the full Politico report here: www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/40597.html.

Home energy fixes for under $100

Shana Fong — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 16:43:06 +0000

Here are some easy and effective home energy fixes you can do around the house for $2 to $90:

Light switch and outlet sealers: under $5
Two of the most frequently overlooked sources of air leakage in a home are light switches and outlets. Dodge those drafts by sealing up any switches and outlets where you can feel a draft on your hand.
Hot water heater pipe insulation: $2 per foot
Use this cost-efficient fix as a quick way to reduce wasted energy on water heating. Insulating just the first 6 feet of pipe from your water heater will cost $12 and will save you over $5 a year on water heating while reducing CO2 emissions by more than 55 pounds. We typically recommend insulating the first 10 feet of pipe.
Monitor your meter: $20
Purchase a Kill A Watt electricity monitor and plug in your appliances and electronics to find out which ones are the biggest energy culprits. Use this to inform your future upgrade decisions or see how much energy you can save with easy adjustments like turning down your refrigerator’s temperature.
Smart powerstrips: $20-90
Cut back on phantom power by plugging electronics into smart powerstrips, such as the one by Wattstopper which turns devices on and off based on occupancy and uses a motion detector to manage energy use. Our recommended smart strip is Belkin’s Conserve.
Faucet aerator: $2
These handy products are one of the least expensive ways to increase your water efficiency by mixing air into the water stream. When installed, each aerator will save 500-2,000 gallons of water a year.
Chimney balloon damper: $35-50
The fireplace is a common area for heat loss in your home, as most dampers don’t work well and many older homes don’t have them. Inflatable balloon dampers fit in most chimneys to keep heated air in, and you can remove them whenever you want.

The Great Escape

Shana Fong — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:41:41 +0000

The gaps you can find around the windows and doors of the average American house add up to the equivalent of a hole in the wall that measures 10 inches by 10 inches.

Your house has more leaks than the CIA. There are cracks all over the place. Your doors and windows don’t quite meet their frames; there are tiny spaces where the walls almost join the floor; there are open areas around your electrical and plumbing outlets. And these little gaps eat energy. In fact, an amazing amount of heat in the winter – or cool air in the summer – escapes through them. But you have two simple weapons to fight with: caulking and weatherstripping.

Energy Facts

Caulking and weatherstripping an electrically heated home can keep some 1,000 pounds of CO2 out of the air. So if 1,000 of these homes were weatherized, over a million pounds of CO2 would be saved.
Believe it or not, stopping air infiltration can reduce your home’s heating and cooling bills by up to 40%.
People are concerned that although weatherstripping may save energy, it will keep fresh air out of their homes. While it’s true that some ventilation is necessary, it’s really not much of a problem – a typical house may get twice as much fresh air as it needs. In other words, the air is probably flying out of your house as quickly as you’re heating or cooling it.

Caulking vs. Weatherstripping

Cracks without any moving parts – like the places where a wall in your house meets the outside edge of a window frame, or two other dissimilar materials come together – can be sealed with caulk.
The places where doors and windows close into their frames can be sealed with weatherstripping – cleverly designed strips of felt, rubber, metal, or plastic that fill the spaces around doors and windows, and compress when you shut them.
Weatherstripping materials come in many styles. Some are self-sticking, so you don’t even need a hammer to install them. Others must be nailed on. Still others are crafted so pieces on the frame and the door lock together when the door closes.
One of the trickiest places to weatherstrip is where the door meets the threshold. Special “shoes” and “sweeps” are available to stop these air leaks.
Besides saving energy, weatherstripping and caulking have an additional benefit: By stopping drafts, they’ll make your home more comfortable.

Leak Patrol

Some evening, when your house is at least 20°F warmer than the outdoors, hold your hand up to various places around windows and door frames. If you feel any drafts, the windows and door frames need weatherstripping.
You can also use a smoking incense stick to look for drafts. Hold the stick near places you think might have cracks; if the smoke dances or gets sucked in, you’ve found a place to seal.
Many of the biggest air sealing opportunities are up in the attic and below your floors. For these harder-to-reach leaks, it’s a good idea to call in a trained professional such as Recurve to quickly identify and remedy your home’s major leakage areas.

Excerpted from 30 Simple Energy Things You Can Do To Save The Earth, by The EarthWorks Group.

Facts Behind the Fanfare

Shana Fong — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 17:02:21 +0000

Americans purchase about 16 million fans each year. In the heat of summer, fans can be a good alternative to energy-sucking air conditioners.

Energy Facts

Ceiling fans consume as little energy as a 60-watt bulb – which is about 98% less energy than most central air conditioners use.
Ceiling fans are often used instead of air conditioning. But it’s not necessarily one or the other. Fans produce air currents that carry heat away from the skin, so even air conditioned rooms feel cooler when one is running.
Many ceiling fans save energy in winter as well as summer. The secret: Their motors run in “reverse.” This pushes warm air caught near the ceiling down to where you can feel it. Set the fan on low speed so it pushes room air up against the ceiling, forcing warm air slowly down the walls to the floor.
How much difference can that make? Some rooms in your house can be 15° warmer at the ceiling than at the floor. A well-placed ceiling fan can reduce this difference to only 3°.
Remember: fans only save energy or make you feel cooler if you are in the room, so remember to turn them off when you aren’t using them.

Simple Ways to Save Energy

If you’re shopping for a ceiling fan: Purchase an ENERGY STAR-rated unit. You’ll find them at home improvement centers. Look for a fan that’s reversible and has more than one speed. Check to make sure the blades are angled at least 10°.
If you’re thinking about where to install one:Rooms with the highest ceilings are the best candidates. But make sure the blades are between seven and nine feet above the floor.
Match the fan to the room. For rooms 12 feet by 12 feet or less, you can use a 36 or 42-inch fan. For rooms up to 12 feet by 18 feet, use a 48 or 52-inch fan. For bigger rooms, you may need more fans.

Excerpted from 30 Simple Energy Things You Can Do To Save The Earth, by The EarthWorks Group.

The Lawn Rangers

Shana Fong — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 16:14:20 +0000

An acre of lawn needs 1.3 million gallons of water a year to stay green and healthy. Here are some tips on how be water-wise without sacrificing your grass.

Energy Facts:

During the summer, the majority of household water is used for keeping yards green.
Even in places where water doesn’t have to be moved long distances from source to tap, a significant amount of energy is required to treat and process it before it enters the water main.s

Simple Ways to Save Energy:

Use a push mower instead of a power motor to save energy and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 80 pounds a year.
Set your mower blades so they cut grass about 2-3 inches tall. Mowing it shorter dries out the soil faster and increases water use.
Let grass clippings turn into mulch. During dry periods, cut the grass high and leave the clippings on the lawn to keep it from drying out – thus reducing the amount of water your lawn needs.
Most lawns need about 1 inch of water a week once they’re established. Apply it slowly so the water doesn’t run off.
Here’s how to tell how long it takes to apply an inch of water: Set two or three cans out on the lawn and turn on the sprinkler. Check every few minutes to see how long it takes to land an inch in each can. Average the times for the cans, and that’s the length of time to water.

Watering Smart

Water early in the morning or very late afternoon to cut down on how much water evaporates before it reaches the roots.
Try drip irrigation for shrubs and garden plants. It’s a way of putting the water in small, steady amounts right to the soil around the plant you’re watering.
When you re-landscape, group together the plants that need similar amounts of water. That way, you can avoid overwatering one just to irrigate another.

Going Native

Consider plants for your yard that are already adjusted to local conditions and don’t require extra water or attention. These are usually plants that are native to your area.
Think about shrubs, succulents, and trees as a substitute for some of your lawn. Nothing requires more water than a lawn.
When you’re ready to reseed or resod your lawn, look for grasses that require less water to thrive.
Check your local government website for information about water conserving plants. These plants are also called “drought tolerant,” and the practice of landscaping to conserve water is called “xeriscaping.”

Excerpted from 30 Simple Energy Things You Can Do To Save The Earth, by The EarthWorks Group.

Cool Tricks for Summer

Shana Fong — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 19:35:39 +0000

June is upon us, and for many that means starting to use our air conditioning units regularly. On an average summer day, Americans provide enough cold air to produce 16 trillion ice cubes. Check out these cool tricks to stop the cost of keeping cool from making you sweat.

Energy Facts:

To cool your house efficiently, your air conditioner has to be cool itself. Try to keep it in the shade. An air conditioner exposed to direct sunlight will use up to 5% more energy than a shaded one.
Air conditioners located on the north side of houses generally use less energy than those on the south or west sides, where it’s sunnier.
If your air conditioner’s already in the sun, you can build a simple wooden shade screen for it. (But don’t block the air flow.)

Simple Ways to Save Energy:

If you’ve got central air conditioning: Don’t close your vents. Closing too many of them actually reduces operating efficiency. Instead, reduce the air flow to unused rooms by partially closing the registers. Whenever possible, leave the room door partly open to keep the system operating efficiently.
Turn the air conditioner off when you leave the house for several hours or more.
A thermostat’s not a throttle, so don’t switch your air conditioner to a colder setting when you turn it on. It won’t cool the room any faster, but it will waste energy when you forget to turn it back up.
Put a timer on your room air conditioner, or use a programmable thermostat on your central air conditioner. You don’t need to leave your air conditioner on all day to have a cool house when you get home. Hardware stores sell timers that will automatically start your air conditioner shortly before you get home. You may never notice the difference… until you see the savings on your electric bill.
Keep the heat out. Minimize the amount of heat entering your home from outside by closing shades and curtains on hot days – sunlight coming through windows can account for 20% of your air conditioning bill. And don’t leave windows and doors open while your air conditioner is running.
Set the thermostat as high as possible.

Caring for Coils:
You can save energy by taking care of air conditioner coils, just like your refrigerator coils. They won’t work efficiently unless the fins that cover the coils are clean and straight. So check them out every spring.

If the fins are bent, you can carefully straighten them out with a plastic spatula. Or call a service person to repair them.
If they’re dusty, dirty, or clogged with old leaves, you can vacuum them with your household vacuum cleaner. If the attachment on the vacuum won’t fit between the coils, blow the dirt away instead.

Don’t Forget the Filter
Air conditioners are equipped with filters to protect their fan blades, motors, and other internal parts. Replace or clean dirty filters. Dirty air filters are the #1 cause of air conditioning service calls. But filters are easy to replace and you can do it yourself. Put in a new one every month during the summer. Be sure all hardware is replaced and securely re-attached.

You may want to consider a permanent filter that you can wash instead of replacing. Some permanent filters restrict air flow too much for some units, so check first with a Recurve representative or another qualified technician.

Excerpted from 30 Simple Energy Things You Can Do To Save The Earth, by The EarthWorks Group.

Lose 142 Pounds (of Carbon) a Week

Shana Fong — Fri, 21 May 2010 16:00:25 +0000

A while back, National Geographic put out a great guide with 10 steps to cutting the excess carbon out of your life.

Weight control and health tend to go hand in hand—and what’s true for our waistlines also holds true when it comes to the weight of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) and the health of the planet. Excess pounds of carbon dioxide are raising the earth’s temperature and putting coastlines, not waistlines, at risk. Yet for a lot of people, the idea of going on a carbon diet to reduce pounds, much less tons, of the stuff seems airy when there’s nothing to hold onto.

Think of pounds of CO2 as inflated balloons: One pound of CO2 would fill a balloon about two and a half feet wide, and the amount of energy each of us uses every day, just to power our homes and drive our cars, would fill 47 of them. Imagine that for each member of your family 47 of those balloons are added to your home each day. In a week, a family of four would pack in 1,316 balloons, in a month 5,703, and in a year 68,432—enough to fill a building nine stories tall and 100 feet on each side. You wouldn’t be able to find your house in it. It’s no wonder we’re smothering our planet in greenhouse gases. The more balloons of CO2 in the air, the more heat they trap in our atmosphere. So here’s a 10-step carbon diet—a program to keep the greenhouse gas out of 142 balloons every week.

1. Wash your clothes in cold water instead of hot.
• • • • • • • • •
Burst balloons: 9 per week
Start with something easy. Washing machines produce over 500 pounds of CO2 a year when run on hot water. But your clothes will be just as clean and may even last longer when laundered in cold water.

2. Use a drying rack.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Burst balloons: 14 per week
Dryers produce about 1,450 pounds of CO2 per year and the high heat damages fabric. So get more life out of your garments, lower your electric bill and spare the planet by drying at least half of your clothes on a rack or line. Plus, sunlight is the most effective stain-remover around.

3. Seal and weatherstrip your home.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Burst balloons: 17 per week
This summer, sealing your home will ensure you don’t lose the cool air you’re paying for. Caulking and weatherstripping doors, windows and any cracks or openings in walls will save about 225 pounds of CO2 per season to run your AC. It pays off even more in the winter when you need to trap the heat; every year, you save 640 pounds of CO2 if you have natural gas heat and 470 pounds if you have electric heat.

4. Insulate.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Burst balloons: 41 per week (natural gas heating), 30 per week (electric heat)
Insulating your home is a bit more demanding and best handled professionally. There are a number of insulating options better than fiberglass, which presents a breathing hazard from airborne glass particles and formaldehyde released during installation. Some green-building specialists claim that spray foam insulation is the most efficient and cost-effective variety, even though it’s usually composed of petroleum-based polyurethane. If you choose spray foam, consider a blend that includes soybean oil, such as BioBase501, to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels. Another alternative, recycled denim insulation, uses a more eco-friendly material but isn’t as efficient an insulator as polyurethane foam.

5. Wrap your water heater and turn down the temperature.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Burst balloons: 16 per week
Insulating your water heater with a simple DIY kit, available at most hardware stores for $20, will save you 300 pounds of CO2 annually. As water heaters can account for up to 13 percent of your utility bill, set the temperature to 120° F. Turning it down from 140° F will save 479 pounds of CO2 annually. If you’re really up for a renovation and it makes sense for your household needs, switch from a conventional water heater to an on-demand heater.

6. Run the dishwasher only when full.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Burst balloons: 17 per week
Wait until you fill your dishwasher before turning it on and always set it to the energy saver mode.

7. Turn off your TV, DVD player, computer and cable box.
• • • • •
Burst balloons: 5 per week
Even while idling in “standby” mode, your home entertainment center and computer consume energy. Plug them into a power strip and turn it off after you shut down your electronics.

8. Clean your refrigerator.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Burst balloons: 15 per week
Take a look at the top of your fridge—cluttered much? Clear it off. Those piled-up plastic containers and cereal boxes can prevent your fridge from venting heat effectively. Then go for the more demanding project: Remove the grill at the base of the fridge (or turn the fridge around) to clean the coils.

9. Compost Your Food Scraps.
• • • • •
Burst balloons: 5 per week
Food waste stored in airless landfills is eaten by bacteria that release massive amounts of methane, a gas 21 times more heat-trapping than CO2. Composting ten pounds of food a week will keep five balloons out of the air.

10. Take the bus or ride your bike.
• • •
Burst balloons: 3 per week (bus), 12 per week (bike)
The average 12-mile commute to work produces roughly 12 pounds of CO2 (depending on your mileage, you produce one pound of CO2 for every mile driven). Even diesel buses are greener than cars when you factor in the number of passengers on board. Give the bus a shot once a week for a year. Or give your legs and heart a workout by commuting on a bike and save even more.

To sum it all up, after a year of these efforts, you’ll have kept over 7,000 balloons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere. That’s about 3.5 tons of CO2 off the average carbon footprint.

Bathroom Water Conservation Tips

Shana Fong — Thu, 20 May 2010 20:19:16 +0000

It’s never been more important to be wise about water, as it’s quickly becoming a scarce resource. Bathrooms account for over 60% of the average household’s indoor water use and over 1,300 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions from hot water heating. According to the EPA, if every U.S. household installed one low-flow sink faucet or aerator, it would save more than 60 billion gallons of water annually. Here are some easy tips on water conservation:

Install Faucet Aerators on Bathroom Sinks
When installed, each aerator will save 500-2,000 gallons of water a year.

Toilet Leak Detection
Use toilet dye strips to detect leaks that may be wasting over 200 gallons of water a day.

Toilet Water Flow
If you have an older toilet (built before 1980), you could be wasting up to 5 gallons of water every time you flush, compared to modern low-flow toilets. To check the date of your toilet, lift up the lid on the tank. The date is normally stamped on the underside of the lid.

You can reduce water usage on older toilets by adding a filled 1-liter bottle in the toilet tank. This will reduce typical water consumption by 500 gallons per toilet per year.

Brushing Teeth
Turn off the faucet while brushing your teeth to save more than 1,200 gallons of water a year.

Shaving
Turn off the water while shaving. Fill the bottom of the sink with a few inches of water to rinse your razor, rather than running the tap and save about 1,000 gallons of water a year.

Shower Time
If you reduce your average shower time from 10 minutes to 5, you can save more than 4,200 gallons of water each year and cut your utility bills. You would also eliminate an extra 300 pounds of CO2 emissions just from the energy used to heat the water.

Low-Flow Showerhead
Standard showerheads made before 1994 use about twice the water used by newer, energy-efficient models. Maintaining ample water pressure, the most efficient showerheads use as little as 1.5 gallons of water per minute, saving 7,300 gallons of water and $30 to $100 a year, compared to 2.5 gpm models.

To check whether you can save money with a low-flow showerhead, check your current showerhead’s flow rate which may be written directly on it. Another way to check the flow is to hold an empty half-gallon milk carton under your showerhead, turn on the water and use a clock to time how long it takes to fill the carton. If it takes less than ten seconds to fill it, you should consider changing the showerhead to a more efficient model. Look for models with the EPA’s WaterSense label.

Put a Stop to Your Junk Mail

Shana Fong — Wed, 19 May 2010 15:42:44 +0000

Around 100 million trees and 28 billion gallons of water are used to send junk mail to Americans every year, according to greendimes.com. You can stop 75% of unsolicited mail by registering on the Mail Preference Service on the Direct Marketing Association Website (for a fee of $1). Within 90 days, most unsolicited mail will stop.

Source: The Daily Green

Give your Fridge an Efficiency Boost

Shana Fong — Tue, 18 May 2010 19:59:18 +0000

Do you need an new fridge?
Refrigerators built before 1993 use twice the energy as any of today’s Energy Star refrigerators. The back-up fridge in your basement or garage may be the largest electricity user in your home and your biggest savings opportunity.

If your refrigerator is more than 10 years old, it may be so inefficient that a new Energy Star refrigerator could pay for itself in energy savings in just a few years. When shopping around, keep in mind that side-by-side refrigerator-freezer models use about 7 to 13 percent more electricity than freezer-on-top or on-bottom models.

Refrigerator Efficiency Tips:

Refrigerator Positioning – To maximize the efficiency of your refrigerator, position the unit away from heat sources such as ovens, dishwashers, and windows with direct sunlight. Allow at least two inches of clearance around the unit for good air circulation.
Door Seals – The rubber door seals on your refrigerator and freezer seal the cold air inside. If they are worn out, the compressor has to work harder to maintain the proper temperature. You can check whether your refrigerator door seals are in good working order by placing a bright flashlight inside the refrigerator. Direct the flashlight toward a section of the door seal, close the door and darken the room. If you see an light shining through the cracks, you may need to have the seals replaced. Be sure to reposition the flashlight to check the entire length of the seal.
Clean the Coils – A refrigerator coil brush should be used to clean the coils every 6 months so they don’t have to work as hard to dissipate heat from the fridge. Don’t forget to unplug the refrigerator before cleaning.

Fast Facts from Energy Star:

A pre-1993 fridge costs $110 per year in electricity.
U.S. households have 44.5 million fridges over 10 years old, 12.7 million of which are secondary units, often in basements and garages. And some homes have three fridges!
16.9 million household freezers are over 10 years old – that’s 44 percent of all freezers.
Combined, the inefficient appliances above use $4.9 billion per year in energy costs.
New ENERGY STAR qualified refrigerators must be at least 20 percent more energy efficient than the minimum federal standard. New ENERGY STAR qualified freezers must be at least 10 percent more efficient than the minimum federal standard.
Every step we take to become more energy efficient and lessen our impact on global climate change is a step to preserve energy resources and our environment for generations to come. Just think: if every American home replaced its old refrigerators and freezers with ENERGY STAR qualified models, together, we would save…

* Enough energy to light more than 8.3 million homes for an entire year.
* Nearly $1.8 billion in annual energy costs.
* Annual greenhouse gases emissions equivalent to that of nearly 2.1 million cars, or nearly 1% of all registered automobiles in the United States. That is more than the number of registered autos in the entire state of Connecticut. Lined up bumper to bumper, those cars would stretch from New York to Los Angeles and back.