Bye Bye Incandescent

A congressman in California recently discussed his intention to propose a bill to outlaw incandescent light bulbs, which received quite a lot of press. Well now, Australia is planning on outlawing incandescent bulbs by 2010. I think the population of southern Cali exceeds that of Australia, but it's still a huge step. They estimate a reduction of 4 million tonnes of greenhouse gases as a result. Thanks BBC.

I spent time in Australia and one quickly obvious differences is that nearly every toilet has the full and half flush buttons on top of the tank. These are just starting to show up in the US - why has it taken so long? It's a very simple, yet very effective, method of saving water.

Geothermal Energy

NPR had a bit about a new geothermal energy study performed by MIT which claims that "...mining the huge amounts of heat that reside as stored thermal energy in the Earth's hard rock crust could supply a substantial portion of the electricity the United States will need in the future, probably at competitive prices and with minimal environmental impact." So all we need to do is drill down a mile, inject water which is boiled by the earth's heat, and channel the steam back to turbines on the surface. Sounds great.

There are a few drawbacks, among them being a shortage of water in the parts of the country where the hot spots are most readily available (west), and the possibility that drilling into and fracturing rock may cause earthquakes like this one in Switzerland.

I honestly haven't heard of this type of geothermal energy before, but am familiar with the geothermal heating and cooling available in all sizes. I've been in a home equipped with a system that simply had the pipes laid underground throughout the yard. I've also seen them work very well with the pipe coils in nearby ponds or lakes. I commented on TreeHugger here about how geothermal deserves a lot more press.

Fort Wayne is actually home to a large geothermal company called WaterFurnace International, as well as some smaller businesses.

If you are in the market, please do a little research on geothermal for your heating and cooling. You will be amazed at what it has to offer.

Lighting Myth

I heard that Discovery Channel's MythBusters did a bit on their show this week about lighting, and whether it pays to keep the lights on when running down to the coffee machine, or turning them off each time. Unfortunately, I didn't see the episode and I can't find the data they generated. I did, however, find piles of posts on their message boards all about their findings.

What I'm told is that you should just get rid of your incandescent bulbs (duh), that you should turn off your fluorescents if you're leaving for more than 23 seconds, and that LEDs don't burn out. All 3 of those statements require some qualification, but I'll leave that research up to you unless you ask for more info - which I'd be happy to dig up.

I've been shopping for more general-use LEDs and haven't come up with much. I wrote about them for Christmas Lights, and still love them. You can buy a few different varieties for general use, but you can't get the candlepower or lumens you can with CFLs anywhere in the affordable range. Give 'em time. If you want to see what's out there, search for "warm LED light" on Ebay.

So buy the penny-pincher on your list a few warm-colored (make sure) compact fluorescents for Christmas, and plan to buy them some LEDs in a year or two.

PC Energy Use

I wrote before about a few ways to measure your energy usage. One user that you probably haven't thought too much about is the very thing you're looking at right now - your computer. Many people leave their PC powered up, on screen saver, when not in use. Multiply that usage by the number of computers in the US or world, and you're talking a huge amount of electricity. TreeHugger has been talking a bit about it lately, and in the post you'll find a link to a nice little energy calculator that will let you know how much you're expending.

2 Suggestions: power down when not in use, and set the monitor to turn itself off instead of going to screen saver.

Know Your Watts

Turn off the lights!
Don't leave the TV on!
Turn the furnace down!

These are some of the key things taught to kids, and relayed to parents, about how to save energy (and money). My question, as a rather left-brained guy, has always been, "How do I know how much it really helps?" Watching your utility bill from one month to the next, with so many variables, really isn't too informative about your habits. One weekend with relatives over can throw the comparison out the window.

There are answers! One can purchase a Kill-A-Watt, into which you plug your items and watch how much energy they're using, and what it's costing you. Or, go home-wide by getting a PowerCost Monitor or a Cent-a-Meter. They have a sensor that attaches to your electrical meter or directly to wires in your panel, respectively. Wireless screens can then be placed anywhere in the house, which tell you the instantaneous usage as well and projected usage over time. You can set them (at least the PowerCost Monitor) up like a trip odometer so it will keep track of total cost since you last reset it.

My latest questions relate to the use of a ceiling fan or furnace fan and how it affects how often the furnace needs to kick on. If I put down the $150 for the PowerCost Monitor, I could find out.