Monday, 31 May 2010 14:03

Appropriate Details Help Keep a House Cool

Reposted from Greenbuildingadvisor.com

People who live in Florida or Texas often accuse energy-efficiency experts of having a cold-climate bias. They’re right: most energy-saving tips are written with cold-climate buildings in mind — perhaps understandably, since Americans spend about twice as much for residential heating as they do for cooling.

Whatever the origins of this pervasive cold-climate bias, it’s time to rectify the situation with a few hot-climate design tips.

We’re Not In Kansas Anymore
Most builders know that house designs need to be climate-specific. In areas of the country where air conditioning bills are higher than heating bills — as they are along the Gulf Coast and in much of Florida — homes should be designed to reject exterior heat.

So what are the most important factors governing hot-climate design?

Friday, 28 May 2010 02:40

A new study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Colorado has found that the Western section of the U.S. power grid could handle up to about 35% renewables if properly integrated.

That doesn't mean it would be simple, but it's a counter-arguments to those who think the grid can't handle much intermittent sources, and the NREL is definitely a credible source.

The researchers found that one way to keep the number of new backup power plants to a minimum is to expand the geographical area that renewable energy is gathered from, says Debra Lew, the NREL project manager in charge of the study. [...] The NREL study estimated that drawing only on local resources would increase variability on the grid by a factor of 50. That's "a huge increase," Lew says, too big for a local utility to balance using backup power and other resources. If you aggregate resources over several states, the increase is less than a factor of two.  

Click here to read more.

Wednesday, 26 May 2010 23:23

Wednesday, 26 May 2010 01:23

BPA (Bisphenol A if you've been living in a tin can) is a major component of the preservative lining of any canned food. 

Eden is the only company I know of that still does not line it's cans with BPA.  Anyway, canned beans do save time when making that veggie chilli.  But is it worth it? 

A recent study found that tests on some cans were five times higher than previously recorded.

Since there are apparently no good alternatives out there for food can lining, one must conclude only one thing:  soak your beans.

 Here's more info from the study and from treehugger. 

Monday, 24 May 2010 19:17

Recently named by Harvard's Business Review as one of the breakthrough ideas of 2010, PACE (Property Assesed Clean Energy) Financing has come to Florida.

Coming up with the initial costs for retrofitting and building energy efficient homes using renewable energy has been one of the biggest hurdles for sustinable construction. 

Florida now allows counties and municipalities to set up loans for renewable energy and energy efficiency improvements to be paid back through property tax payments over a 20-year period. The loans carry a fixed interest rate and stay with the house–so if you move, the next tenant continues to pay for the loan through property taxes. That means you don’t have to worry about paying for panels on a house that you don’t live in anymore.

Read more about it here, here and  in the Scientific American here.

Saturday, 22 May 2010 01:01

Bird of Prey Educational Program 

From 11:00 am to 2:00 pm on Saturday, May 22 Wild Birds Unlimited will host a special presentation on birds of prey by Leslie Straub of Florida Wildlife Care (FWC).  FWC is a wildlife rehabilitation center specializing in birds, especially birds of prey.  Get close looks at live hawks, owls, and other species of bird as Leslie dispenses information about each species and how you can help to protect wildlife.  This presentation is a family friendly event.

Thursday, 20 May 2010 19:06

Like the Food Pyramid we are all familiar with there is also an Energy Efficiency Pyramid. 

This helpful visual allows us to see what energy efficient upgrades should come first before many of our customers at INDIGO Green Building Solutions delve headlong into putting solar panels up on our roofs.

From Green Building Advisor, here is how they put it:

The energy conservation pyramid includes ten levels. Like the food pyramid, it’s read from the bottom up. Homeowners who are uncertain of the best way to lower their energy bills should start at the lowest level of the pyramid and work their way up. In general, one shouldn’t proceed to a higher level until the actions below that level have been completed.

Actions near the bottom of the pyramid are much more cost-effective than actions near the top of the pyramid. At current energy prices, in fact, the actions listed on the top two layers are never cost-effective.

The rules displayed in the energy conservation pyramid are not set in stone; every house is different, and different climates dictate different strategies. But it’s hard to quibble with the pyramid’s basic hierarchy.

From the bottom up, here are the pyramid’s ten steps.

Thursday, 20 May 2010 00:42