Wind Energy Voice

Enhancing the energy efficiency of your homes not only cuts down your monthly energy bills but does a lot of good to the environment as well. Therefore, enhancing home efficiency appears to be a smart move. Professional insulators offer services to gauge the energy efficiency in your house and to recommend appropriate actions.

Home efficiency reports prepared by such professional insulators allow the homeowners to employ various means to increase the Energy Efficiency of their living space. One of the extensively used method of attaining maximum energy efficiency is by installing adequate insulation. Cellulose installation is considered to be one of the best choices due to the various benefits offered by it.

Cellulose is available in a wide variety of forms to suit the type of insulation in a particular space. Loose-fill cellulose is used for filling in the crevices and holes in walls and ceilings. This variant of cellulose is generally used for retrofitting old buildings, and is utilized as an insulation option for new constructs as well.

Applied cellulose or wet spray is used for wall insulation in new buildings. This type of cellulose insulation leads to better sealing and does not require regular maintenance. The problems caused by moisture is taken care of by a moisture retardant chemical that restricts any kind of organic growth on the insulation material.

Stabilized cellulose is another alternative for insulation of ceilings. Extra moisture added to the preparation not only provides for better adhesion to the structure but also reduces the amount of cellulose needed for insulation, thereby preventing any possible fall-off later.

Being a natural plant product, cellulose can be recycled as well. As a result, cellulose insulation is slowly gaining ground as an eco-friendly option. The presence of boric acid, which is added during treatment, makes cellulose insulation fire-retardant, thereby improving its effectiveness.

Cellulose does not pose any health or environmental threats either during installation or later, unlike its synthetic counterparts. Not only this, cellulose is an easily available product, therefore cellulose insulation can be manufactured locally as well. There is no proven side-effect or health hazard that accompany Cellulose Insulation, therefore making it a safe option to opt for.

Therefore, by using cellulose insulation you can increase your savings by enhancing the thermal performance of your house. Not only this, you can also control pests and mold growth. Thus, using such measures you can increase your overall Home Efficiency manifolds.

Technorati Tags: Cellulose, efficiency, energy, Home, Insulation

Legal issues in Energy Policies and Climate Change Deirdre Mulligan [UC Berkeley] Abstract: Although the Smart Grid promises to help meet goals of energy efficiency and renewability, incorporating IT into the electric grid poses new and substantial risks to individual privacy. At the same time, Smart Grid deployment is proceeding along a path that could make it difficult for individuals to control the flow of information about their energy use while also raising barriers in the market for in-home smart devices. The crux of these issues—and the focus of this talk—is the smart meter, which is a linchpin in the Smart Grid strategy in California and nationally. Data from smart meters can reveal intimate details about individual behavior, such as when members of a household are awake, asleep, at home, or away. As the Smart Grid is built out, home energy consumption data will become increasingly attractive to a number of players in the energy market, criminals, and law enforcement officials. Yet there is no comprehensive, consistent legal framework to protect energy consumption data, and California and other states are adopting smart meters have the potential to reveal more and more information over time. Furthermore, these smart meters have embedded gateways for home area networks, a feature that could exacerbate privacy issues while potentially turning the meter into a gatekeeper for smart devices. This talk will explore regulatory and technological alternatives to these …

Technorati Tags: Change, Climate, energy, Issues, Legal, Policies

Beyond Transistor Scaling: New Devices for Ultra-low-energy Information Processing Tsu-Jae King Liu [Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, UC Berkeley] Abstract: The rapid growth of the semiconductor industry over the past four decades was enabled by the steady miniaturization of the transistor with each new generation of CMOS technology, which provided for continual improvements in integrated-circuit performance and cost per function. Transistor scaling has slowed recently, however, due to fundamental limits leading to increases in power density. In this seminar, I will discuss alternative switching device designs that can potentially overcome the energy-efficiency limitations of CMOS technology to help usher in the Age of Ubiquitous Computing. Biography: Tsu-Jae King Liu received the BS, MS and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. She joined the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center as a Member of Research Staff in 1992, to research and develop polycrystalline-silicon thin-film transistor technologies for flat-panel display applications. In August 1996 she joined the faculty of the University of California at Berkeley, where she is now Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS) and Associate Dean for Research in the College of Engineering. Her awards include the Ross M. Tucker AIME Electronics Materials Award (1992) for seminal work in polycrystalline silicon-germanium thin films, an NSF CAREER Award …

Technorati Tags: Beyond, Devices, Information, Processing, Scaling, Transistor, Ultralowenergy

As light bulbs and other electronic devices become more energy efficient, a question arises. Will we actually use less electricity? A study undertaken by an LED researcher from Sandia National Laboratories shows that it is likely people will simply ramp up their light bulb usage to match previous levels.

This stems from how ingrained repetitive things can become in us. If someone has been paying $200 a month on electricity and usage of light bulbs and then switches to compact fluorescent light bulbs or installs more efficient heating/cooling which results in a lower bill, that person will probably just end up using electricity more often. They’ve grown accustomed to the price of electricity and when they see the bill is lower, they’re more apt to increase energy and light bulb usage than reduce it because their spending is already adjusted to the higher amount.

Jeff Tsao, the leader of the aforementioned study notes that throughout history electricity usage has remained relatively constant despite advances in technology and energy efficiency. Dating as far back as A.D. 1700 and candle/oil/gas fueled lighting, light and the use of light bulbs has remained more or less a constant fraction of per capita gross domestic product. More light also means more light pollution, which is fast becoming a problem in developed countries across the world. When is the last time you were able to see a night sky full of shining stars?

People’s attitudes toward consumption can also be seen in vehicles. More fuel-efficient vehicles actually entice people to drive more, which can cause the fuel efficiency to be moot and not actually reduce driving or usage of fuel. Because we become so accustomed to our habits we are more likely to think things like “I was already paying this much to drive/use light bulbs this much, now I can pay the same amount but use them way more!” We have to remember that simply owning energy efficient technology is not enough; we have to have more energy efficient thinking as well!

Technorati Tags: Decrease, efficiency, energy, Usage

Ready to save on your electricity bills? Welectricity is the FREE, easy way to do so (and you don’t need to buy any new gadgets)! welectricity.com

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A test done by The Gadget Show to see which flat-screen TVs really do save energy and deliver a high-quality picture.

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The Asus P5QC Intel Socket 775 motherboard is an Intel® P45 chipset-based motherboard that combines powerful performance with great energy efficiency. It supports DDR3 1333 MHz or DDR2 1066 MHz dual-channel memory architecture and PCI Express 2.0 x16 for extreme graphics performance. It also comes with the world´s first ASUS EPU (Energy Processing Unit), allowing the CPU power supply to be digitally monitored and fine-tuned with improved VRM efficiency in heavy or light loadings — attaining the best possible power efficiency and energy savings to help save the environment. The P5QC also supports ASUS Express Gate — an optional Linux OS bootup for instant access to the Internet in 5 seconds. This motherboard uses all high-quality Japan-made conductive polymer capacitors onboard for durability, improved lifespan, and enhanced thermal capacity. For more information, visit tiger.tv

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An Energy Audit performed by a PA Home Energy certified professional can inform about where both money and energy are being lost in your home.

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Episode 4 – The basics of heat recovery ventilation From Efficiency NB, the Conservation Council of NB and Rogers TV comes Build It Better, an exciting new show examining the basic principles of building an energy efficient home. Join our own energy advisor Joe Waugh and the Conversation Council’s Julie Michaud in a 4 part series that looks at everything with a keen eye on efficiency: home construction, insulation, heating options, and other developing trends that keep the heat in and the heating bills low.

Technorati Tags: Basics, Better, build, heat, Part, Recovery, ventilation

www.ibm.com IBM DB2 9.7on the Intel Xeon 5500 Processor uses compression technology and data center automation to reduce costs through energy efficiency.

Technorati Tags: 5500, Automation, Center, Data, Intel, Processor, Xeon