April 30, 2010

Most people understand the concept of a car’s fuel efficiency—45 miles to a gallon is good and 15 miles is not so good—but if you ask them how to gauge their homes’ energy efficiency, you will probably be met with a blank stare.

“Cars have a mpg, homes do not,” says Aaron Goldfeder, co-founder and chief executive of EnergySavvy.com. “By and large, homeowners have no idea what 12,000 kilowatts per year is.”

But the public and private sectors are working to change that. To help people get a better handle on how much energy they are using and possibly even wasting, the Department of Energy and companies like Aaron’s have rolled out online tools that put people’s energy use at their fingertips. The sites collect information on a user’s home to determine its problem areas and then offer up ways to improve its efficiency. [More]

April 30, 2010

While outstanding performances in film were being honored at this year’s Academy Awards, some engineers and businesses were focused on a different performance — that of a lighting system illuminating the famed red carpet.

The innovative mobile lighting unit used a hydrogen fuel cell and energy-efficient plasma lighting technology to generate light and electricity for the show with zero on-site emissions or technical problems. The unit’s designers at Sandia National Laboratories, and its industry partners, believe the lighting could significantly improve the way events such as the Oscars are lit. [More]

April 30, 2010

Caroline Ehrlich describes her New Jersey town as “a very diverse township where the quality of life and educational systems are terrific.” But it’s Woodbridge Township’s sustainability efforts in actions such as installing solar panels and using fuel-efficient vehicles that have earned it even more attention as a sustainability champion, and community leaders are not stopping there.

“Saving energy is one of our top priorities,” Caroline, who is the mayor’s chief of staff and in charge of sustainability efforts, says. “Aside from being good for the environment, it’s ultimately a budget-saving mechanism for municipalities.” [More]

April 30, 2010

To make her home energy efficient, the first thing Rita Norton had to do was “tighten the envelope.”

That meant stuffing more insulation between her walls and sealing cracks at the foundation to keep any unwanted air from sneaking in or valuable air from seeping out. “That’s the phrase they call it,” says the former school teacher who lives in a two-story cape cod in Kansas City, Mo.

The advice came from the Metropolitan Energy Center (MEC), a nonprofit that helps Kansas City residents manage and control their energy use. When Rita called looking for direction, they were there to recommend certified contractors from their Kansas City Home Performance Network to do the tightening.
The Kansas City branch trains and certifies contractors under the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program created by the Department of Energy and EPA to evaluate homes and recommend improvements that save homeowners money on their energy bills.

After Rita “tightened the envelope,” her utility bill dropped by 35 percent in both the summer and winter. [More]

April 30, 2010

The Saft lithium-ion battery plant under construction in Jacksonville, Fla., is expected to pump hundreds of high-paying jobs into the city’s economy while boosting its green credentials.

Construction on the factory is expected to wrap up in 2012 and cost $191 million. Saft was awarded $95.5 million in Recovery Act funds and $20.2 million in financial incentives from Jacksonville and the state. [More]

April 29, 2010

On graduation day, students at Human Capital Development Corp., Inc. (HCDC) leave with more than just a diploma. They receive a hard hat, tool belt, hammer, utility knife and a tape measure.

Graduates from Racine, Wis.-based HCDC First Choice Program are literally ready to go to work. Now, in addition to being trained in various areas of construction, they can also tackle residential weatherization services.

“We try to integrate weatherization more as we develop the construction curriculum,” says Michael Cook, the construction concept trainer at HCDC. “Every class is getting more of it.”

HCDC’s weatherization classes are part of the First Choice program, which helps prepare students for the construction industry. Students go through a three-step program, and upon completion, are added to a pool of job-ready workers for local contractors to hire.

The program is divided into three parts. In the first stage, which acts as a prerequisite for the program, students learn life skills like money management and nutrition. [More]

April 29, 2010

PORTLAND — Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski hailed “a new approach to energy efficiency” after the state was awarded $20 million in Recovery Act funds for a program aimed at saving families and businesses money, creating green jobs and improving the environment.

Laborers, business owners and government officials joined Kulongoski in Portland to usher in Clean Energy Works Oregon, a large scale residential and commercial retrofit project. [More]

April 29, 2010

A Vermont company broke ground on a new factory that will produce cutting-edge technology for electric and hybrid cars and create more than 100 jobs.

The event ushering in SB Electronics’ power ring capacitor facility in Barre was attended by Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas and federal, state and local officials.

Cathy Zoi, the assistant secretary of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy, hailed SBE as a model for America’s clean energy economy: "Here in Vermont, your innovation is a great benchmark that others around the country should be replicating."

Production of the new power ring capacitors, which will be used on power trains of hybrid and electric vehicles, is expected to begin early next year. The capacitors will convert direct current from batteries to alternating current, which powers the vehicles’ motors. About 130 jobs will be created, according to SBE. [More]

April 29, 2010

Wisconsin-based Energy Performance Specialists LLC is helping clients reduce energy consumption in a very simple way−by just using less.

EPS, which specializes in energy efficient commercial lighting, conducts lighting audits for properties and reduces the amount of lighting energy used by buildings on a daily basis. After an audit from EPS, companies can typically cut their light consumption by 50 to 80 percent. [More]

April 29, 2010

When more green jobs start to open up in northwest Arkansas, educators want to ensure they have the workforce to fill them.

In anticipation of a growing sector, Bentonville's Northwest Arkansas Community College (NWACC) and Pulaski Technical College in North Little Rock are adding new green courses that will train about 600 people during the next three years to be certified energy auditors and weatherization workers.

The colleges received a total of $2.4 million in grants from the Department of Energy to establish the Green Collar Workforce Center on their campuses. [More]

April 26, 2010

Business partners Jeff Szczepanski and Rob Lyndall imagine a world where many of the buildings have walls, windows and other materials that are integrated with photovoltaic technology — that is, buildings that generate solar energy without necessarily adding panels to the roof. [More]

April 23, 2010

Recycling has been part of going green for a long time, but one company is going a step further by actually recycling energy that has already been used to power manufacturing plants. [More]

April 23, 2010

“Bread has never tasted so sustainable” is not just another pithy marketing slogan to make Franz Bakery seem green. [More]

April 23, 2010

With help from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and its subcontractor, Redhorse Corporation, the agency that keeps our country’s airports running is bolstering its energy efficiency. [More]

April 23, 2010

Peter Denbigh’s real interest is in finding ways to help Americans save energy — especially in terms of the transportation industry — so it’s appropriate that he says “the key is to address the situation effectively so that we don’t just spin our wheels and get nowhere.” [More]

April 23, 2010

In the future, your office building’s windows might be replaced with windows that have transparent organic light-emitting diodes in them so that, during the day, you can see through them, but at night you might turn on your windows so that the OLEDs emit light into the room. [More]

April 22, 2010

Federal government officials were scattered across the country speaking at events to commemorate Earth Day’s 40th anniversary, stressing the importance of protecting the environment and building a clean energy economy. [More]

April 22, 2010

Hundreds of people visited the National Mall on the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. [More]

April 22, 2010

Randy and Dorothy Pittman are cozy now, but for the first few winters in their new home at the Fond du Lac Reservation this was not the case.  At first, the couple, who moved from muggy Alabama, thought they needed time to acclimate to the Minnesota cold. It turned out it was the two-story house they constructed that needed adjusting. [More]

April 22, 2010

Thanks to funds from the Recovery Act, New York expanded its network of weatherization subgrantees. [More]