Control Your Energy Use with Smart Strip Power Strip
I have mentioned numerous times on my blog that electronic devices can still use energy even though they are not powered on. One easy way to really make it easy to eliminate electricity to devices is to plug them into a power strip and just switch it off when you are done using the devices plugged into it. It can be difficult to always remember to switch off power strips whenever you are done using the devices plugged into it.
The Smart Strip is a unique power strip that can help you solve this problem. It has a built-in autoswitching technology on many of the plugs that turns off any electrical devices plugged into it when not turned on. The key to how this works is the different color outlets on it:
- Blue Outlet – The control outlet that controls when the white outlets are turned on or off.
- White Outlets – The switch outlets that follow the control outlet as it goes on or off.
- Red Outlets – The hot outlets that do not follow the control switch and only turn off when the power strip is unplugged or switched off.
As an electronic device plugged in the blue outlet turns idle, electronics in the white outlets will stop drawing any additional current. Where this strip comes really handy is when using in a home office. Computers and peripherals often are big culprits of wasting electricity even when they are turned off. The smart strip can coordinate with your computer to ensure they are turned off in sleep mode. The computer can be plugged into the blue outlet. You only use your computer peripherals when you computer is on anyways so why not have them turned off automatically. You can plug just about anything into this power strip including other strips. Since it also has a powerful built in surge protector, additional strips will also be protected as well.
Overall, the smart strip is a good power strip regardless of whether it has the autoswitching technology on it especially for the price. If you find it hard to unplug all of your electronics when done using them or switching off your power strips, then this device is the way to go.
College To Host First Grid-Scale Vertical Shaft Wind Turbine
College and Environmental Technologies LLC is going be building the first large-scale vertical shaft wind turbine on the Sullivan County Community College campus in Loch Sheldrake, NY. They has been designing this their ETC-LU vertical shaft wind turbine for almost 20 years and have several prototypes already erected. The wind turbines planned to produce 1.25 megawatts of electricity and should be constructed by early next year and operational by the spring. The wind turbine will stand at about 111feet tall and produce twice the electricity output of a traditional wind turbine at a third of the size. It will also be relatively quite and be friendly to flying animals like birds and bats.
Vertical-Shaft Wind Turbine
The ETC-LU vertical shaft wind turbine does not look anything like the traditional fan blades wind turbine you are used to seeing. The company claims that their wind turbine is the most efficient, trouble free and much more cost-effective. Under the same wind conditions as normal wind turbines and same generator capacity, it can produce twice as much electricity as traditional models. What makes this wind turbines so great is that it can accept wind from any angle and adjust their angle as wind hits the retractable blades. This new design prevails over traditional version because:
- More Durable - Weight distributed evenly over entire devices, so there are fewer damages.
- Quieter - Only 65 decibels are emitted making it fairly quite.
- Smaller - Lowers cost of maintenance as well as more a viable option for more locations.
If these perform as well as the company says they do, this new wind turbine design could be revolutionary for the renewable energy industry. Not only could they be more efficient, but this could make wind turbines a realistic option for smaller areas where you would normally not think wind turbines could be put. Just imagine wind turbines hovering over city buildings and college campuses across America being run of of wind energy. It starts out at Sullivan County Community College and hopefully spreads throughout the nation. To find more details about this new technology, check out Environmental Technologies LLC website.
Green Renewable Energy Certificates
Renewable Energy Certificates or REC are a new trend that consumers and businesses are buying to differentiate themselves among energy buyers. They are simply a way to claim your purchase of renewable energy. You may have also heard them being referred to renewable energy credits or various other terms, but they are all the same.
What are RECs?
Green energy providers are granted one renewable energy credit when they produce a MWh they generated from energy using sources such as a wind farm, solar panels, geothermal and others. Renewable energy credits are commodities that can be traded and sold just as ordinary financial commodities. The energy is put into the electric grid and is only differentiated through the use of these certificates. Many independent companies have been established to ensure certification and verification of green energy sources.
I found a good video that gives you a quick overview of what renewable energy credits are:
History
The first time to actually distinguish traditional dirty energy sources from alternate sources was just a little over 10 years ago. Several markets were opened up in the late 90s that traded electricity generated from green sources, but there was little or no regulations on them. In 2001, several green energy companies began to sell REC to consumers to support the development of new technologies. In an effort to create a national accreditation of these tradable certificates (TRC), the Green-e program was created.
Compliance markets have been created by a policy that exists in 25 U.S. states called Renewable Portfolio Standard. Each of these states requires that electric companies supply to their customers a certain percentage of energy from alternate sources. They can meet their requirements by an equal amount of RECs to the percentage of electricity that is required. For example: A state has a requirement of 20% energy from alternate sources. It can then buy 20% of their total electricity usage in the form of RECs to meet the requirement. There are also voluntary markets in which customers or businesses can just buy RECs, as the name suggestions, voluntarily. The energy comes from states with no compliance market and usually come at a cheaper price.
The Department of Energy provides an in-depth history and a full explanation of RECs.
Benefits
There are many benefits that are achieved through having renewable energy credits that include:
- Allows consumers to directly put their dollars towards green energy without having to own the actual electricity generators.
- Standards are in place by various independent organizations to ensure the proper tracking of each certificate.
- Can be bought across state borders.
A hard thing that many people in America face is that they do not currently have green energy offered in their state and maybe not even in a surrounding state. This gives anybody in American access to energy produced from renewable sources. Even though the electricity you use may not come directly from the wind turbines or solar panels that produced it, it will go towards supporting green energy.
Negatives
Just because the idea of RECs seems great, they are not perfect and have some major flaws:
- Communication to all consumers to ensure a good understanding of the process.
- No national standard is yet in placve as they are regulated by several organizations.
- Not guaranteed to get full environmental benefit from buying.
The major problem with buying green credits in some parts of the country is that the green energy generators are not actually located in those area. Say you were to have a coal plant right down the road from you which produces harmful waste products and dangerous CO2 gases. Even if you buy renewable energy certificates from another state, it will not make the environment in your area any better.
Where to Buy From?
The whole processing of buying RECs may seem confusing, but it is no more difficult than buying energy from dirty traditional sources. You can call your local utility company to inquire about them or you can see check the Department of Energy’s Green Power Network site to see who offers green energy in your state.
Please share your experiences if you currently own RECs or your experiences with them.
Top 5 Greenest Cars in 2009
Green Car Journal announced its list for the top 5 greenest cars for the upcoming 2009 year car models. These 5 cars were identified by the editors of the magazines as the top green autos to be available on the market. The cars are (in alphabetical order):
- BMW 335d
- Ford Fusion Hybrid
- Saturn Vue 2 Mode Hybrid
- smart fortwo
- Volkswagen Jetta TDI
Each of these cars gets great gas mileage, but are these really the greenest cars available on the market?
The Real Green Autos
The only car that I feel out of the 5 that is truly green is the smart fortwo. It gets great gas mileage and is not a hybrid. Europeans has been driving around these cars for years and for good reason. Even though it is only a two seater, it is more efficient and can fit into extremely tight spots making it especially useful in the city. It is also the most affordable car for the great gas mileage you get. They currently also have a hybrid out in Europe and it gets up to 20% more fuel efficiency than the original model and it soon could come to America.
I still think there are greener cars available that are not even mentioned on the list. The Aptera is a much more efficient hybrid that can get 120 miles to the gallon or even higher depending on how far you drive. That is more than 3 times the mpg as compared to the supposed top green autos and is in the same price range as well. There is also the Tesla that is a full electric car. As long as the electricity comes from renewable resources like wind or solar energy, electric cars leave little or no carbon imprint.
If you currently own one of the top 5 green cars, please share your experience. Also, how do you feel about the top 5 picks and what would your top 5 list be?
