electricity
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New interactive book could explain everything anyone needs to know about energy
The Kickstarter video for The WATT? An Energy 101 Primer does a good job of explaining why, exactly, people should care about energy: Energy is everything. It’s a part of pretty much every aspect of modern life. wherever you live, whatever you do, however you do it. Unfortunately, most people know next to nothing about […]
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In India, solar-powered ATMs use as much energy as a lightbulb
In urban America, getting money out of the bank means walking a block to the ATM. In rural India, the nearest bank branch might be a day’s journey away. But now a company called Vortex Engineering is using solar power to bring convenient banking to out-of-the-way villages. The key: The company’s ATMs are energy efficient. […]
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Renewable hydropower could supply all of Africa’s electricity
In Africa, 587 million people go without electricity — only about two-fifths of the continent’s population has access to a regular supply. But according to a new United Nations report, hydropower — a form of renewable energy — could supply all of Africa’s electricity needs. Right now, only about 32 percent of the continent’s energy […]
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Energy monitoring device lets dad bust up rager from 500 miles away
If this were a movie, hardware and software developer David Rowe would look like a sitting duck for teen shenanigans — I mean, we don’t know the dude, but we’re pretty sure he’s a dweeby dad (or as close as you can get in Australia). The man describes himself as “kind of a power geek” […]
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Critical List: The gas boom scam; Bieber’s electric car
In Rolling Stone, Jeff Goodell looks at “the scam behind the gas boom.” What really makes money for a natural gas company? “Buying and flipping the land that contains the gas,” Goodell reports. A team of scientists has discovered how to use wastewater’s bacteria to create electricity. For his 18th birthday Justin Bieber received (among […]
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Critical List: Vermont can’t shutter nuke plant; microbes turn seaweed into biofuel
The EPA will test water in Dimock, PA, and is delivering drinking water to four homes there. Silly Vermont. You wanted to shut down a nuclear plant? Only the federal government can regulate nuclear power! For biofuels, seaweed could be the new corn.
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Solar grid parity 101 — and why you should care
We're rapidly approaching solar grid parity, the tipping point when installing solar power will cost less than buying electricity from the grid.
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This electrical socket spits out your power-sucking plugs
The PumPing Tap does not like wasted power. It's an electrical socket with a spring-loaded ejector seat, which pops plugs right out if they're slowly sucking energy when not in active use.
The idea is to combat vampire power, the massive amount of energy slowly sapped by idling gizmos, like microwaves that aren’t cooking or chargers that aren’t charging anything. The PumPing Tap (which is still in the design stage, sadly) monitors the flow of energy, and if you don't use a device for 10 minutes -- ptooie! -- it's unplugged.
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Map shows when rooftop solar will be cheaper than grid electricity
What happens if and when current subsidies for solar panels are phased out? Doesn't matter — the cost of solar photovoltaics continues to fall even as the cost of grid electricity continues to rise, which means eventually the two trends will meet and it will make more sense to put panels on your roof than […]