energy conservation
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Breaking the link between energy consumption and economic growth
Cross-posted from the Natural Resources Defense Council. There are skeptics of energy efficiency who claim that, paradoxically, all the energy and money we have been saving due to energy efficiency, across all sectors of the economy, has actually caused us to increase our energy consumption. This “economy-wide rebound” theory is a startling, but ultimately unsupportable, […]
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Now you’re cooking with gas: Ask Umbra on energy-efficient stoves
Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, My wife would like to remodel the kitchen. This frightens me, personally, but I look it as an opportunity to buy some more energy-efficient appliances. Right now we have an ancient electric stove. Would replacing it with a natural gas stove be more efficient, or should we […]
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Another bogus report tries to discredit energy efficiency
If you think efficiency doesn’t save money, you haven’t been looking at the data.Cross-posted from the Natural Resources Defense Council. This piece was coauthored by Ralph Cavanagh, senior attorney and co-director of NRDC’s energy program. Throughout almost four decades of societal progress in getting more work out of less energy, those who deny the promise […]
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How malls can save both the Earth and your ears
Photo: Carol LinWe’re big fans of anything that saves energy while generally improving your life — biking, for instance, or gardens. So we were psyched to hear that malls could save 1.18 gigawatt-hours of energy every year, and cut back 3,000 metric tons of CO2, just by turning off the Muzak. Enterprising Stanford students crunched […]
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Smart appliances are coming! (Some day)
The time when your refrigerator can have an intelligent conversation with the local utility's smart grid could finally be on the horizon.
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Rebounds and Jevons: Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded
My last post on David Owen's piece in the New Yorker and on the Jevons effect stirred up some interesting questions and discussion that I want to follow up on here.
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Understanding the smart meter backlash
The California revolt over smart grids says plenty about the importance of psychology in energy tech. And while protests over radiation and cost ripoffs may be debunk-able, privacy concerns aren't going away quickly.
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The smart grid could help you be smarter about your home electricity use
The smart grid, we?re told, will integrate renewable energy and decentralize power production. But what?s in it for you and me?
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Turning energy savings in London into solar for Africa
What if turning off the lights in your home or office could help people in Africa turn theirs on?