Solar Powered Trash Can Saves Millions

In other news...

It's great to come across a story that seems so backwards, but in the end it makes complete sense. The image of a trash can with solar panels appears to be the symbol of excess in the name of "green." Enter BigBelly's solar powered trash compactor.

By July, Philadelphia will install 500 of these BigBelly trash cans throughout their downtown neighborhood Center City. Normal trash cans in this area have to be emptied 19 times a week compared to just 5 times with BigBelly. The lower removal rate will allow the city to employ just 8 workers rather than 33. The city insists that these jobs will be retained in other areas.

Richard Kennelly, vice president of marketing for BigBelly Solar, in Needham, Mass, looked through some city numbers, coming up with $12.9 million in savings over 10 years. The savings will quickly pay back the initial $2.2 million price tag for the bins.

It is not a coincidence that something that helps the environment can save a city government money. Efficiency is the tie that bonds these two entities together, and it will happen again and again. While your home may not need a BigBelly can, let this be an example of how to look at the true cost of the things you buy.

More on BigBelly Solar.
Article on BigBelly cans from Philly.com.

Passive House Turns Active

We previously wrote about an emerging household design in Europe called Passive House design. This concept incorporates a highly insulated building envelope around a home that is carefully sighted to use the sun for winter heat and year round lighting. The new Aktivhaus combines the substantially lower energy requirements with power generators that will enable the house to produce more heat and power than it needs.

The key to these highly insulated homes is their ability to take light and heat from the sun during winter months while blocking the extra heat in the summer. Proper sighting ensures that windows and skylights are oriented towards the south to receive the most sun. Placing simple overhangs over the windows prevents unwanted summer sun from heating your indoor space.

These houses are installed with a simple piece of equipment called a Heat Exchanger that ensures fresh air inside your home. The appliance takes in the fresh outdoor air and exchanges it with the warm indoor air. The heat is transferred to the incoming fresh air which fills your home while the stale indoor air escapes outdoors.

Passive and Active Homes have yet to catch on the United States, but the concepts and innovation of these designs will surely begin to integrate the market wherever possible. These homes are also a great example of the substantial amount of energy proper insulation can save. It would sure be nice to get a credit from the utility each month for the power your home is generating rather than a bill...

More on the Aktivhaus from treehugger.com.
Interactive guide from the New York Times on Passive House Design.

Google Announces Initial PowerMeter Partners

Google has announced its first PowerMeter partners. They have found 8 utilities representing over 10 million customers from 3 countries and 6 different US states. The utilities will offer Google PowerMeter to their customers. This will allow them to access detailed information on their home energy use through a web portal.

Here are the partners:

- San Diego Gas & Electric® (California)
- TXU Energy (Texas)
- JEA (Florida)
- Reliance Energy (India)
- Wisconsin Public Service Corporation (Wisconsin)
- White River Valley Electric Cooperative (Missouri)
- Toronto Hydro–Electric System Limited (Canada)
- Glasgow EPB (Kentucky)
- Itron (Integration partner)

The Google PowerMeter will assist customers in saving energy and money. Being able to see accurate and current information about their usage will enable customers with the knowledge of how and when to conserve their energy. Google throwing its name into the hat of software developers looking to advance the availability of energy information will certainly help push the limit into what is possible.

Day Ahead vs Real Time Pricing

Last June, Power Smart Pricing switched from using real time pricing to day ahead pricing. We were very happy with this change because it gave our customers an assurance of the actual price of electricity. Real time pricing can be quite volatile, and it is not uncommon for an occasional hour to show a price that is very atypical.

Yesterday (May 14th) was a great example of this difference. The day featured all the good and bad that real time pricing provides while the day ahead prices were very consistent with the low prices that we have seen over the past few months.

First the good - Between 1am and 3am, Ameren would have literally paid you for using electricity as the real time prices were negative (-0.000890 and -0.075410). Of course this occurred in real time so only those fortunate people who happened to have been running a significant amount of electricity at the time would have benefited.

Now the bad - During the 8pm hour, the price made an unpredictable jump to about 29 cents per kwh. This is roughly 5 times the flat rate, and it far outpaces the day ahead price of 3.8 cents per kwh. Day ahead pricing would never see a jump like this one, and it will never stray from the published price the evening before.

Real time pricing can also show times when the price is lower than the day ahead price which would always be nice to see, but there are certain instances like the price spike that occurred last night that can really cost a consumer money. Day ahead pricing provides the consistent pattern that can be used to ensure that shifting your usage to lower priced times will payoff.

CNT wins MacArthur Award

The Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) was recognized today as one of only eight organizations from around the world to receive the prestigious John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. CNT has pioneered new approaches to urban problems that use resources more efficiently, reduce costs for households and communities, and improve the environment. The award recognizes organizations that are “highly creative and effective, have made an extraordinary impact in their fields and are helping to address some of the world’s most challenging problems.”

“The MacArthur Foundation has a long history of supporting organizations around the world like these that demonstrate the creativity, drive, and vision to make the world more just and peaceful,” said MacArthur President Jonathan Fanton. “These organizations may be small but their impact is tremendous. From protecting human rights to improving urban neighborhoods to conserving biodiversity, they are blazing new paths and finding fresh solutions to some of our most difficult challenges.”

The Center for Neighborhood Technology is an innovative and creative organization that has maintained a strong focus on sustainability for over 30 years,” said Illinois Governor Pat Quinn. “The new technologies and ideas CNT has developed have kept Illinois at the forefront of green innovation, and this award is a fitting tribute.”

For more continue reading here >>>

What others are saying:

Bruce Katz, Vice President and Director of The Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program
“CNT’s role is unique and its impact is pronounced. It has successfully bridged the gap between innovative practice and smart policy on transportation, housing, energy, climate and a host of other domestic policies. This is a well deserved honor for decades of quality, provocative, effective work.”

Adele Simmons, President, Global Philanthropy Partnership
“CNT demonstrates a unique combination of vision, high-quality analysis, and the ability to implement effective programs. Rarely do you find all three in one organization.”

Hank Dittmar, Chief Executive, The Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment
“Having worked with the Center for Neighborhood Technology for about half of its existence, I can attest that it has been one of the most consistently innovative non profits in the country. CNT’s roots in Chicago region have allowed it to beta test new sustainability tools on the ground that have then gone on to have national and international impact. In this urban century, CNT’s insistent focus on a sustainability rooted in community engagement and place is vital.”

Frank M.Clark, ComEd Chairman and CEO
“CNT is quite deserving of this recognition. Their innovations, including their important work on the nation’s first residential real-time pricing program, will certainly be an ongoing contributor to Exelon 2020, our parent company’s aggressive plan to reduce, offset, or displace more than 15 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year by 2020.”

For more about the award and the MacArthur Foundation click here.

Whirpool to Make all "Smart" Appliances by 2015

Today Whirlpool announced that all of its appliances will be able to respond to smart grid signals by 2015. Customers on a real time pricing program can instantly see the benefit for a more integrated household system. Instead of eking out the lowest priced hour yourself, your appliances will be able to do that automatically.

Whirlpool also indicated some of the hurdles and logistical roadblocks that will need to be navigated before this will be possible. Bracken Darrell, president of Whirlpool Europe, and executive vice president of Whirlpool Corporation found two key public-private developments that needed to be addressed:

-- The development by the end of 2010 of an open, global standard for transmitting signals to and receiving signals from a home appliance

-- Appropriate policies that reward consumers, manufacturers and utilities for using and adding these new peak demand reduction capabilities.

This is why, according to Darrell, Whirpool is "going to invite the appliance industry, the utility industry, policymakers, NGOs, and relevant technology companies to come together at the upcoming Copenhagen climate change conference to discuss how we can accelerate the adoption of these new capabilities."

Now you just need all of those people to agree...

LED Lighting Prices Continue to Drop

With each passing day the LED market is becoming more and more accessible to the wider audience. This story has been told before with the CFL, and the lesson will be considered when these new bulbs are looking for their break.

The CFL was rushed to stores nationwide. Some countries even cleared the way by banning traditional incandescent bulbs from their retail stores. In many areas, consumers rejected these new spiral shaped bulbs for, honestly, a lot of good reasons. Products have standards it must meet. For many, the limitations and unreliability of CFL's alongside its higher price tag prevented the seamless transition CFL producers were looking for.

All of this comotion might be the best thing to happen to the emerging LED market. Consumers have already experienced the initial backlash and stubborness for change with the CFL, and it will now have a product that will include all the benefits of the CFL (except their better) and without the very acceptable claims they made in opposition.

Lemnis Lighting, featured today in the New York Times blog, Green Inc, has a 6 watt bulb coming out later this year for $50.00. It would replace a 40 watt incandescent, contains zero mercury, is heat resistant, uses up to 90% less energy than an incandescent bulb, and it is proposed to last for 25 years with average use. Sounds fairly remarkable.

The only obstruction is price. Which has come down dramatically over the past few months. This drop might be attributed to companies manufacturing their products with less quality control which is definitely a thorn in the side of the CFL industry. However, the drive for lower pricing will aide the consumer as it has always done.

If you have installed CFL's throughout your home, and you're happy with them, keep them. LED's are still a few years away. Pricing still must drop, and manufacturing reliability must rise if the prices remain high. But, they are coming. That much we know.