energy efficiency

photo by Stig Nygaard

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Monday that the city would spend $2.3 billion to cut greenhouse gas emissions from municipal buildings and operations. The goal is to reduce CO2 emissions 1.68 million tonnes a year from 2006 levels by 2017.

These reductions will be accomplished through improvements to the heating, cooling and ventilation systems of municipal buildings. Repairs to firehouses, police precincts, city offices and courthouses, along with purchases of more fuel efficient vehicles will also help reduce emissions
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This past Thursday, before the madness of the 4th of July set in, the City of El Segundo, California held its first ever Environmental Expo. Summer was in full swing as people shopped for organic corn and grass fed beef to grill, and for green bikinis to wear, over the holiday (And you know you are in Southern California, when there is a booth at an environmental expo with green bikinis.)
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Did you know that the rate of CO2 emissions for average PC use is equal to the CO2 exhaled by 1.5 humans? If not, you probably missed the Virtual Energy Forum 10-11 June 2008. But all is not lost. The presentations are available to registered users at the Virtual Energy Forum website. The live conference took place in a virtual conference environment, saving over 12 million pounds of CO2 emissions, which would have been incurred by air travel, hotel stays and commuting to/from airports to attend a real conference.

We have been watching the movement towards virtual conferences since we reported on

In the hallways of 15 apartments at a complex in the city of Gothenburg is the ultimate smart-home gadget (fancier and smarter than Joule's Home) from Swedish start-up Manodo - it's a screen that tells you everything you want to know about your consumption, plus a few stats you maybe didn't want to see - like how many pounds of CO2 emissions that long, hot bath you just took is worth.

The pilot Manodo project in a handful of Swedish cities gives apartment dwellers lots of other information, including how long before the next tram will pass by t...

Back in 2007, our post on a 9W LED replacement for a 70W incandescent generated a huge amount of interest and debate. While some were excited to see the dawn of a new lighting technology, others felt it was overpriced and under-powered, in terms of lumen output. We wonder, then, what our readership will make of the new EvoLux 13W LED bulb, which the manufacturers claim will replace a 100W incandescent, or a 13W CFL, and can apparently last as long as 50,000 hours (for comparison purposes, thi...

Best Green-Ass Ads, Number 1

The Green Movement needs to compete for consumer attention. Funny, eye-catching ads open the door for change. As an inspiration, we bring you the five best ads featuring buttocks, mostly naked buttocks, to sell the environmental cause. Top ranked: Greenpeace's You Are My Sunshine Ad for energy efficient lightbulbs. File under: "Only the British..."...

In our quest for efficient water use, this might be the first time we’ve come across a shower that recycles its own water for reuse [we’ve already looked at behavior-related conservation tips, like the navy shower and the selective flush, and we’ve also featured a wide-array of technologies, from

Photo credit: Getty Images

Here's an interesting new way to think about energy efficiency: a study done by researchers at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University revealed that it takes between 3,000 gallons and 6,000 gallons of water to power a 60-watt incandescent bulb for 12 hours a day over the course of a year.

The researchers -- Virginia Tech professor Tamim Younos and undergraduate student Rachelle Hill -- are crunching the numbers to determine the water-efficiency of some of the most common energy sources and power generating methods. The most water-efficient energy sources are natural gas (th...