The Xcel Energy Windsource program is a deal where you can opt-in to have your home’s energy come from wind power rather than asthma generating, mine shaft collapsing, black lung generating, water polluting sources. While the power sent to your house isn’t coming directly from wind turbines, Xcel is required to source their energy from [...]
Back in October of 2009, I installed a TED-5000 Powermeter that ties into the Google Powermeter reporting system. This allowed me to get a much better feel for what was chewing up energy in my home and do something about it. We made a few changes around the home, including installing a few more CFL [...]
If you have a solar electric system on your house, there may be times when your solar panels generate more energy than your home consumes. This net energy can be uploaded onto the grid for use by other power consuming neighbors or businesses. This is a good deal, because it increases the percentage of clean [...]
A 20km exclusion zone has been created around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. What would an exclusion zone of that radius look like around the Praire Island Nuclear Power Plant near Red Wing: You can try this with the location of your choice here. via Google Maps Mania.
I recently gave Centerpoint Energy a ring and asked if they could pull the records on what Carly and I have been paying for natural gas used in our home over the time we’ve owned it. CenterPoint provides up to 15 months of data on their website (login required) but will print and mail larger [...]
We woke up to a 48F household this morning due to our power going out at around 4am. I crawled back under the covers while brushing my teeth. That was a first. On the plus side, check out the energy savings reported on our Google PowerMeter: I think we saved 10 cents! Maybe we could [...]
I had a little chat about my latest obsession, the Google PowerMeter service, on Quick On The UpTake with Mike McIntee this afternoon. Good times were had. The theme of the hour was energy conservation starting with my segment at 15 minutes into the segment embedded above (that a live studio shot of Mike doing [...]
Maria Energia has a look at a local company, freEner-g , that’s leases solar power panels. As I understand it, you end up paying a fixed monthly cost for the panels and depending on your power consumption and solar exposure, may be able to drop your electricity bill to zero. In fact, I think it [...]
Ranty has some great energy saving tips on her Healy House blog, including one regarding home’s hot water temperature: The Healy House: It’s that time of year again… 8. Stay out of hot water. Water heating accounts for 15 percent of household energy use. Reduce water heating costs by lowering the water heater’s thermostat setting. [...]
