By 2050, the world’s population is expected to hit nine billion. And, by that year, scientists have projected that 80 percent of the world’s population will live in urban environments. In the United States alone, research indicates that people spend 90 percent of their time indoors, as noted in a TriplePundit article.
March 31st is Earth Hour, the day when between 8:30 and 9:30 pm people all over the world switch off the lights to make a symbolic gesture representing the need to be frugal with electricity and, we hasten to add, to switch to alternative energy. Symbolic actions are great, but they should lead to real action.
Americans report in surveys that they are likely to retire later than expected as a result of this economic downturn that doesn’t seem to want to quit. While that’s bad news for golf courses and Florida real estate, it helps one industry: energy efficient lighting.
We are squinting, rather than sprinting toward
Last week, temperatures soared into the triple digits, reaching record highs for the Twin Cities. After a wicked winter, I actually welcomed the heat with open arms. That is, until the temperature inside my house hit a steamy 86 degrees – even with curtains closed and fans circulating. And while I pride myself on
It’s far from being a reality, but an Italian product designer has a vision for solar-powered laptops.
The Luce Solar Panel Powered PC is by Andrea Ponti would be powered by two solar cells, one behind the monitor and the other under a keyboard, writes Get Solar.
Ponti is an industrial designer whose research is
Just a few short decades ago, we couldn’t have imagined computers the size of a phone, GPS devices that can keep us from being lost, and internet technology that makes it possible to talk to a friend halfway across the world through your laptop.
It only makes sense that the technology currently
I have to agree with the Tea Party; the US government should not choose the light bulbs I use in my home. And fortunately, it does not.
Yet that’s the spin being pushed by those who want to roll back federal lighting performance standards. An odd mythology is developing around the standards.
According to a UK solar panel expert, silicon—the primary material in solar panel manufacturing today—may soon be a thing of the past. So what material has the versatility to take its place? You guessed it: plastic.
While there is a variety of reasons plastic trumps silicone, it comes down to three main
Yesterday the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced a pilot program to finance $25 million in home efficiency upgrade loans: Backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), these new FHA PowerSaver loans will offer homeowners up to $25,000 to make
As a self-proclaimed East Coast liberal intellectual who drinks Starbucks Grande Nonfat Decaf Lattes on a regular basis, I woke up this morning after the Mid-term elections of 2010 with a heavy heart. I thought to myself, as I took public transportation to my office from my
When solar energy companies think about how to reduce the cost of their product, typically a lot of time and money goes toward increasing the efficiency of solar panels and their manufacturing process. Reducing the production cost decreases the final cost the consumer will
Altair Engineering (Altair) is a Michigan-based company that sells energy efficient solid state lighting products, particularly LED lamps, through its subsidiary, Ilumisys.
Altair owns U.S. Patent Nos. 7,049,761 (’761 Patent) and 7,510,299 (’299 Patent), both directed to a light tube for a fluorescent light fixure having a plurality of light emitting
What two countries lead the world in energy consumption, energy production and greenhouse gas emissions? The United States and China. Can our two countries work together to help lead the world in a transition to clean energy? A recent announcement by U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu is an important step in that direction.
Water. Most Americans think nothing of it. Turn on the faucet and we expect clean water to flow under good pressure at the temperature of our choosing. But to make all that happen, water requires energy and lots of it. A full 3 percent of electrical power generation is used to treat, pump and distribute water in the U.S. (to say nothing of heating it). And in California, that figure is
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