Energy Efficiency Articles
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Companies turn on to automated PC turn-off
New report confirms that automated energy saving systems will expand rapidly in response to increasing energy costs and environmental ...
By Vital Energi
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Save money, save carbon
As a way of saving money in a financially difficult time, engaging in a resource efficiency programme can help organsations cut costs from waste, water, packaging, emissions and supply chain wastage. Embedding a resource efficient approach to procurement business can proactively work with suppliers that offer cost effective solutions as well as environmentally preferable options. In the UK there ...
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Using your EMS to improve energy efficiency
Why an EMS Approach? With increased pressure to address energy and climate change issues, many organizations are leveraging their environmental management system (EMS) as an important mechanism for implementing energy efficiency initiatives. This phenomenon is not entirely new. The EMS approach has frequently been used across a broad array of sectors to facilitate energy improvements. But new ...
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Is green energy our new plastics industry?
If The Graduate were written today, Mr. McGuire’s career tip to Benjamin probably would have been “green,” rather than “plastics.” But it’s likely Benjamin would have responded in the same quizzical way: “Just how do you mean that, sir?” It was difficult to envision the vast number of new products, businesses and careers that would emerge from the plastics industry following World War II. The ...
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How many negawatts do I need before I retire?
A candy shop owner on Cape Cod offers a new approach to build a retirement portfolio: put solar panels on your roof. “We looked at the stock market last year and it didn’t look too good so we decided to invest in electricity,” said Ray Hebert, owner of Stage Stop Candy in Dennisport, in an article on wickedlocal.com by Nicole Muller. Thanks to today’s generous state and federal subsidies, Hebert ...
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Exergy analysis of engines fuelled with biodiesel from high oleic soybeans based on experimental values
This study dealt with energy and exergy analyses of a John Deere 4045T diesel engine run with no. 2 diesel fuel, Soybean oil Methyl Ester (SME) and High-Oleic soybean oil Methyl Ester (HOME) at 1400 1/min. It was aimed at determining energy and exergy efficiencies, energy losses and exergy destructions of the combustion process and comparing exergetically the fuels used. The specific exergy of ...
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What does the US/China agreement mean for efficiency?
The energy efficiency market has a gawky quality. It is not exactly one market but a conglomeration of various industries as diverse as appliance manufacturers, energy auditors, smart meter software designers and cogeneration developers. They are unified only in their ability to save energy. All arms and legs as it may appear, the efficiency market seems ready to shoot to a new level of maturity. ...
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No place like home for energy savings
Apparently there is no place like home, even when it comes to fulfilling lofty wishes like fixing our energy supply. A recent White House task force on the middle class finds that our homes generate more than 20% of the nation's carbon dioxide emissions. If we make our houses more efficient, we can significantly cut emissions and reduce energy use by 40%, a move that could lower our bills by $21 ...
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Low-emission coal burning technology
Customer: Foster Wheeler Energy, Siemens, EnergoProjekt Katowice Challenge: One third of carbon dioxide emissions caused by humans come from the burning of fossil fuels in energy production. How to reduce them? Solution: Developing a circulating fluidised bed (CFB) boiler where fossil fuels are combusted with pure oxygen separated from the air. Key benefits: 15-20 per cent lower carbon dioxide ...
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What’s geothermal again?
Some green energy sources seem to have charisma; others struggle for public attention with little success. Solar energy is an “it” technology, as evidenced once again by the tremendous participation in the annual Solar Power International conference in Anaheim, California this week (Oct. 27-29). Twice as many companies (945) are displaying their wares in the Expo Hall this year, despite the still ...
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It’s the environment, stupid
If Harry Truman were running for president today, he’d probably ‘Give ‘em Green,’ rather than ‘Give ‘em Hell.’ Bill Clinton’s campaign slogan would be, ‘It’s the environment, stupid.’ And Herbert Hoover might be promising a solar panel on every roof, rather than a chicken in every pot – and the pot would sit on a smart-metered stove, powered by a plug-in hybrid, eligible for renewable energy ...
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U.S. headed for massive decline in carbon emissions*
For years now, many members of Congress have insisted that cutting carbon emissions was difficult, if not impossible. It is not. During the two years since 2007, carbon emissions have dropped 9 percent. While part of this drop is from the recession, part of it is also from efficiency gains and from replacing coal with natural gas, wind, solar, and geothermal energy. The United States has ended ...
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Obama, poker and what 2010 holds for energy efficiency
Jon Stewart said it best: Obama is a lousy poker payer. Lucky thing, too, for the energy efficiency industry as it heads into 2010. Stewart’s December 8 “The Daily Show” aired a clip of Obama recently telling business leaders: “I don't want to tip our hand too much, but one of the things I would be surprised if we don't end up moving forward on is an aggressive agenda for energy efficiency and ...
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Energy head tilters for this week
I’ve been writing about energy for 20 years. And during those years, I’ve heard many out-of-the box concepts and witnessed some surprising trends. But it seems that lately head-tilting news comes along more and more frequently, a sign I think of how quickly innovation is occurring in the electric power industry.Below are three ideas that caught my attention this week as I covered the industry. ...
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Is small business left out of the EE boom?
The US has about 29.6 million small businesses and they employ over half of the nation’s private sector. They hire 40% of our high tech workers, make up 97.3% of our exporters, and generate most of our innovations, according to SCORE. http://www.score.org/small_biz_stats.html Still, we hear small business often say it gets the shaft when it comes to public policy; it just doesn’t have the ...
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Could food shortages bring down civilization?
“In early 2008, Saudi Arabia announced that, after being self-sufficient in wheat for over 20 years, the non-replenishable aquifer it had been pumping for irrigation was largely depleted,” writes Lester R. Brown in his new book, Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization (W.W. Norton & Company). “In response, officials said they would reduce their wheat harvest by one eighth each year ...
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Fresh & easy energy efficiency (case study)
Verisae, Inc. announced today that Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, the U.S. arm of Tesco, is reporting energy consumption that is 32 percent lower than the industry average for energy usage per square foot across their 130 stores. After implementing Verisae's suite of sustainability software solutions, Fresh & Easy achieved recurring energy-related cost savings of more than 3 million ...
By Accruent
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Data centre managers fail on energy management
Research shows data centre managers are still not making energy efficiency a priority, reports Envido. New Gartner research has found that many data centre managers have yet to turn on the energy measurement and monitoring tools they need to kick start energy consumption reduction initiatives and begin considering energy management a priority. Gartner said that energy management both in terms of ...
By Vital Energi
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Efficiency is cheap, but will it sell?
Expect to see this number a lot in energy discussions over the next few years: 2.5 cents/kWh. It is the average cost of energy efficiency, a figure pegged this week in a new report by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy. This number is big news because it is so small. As a resource, energy efficiency beats out all conventional power sources on price. Moreover, it’s a price that ...
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Design and performance evaluation of a photovoltaic sun-tracking system driven by a three-freedom spherical motor
In this study, a PV sun tracking system with the ability to move on two axes is designed. Its performance over a fixed tilted system is evaluated for the climatic condition of Denizli, Turkey. From the obtained results, it is seen that the sun tracking system improves the energy and exergy efficiency of the PV panel.Keywords: PV panels, spherical motors, sun tracking, energy efficiency, exergy ...
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