Tag Archives: gas

Smart Grid: What is it and Why it is a Good Thing

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Last week I attended a luncheon to learn more about Smart Grids. In case you don’t know what a smart grid is it is a way for consumers and suppliers to monitor energy demands and reduce cost by being more aware of usage.

I think smart grid system are an awesome tool to help save energy and cost.  I think the electric companies have an uphill battle with gaining the trust of many of their consumers. Many people fear higher costs.

Here are the key points that were discussed -

Why we need the smart grid.

Address our aging infrastructure

  • Approximately 60% of the current electric power grid will need to be replaced within the next 10 years.
  • Our current electrical grid is built on an aging infrastructure. The average age of a substation transformer is 42, which is two more years than their expected life span.

Save consumers money

  • In some recent studies, consumers have been able to reduce their monthly energy consumption by 10-15%.
  • There were 41% more outages affecting 50,000 or more consumers in the second half of the 1990’s than in the first half of the decade.
  • These outages and interruptions cost Americans $150 billion annually – or $500 for each one of us.
  • Increasing energy efficiency, renewable energy and distributed generation would save an estimated $36 billion annually.
  • The Norman, OK school district saved $15,000 in just two months after implementing smart grid technology.

Environmental benefits

  • Smart grid technology will reduce the need to build more fossil-fueled power plants while encouraging the use of renewable energy sources like wind and solar. This will also lessen our dependence on foreign oil.
  • Implementation of the smart grid would reduce carbon from electrical power by 25% or roughly 10% of overall US CO2 emissions. This savings is estimated to have the same impact as removing 140 million cars from the road.

How smart grid technology allows you to take control of your energy consumption.

The smart grid empowers you by making the energy you use and the price you pay for it more transparent.

  • The smart grid and smart meters show you how much energy you are using in your home from, day to day, and what it costs you.
  • Because energy prices vary considerably during the day because of changing demand, you will soon be able to see the least expensive times to run your appliances, such as washers and dishwashers, which will mean significant financial savings.

The current and future tools of the smart grid technology.

  • You will soon be able to receive alerts via text, email, and telephone call as you move through the energy tiers towards higher costs for electricity.
  • Smart meter technology will alert your utility company in the case of a power outage so they can restore your power faster.
  • In the future you will be able to control the energy usage of the appliances in your home through chips connected to your home area network.

Learn more about Smart Grids here

http://www.silverspringnet.com/

http://www.pge.com/smartmeter/

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/07/ge-survey-shows-consumer-love-of-smart-grid-growing.php

Disclosure:

I wrote this post after attending an informational luncheon on behalf of Silver Spring Networks and Mom Central Consulting and received a gift bag and gift card as a thank you for taking the time to participate.

www.MomCentralConsulting.com,

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Conserving at Home

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Green Goes Simple: Conservation at Home

Go Green — and Save Money

By Amy Levin-Epstein for Green Goes Simple

Sure, protecting the environment can sometimes mean spending more, but there are plenty of ways that greening your life can help keep more green in your wallet. “Living green and healthy can be done on a budget and, in many cases, can actually save you money,” says Sara Snow, green lifestyle expert and author of Sara Snow’s Fresh Living. Here are six tips from Snow on how any family — with any budget — can start helping the planet and saving money today.

Make Time for a Tune-up
Next time you get your oil changed, spring for a new air filter, which can improve fuel efficiency by 10 percent. Driving around with a clean air filter, properly inflated tires and working spark plugs can save you as much as $600 a year in fuel and maintenance charges.

Be a Biker
If you haven’t already joined the ranks of the two-wheeled, you can start by buying an inexpensive used bike online. Assuming you spend about $30 a week in gas, you could save up to $1,500 a year in fuel costs by peddling from point A to point B. Even if you only bike once or twice a week, it will still add up to some serious dough. The bonus? You’ll get nice toned legs along the way.

Go Veggie
Not only does meat cost more money than vegetables, it costs the environment more resources, including water and feed. Even if you can’t quit turkey, well, cold turkey, try going veggie a few days each week. If you spend about $20 on meat each week, you could save around $500 a year by eating it half as often. Plus, a healthy plant-based diet may reduce your medical bills as well.

Streamline Your Stuff
Be the ultimate antihoarder by selling valuable household items that you rarely use. The Belgian waffle maker gifted by your Aunt Suzy last Christmas? Let it go. The vintage roller skates you never got around to using? Say goodbye. If you sell your I-made-one-juice-last-year $300 juicer for $100, you’ll be recycling the product — and cycling some money back into your bank account. You can host a garage sale or offload used things to new owners online.

Buy a Better Bulb
Compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) use 75 percent less energy and last 10 times longer than standard incandescent lightbulbs. Plus, each CFL can save you about $30 in energy costs over the lifetime of the bulb. Figuring that a CFL bulb will last about 10 years, that’s $3 per year per bulb. By replacing 20 bulbs in your house, you’ll save $60 annually in lighting costs — clearly, a bright idea.

Take Control of Your Thermostat
Your thermostat no longer calls the shots automatically. A one-time investment of $30 will upgrade your old device to a programmable version that will allow you to control when and how intensely your home will be heated or cooled. You can also set the thermostat to turn off when you’re away or asleep, saving around $100 a year in energy costs.

Amy Levin-Epstein is a freelance writer who’s been published in magazines like Glamour, Self and Prevention, on websites like AOL, Babble and Details and in newspapers like The New York Post and the Boston Globe. You can read more of her writing at AmyLevinEpstein.com.

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Who am I to Have an “Eco” Blog?

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This thought has crossed my mind a few times. See I have the curse. The curse of perfectionism. I don’t do green perfectly, duh right? Well every so often I have this voice in my head that says I am suppose to do it perfectly.  Impossible.

Thankfully I have another a voice in my head(the voice of reason) that says “Hey, small changes do make a difference, keep it up!”  That is what I believe in my heart. I believe that everyone of us can make a difference, everyday. Walking a little bit out of your way to recycle a cup or bringing your bag to the grocery store – these actions make a difference.

So I will keep this blog and I will keep composting, looking for eco-friendly products, bringing my bags when I shop, using my canteen, driving less, unplugging electronics not in use, buying local and organic when possible, and teaching my son to respect and appreciate the earth.

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“Trust Us” Is Getting Old – Guest Post by Barbara O’Brien

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“Trust Us” Is Getting Old

When British Petroleum (BP) applied for a permit to build the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico and begin drilling, it claimed to have the technology and know-how to handle any oil spill.

But in the face of an actual spill, BP is much less confident. “This scares everybody: the fact that we can’t make this well stop flowing, the fact that we haven’t succeeded so far,” BP CEO Doug Suttles said. “Many of the things we’re trying have been done on the surface before, but have never been tried at 5,000 ft.”

They’ve never been tried at 5,000 feet. Drilling for oil this deeply under the ocean is a relatively new enterprise for our species. Oil has been drilled offshore in shallow water for more than a century. But deepwater drilling is much more expensive than shallow-water drilling. For a long time drilling in deep water wasn’t tried, because it would have cost more to extract a barrel of oil than a barrel of oil was worth on world markets. It took the spikes in oil prices in recent years to make deepwater drilling profitable.

Politicians and oil executives assured us that offshore oil drilling was safe. Those tree huggers who worry about environmental disasters are nuts, they said. Yes, there have been oil rig disasters in the past, but (big wink) we know what we’re doing now. Trust us.

The laws of physics work differently nearly a mile underwater than they do on land, or shallow water, however. By now, it is obvious BP is still trying to invent a procedure that might stop the oil leak, maybe, if we’re lucky. No one appears to have been ready for the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

Really, this “trust us” business is getting old. How many times have we been told to “trust” some new thing, and then when the dangers surface we find out the “trusted” ones hadn’t told us the whole truth?

In the mid-20th century we humans went into overdrive digging asbestos out of the earth to use in countless structures and products. There is asbestos in navy ships, in shipyards such as   Bath Iron Works, asbestos in our homes and schools, asbestos in old car parts, and asbestos in landfills. And eventually, years after medical science had determined asbestos exposure causes terrible disease, industry executives and politicians reluctantly agreed to shut down asbestos production, or at least most of it. And now the cost of asbestos abatement and mesothelioma treatment is an ongoing problem for individuals, taxpayers, and businesses.

And do we want to talk about Vioxx? Tanning beds? And now there are questions being asked about Bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical found in just about every plastic bottle you’ve ever touched. It may be dangerous, it may not. Opinions vary. Just note that the same political and business leaders who deny BPA could be dangerous are the same ones who like to yell “drill, baby, drill.”

Barbara O’ Brien

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Mother Nature and Motherhood

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I have always been a fan of the outdoors but since becoming a mother it is different. I feel a connection to the earth that I didn’t feel before becoming a mom. I see things through a child’s eye again, like getting up close to a blade of grass or playing with a bug.
I keep thinking of the movie Wall-E and how that could be our future. From the garbage covered earth to the immobile humans relying on technology for their every need and want.

We can’t let that happen. Mother Nature deserves our respect and appreciation, she has given us everything.

I am far from perfect when it comes to being eco-friendly/green. I believe you don’t have to be perfect to make a difference. Small changes make a difference. Here are some easy changes to do

1.  Use the reuseable bags, make it a habit to bring with you everywhere you go. I’ll admit it took some time for me to make this a habit.

2. Buy local whenever possible, I know this is easier for some then others depending on where you live.

3. Teach your children all about recycling and reuseing – one mans junk is another man’s treasure.

4. Know where you are going before you leave your house, this saves gas. Parents check out this great website/app for help in this area www.mommaps.com If your area isn’t covered contact Mom Maps and they will add it.

These aren’t huge changes but they help and they make a difference you can feel good about.

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What is means to be a “Green Mom”

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I have been thinking about what it means to be a Green Mom today. Of course it means you recycle and reduce your footprint as much as possible. I am trying to be a little more “green” everyday but I am far from perfect or “certified green”. I still drive a car that uses gas, I eat meat, we use papertowels, etc… but I am making a conscious effort everyday to be greener. I believe every little bit helps and that is why I started this blog. I want to find cool green toys, green activities, and other green kids products and share them here.

Here are few things I am doing to be more “green”

1. I try to buy organic sustainable food for my home. I have also started looking buying local whenever it’s an option, farmer’s market are great for this!

2. Try to buy green products for us whenever possible, including toys and clothes(my two favorite things to buy) I have also started passing on products that come with a ton of packaging. Is it really necessary to have things in so many boxes just to do more advertising?

3. Seeking out green, cool, earth friendly clothes for the whole family.

4. Teaching my son about recycling, conservation, composting, and reducing waste.

Please tell me what it means to you to be a “Green Mom”?

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