Incentives for data centers going green. HERE.
Puget Sound Energy wants to pass through the higher costs the utility pays for purchasing natural gas supplies for its customers. HERE.
KraussMaffei unveils a new energy efficient plastic/rubber injection moulding machine called the AX. HERE.
Obama’s plan for energy efficiency. HERE.
Polyurethane foam insulation contains low-conductivity gas, most commonly hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs). Over time, usually in the first couple years, this gas gradually escapes and is replaced by air, causing the R-value to decrease. This is called thermal drift. For example, the initial R-value per inch is R-9, but at the end of two years it has reduced to R-7. Still pretty good.
All closed-cell polyurethane foam insulation that is produced today uses only non-chlorofluorocarbon (non-CFC) gas as foaming agents. The foams made with HCFCs don’t insulate as well as foams made with CFC gas, but it is supposedly less destructive to the ozone layer.
Polyurethane foam insulations require some sort of flame retardant. The most common retardants used are brominated or phosphorous-based. Many use pentra-brominated diphenyl ether (Pentra-BDE) as the flame retardant. There is some fear about the health consequences this chemical has on humans. While there is still some doubt, it has been shown to damage the liver, harm developing brains, and lower thyroid hormone production in animals. According to studies by Health Canada and Environment Canada the presence of this chemical in human breast milk has increased fifteen percent. Unfortunately there is no labeling to inform the consumer whether the insulation they are purchasing is made with Penra-BDE or a phosohorous-based flame retardant.
Urea-formaldehyde foam insulation (UFFI), also known as urea-methanal, is a thermosetting resin or plastic made from urea and formaldehyde heated in the presencec of a mild base such as ammonia or pyridine. It was developed in Europe in the 1950’s as an improved means of insulating hard-to-reach cavities in house walls. It was typically made on-site from a mixture of urea-formaldehyde resin, a foaming agent, and compressed air.
UFFI was fairly common in home construction throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, but due to improper installation, there were enough health-related court cases to cause the US Consumer Product Safety Commission to ban it from residential and school use in 1982. The reason given for banning UFFI were “unreasonable risks to comsumers from the irritation, sensitization, and possible carcinogenic effects of formaldehyde emitted by UFFI.”
Today UFFI is primarily used for masonry walls in commercial and industrial buildings, but it has been discredited because of its formaldehyde emissions and its shrinkage. It is also very susceptible to fire and will break down if it comes into contact with water.This breaking down could cause more formaldehyde emissions.
Because of its ability to fill all of the smallest cavities, liquid foam, the kind that can either be sprayed, foamed-in-place, injected, or poured, has a R-value twice as high as traditional batting insulation. There are seven types of foam insulation that we will take a look at in this series:
In this article though, I’m just going to tackle a couple, Icynene and Tripolymer. I am starting with these because they are the least common of all the ones mentioned above.
Icynene: This type of foam insulation is the most versital because it can either be sprayed or injected into the walls. It has very good resistance to water and air intrusion.
Tripolymer: This one can only be injected into the walls, but it has excellent resistance to fire as well as air intrusion.
We’ll look at Urea-formaldehyde foam insulation in the next article.
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Soy insulation is sprayed into four inch walls. It expands to one hundred times it’s sprayed-in size; this fills in all the cracks, crevices, and voids. It doesn’t settle when sprayed in, and it has as good or better insulating properties in four inch walls as traditional batting insulation in six inch walls. Soy insulation is resistant to mold, mildew, rodents, and insects; the insulation is not attractive as food for rodents and insects. It also contains no urea or formaldehyde. It is thermoset plastic that is naturally inert. This type of spray-in insulation uses water as a blowing agent; this system provides no off-gassing.
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It is possible. These people have done it, even with small children!
North Carolina Duke Energy chief, Jim Rogers, still facing opposition for his proposed Save-a-Watt program as well as for possibly shady dealings in the past. HERE.
Tony Callahan, senior vice president purchasing, planning, and design for Beazer Homes, estimates an anual cost savings of $500 with energy efficient appliances. HERE.
“This project combines my two great passions - affordable housing and energy efficiency,” said Alexander Robers. HERE.
Sam’s Club to offer solar panels and other high efficiency items in Southern California. HERE.
These videos show how ordinary people have done the extraordinary, and how it is possible for everyone. They are also great examples of how an off-the-grid home has to incorporate several different energy efficient things in order to have enough power for a relatively normal American lifestyle.
Small scale hydro electric plants generally have no larger generating capacity than 10 megawatts; this can, however, be increased to 25 and 30 MW in Canada and the United States. This type of hydro electric power plant is usually used to serve small communities or industrial plants.
These plants can be divided up even more into two more categories:
Mini hydro plants have a generating capacity of less than 1000 kilowatts; micro hydro has a capacity of less than 100 kW. Micro hydro plants are usually serve very small, rural communities where it isn’t economical to tie it into the main grid, or even individual family units.
Many large scale hydro electricity plants harness the energy of water by stopping some, not all, of the water behind a dam. Some plants, however, use water diverted from the main source via a penstock; this process is called diversion. The plants at Niagara Falls are good examples of this.
For a dam, the water is then gravity fed through a penstock to the turbine. The water causes the turbine to spin extremely quickly. After the water spins the turbine it is sent through the trailrace which carries it to the rest of the river or other water source. The turbine is connected to the turbine shaft, that is attached to the generator. In the generator there are magnets and copper wire. The spinning turbine causes the turbine shaft to spin, and that makes the magnets in the generator rotate. This rotating creates a current in the wire which is then sent to the transformer. The transformer increases the voltage and sends it out through power lines.
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Hydro electricity is just another name for power that is generated by harnessing the power of moving water. The water does not have to be falling, just moving. The potential energy in water is directly proportional to the head, or the difference in the height between the source and the water’s outflow. The exact amount of potential energy that can be converted can be calculated from the head.
Pumped storage is another type of hydro power. It is not quite as efficient, but often more practical for smaller operations.
Hydro electricity is the largest source of renewable power in the world. The hydro electric capacity has more than doubled since 1970. Current worldwide capacity is at 776 gigawatts, and another 100 GW is under construction. The UN estimated that the total “technically exploitable” hydro power potential 15 trillion kilowatt hours per year; this is half of the world’s projected electrical use by 2030. Only 15 percent of this is being converted currently.
In America, hydro power electricity production covers 7 percent of all the power needs. This 7 percent comes from the 2378 hydro plants in operation, but there are many closed plants that could be re-operated without too much trouble.
CDW reports that while ninety percent of IT professionals care about energy efficiency fewer than fifty percent have it. HERE.
Gary Smith building energy efficient accommodation units for vineyard workers. HERE.
Colleges have more incentive to be efficient with the recent passing of the Higher Education Sustainability Act. HERE.
Five things to remember when you’re thinking about replacing/repairing the old windows. HERE.
When installing a VDR it is important that it be continuous and as perfect as possible. This is not quite as important in very moderate, heating dominated climates. Also, any tears, openings, or punctures in the VDR that occurred during the construction should be completely sealed. If all the appropriate surfaces are not covered there is an increased risk of dampened insulation. The thermal resistance of damp insulation is extremely decreased, and, if the situation continues over a protracted period of time, could eventually create mold growth and wood rot.
Specific places for VDRs to minimize condensation and moisture problems include: walls, ceilings, floors, under concrete slabs, and crawl spaces. Be careful though, it is against some building codes to seal crawl spaces completely. It is important to use a VDR with a perm rating of less than 0.5o if the house is in an area with a high water table. For those more moderate climates mentioned above painted wallboard and plaster wall coatings are acceptable VDRs, and no other VDR is necessary.
VDRs are typically available as membranes or coatings. Membranes are usually thin, but there are also some thicker sheet material. These thicker materials are occasionally termed “structural” vapor diffusion retarders. The thinner membranes come in rolls or are integrated into the building materials themselves. Aluminum- or paper-faced fiberglass insulation is a good example of this. Polyethylene is a membrane that is commonly used in colder climates. Paint-like coats are effective retarders in mild climates.
Moisture transfer happens in basically three ways: with air currents, diffusion through materials, and by heat transfer. By far the most effective of these is moisture transfer with air currents; this type of transfer accounts for more than ninety-eight percent of all water vapor movement inside building cavities. Air naturally moves from a high pressure area to a lower one by the easiest possible path, including through holes in the building envelope. With the air necessarily comes moisture. It is very important that this type of moisture transfer be slowed by the careful and permanent sealing of any unintended paths that air might get through. Normal building materials slow the moisture transfer that happens with the other two ways.
In the past, buildings didn’t have any need to seal things off because they dried out quickly enough as a result of their rather leaky construction. This allowed the air to move freely throughout the entire building. With the introduction of thermal insulation however, this changed.
Free software to help consumers make their PCs more efficient. HERE.
The United States Department of Energy is pushing a 50% reduction in energy consumption for new buildings. HERE.
New ADC data center set to be 25-30% more efficient than other data centers. HERE.
Method will provide incentives for its suppliers to become more energy efficient. HERE.
Vapor barriers or, more correctly, vapor diffusion retarders (VDRs) should mainly be considered as just part of a building’s moisture control. The term “vapor diffusion retarder” is more accurate because vapor barrier implies that that material can completely stop moisture transfer, but no material actually does that much. They reduce the rate at which water vapor can move through a material, but not completely stop it.
A material’s ability to retard water is measured in perms, or permeability. Any material with a perm rating of less than 1.0 is considered a vapor retarder. To prevent the trapping of moisture in a cavity, the cold side of the material should have a perm rating at least five times greater than the perm rating on the warm side.
There are many ways to compost, so I think I will just mention a few and post some links.
You can build your own compost bin out of pallets or fencing, or you can buy a compost barrel. The barrels usually have some sort of built-in turning system that makes it much easier to keep the compost moving along. Here are some pictures of both types, and some links to several articles and websites.
It’s really easy to see the benefits, so I thought we’d look at that first.
There are many environmental benefits. It has the amazing ability to regenerate poor soils. The micro-organisms break down the organic material to create extremely nutrient-rich humus. Compost is also able to clean-up contaminated soil; it absorbs odors and volatile organic compounds. It also traps heavy metals preventing their getting into the water. By using compost it is like organic recycling. The soil will improve which will enhance your garden produce, making them healthier for you.
Now, however, it’s time to take a moment to look at the disadvantages of composting.
Composting takes time. You’ve got to be willing to collect, pile, and turn you waste. It also requires at least some amount of land, somewhere to pile your compost and allow it to age. It takes a good deal of labor too. If it is not done properly compost can have a disagreeable odor, but this can usually be remedied by adding more carbon material. Depending on what you put into your compost pile, it can also attract animals. This obviously isn’t usually the most beneficial thing that could happen for your compost.
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