Five Trends To Create A 2012 Trillion Dollar Global Sustainable Economy
2012 will be the milestone year that the US economy demonstrates sustained economic growth through adoption of 21st century’s sustainable solutions. Earth 2017‘s economic model estimates that sustainable product solutions have now achieved the breakthrough trillion dollars per year in global annual revenues level and is on the path toward achieving $10 trillion of annual global [...]
The Search for Deep Savings in Existing Buildings
It’s been said that the greenest building is the one already standing. There’s a lot of truth in that when you consider the embodied energy of building materials and, with luck, a cultivated sense of place. At least in the case of historic structures, there may be inherent, environmentally sensitive attributes—and that says nothing of [...]
Achieving Net Zero Requires Innovative Thinking
The days of discouraging ‘high-risk’ behavior by system designers must end BY MARK S. LENTZ, PE, LENTZ ENGINEERING ASSOCIATES, SHEBOYGAN FALLS, WIS. If a building owner has enough money for renewable-energy systems and the space to install them, any designer can achieve net-zero performance. Achieving net-zero performance economically, however, is a different matter. Although the [...]
University of Minnesota project aims to cut solar energy costs
Solar energy experts anticipate that more efficient solar cell technology under development at the University of Minnesota will lure private investment to the state and help speed solar energy’s growth nationally. Researchers will use a recent $695,000 university grant to demonstrate that their approach to improving solar cell efficiency works, said project leader Stephen Campbell, [...]
Xcel Energy’s solar subsidy tapped out for 2011
The Solar Rewards program, which aims to help homeowners and businesses, has awarded all of its $4.6 million for the year. High demand for rooftop solar electric panels, especially for commercial buildings, has exhausted Xcel Energy’s Solar Rewards subsidy program for the year, shutting out other customers, solar industry officials said Monday. “People are really [...]
The Future of Food, Sprouting Under LED Lights
A warehouse full of LED lights and Dutch dudes may sound like the setting for a 1990s rave, but it may well be a prototype of the future of horticulture. The Netherlands-based company PlantLab is pushing the “vertical agriculture” movement to new heights by rethinking the fundamental ways that plants interact with essential ingredients like sunlight and [...]
Achieving Net Zero With Geothermal Systems
A Net Zero Building Has A Neutral Carbon Footprint, Uses Only Renewable Energy, And Is Net Zero In Terms Of Energy, Water, And Waste. Geothermal Systems Are One Option To Achieving This Net Zero Goal. by William Jarema, PE, EwingCole, Philadelphia The Dept. of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) has established aggressive energy goals for new [...]
Minnesota gets A+ for using firm’s energy report cards
Minnesota Gets A+ For Using Firm’s Energy Report Cards Never underestimate the power of a smiley face when it comes to encouraging energy conservation. Minnesota has become the leading state using report cards to encourage customers to cut their energy use, according to Arlington, Va.-based Opower, the developer of the monthly reports. The high-tech startup, which [...]
Texas Heat Wave: More Demand Response Needed
Texas can do better than barely averting rolling blackouts. Hot summers are certainly not novel in Texas, but for the electric grid, the triple digits recently pushed capacity to new levels. Texas’ power grid set record level power use for three consecutive days last week. The high demand topped off at 68,294 megawatts on Wednesday. [...]
Demand heats up for Xcel energy savings program
Demand heats up for Xcel energy savings program Utility reports no surge in energy use, however allowing Xcel Energy to cycle off your air conditioning system when the weather is at its most sweltering might not seem attractive, but that’s what a growing number of Minnesota businesses are opting to do in return for electricity [...]
