home energy use

energy use at home

The Energy Information Administration is touting the fact that “heating and cooling” now comprise less than half of our residential energy usage. But that’s only half the story.[read more]

Update on the CEC TV Energy Efficiency Standards There was plenty of “whine” on November 4, or to be exact, at 4:55PM on November 3, when the CEA sent a 91 page document 5 minutes ahead of the 5:00PM deadline for comments on the California Energy Commission’s (CEC) proposed TV energy efficiency standards. In order to review this and...[read more]

The question frequently arises: what can I change in my own life? I want a short, easy to implement list. Your question is now answered in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences report, Household actions can provide a behavioral wedge to rapidly reduce U.S. carbon emissions. They estimate we can reduce direct...[read more]

Google is ringing both of my dominant bells today. Today they announced their first official device partner for the Power Meter — TED 5000 (TED = The Energy Detective). Power Meter + TED = ability for homeowners to monitor their own electricity consumption, regardless of whether they have a digital meter, retail product choice, or any...[read more]

Google/TED Partnership takes real-time power monitoring to a new level. In the field of energy measurement, which we deem the critical beginning of any effort to reduce energy use at home, Google's announcement that the TED 5000 will be compatible with PowerMeter is a game changer.  Now, any purchaser of the new TED 5000...[read more]

If you're trying to reduce your energy consumption and go green, you've no doubt considered installing solar panels or a solar power kit on your home. There are a few things you should consider before calling a contractor or thinking about installing a system yourself. To get the most out of your system you'll need to ensure you have...[read more]

There are 68 days left until the Copenhagen Climate Summit (COP15), where world leaders will once again meet to discuss, and hopefully agree upon, a solution to the impending threat of climate change. Many are anticipating that the Copenhagen summit may be our last chance to come up with an effective solution to the accelerating threat...[read more]

Joe Baguley wrote a fantastic post recently on the HomeCamp blog on monitoring energy use in the home. It is a really good read as Joe outlines how he first became interested in home energy monitoring and over time evolved into the “home energy enforcer” (!). He goes through the tools he employed to monitor his home energy use and how...[read more]

Research by Ian Ayres, Sophie Raseman, and Alice Shih indicates that providing energy consumers with information on energy consumption relative to a peer group tends to reduce energy use. Here is their abstract: By providing feedback to customers on home electricity and natural gas usage with a focus on peer comparisons, utilities can...[read more]

Our public real-time monitoring captured the attention of the New York Times. More importantly, it works. Our on-going energy monitoring and reduction efforts received a terrific bit of validation this weekend, as we were featured in a front page New York Times article, Plugged-In Age Feeds a Hunger For Electricity. The piece covers a...[read more]

The New York State Senate and Assembly, too often a model of corruption and dysfunctionality, rose above petty politics last week to pass forward-thinking legislation on climate and energy, setting a precedent for bipartisanship and a sensible cap and trade system. The State Senate passed the groundbreaking Green Job/Green New York Act...[read more]

Last week, the New York Senate passed legislation to take revenues from New York’s ‘cap and tax’ on carbon emissions and leverage these funds into the private financing market to make energy efficiency improvements more affordable and more accessible to New York’s homeowners. Passed unanimously in the New York House, a Republican...[read more]

With escalating power bills and so much talk of renewable energy millions of people are thinking about solar power these days. Harnessing the sun's energy makes sense because it is clean, green, and saves money in the long run. But the reality is that the cost involved with installing panels and collectors is still out of reach for the...[read more]

The cost of residential solar power systems are becoming more affordable for homeowners. Solar panels generally make up less than 50% of the final cost, since you also have to pay for installation, permits and taxes. Most systems also need an inverter to convert the panel array’s direct current output to alternating current. Even so,...[read more]

In the world of “clean energy,” projects fall into one of two categories: increasing clean energy generation (supply) or decreasing energy consumption (demand). The energy generation side is developing technologies aimed at displacing the power plants we already have and building additional capacity for our ever-increasing energy...[read more]