http://www.efficientlivingforum.com/ An online community sharing information about living efficiently. We have articles, forums and blogs on efficient living en Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:21:06 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.efficientlivingforum.com/images/misc/rss.png http://www.efficientlivingforum.com/ http://www.efficientlivingforum.com/efficient-living-news/1698-berner-international%92s-chief-found-consolation-via-work.html Sun, 05 Feb 2012 13:06:28 GMT Image: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/02/05/business/05-BOSS/05-BOSS-thumbStandard.jpg ... After her first husband died in a plane crash, the writer stepped in to run his company. “Focusing on the job,” she says, “was a lifesaver for me.”

More... ]]> Efficient Living News mr.pete http://www.efficientlivingforum.com/efficient-living-news/1698-berner-international%92s-chief-found-consolation-via-work.html http://www.efficientlivingforum.com/efficient-living-news/1697-clean-energy-how-much-hot-air.html Sat, 04 Feb 2012 01:37:03 GMT NewScientist’s January 28 issue is likely to unsettle clean energy advocates — but it is worth the read.The cover article, “Power paradox: Clean might not be green forever,” posits that even renewable energy can warm the planet, and eventually change climate, if we continue to ratchet up power production to serve our ever

More... ]]> Efficient Living News mr.pete http://www.efficientlivingforum.com/efficient-living-news/1697-clean-energy-how-much-hot-air.html http://www.efficientlivingforum.com/efficient-living-news/1696-looking-forward-fiji-turns-its-canoeing-past.html Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:13:15 GMT Image: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/02/04/business/global/04fiji-span/04fiji-span-thumbStandard.jpg ... The traditional canoe is at the center of several projects aimed at reducing Fiji’s energy consumption, providing islanders with cheaper transport, keeping local traditions alive, and giving a boost to tourism.

More... ]]> Efficient Living News mr.pete http://www.efficientlivingforum.com/efficient-living-news/1696-looking-forward-fiji-turns-its-canoeing-past.html http://www.efficientlivingforum.com/efficient-living-news/1695-texas-developer-attempts-upend-american-subdivision.html Thu, 02 Feb 2012 01:57:37 GMT Image: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/02/02/garden/02LOCATIONSOL_SPAN/02LOCATIONSOL_SPAN-thumbStandard.jpg ... A development in Austin, Tex., is an ambitious attempt to upend the conventions of the American subdivision.

More... ]]> Efficient Living News mr.pete http://www.efficientlivingforum.com/efficient-living-news/1695-texas-developer-attempts-upend-american-subdivision.html http://www.efficientlivingforum.com/efficient-living-news/1694-much-light-little-heat-efficiency.html Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:28:41 GMT Image: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/1/27/0-much-light-little-heat-efficiency.jpg Energy efficiency in the U.S. is... Energy efficiency in the U.S. is much light and little heat — literally. Government policy pays a great deal of attention to saving electricity, but focuses little on the thermal energy we waste. “Policy is electricity-centric in the U.S. Unless you are making kilowatts, the most efficient investments are off the radar,” sa

More... ]]> Efficient Living News mr.pete http://www.efficientlivingforum.com/efficient-living-news/1694-much-light-little-heat-efficiency.html http://www.efficientlivingforum.com/efficient-living-news/1693-bits%3B-new-law-mobile-era.html Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:45:47 GMT Bits blog notes describes new descriptive formula that focuses on energy use, known as Koomey's Law; says law states that the amount of power needed to perform a computing task will fall by half every one and a half years.

More... ]]> Efficient Living News mr.pete http://www.efficientlivingforum.com/efficient-living-news/1693-bits%3B-new-law-mobile-era.html http://www.efficientlivingforum.com/efficient-living-news/1692-smart-grid-initiatives-address-cyber-security-renewable-energy-intermittency.html Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:26:43 GMT Image:... Securitizing renewable energy networks from cyber-attacks is not complicated by their oft-cited operational headache of intermittency, but rather by their separation from a utility's control system, said smart grid executives at the Gridwise Global Forum in Washington, DC in early November. Though renewable intermittency adds to the challenge of stabilizing a grid, the forum revealed new evidence of real-world smart grid load shifting that continues to chip away at the tired argument that renewable energy cannot successfully integrate into a legacy grid.

More... ]]> Efficient Living News mr.pete http://www.efficientlivingforum.com/efficient-living-news/1692-smart-grid-initiatives-address-cyber-security-renewable-energy-intermittency.html http://www.efficientlivingforum.com/efficient-living-news/1691-understanding-manufacturing-economics-grid-scale-energy-storage.html Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:26:43 GMT Image:... I have a new favorite word — aggregation. At the risk of sounding like a reporter, I'm going to summarize a pre-holiday news story you might have missed but need to know about.

More... ]]> Efficient Living News mr.pete http://www.efficientlivingforum.com/efficient-living-news/1691-understanding-manufacturing-economics-grid-scale-energy-storage.html http://www.efficientlivingforum.com/efficient-living-news/1690-soitec-sumitomo-new-gallium-nitride-tech-solar-led.html Wed, 25 Jan 2012 03:53:08 GMT Image:... The use of gallium nitride for solar power electronics and light emitting diodes (LED) holds a lot of promise, but the material is expensive and difficult to make. Here comes Soitec and Sumitomo Electric Industries, which announced Tuesday that they have completed their lab work on producing gallium nitride wafers and are moving into pilot production.

More... ]]> Efficient Living News mr.pete http://www.efficientlivingforum.com/efficient-living-news/1690-soitec-sumitomo-new-gallium-nitride-tech-solar-led.html http://www.efficientlivingforum.com/efficient-living-news/1689-heating-costs.html Tue, 24 Jan 2012 06:11:30 GMT The Natural Resources Defense Council responds to a news article. More...... The Natural Resources Defense Council responds to a news article.

More... ]]> Efficient Living News mr.pete http://www.efficientlivingforum.com/efficient-living-news/1689-heating-costs.html http://www.efficientlivingforum.com/efficient-living-news/1688-comed%92s-smart-grid-begins-promise-future.html Sun, 22 Jan 2012 06:53:57 GMT Image: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/01/22/us/22CNCPOWER/22CNCPOWER-thumbStandard.jpg ... Commonwealth Edison has started a $2.6 billion smart grid, but questions remain about whether it will improve how consumers use electricity.

More... ]]> Efficient Living News mr.pete http://www.efficientlivingforum.com/efficient-living-news/1688-comed%92s-smart-grid-begins-promise-future.html http://www.efficientlivingforum.com/efficient-living-news/1687-three-jokers-energy-deck.html Sat, 21 Jan 2012 00:41:22 GMT Image: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/1/20/0-three-jokers-in-the-energy-deck.jpg This is the era of Big Oil. Could... This is the era of Big Oil. Could the next be the era of Big Efficiency?A new report by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy suggests the possibility. Re-invented with today’s smart energy technologies, energy efficiency could displace 40 to 60 percent of our total energy needs by the year 2050, according to The Long-Te

More... ]]> Efficient Living News mr.pete http://www.efficientlivingforum.com/efficient-living-news/1687-three-jokers-energy-deck.html http://www.efficientlivingforum.com/efficient-living-news/1686-new-fuel-economy-rules-win-broad-support.html Wed, 18 Jan 2012 04:09:36 GMT Image: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/01/18/business/AUTO/AUTO-thumbStandard.jpg ... After years of dispute in setting the higher fuel economy standards for cars and trucks, nearly everyone involved agrees.

More... ]]> Efficient Living News mr.pete http://www.efficientlivingforum.com/efficient-living-news/1686-new-fuel-economy-rules-win-broad-support.html http://www.efficientlivingforum.com/efficient-living-news/1685-how-go-green-without-going-crazy.html Mon, 16 Jan 2012 19:56:07 GMT Image: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/1/16/0-how-to-go-green-without-going-crazy.jpg Utilities worry about a lot of... Utilities worry about a lot of things, such as keeping the lights on, earning a return for investors, and making regulators and customers happy with their service.Now there is a new worry: How can they protect customers from what one utility refers to as “mental fatigue?”In this particular case, the utility raises the issue as it pr

More... ]]> Efficient Living News mr.pete http://www.efficientlivingforum.com/efficient-living-news/1685-how-go-green-without-going-crazy.html http://www.efficientlivingforum.com/efficient-living-news/1684-when-we-struggle-we-learn.html Mon, 16 Jan 2012 19:56:07 GMT Image: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/1/16/1332-when-we-struggle-we-learn.jpg If there was one key takeaway from the... If there was one key takeaway from the most recent RenewableEnergyWorld.com and Solar Power-gen webcast it was that the year ahead will be difficult for large-scale solar power development due to poor access to capital, an uncertain policy landscape, the pending trade case against China and module prices that are too low to support a healthy indust

More... ]]> Efficient Living News mr.pete http://www.efficientlivingforum.com/efficient-living-news/1684-when-we-struggle-we-learn.html