I recently saw the item in the picture above online as a method for using a candle to heat up the room you are in. The product is called the Kandle Heeter and can be found here. There are 2 reasons this product is silly.
1.) The product above would only slow down the heat that enters the room...
Cree has just released their A-type LED bulbs and the every other LED bulb manufacturer just sh*t the bed.
How's that for an intro?
But seriously, I'm excited about this bulb. I'll be buying one asap to test it out. I like its look, its performance specs, but most of all, I like the price. A...
This excellent article titled, "Are smart bulbs the next bright idea in energy efficiency" in Midwest Energy News discusses the future of residential lighting control. Some of the products discussed:
Spark Socket (wi-fi controlled light socket for lighting control over web or smart phone)
LIFX (...
It's been just over 4 years to the day since we put up our first blog post on Mapawatt. Our first short post on Feb. 8, 2009 was titled "Who is Mapawatt for?":
"There are tons of environmental websites out there that offer up great tips and articles about what other people and companies are doing...
The below table compares A19 LED bulbs. A19 bulbs are what most think of when they think of the Edison incandescent light bulb. The key to picking the best light bulb is to ensure it meets your needs for lumen output (the amount of light it produces), aesthetics (how it looks), and color...
Power4Patriots says on their title page that they are going to show you a, " 'Weird' trick to slash your power bill and beat Obama's electricity monopoly for good". The narrator, Frank Bates, says he lives outside of Nashville, TN and if Frank is a real person, he does his best to prey on your...
The following guest post is written by Kristina Ross, Blogger at SaveOnEnergy.com, a site that helps homeowners (and commercial customers) in deregulated energy markets compare rates and options.
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“Deregulation” – it’s a term you’ve heard thrown around a million times in...
Thanks to one of our readers, I was informed of the Department of Energy's Energy Literacy program and their webinar on Feb. 6 on the Energy Literacy framework.
You can go ahead and download the Energy Literacy guide from the website that is a great primer on the basics of energy. From the DOE...
The following guest post is written by the folks over at MyEnergy. They reached out to Mapawatt after we mentioned them at the bottom of our post on OPower.
I'm registered on MyEnergy.com and check it out every now and then. It's a nice tool to get a good idea on how you stack up vs. others. ...
Unless you're Amish (but not if you're part of the new show Amish Mafia, because they somehow drive cars) you know what miles-per-gallon (MPG) is for a traditional gasoline or diesel powered car. With plug-in hybrids, it's a bit more challenging, because they are powered by both electricity and...
The Fenix ReadySet was named as one of Popular Science's Green products of the year for 2012.
The ReadySet portable base station can draw and store energy from a number of sources: A 15-watt solar panel charges its battery in seven hours. Next year, Fenix will release a kinetic generator, which...
This isn't the first time we have written about the Efergy energy monitor on our site. We featured a guest post on the Efergy Elite over 2 years ago! In that post I said:
With all of our posts on the TED 5000 and other monitors, I’d like to give space to the other options that are out there, and...
Last month, I received notification from Georgia Power that I was selected to participate in a pilot program for a Home Energy Report powered by Opower. Mapawatt has written about Opower and their work with utilities and instituting social norms to help consumers reduce their energy consumption...
Passive House - A Building Revolution Documentary
This morning, I'd like to offer up a slightly different post on Mapawatt. We usually focus on content that helps our readers to improve their efficiency, sustainability and to save money. Today, I'd like to offer up an opportunity for our...
Toyota Prius
If you are considering buying a used hybrid vehicle, you'll want to read this post and do the research on battery life before making a purchase. I thought I would share my experience below.
I was in the market for a used Toyota Prius a little over a year ago. The Gen II Prius...
Recently someone sent me the article by Bill Gunderson in The Street titled Solar Panels Don't Work. The author is bashing solar to prove how smart he was by shorting First Solar in March 2011. But by failing to make the connection between an individual company's stock and the solar PV industry...
Today was a big day for me. I saw a Volt on the highway, averaged over 47 mpg (in a several hundred mile round trip tour around GA) in my clean diesel Jetta TDI and I saw my first Fisker Karma parked outside the sushi restaurant my wife and I ate at. The car looks much nicer than what the...
This post is from guest writer Don Lloyd, the author of an important book on geothermal heat pumps (featured here on Mapawatt): "The Smart Guide to Geothermal—How to Harvest Earth's Free Energy for Heating and Cooling" from PixyJack Press. It is a detailed analysis on what you need to look for in...
I recently heard about the LIFX LED that will be funded by Kickstarter from a coworker. If you aren't familiar with KickStarter, it's revolutionizing how ideas get funded. Backers of a project don't have any ownership rights, but sometimes the project owner will give them benefits once the...
I've covered Guy Marsden before; mainly because of all the people in the U.S. who live sustainably and chronicle it on the web, he may be one of the best. I was perusing his site tonight and noticed his section on the Chevy Volt that he owns and powers mostly with his Solar PV system. It's an...