Here at Mapawatt we focus a lot on energy and water conservation, but today I'm going to cover a great company that is the true embodiment of sustainability: Preserve. I recently purchased their 4-pack double razor package because I was tired of buying the disposable razors and I don't like...
The following article on how to improve mileage in a hybrid was written for Mapawatt by the Sustainable Living enthusiast Guy Marsden.
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The Prius has become the ubiquitous symbol of the hybrid vehicle market, and recently I have met three new Prius owners who surprised me by displaying a...
I'm a fan of Mind Maps because they help organize complex information. When it comes to living sustainability, it is sometimes difficult to understand how everything is connecting and getting the priorities in order. I created a general energy mind map over a year ago, so I felt it was time to...
Have you always wanted to cool your home/camper/truck/tree-house with solar power? Who am I kidding, of course you have. Luckily there is a product on the market from Securus systems that will make it easier to do so.
The Securus climate control products use DC voltage to run the electronics. ...
Recently my dad mentioned a conversation he had with my sister. Like me, my sister is all about saving the environment, conserving, recycling, etc. But when asked who she was going to vote for in the elections on Tuesday, Nov.2, she replied "I probably just won't vote."
I've said this many...
Vote for Clean Energy and Conservation
If you are voting in November 2010 and you care about Clean Energy and Conservation there are two things you need to keep in mind: The Issues and The Candidates.
Regarding the issues, there are really only 4 states with ballot initiatives focused on Clean...
While listening to a talk radio show this morning I heard the host (Neil Boortz) complain about the new streetcar Atlanta just received Federal funding for to the tune of $47 million dollars. His biggest complaint was that nobody wants to travel on the route that the streetcar is proposed for (...
iHeater blows "hot air"
The iHeater website (www.iheaters.com if you want a laugh) opens with "Save up to 50% on your heating bills". It's funny how they cite no technical evidence of this fact. Why? Because it's not true. I might as well sell a heater and say, "Save 99% on...
Occupancy Sensor
One of the first energy conservation tools I installed when we bought our town-home was a Leviton lighting occupancy sensor for the lights in our kitchen. We have 10 recessed lights for the kitchen (all CFLs) and I wanted to make sure they went off when it the kitchen wasn't...
EV Range Anxiety
Electric Vehicle range anxiety (EVRA - I'm pretty sure I just made up this acronym) is the term applied to drivers of electric vehicles who get anxious when they see their battery level meter (as opposed to the gas gauge) drop without an ev charging station in range. Unlike a...
The following post was written by Allison Bailes on The Energy Vanguard Blog and is titled A High Performance Home is Defined by the Process, not the Products. It highlights the importance of focusing on the home as a system and looking at the entire efficiency of all the parts that make up the...
Drinking Water Plant
When I started off writing this post it was just going to be about basic water conservation and the list I found on 100 Ways to Conserve water. This list is pretty good, but it repeats itself a fair amount and all but a few of the tips are things we've all heard 100 times...
It seems that interest around Electric Vehicles (EV's) and Electric Vehicle Charging Stations has been increasing over the last few weeks. Here are some of the things I noticed just last week:
CNN highlights some cool features of the Nissan Leaf
We first wrote about the Nissan Leaf back in Feb....
Tesla's NUMMI Plant in Fremont, CA
The next two years will be an exciting time in the world of transportation. Not only will hybrid cars plug in to charge but battery electric vehicles will be an option at your local car dealership. While there is much debate regarding the range of the...
Summer ended in a hurry and it is almost sweater time! It was just last month when I wrote the post "Why does programming your thermostat save energy" while focusing on controlling cooling costs using a programmable thermostat. In that post, I stated the following in regards to how heat enters...
I first mentioned the Sunchips Compostable bag in our post, "Spring into Sustainability":
SunChips, made by Frito-Lay, now come in a compostable bag! When I saw this at the store I had to pick it up and once I finish the chips the bag is heading straight for my mini-compost pile where they say...
Southeastern Offshore Wind farm photo-Simulation
Last week I went to a clean energy lunch lecture series on the topic of offshore wind power off the southeastern seaboard of the U.S. It was very interesting and featured researchers, utility representatives, engineers, and interested public. A...
Let's face it, everyone would love it if their home could be powered by moving water. It looks cool. It sounds cool. It's free and essentially endless (forget about droughts for a moment). But the truth is only a teeny tiny percent of the population have optimal conditions for installing a...
This November, citizens across the U.S. will have a chance to cast their vote and improve the political system (yes, it is possible). Don't like the way the economy is being handled? Great, speak with your vote. Disappointed that not enough action was taken to usher in a clean energy economy...
One of the biggest consumers of electricity in your home is lighting (see our post on home energy consumption). There are two ways to save energy and money with better use and control of lighting in your home:
Install the most efficient lights possible
Control those lights as efficiently as...