I've written a few posts on my search for a new car including evaluating options for an efficient clean, green car and comparing high mileage vehicles. Well, I finally made the decision and I went with the 2012 VW Jetta TDI.
My car is mainly a work vehicle, shuttling me and my energy efficiency...
The Sustainable Pyramid
I'm not sure why it has taken me so long to write a post on the sustainable pyramid. I've had the idea for over 2.5 years now, and it has just been mulling around in my head. At one point I was going to build a new website around the concept, but alas, life got in the...
The Sustainable Pyramid
I'm not sure why it has taken me so long to write a post on the sustainable pyramid. I've had the idea for over 2.5 years now, and it has just been mulling around in my head. At one point I was going to build a new website around the concept, but alas, life got in the...
Porsche evBoxster
I completed an EV conversion of a Porsche Boxster this summer and recently took the steps to title and register the car in the state of Georgia. This was no small feat so I thought I would share the steps with those who might need to perform this same process for...
We've written many times on solar PV electricity, the most common form of homeowner solar. We've also written about solar thermal hot water heating. But another method for utilizing solar to reduce your energy bill is solar powered air conditioning!
Solar powered air conditioning works on the...
I haven't written too much on home energy monitoring lately. I was a little frustrated because my TED5000 had been having some technical difficulties and I guess I was a bit bummed after Google PowerMeter and Microsoft Hohm announced they were abandoning the space. But things are picking back up...
Some nights I have trouble sleeping because I start "day" dreaming while trying to go to sleep. Last night it was about developing a solution to deliver clean water to the ultra-poor who live near salty or brackish water. We usually write about water conservation for rich Americans. You know,...
I'm not a big fan of websites that only provide simple tips on how you can be more sustainable. You know, the ones that say, "It's easy being green" or "Just unplug your electronics and you'll save tons of energy!". Here at Mapawatt, we try to give more detailed advice and not just tell people...
We wrote about rain barrel's a few years ago in our post "Start collecting free water", but the city of West Palm Beach, FL is offering something better: free water and a free rain barrel!
The City of West Palm Beach Public Utilities Department is pleased to offer a FREE pilot program for rain...
The following guest post is written by Silvio Marcacci, Director of Outreach for energyNOW!:
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If you’re reading this blog, chances are good you’re concerned about your impact on Earth and want to reduce your energy demand and carbon footprint. Here’s some good news: energy efficient...
Coal Power plant 850 foot tall smokestack, 7 miles from downtown Atlanta through my car window
One of the main premises of "clean coal" is that we can just bury the CO2 emissions from coal underground, as if they were never produced at all! This is usually referred to as Carbon Capture and...
FuelEconomy.gov Car Comparisons
As I wrote a few months ago in our post "Evaluating options for an efficient clean green car" my reasons for wanting a new, efficient car are:
I want to reduce my consumption of foreign oil
I want to reduce the amount of money I spend on transportation
I want to...
Well, it seems the sky is falling again. The U.S. lost its AAA credit rating and people are running scared from the stock market. Home prices are still lousy and it's going to be a few years before they rebound. Gold is near record highs and who knows how much higher it can go. Savings...
Recently Scientific American had a great article on the advantages and disadvantages of the U.S. supporting corn ethanol production. The main disadvantage is that corn ethanol raises the price of corn, and thus raises the price of food all over the world. The main advantage is that using...
I originally wrote the article below almost 3 years ago in the Fall of 2008! It was before I started this blog, but it was one of my first forays into writing articles to help people understand the basics of electric power generation. It was right before I had the inspiration for Mapawatt (the...
The following guest post is written by Sean M. Costello, Mechanical Engineer and Professional Energy Consultant and President of Hawaii Energy Consultants. It was originally titled, "Advantages of eGauge Electrical Submeter, Datalogger, and Webserver" but I shortened it down a bit. Pricing...
I wrote about the Plug and Save power factor correction device last year and I opened with :
I was so surprised when I Googled “Save Electricity” and it turned out to be the second hit. I question the validity of a search engine if a company can simply “game” their search ranking to get high on...
I was waiting in line at the store this evening and I was scrolling through some energy news stories on CNN on my phone. I saw the poll question at the bottom of the page and I'm curious as to who is creating the questions over there? I don't think this is supposed to be a trick question:
Dear...
Placing value on something means a little more than just not wanting to spend money on it. When you value something, you find benefits to it that aren't wholly expressed in it's monetary value. You value it because it makes you feel good. I value my family and friends, bicycling, eating good...
U.S. Primary Energy Consumption, 2008. Source: DOE
I first heard about the DOE report on 100 energy saving technologies supported by the Building Technologies Program from enterprisesmartgrid.org. The report mainly focuses on energy saving technologies for commercial applications, but many of...