Air conditioner power consumption

One of our most popular posts is How Much Electricity Does My AC Consume?  In that post I tried to explain how to calculate AC power consumption by multiplying the max current by the voltage of the AC unit.  While I think this is a good introduction, I don’t think it’s the best method to … continue reading

Philips Ambient LED bulb review

I recently purchased the Philips Ambient LED bulb at Home Depot for $24.97 but you can buy the Philips Dimmable AmbientLED 12.5-Watt A19 Light Bulb on Amazon for 72 cents cheaper!  While I’ve voiced my opinions on why the Philips L Prize LED bulb is overpriced, I really like the lower cost version.  It puts … continue reading

Philips L Prize LED bulb not worth it

In March 2012 I read an article on Triple Pundit regarding Philips defending the L Prize winning LED bulb from an article written in the Washington Post criticizing the government for handing out 10 million dollars to a company for producing a $50 light bulb.

I was all set to write a post demonizing the “right … continue reading

Multi-Split Heat Pump and Hydronic Heat

One of the best ways to reduce the electricity your AC system consumes is to program your thermostat. But if you’re building a new green dream home or upgrading your HVAC system, then going with hydronic heat and a multi-split heat pump system may be the most efficient you can get.  If you … continue reading

Push your Utility Green Button

Push your Green Button

The idea for the utility Green Button was first put forth by U.S. CTO Aneesh Chopra in September 2011 when he was wondering why we can’t do the same for energy data that we have proposed for health care data (with the newly created blue button). In the post announcing the … continue reading

Window film best energy efficiency investment?

I saw a post on CleanTechnica last week that highlighted a report prepared for the International Window Film Association that said “Window films are a more cost effective retrofit opportunity for homes than other measures, however, especially in homes with single pane glass.”

Regarding the figure at the top of this post, which was taken … continue reading

Why is tracking energy consumption SO HARD!

I’m going to admit it: I haven’t tracked my utility bills for almost 6 months.

Well, that’s not totally true. I do glance at them for a few seconds when I get an email alert that my bank account will be automatically drafted the bill amount, but that’s about it.

My massive electric utility company sends me … continue reading

The making of a Geothermal Heat Pump advocate

The following guest post was written for Mapawatt by Don Lloyd, author of The Smart Guide to Geothermal: How to Harvest Earth’s Free Energy for Heating & Cooling.

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I had done my homework and made a decision. My new home was going to have a geothermal heating and cooling system. This would be the centerpiece of … continue reading