Thermographic Inspections – An Energy Auditor’s Tool

Thermal Imaging Camera Infrared scanning, commonly referred to as “thermographic inspections,” detects thermal defects and air leakage in buildings. Through the use of infrared video and still cameras and their images (referred to as “thermograms”), this process: Measures surface temperatures, Detects light from the heat spectrum images on the video / film, and Records variations in...

Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs – Are they Helpful or Harmful?

Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs (CFL) are the likely replacement for the traditional incandescent bulbs that have been the standard since the early 20th century. CFL’s have joined home thermostats and fish as potential contributors to mercury exposure. Since mercury is a neurotoxin, it can cause damage to nerve cells, and can be harmful even in small doses. The effects of mercury exposure can...

Distributed Generation – A Solution or Challenge?

Solar Panels On-site or decentralized generation is commonly referred to as distributed generation. It supplies electricity from sources that are at or near the point of consumption rather than that from large, centralized sources such as utility-owned coal, natural gas, oil, or nuclear power plants. The majority of these distributed systems include: Renewable energy sources such as sunlight,...

Energy Efficient Top-Loaded Washers

Top-Loaded Washer Conventional wisdom over the past 5 years has pointed to front-loading washers as more energy efficient. They use much less water than traditional top-loaded washers, meaning less water to heat and they have higher capacity tubs, meaning fewer loads to cycle. Therefore, less energy is presumed to be required. Though the initial price is considerably higher, ranging between $500...

Introduction to Renewable Energy

Simply defined, renewable energy is energy that emanates from natural resources (e.g. sunlight, wind, and tides) which can be naturally replenished. There has been a significant push since the start of the 21st century to incorporate these sources of energy into an overall portfolio. By 2008, 19 percent of global energy consumption was satisfied by renewable energy sources. The main drivers of...

A Coming Bear Market for U.S. Electricity Sales?

Economic forecasters and business professionals alike are increasingly alarmed by the broad weakness of the U.S. economic recovery.  Forecasters in many sectors frequently highlight the “lost decade” of the Japanese economy following that nation’s stock market and real estate crash of the early 1990’s, and they openly wonder about parallel patterns in the U.S. and about the implications...

Decision Factors Related to Grid Modernization

The rationale for modernizing the electric transmission and distribution (T&D) network is obvious, particularly as one contemplates the specific application of Smart Grid and AMI and general implementation of full-scale distribution automation. However, any discussion about grid modernization needs to quickly shift to the planning and sequencing of the myriad actions to achieve the vision of...

Energy Storage – Essential to Renewable Energy

Electric energy storage has becoming a more dominant topic of the overall energy management discussion primarily because of the: Increased production of electric vehicles being plugged into outlets for recharging every evening, Advent of net-zero homes, and Expansion of intermittent solar and wind generation into the mainstream of energy supply options. As these factors begin to take on greater...

Gasoline Consumption in the U.S.

Gas Consumption Begins at the Pump Petroleum is used in everything from medications to lubricants, partially explaining its high usage in the U.S.’s heavily driven consumer economy. According to the EIA, the U.S. consumes approximately 21 million barrels of oil daily, the majority of which is refined into gasoline. To put this in perspective the U.S. consumes more gasoline than South America,...

Pricing of Gasoline

Gas Prices at the Pump Fluctuate Daily Gasoline remains a primary commodity in U.S. consumers maintaining their current quality of life, to the point where severe price fluctuations have devastating impact to the American economy, the lifestyles of its people, and the politicians. The typical person observes and is impacted by these seemingly random changes in price, but has little, if any,...