electricity

(Great Beyond)

Solar Power Becoming More Affordable, Realistic
By Phil Villarreal on October 24, 2011 9:45 AM   80 Comments
Engineers and manufacturers are ever-so-slowly getting better at helping you siphon electricity from that massive power generator 93 million miles away. Due in part to technological advances and growing demand, solar power is starting to grow a little more mainstream and practical. More »

(sussmanb)

Phoenix Suburb Plans To Turn Dog Waste Into Electricity
By Phil Villarreal on July 8, 2011 9:15 AM   30 Comments
(Warning: This post includes Tucson-Phoenix sh*t talking). I'm not sure what sort of reputation the Phoenix area has in the rest of the country, but those in my hometown of Tucson associate the locality with dog excrement. Officials in the Phoenix suburb of Gilbert are making the best of their bumper crop by planning to use dog poop as a power source for a street lamp at a dog park. More »

(geetargeek)

Cable Boxes Slurp More Electricity Than Refrigerators
By Ben Popken on June 27, 2011 11:00 AM   94 Comments
The biggest energy hog in your house is probably sitting right under your TV. That little ol' set-top box could be using up more electricity in your house than your refrigerator or central air conditioning, according to a new study by the National Resource Defense Council. More »

(The Tidy Street Project)

Block Cuts Electricity Use By 15% By Chalking Meter Readings On Street
By Ben Popken on April 15, 2011 5:00 PM   71 Comments
Residents of one block in Brighton in the UK are tracking their electricity usage via a giant infographic graffitied onto the street. In the three weeks the project has been running, electricity use has dropped 15%. Amazing the great good a little bit of feedback can do! In America people would probably just compete to see how big they could make the electricity drain go. More »

(Listener42)

Researcher: Wii Is The Most Power-Hungry Current Game Machine
By Phil Villarreal on March 30, 2011 9:45 AM   70 Comments
When stacked up alongside the Xbox 360 and PS3, the Wii appears to be small and innocent, but a Carnegie Mellon PhD candidate's research finds that the diminutive console is something of a power-hungry vampire compared to the current iterations of its competitors. More »

(zamburak)

Seagate Replaces Suspiciously Sparking Power Plug
By Laura Northrup on January 6, 2011 11:30 AM   26 Comments
It's a common theme in "above and beyond" posts: a customer contacts a company asking where he or she can buy a certain small part for their widget, and the company sends the part for free—or a new widget entirely. Today, we honor Seagate, which sent globe-trotting academic Donna a new power cord and international plug thingies for her external hard drive when her American plug began to misbehave. More »

(Zevotron)

We're Actually Using Less Electricity This Summer
By Chris Walters on July 21, 2010 11:30 AM   66 Comments
Despite the record-breaking heat in some parts of the country, total U.S. energy consumption this summer has actually fallen compared to 2009, and peak demand levels—when electricity consumption is at its highest—have dropped as well. More »

General Electric
By Daniel Greene on June 25, 2010 11:51 AM   0 Comments
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: More »

PG&E
By Daniel Greene on June 22, 2010 12:25 PM   0 Comments
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: More »

Bloom Box Can Supposedly Power A Small Home, But You Can't Afford It
By Chris Walters on February 22, 2010 12:10 PM   92 Comments
60 Minutes has reported on a new fuel cell product called a Bloom Box, a big metal box containing a small stack of ceramic disks and "ink" that can supposedly provide enough power to run a Starbucks. The big questions are: Does it work? And will it ever help the average homeowner save on energy costs? Google has supposedly been using four of them to power one of its data centers for the past 18 months, so yes to the first question. As for home use, a Bloom Box currently costs over $700,000, so no. Inventor K.R. Sridhar optimistically says he wants to get the price to under $3,000 in the next 5 to 10 years, though. Watch the 60 Minute segment below. More »

(Photo: dvs)

Home Improvement Books Recalled
By Chris Walters on January 8, 2010 2:03 PM   49 Comments
The publisher of a series of home improvement books has announced a recall of nine of them, because of errors in their instructions on installing or repairing electrical wiring. The Consumer Products Safety Commission says no injuries have been reported so far even though the books have been published since 1975, which I think proves that nobody has ever actually attempted a project from any home improvement book. More »

(Photo: telethon)

Watch Out For Fire Hazardy Knock-Off Christmas Lights
By Chris Walters on December 23, 2009 6:05 PM   29 Comments
CBS's The Early Show aired a segment last Friday about counterfeit holiday lights and extension cords, mostly from China and mostly available at dollar stores, that can cause fires. The problem is that the manufacturers use shoddy materials, and sometimes even fake UL stickers, to give the impression that they're following safety guidelines. You find out they're not when your tree goes up in flames. More »

Michigan Utility Company Must Refund $39 Million To Overcharged Customers
By Chris Walters on November 5, 2009 8:31 PM   21 Comments

—>In Michigan, utilities can increase rates without first getting approval, but that means the Michigan Public Service Commission can later reduce them. That's what happened on Monday, when the Commission ordered Consumers Energy to refund about $39.6 million to customers it overcharged since last May.  More »

California May Pass Nation's First Energy Consumption Regulation On Big Screen TVs
By Chris Walters on October 14, 2009 11:31 PM   60 Comments

—>As soon as next month, California may become the first state to implement energy consumption rule for big screen TV sets similar to the ones for refrigerators and air conditioners. A trade group has been adamantly opposing it, reports the Los Angeles Times, but hasn't found much sympathy from the California Energy Commission, which may be able to avoid building a $600 million natural gas power plant if they can cut back on energy guzzling sets.  More »

PG&E Charges $1000/Month For Electricity Used In The 70's
By Ben Popken on October 9, 2009 4:13 PM   150 Comments

—>PG&E has decided to start billing Josh's parents for electricity from the 1970's, to the tune of nearly $1000 per month.  More »

Ohio Public Utilities Commission Delays Potentially Evil Expensive Light Bulb Program
By Meg Marco on October 7, 2009 10:39 PM   68 Comments

—>The Ohio Public Utilities Commission has announced that they are asking FirstEnergy, the utlility company that was going to force its customers to pay $10.80 per light bulb as part of an energy-saving program, to delay the implementation of said program until they can figure out what the %#$& was going on.  More »

FirstEnergy Forces Light Bulbs On Customers For $10.80 Each
By Laura Northrup on October 7, 2009 4:13 PM   94 Comments

—>Hey, who doesn't like to get free stuff from the power company? So it's awfully nice of Ohio utility FirstEnergy to deliver compact fluorescent bulbs to their customers' homes. Except for the part where the bulbs aren't free, and customers are being forced to pay nearly five times the retail price of the bulbs.  More »

Lower Energy Prices Could Mean Lower Electric Bills For Consumers, Or Maybe Not
By Laura Northrup on September 5, 2009 10:30 PM   49 Comments

—>Having trouble paying your high power bill? The law of supply and demand may be your friend. Americans' electricity use is decreasing for the first time since 1949. (Maybe it's all those compact fluorescent bulbs.) This means that your electric bill could be slightly lower in the coming months...or at least not increase as much as usual.  More »

Save On Cooling Costs By Installing A White Roof
By Chris Walters on July 30, 2009 12:36 PM   91 Comments

—>The New York Times says a white roof on your house "can cost as little as 15 percent more than its dark counterpart" yet "reduce air-conditioning costs by 20 percent or more in hot, sunny weather." This is because, scientifically speaking, the color white hates the stupid sun and won't have anything to do with it.  More »

When a power line falls in your neighborhood, be patient. Wait for the proper authorities to take care of it. Above all, don't try to clear it out of the way using an industrial saw. A man in Pond Eddy, NY did that against the advice of firefighters, and was electrocuted. [Newsday] (Thanks, AJ!)  More »

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