As we dive deeper into the summer and things heat up, more than likely the average consumer will be consuming more energy than normal through intensive air conditioning, generating even-higher greenhouse gas emissions. Considering that the average American household already uses 2,822 kWh of energy each year to cool off, spending $276 a year. Eco conscious and stylish designers are already trying to tackle this problem by creating an energy efficient bladeless fan that they’re hoping will eventually compete with traditional air conditioning.

The Dyson bladeless fan works like a jet engine, spinning air into a cyclone accelerator that amplifies it 15 –18 times before blowing the air over an airfoil. Additional air is continuously sucked in as air is being pushed out – The video above demonstrates this the best. Best of all the bladelss fan runs on a modest 40-watt motor..

After a nice break this weekend full of mountain biking and hanging out with the family on Fathers Day I received and interesting video from Anika Lehde on some simple but quite amazing water bottle sky lights. The automatic on / off interior solar lamp was invented in Brasil by Mr Alfredo Moser, a mecanics worker in a humble environment.

In 2002, during a long electrical shortage, at Uberaba, São Paulo, Brasil, Mr Alfredo Moser discovered a way to gather sun light in the house through plastic bottles hanging from the roof. First shown at the Globo Reporter in the 25th May 2007.

Alfredo Moser was pressed by a scarce electricity substitution and found out that he could light his house with a bottle of water filled with water and a protection cap made of camera film.

The bottle is just refracting sunlight very effectively and produces an equivalent light power compared to a 50/60W lamp. In a rainy day, even without much light and direct sun, one still have some light. Scientist have now visited Moser and are looking into ways to take this concept to maximize its potential.

These kind of ideas that are simple but highly efficient are quintessential in finding a solution to our energy crisis. More importantly there needs to be a platform for tinkerers and inventors to share ideas and collaborate. Large companies and fancy startups do bring allot to the table however, in most cases it’s the average Joe working in his garage or on his computer that finds an amazing solution.

With all of the media covering the oil spill (which it should rightfully due) there has been a piece of legislation that has been lost in the calamity of the Gulf Oil Spill. The Home Star legislation passed last month by the House but pending Senate approval, will spur the retrofit of 3.3 million homes, enough to save the energy floating in the Gulf 44 times over, at roughly 1/40 the cost of mopping it up. As we speak the Senate is languishing for a bill to help this situation and there is one sitting right next to their feet. The Gulf Oil Spill does need to be handled correctly however at the same time it seems a little odd not to move on a piece of legislature that is readily available and could make a major impact on our environment and our wallets.

Here’s Energy Savvy’s logic to the graphic above.

• The energy contained in the biggest oil spill in U.S. history is equal to the energy that just 75,000 homes waste in a single year.

• The estimated cost to clean up the oil spill ($40 B) is many times greater than the cost to retrofit 75,000 houses ($1 B) and save the energy equivalent of the gulf oil spill every year.

• 75,000 houses = mid-sized U.S. city or large suburb of a major city, like Chattanooga, Tenn. or Providence, R.I.

• The oil spill, since it began in April 2010, has leaked between 25 – 50 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. We’re using a conservative estimate of around 30 million gallons for our calculations.

• A typical house wastes 30 percent more energy than an efficient one does. On average, that means that 51 MMBtu’s are being wasted by a typical home every year.

• A typical home energy retrofit costs around $10,000 per house — before any utility or governments energy rebates are applied. A home energy retrofit doesn’t just save energy for a single year — it prevents waste year after year on an ongoing basis once it’s done.

On March 15, 2010 we had a great discussion in the Hohm community about energy conservation and efficiency. I believe this conversation really took off because it’s a topic that everyone can relate to since we all use energy every day — for transportation, cooking, heating and cooling rooms, manufacturing, lighting, and entertainment. Most importantly the choices we make about how we use energy — turning machines off when we’re not using them or choosing to buy energy efficient appliances — impact our environment and our lives in a very direct manner.

While related, the concepts of energy efficiency and energy conservation are not the same.

• Energy conservation is any behavior that results in the use of less energy. Turning the lights off when you leave the room and recycling aluminum cans are both ways of conserving energy.
• Energy efficiency is the use of less energy to perform the same function. A compact fluorescent light bulb that uses less energy than an incandescent bulb to produce the same amount of light is an example of energy efficiency. However, the decision to replace an incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent is an act of energy conservation.

So after defining theses terms which one do you think is more important to creating a sustainable life at home that can save you money and energy? Todd Cloutier had a great response to this question -

“Yes. Efficiency, once implemented, requires no additional choices to reap the rewards, while other conservation methods (usually reduction of consumption by changing personal habits) require constant reinforcement. Example: a CFL will continue to save energy, while turning off lights only works when remembered. So – while all conservation is good, built-in efficiency saves even when people cease to care.”

I like his point that efficiency can work for you even when you’re not actively taking steps. And I also think about a teacher who always drove home a point about efficiency vs. effectiveness. My teacher’s comments usually went like this “No matter how efficient your solution is you’re not effective if you’re wasting people’s resources and that includes your own.” Efficiency only means that you’ve refined a process, but that can be the least effective in producing your end result.

What do you think is THE end result that we’re collectively trying to achieve in the American energy crisis? Saving money? Time? Energy? The earth? Health?  Because regardless if an individual tries to conserve energy or become more energy efficient, there is a motivation about what makes them want to change.  Take a moment and try to identify that reasoning  for yourself and then take a step further to map out a goal and see how both energy efficiency and conversation can come into play to make your efforts as effective as possible to achieve that goal.  Let me know what you come up with! I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas.

his morning after grabbing my first cup of joe at work I received a message from one of our community members John J. Jerabek alerting me to a research doc that NASA put together. So I hunkered down at my desk preparing myself for a 50 page report; to my surprise it was concise, to the point and contained some great information I haven’t seen before about going green at home.

The article John sent over talks about Bill Woverton, an environmentalist who worked with the U.S. military to find ways to clean up the mess left by biological warfare. One amazing finding that Woverton came across during his stint with the military was plants that could actually eliminate Agent Orange. Woverton left the military and soon after received funding from NASA to start running some new experiments which focused around the topic “If man is to move into closed environments, on Earth or in space, he must take along nature’s life support system.” i.e. plants.

Based on Woverton’s research at NASA and now his own organization Wolverton Environmental Services Inc., he published some of his findings in “How to Grow Fresh Air: 50 Houseplants That Purify Your Home or Office.” and “Growing Clean Water: Nature’s Solution to Water Pollution,” for consumers to start utilizing his findings in their homes. Woverton had many amazing breakthroughs but his recent research is what took me by surprise.

“On the home front, in a partnership with Syracuse University, Wolverton Environmental is engineering systems consisting of modular wicking filters tied into duct work and water supplies, essentially tying plant-based filters into heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. This whole-building approach has recently been licensed by Wolverton to Phytofilter Technologies Inc., of Saratoga Springs, New York, which is currently constructing a prototype of a system that is intended to clean the water and air circulation systems of entire buildings using the natural abilities of plants. The design includes units that are built into existing HVAC units. The plants can be placed throughout buildings, in atriums, or in roof gardens and then hooked into the building’s HVAC units through forced-air filters.”

Wolverton Environmental Services Inc. designed this sustainable ecosystem to show how a building’s circulation system and a rooftop garden could work in tandem to clean indoor air.

What’s so amazing about this system is that it directly ties making your home more energy efficient to the shell of your home. When you make retrofits or seal up the shell of your home, you’re reducing the amount of natural air flow through out the house. If a home is sealed too tightly you can come across major health issues such as the sick building syndrome. With Woverton’s findings he might be able to make homes more energy efficient by allowing a home’s shell to be sealed tighter without increasing the risk of health issues. Moreover his solution doesn’t call for more obtrusive materials in your home that increase your carbon foot print or energy consumption. Woverton has been discovering amazing technological advances by going back to the natural basics.

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