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..

I’m sure you’ve heard the terms Cap and Trade in the news and probably most recently as saving energy has become even more important. Cap and Trade will be affecting us all and is a subject that you’ll need to be educated on because you’ll see it coming through your legislation in the near future. Cap and Trade is actually quite complex but the following video by Planet 100 does a great job condensing this crucial environmental topic down to the nuts and bolts.

Where Cap and Trade Legislation Is Heading

Current legislation has been in battle for an all encompassing Cap and Trade system and has now been narrowed down to a utility only bill. The logic behind narrowing an all encompassing cap and trade bill down to a utility bill is simple due to the fact that electricity is the biggest emitter for carbon.

U.S. Energy Information Administration

For another, most of the lowest-cost carbon reductions are expected to come from electricity. Here’s how the EIA projects an economy-wide cap-and-trade system would affect various sectors:

via Ezra Klein via Harvard’s Robert Stavins

As you can see, about half the total carbon reduction under an economy-wide cap-and-trade system is expected to come from the utility sector. By contrast, transportation is scarcely affected. The reason for this is simple: It takes an extremely high price on carbon to substantially raise the price of gasoline.

Under the American Power Act, the ceiling on the price of a ton of carbon in 2013 is $25. Even in the unlikely event that the price hits the ceiling, that will boost the price of a gas by just under a quarter per gallon. Given that gas has swung around over a $2-3 range just in the last few years, a quarter isn’t much more than noise. A recent study at Harvard found that in order to reduce carbon emissions in the transportation sector 14 percent from 2005 levels by 2020, gas will need to rise to $7 a gallon by then. Getting there from today’s $4 gas would require a carbon price of well over $300 a ton, and that, in turn, would completely upend the utility sector. So it won’t happen.

In sum: Cap-and-trade was always mostly about the utility sector, so if it becomes explicitly about the utility sector, it’s not a total loss, if a few conditions are met. Read more at Grist

Leave a comment if you have any additional questions or would like some more resources for your own research.

Use http://www.microsoft-hohm.com to find out more ways to save money and energy at home – replacing the aerator in your faucets is an easy way to save money and water in your home. It only takes a few moments to complete and usually no tools are required.

Continuing the quest to give the tools to the community I manage at Microsoft Hohm we had a request to make a DIY video on How to insulate your water heater. This is a quick, inexpensive project that can help you save money and energy at home. If you have any suggestions or feedback let me know and I’ll do what I can to implement your thoughts into our next videos.

Recently I was able to head up to North Dakota to do interviews with a variety of people in the town. This video was just used in the announcement for the Microsoft Hohm partnership with Excel Energy.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF-rIgzIFTs&hl=en_US&fs=1&]

City Light was one of four launch partners when Microsoft Hohm debuted in Beta version in June and is the first utility to announce its customers can connect with a convenient, automatic data feed. Hohm users who do not have a data feed can enter their energy use information manually.

Nadia and I continued with our show to make the annoucement, give us some feedback on how we can improve the show.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7Ydtf9hqKs&hl=en&fs=1&]