A Department of Energy report on light emitting diode (LED) technology has some pretty startling numbers to digest. First, 7% of America's electricity is used to light our homes and businesses. That number is down significantly in the last few years because of the adoption of efficient lighting. But there is still a great deal of ground to be gained. Indeed, as bright white LEDs begin to make their way to the market, the DOE expects their adoption to result in huge decreases in energy use.

The cumulative savings of widespread adoption of this technology over the next 20 years would be about 1.500 terawatt-hours the price of which, at today's energy prices, is around $120 billion. The savings would eliminate the need for 24 new large power plants, to say nothing of the decrease in carbon emissions.

The DOE has a host of programs to spur growth in the LED market, including a X-Prize style contest, R&D projects and market-based projects. Of course, we have to do our part too. New technology relies on EcoGeeks to be the early adopters of LED technology. I've already got a few lighting up my house.

In a recent interview on Blog Talk Radio, Tim Spring, president of Marcal Paper, explained to me that virgin tree pulp is the most common source for paper towels, napkins, bath, and facial tissues found on store shelves.

However, virgin tree fiber is obtained only one way: By killing trees.

As we all know, cutting down trees contributes to the release of greenhouse gases, whereas planting trees sequesters them. This, of course, can have a direct impact on the effects of global warming.

While industry spokespeople like to say that the virgin fiber industry actually supports sustainable forests, which can take up carbon, there's no denying the fact that it takes less energy to make something out of recycled fiber than to harvest and transport pulp from a felled tree.

As I stated in another article I wrote about Marcal Paper's Marcal Small Steps campaign, 98% of all paper towels, napkins, bath, and facial tissue used in American homes is made from virgin fiber, whereas Marcal uses 100% recycled paper.

This information has to get out there. So my friends here's a top 10 list from Marcal Small Steps:

10. Americans uses approximately 800 pounds per capita of paper per year. -- Resource Conservation Alliance

9. Every 17 trees saved helps the earth absorb 250 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually. -- AmeriFlow Recycling Inc.

8. Every American uses approximately one 100-foot-tall Douglas fir tree's worth of paper and wood products per year. -- American Forest and Paper Association

7. A single tree produces approximately 260 pounds of oxygen per year. That means two mature trees can supply enough oxygen annually to support a family of four. -- U.S. Department of Agriculture and Bombay Natural History Society

6. Half of the world's forests have already been cleared or burned, and 80 percent of what is left has been seriously degraded. -- Environmental Paper Network

5. One tree can absorb as much carbon in a year as a car produces while driving 26,000 miles. -- U.S. Department of Agriculture and Bombay Natural History Society

4. The average U.S. office worker produces two pounds of paper waste per day. -- Envirowise

3. Manufacturing one pound of paper requires three and a half pounds of wood and produces three pounds of carbon dioxide. -- Nature Canada

2. Discarded paper is one of the largest contributors to methane emissions from landfills. (Methane is a greenhouse gas that is 20 times more potent in its effects than CO2.) -- Ernest Mayer, "What Evolution Is 2001"

1. An EPA study concluded that "Federal subsidies of virgin paper product undoubtedly cost the taxpayer hundreds of millions of dollars." -- Federal Disincentives: A Study of Federal Tax Subsidies and Other Programs Affecting Virgin Industries and Recycling (Washington, DC: EPA, August 1994), pg. 5.

For the sake of our planet, why not try to at least embrace some of the concerns in this campaign for at least one second per day?

Now imagine if everyone in the United States for just ONE DAY bought a recycled paper product, we can save 1 million trees from deforestation. Imagine if we just buy a product that deals with our hands, face and, well ya know, to save the planet today. That's a great step in the right direction.

--This is a guest post by Seth Leitman, editor of the TAB Green Guru Guides. Check out the recent book he edited, Build Your Own Electric Motorcycle.

Also from Seth Leitman:

• DIY Home Energy Audits
• Meet Leilani Munter, the Gorgeous Green Race Car Driver
• Why Parks Make $ense

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Reprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc

A new analysis has an encouraging conclusion about individuals who "go green": If we all took a few simple steps, collectively we could reduce U.S. carbon dioxide emissions 15%. Each of these steps is cheap (or free) and won't cramp anyone's lifestyle.

How simple are the actions? Here are 15 tips from the report:

• Reduce unwanted catalog subscriptions.
• Decrease vehicle idling and maintaining your vehicle.
• Use a programmable thermostat.
• Replace seven light bulbs with CFLs.
• Reduce food waste 25%.
• Set computers to hibernate mode.
• Shut off unused lights.
• Fly once less per year.
• Carpool twice or telecommute once to work every week.
• Caulk, weatherstrip, add attic insulation, and otherwise seal heat leaks.
• Kill the phantom load.
• Wash clothes in cold water and turn down the water heater thermostat.
• Take advantage of "cash for appliances."
• Recycle and buy products made from recycled materials.
• Eat poultry in place of red meat two days per week.

That's right, you don't have to be a vegetarian. And you don't have to raise your own chickens. Just eating lower on the food chain has a huge impact on your individual climate impact (even if the commentators on Fox Business News doubted the assertion when The Daily Green suggested it).

Of course, the challenge, as always, is to inspire mass action on these types of simple actions. That's the heart of the report by the NRDC and the Garrison Institute's Climate Mind Behavior Project. It's probably self-evident, but the purpose of the project is to "integrate emerging research findings about what drives human behavior into new thinking on climate solutions."

"The behavioral approach by no means replaces or competes against other policy, regulatory, market, and technology innovations which we need," Jonathan Rose, co-founder of the Garrison Institute, said in a prepared release. "But it's one key front among others in the quest for climate and energy solutions, and conservation now is key while we move forward on those other fronts. Economists and people who study behavior and decision-making have broken through to new understandings of human behavior and human choices, based on brain physiology and evolution. They can explain for example why we may be slow individually to do simple things well within our capability that would reduce our climate impacts, even though it would be in our interests to do so, or why we are much more likely to make those changes when we know we're not alone, that others will do it too, and our contributions will aggregate. The opportunity now is to start applying these sorts of insights concertedly to get people to adopt them faster."

The effort recognizes that the old economic view of human behavior (that we all act in our own best self interest) is as flawed as markets are in controlling pollution (such "externalities" aren't included in the market price of the goods that cause pollution). Instead, behavioral economics suggests that a complex set of influences guides our decision-making (the market itself, our emotions, our communities and our innate sense of fairness, among them).

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A new washing machine design uses 90 percent less water and reduces utility bills by 30 percent by cleaning clothes with tiny plastic beads.

The machine by UK company Xeros Ltd uses 3mm-long nylon beads that can get into all crevices and folds of clothing and absorb stains and dirt.  Stephen Burkinshaw, a polymer chemist at Leeds University, discovered that nylon beads at 100 percent humidity could attract stains away from clothing and into the center of the beads, preventing deposition back onto the clothes.

The machine uses a small amount of water to dampen the clothes and to reach the right humidity level, then the drum is flooded with the beads.  When the cycle is complete the beads drain away with the water to be reused hundreds of times.

I'm sure you've already started questioning what happens to these plastic beads once they're done scrubbing clothes.  The company wants to eventually create a closed loop where the saturated beads can be refreshed and reused in the machines, but for the time being they will be collected and recycled.

Xeros says that if all of the U.S. used these machines instead of regular washing machines, it would save 1.2 billion tonnes of water per year and the CO2 emissions saved would equal taking 5 million cars off the road.  The machine would also eliminate the need to dry clean many delicates, another environmental benefit.  The Xeros machine is expected to be available by the end of next year.

via Guardian

Usually when you read about concentrated solar power, it's referring to some large project destined for the Mojave Desert, but Syracuse's Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems (SyracuseCoE) has set out to prove that this technology can be used in smaller, colder settings.

SyracuseCoE in Syracuse, NY is itself a LEED-platinum-certified, 55,000 square-foot building that serves as a testing ground for renewable energy and efficiency technologies.  The south wall of the building is home to a concentrated solar facade that, at first glance, resembles the frosted cube walls found in doctors' office waiting rooms.

This 8-foot by 8-foot facade houses several clear pyramid lenses that track the sun and concentrate the rays onto high-efficiency PV cells.  Extra energy not converted to electricity is used for heating water and radiant heat in the building.  And because it's made up of clear panels, it also adds natural lighting indoors.  You can watch a video of the system at work here.

Using a concentrated solar power system in an architectural application is a new concept, so the center will be monitoring and reporting on its performance.

The facade was designed by the Center for Architecture Science and Ecology and the company HeliOptix is licensed to market it.

via Jetson Green

Beginning today, Google has begun providing bicycle directions for its Google Maps service with directions for cyclists in 150 cities in the United States. Google already incorporates public-transit and walking directions in addition to automobile driving directions, and the bicycling community has been calling for Google to add bike routes for some time.

The routing suggested for cyclists is designed to avoid freeways and high-traffic areas, and to select gentler terrain by routing around hills. To make it even more useful for riders on the go, Google expects to have a mobile version available in the near future, as well.

A new report from technology research corporation iSuppli warns that we're facing a global LED shortage in 2010.  Hooray!

Why am I cheering?  Because the reason for this shortage is a huge surge in demand for the energy-efficient lighting in the electronics industry.  Yes, it's bad that the supply is low, but it's great news that the use of more efficient lighting is becoming more mainstream.

The report says that demand for LEDs is expected to rise by double-digit percentages for at least the next three years.  In 2009, 63 billion units were consumed out of the 75 billion unit capacity worldwide.  The worst-case scenario is a rise in prices for mid-range and high-end computers and HDTVs because of their larger displays.

The solution is simple enough though:  increase production.  The two largest suppliers have gotten the hint -- Aixtron and Veeco Instruments are doubling their production by the end of this year.

via PC Mag

A recent article from Lawrence Berkely Laboratory suggests that readers should 'Pull the plug. Your battery will thank you.' Researcher Venkat Srinivasan writes about batteries and battery chemistry rather specifically, but without becoming overwhelmingly technical.

He explains how batteries begin to fail and suggests keeping your computer unplugged as a way of extending the life of your battery. I pulled the plug on mine as soon as I read the article, and I'm now writing this on battery power.

On the other hand, if you charge the battery and then pull the plug (so to speak), the battery discharges some, the voltage drops, and these reactions become less of a problem and your battery life goes up. So the best things you can do is to charge the laptop (or cell phone, camera, etc.) and once its charged, pull the plug. Your battery will thank you for it.

This also has relevance for plug-in hybrid and electric vehicle owners, whose batteries have the same characteristics. A car sitting in a garage for hours, full charged, is going to be slowly deteriorating the battery. Manufacturers may already be incorporating measures into battery packs to address this problem, but this highlights just one of the many potential issues battery makers need to address in order to keep portable electrical devices functioning.

This week in batteries may not be on everyone's RSS feed right away. But engineers for computer companies, electric vehicle manufacturers, cell phone, and other portable device makers should be following him. While the articles run to the technical, the information is accessible for all kinds of battery geeks.

While the focus continues to be on expanding means and methods for generating electricity from renewable sources, the limits of the existing grid to handle that generated power and distribute it to where it is needed are beginning to show.

Last weekend in Texas, wind power reached a record high point of 6,242 MW represented 22% of demand. That's fantastic news, and we love to see that kind of records being broken.

However, utility officials were forced to curtail wind power generation "because the supply of electricity outstripped the capacity of lines to move the power to urban areas such as Dallas-Fort Worth."

Production needs to continue to increase. But this points out what may become a more frequent problem, and dealing with the grid cannot be forgotten either.

image: CC 2.0/ roxannejomitchell

In case you thought that after all the setbacks, T. Boone Pickens was giving up, he's reminding us that he's still around and he still has a plan (albeit a different one) to free America of its dependence on oil.

In a recent interview with the Houston Chronicle, Pickens outlined revisions to his original plan that was big on wind power and natural gas-powered cars.  To sum it up in five words:  less wind, more natural gas. 

Here are his main points:

• Natural gas prices have fallen 70 percent in the last year making it more attractive than wind financially.
• He's still committed to wind energy, but thinks even if we add wind power, we'll need natural gas to act as a back up until there's better power storage.
• Discovery of more natural gas shales has lead him to believe that now is the time to amp up its use in generating electricity and converting 18-wheelers to run on it.  Doing so would decrease oil demand by 2.5 million barrels a day.
• He believes Congress will pass an energy plan by Memorial Day, hopefully including the Natural Gas Act that would support converting trucks and fleet vehicles to the fuel.

I agree that power storage is a huge hurdle wind and other renewables have to overcome if we want to start replacing fossil fuels with clean energy, and until we get there, having natural gas fill in those gaps isn't a bad idea, but I am disappointed that he's lost the huge enthusiasm he once had for wind energy. 

It was nice having an ex-oil tycoon dreaming big about wind.

via Houston Chronicle