I received a news announcement from the Western Clean Energy Campaign regarding increased pollution controls proposed by the EPA on the worst polluter in New Mexico (which also affects residents in Arizona): the Four Corners coal plant:
The agency (EPA) has proposed new pollution control...
Nissan Leaf Electric Car
Do you want to try out a Nissan LEAF? A test drive at a dealership is probably not enough to make a decision on an electric vehicle. How about renting a Nissan LEAF for a whole day and really trying it out?
We have good news for you. Enterprise is now renting the...
We recently covered how you can find an EV charging station around you with our post Plug-In Vehicle and EV Charging station trackers, but if you own an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch there may be an easy way to figure out how to fill up your EV when you're on the road with the PlugShare app (coming...
PowerCost Monitor WIFI Edition
If you've read our two part series on Energy Tools for Beginners, you already know the importance of monitoring your energy use as part of educating yourself on how you use energy in your home. After tracking your monthly utility bills in a spreedsheet, the next...
Below is an email I sent to the author of an article attempting to explain why renewable energy doesn't work. I was compelled to reply in an email to inform the author there were many flaws in the argument. I hope you enjoy! Feel free to continue the discussion in the comments!
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DIY vs. Off the shelf
We'll get back to the nuclear crisis in Japan later in the week, but I needed something a little lighter for the middle of the week!
Pool and beach season is only a few months away, and aside from sunblock (I'm light skinned and adverse to skin cancer...
(Mapawatt Note: I worked in a nuclear power plant for 3 months as an intern when I was finishing up my degree in Mechanical Engineering in the Summer of 2005. I have some knowledge of nuclear power plant operations, I've touched a reactor core, and I've been on the turbine floor. I'm familiar...
In part 1 of Using Natural Gas as a Transportation Fuel we looked at the basics of using natural gas in your car or truck vs. using gasoline derived from oil. The main reasons for considering natural gas are that the U.S. imports much less natural gas than it does oil and that natural gas burns...
The following article was written for the Mapawatt Blog by Paul Scheckel. Paul is an efficiency consultant, author of “The Home Energy Diet”, workshop leader, and occasional guest on national TV and radio. Learn more at www.nrgrev.com
Paul contributes articles periodically to Mapawatt. The...
This is part 1 of 2 of our series "Using Natural Gas as a Transportation Fuel". Why would we want to do that? Well, because we're tired of seeing the U.S. and the world's economy held hostage by some of the most unstable places on earth. In part 2 we'll go into a little more detail about how...
As you know, Mapawatt is a big fan of Electric Vehicles. One of the leaders in U.S. energy efficiency and energy independence is Amory Lovins and Rocky Mountain Institute. Not only has RMI provided a road map for getting the U.S. of oil, titled "Winning the Oil Endgame", they also have a...
James Woolsey Energy Efficient Home
I'd like to introduce you to energyNOW!, "a new half-hour weekly TV news-magazine and opinion program designed to inform and engage Americans on the most pressing energy issues of the day." From what I've seen from energyNOW!, their goals overlap with ours...
Protesters in the Middle East
Oil hit $100 a barrel again today. The leaders of Tunisia and Egypt were ousted and it looks like Libya is next. Iran, Bahrain and other Middle Eastern countries are watching protests escalate. To say that the Middle East has become unstable is an understatement...
The following post was originally published on one of our partner blogs. In our efforts to bring content relevant to residential readers, we will begin to post more information related to transportation energy efficiency as well as home energy efficiency.
We hope you enjoy this content related to...
eMonitor installed
Last week we covered FIDO whole home circuit level energy monitor by EcoDog in a post we borrow from George Musser's Scientific American blog Solar At Home (with his blessing). This week we're going to borrow another blog from another source (Energy Circle) on a different...
I first heard about the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy's (ACEEE) list of energy efficient policies by state from Energy Circle. When I click on the state I live in, Georgia, not too much comes up. Mostly a bunch of info about what the state requires of utilities, but this isn'...
Smog, Mountain-top removal, coal ash ponds
I'm not the biggest fan of producing electricity from coal, yet it makes up almost 50% of our nation's electricity mix. My dislike for coal has more to do with mountain-top coal removal, coal ash ponds, and dirty air, and less to do with CO2 emissions...
Yes, you read the title right. We're giving our $95 energy saving guide to you for free, as long as you sign up for our newsletter. Just click this link to get the Mapawatt Energy Saving Guide. How do we know it is worth $95? Because we pulled that number out of thin air, and we can assign...
The following post on the FIDO Energy Monitor by EcoDog is written by Mapawatt fan and Scientific American author George Musser and can be seen on his blog Solar at Home. The FIDO monitor is listed on our collection of home energy monitors page. With all the big players starting to enter the...
Is this false advertising?
A reader recently brought to my attention an LED that he thought may be misleading consumers. The LED in question was the Feit "40 watt equivalent" Soft White LED sold here by Lowes. The problem is, the LED isn't the equivalent of a 40-watt incandescent!
EFI.org has...