By John DeFore

Everyone knows that shade from the sun keeps you cooler, but a new study has quantified the benefit in a way homeowners might want to note. The right kind of shade, it turns out, can easily shave ten percent off your summertime electric bill.

David Laband, a professor in Auburn University’s School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, studied 160 area houses between May and September — quantifying the amount of shade trees cast on each and comparing their power usage. Those with a sizable amount of what he called “heavy shade” had bills over ten percent lower than those with no shade at all. (11.4%, to be exact, which in this study amounted to between $31 and $33 per month in savings.) [Read more →]

By John DeFore

For everyone puzzled at recent energy-independence speeches that seem to focus as much on building new electric lines as on solar research or wind power, a new report helps make one inconvenient truth clear: Without new infrastructure, switching to non-carbon power could make our electric system far less reliable than it is today.

The report was compiled by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, a self-regulatory organization focused in part on ensuring that power transmission stays blackout-free from coast to coast.

It solicited input from the companies it oversees on how new climate change initiatives could affect the bulk transfer of electricity, and came to a few conclusions, the broadest of which was this: “A decision on national climate change policy is needed in the U.S. to provide regulatory certainty and support for industry action. Delay on this important policy is negatively impacting both reliability and climate objectives.” [Read more →]

By Barbara Kessler

BPA or Bisphenol A, the plastic additive that has been found to leach from hard plastic water and baby bottles when they are heated, also is released when certain disposable containers labeled as “microwave safe” are heated, according to an analysis by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The newspaper tested 10 disposable food containers, heating them and then testing the contents for BPA. It found that BPA leached from all of the containers, including some labeled as plastics numbers 1, 2 and 5, and not just those labeled as number 7, the identifier for polycarbonate plastic known to contain BPA.
The tests included frozen dinners, microwavable soups, baby and toddler foods - all packed in plastics that could presumably be heated. [Read more →]