We hate to just sit around and wait for technology to work us out of this global warming fix….but hey! Look at this technology from Popular Science’s just released Best of What’s New list:

• 

  GE’s new “hybrid” hot water heater uses up to 62 percent less energy than the same size traditional hot water heater. This 50-gallon water heater, which uses heat pump technology along with traditional electrical components (hence: the hybrid terminology), is featured in the home technology category. The Energy Star-rated appliance could be expected to use around 1850 Kilowatts of electricity per year compared with about 4,800 KWh for a standard hot water heater. Downside: It costs $1,600. Upside: It qualifies for a $480 energy tax credit.

• 

  Sole Power Tiles provide solar power while posing as clay roofing tiles, albeit blue ones. Still, this sounds like a great way to thwart your homeowner’s association while going green with your roof. The curved photovoltaic tiles are thin, but their curved architecture allows them to pick up 10-15 percent more solar action. They were developed by SRS Energy with advice US Tile, the country’s largest clay-tile manufacturer.

• A powder to neutralize mercury by Steward Advanced Materials. This grand prize winner, called Thiol-SAMMS, holds promise for cleaning up lakes, rivers and toxic waste spills, as well as cleansing tap water efficiency and affordably.  “Thiol-SAMMS is made of silica molecules assembled into a spongelike pattern of holes, packing the surface area of a football field into just one teaspoon,” reports Popular Science. Each tiny opening is coated with sulfur atoms, which can bind with poisonous mercury, rendering a material that can be safely stored in landfills. (Let’s hope advances like these don’t stop us from trying to stem the pollution at the source, however.)

• The Eco2 Plastics Environmental system helps save water, millions of gallons of water, by supplying recyclers with a corn-based biodegradable solvent that cleans plastic containers so they can be recycled. This proven technology is already in operation at one recycling plant. Now you don’t have to wonder how they get that ketchup out of your old bottle. The old way: use a ton of water. This solution: Save the water and make recycling more affordable.

The 100 winners of the Best of What’s New “represent the higheset level of achievement in their fields,” said Mark Jannot, editor-in-chief of Popular Science.

There’s lots more fun to be found on the list, which features everything from a  handy home-use air leak detector (by Black & Decker; $50) to an entire hospital, El Camino in the Silicon Valley, that employs state-of-the-art robots.

While the number one award-winner on the list, an amplified, smart stethoscope by 3M and Littman Electronic, isn’t green, per se. It could save millions of needless echocardiograms a year, thereby cutting medical costs and making health care a little more sustainable — a goal we can all take to heart.

PHOENIX — When the Greenbuild Expo 2009 landed in Phoenix Nov. 9 with 30,000 participants, the circus came to town for Mick Dalrymple. He runs the a.k.a. Green Eco-Friendly Building Center, the Phoenix area’s first store of its kind.

Phoenix Convention Center

Dalrymple also sits on the national board of the U.S. Green Building Council, the organizer of Greenbuild Expo and International Conference, which this year (its eighth) has packed 1,800 exhibitors into the recently expanded Phoenix Convention Center.

An electrical engineer, former Hollywood filmmaker and graduate of the Thunderbird School of Global Management, Dalrymple first came to green building as a way out of an oil-based U.S. national security policy. He would give talks on how green building could lead to energy independence, and when people complained they couldn’t find where to buy these mysterious carbon-neutral products, he opened a store.

Dalrymple has enthusiasm and some concern for the abundant new green technologies and materials on hand.

Just as former Vice President Al Gore cautioned the green builders at an opening celebration Wednesday night, Dalrymple warned against “greenwashing” – selling something as green that isn’t.

“The business has become more mainstream and a lot of the traditional channels are starting to be populated with ‘light’ green materials. They may be better, but nowhere near what is possible, or they may use toxins or child labor to produce it,” Dalrymple said, noting that the maze of certifications in the industry sometimes can lead to more, rather than less confusion. He also mentions the small percentage of recycled materials in some so-called recycled products: “Why not recycle more? I want to see more things recycled—pecan shells or pistachio shells—stuff people normally think of as waste. Why is it waste?”

Dalrymple also has some idea of where the wild things are at the jam-packed Greenbuild Expo 2009.

• LED residential lighting
  

“I’ve been waiting five years for the next step in LED. I think this will be the year of the LED. I have a background in film and I just love lights,” Dalrymple said.

Cree's Indoor Recessed Light

He may be right. LEDs (light-emitting diodes), traditionally the light on your clock radio—use less energy, live eons longer, dosn’t emit heat, work with a dimmer switch and don’t contain the mercury of compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). Until now, LED fixtures have been too expensive and didn’t look “warm” enough for household use. New technology has improved the products and brought the price down. The life of an LED can be 50,000 hours (or more than 5 years if you left it on around the clock).

Cree LED Lighting, a growing green company based in North Carolina, is working to improve the quality and price of LEDs. Cree offers “Cree True White Technology,” to deliver warm color and very high efficiency. Its LR6 LED uses 12 watts to deliver the equivalent of a 65watt incandescent. LR6 and other fixtures can be retrofitted into existing recessed lighting hook-ups, last about 12 years in homes and cost under $100.

RAB Lighting’s outdoor LPack, made for over garage doors and pathway lighting, uses about 13 Watts to light the equivalent of a 55 watt  incandescent for 50,000 hours; at $140, it comes in a cool aluminum housing that looks sort of like an over-sized Blackberry.

• Composite Flooring.

“Shredded bamboo is now made into flooring that has patterns and looks fabulous. And the popularity of cork flooring is growing, almost replacing bamboo,” Dalrymple said.

A fast-growing grass, bamboo is a renewable resource, but for optimal environmental imprint, it shouldn’t be harvested before 5.5 years and should come from the hardy moso species. Ask questions when shopping.  Some manufacturers use formaldehyde for bonding—but they don’t have to.

Teragren Flooring doesn’t use formaldehyde and offers an array of Floorscore-certified  (a third-party certification by Scientific Certification Systems) bamboo flooring; this year Teregren sells water and bacteria-resistant countertops, in addition to flooring.

Sustainable Flooring's shower cork

Cork flooring isn’t exactly new – Frank Lloyd Wright used it in his 1936 masterpiece Fallingwater with good reason.  It’s a natural insulator, is silent and reduces jostling of the joints and spine when you walk on it. The best cork comes from the Mediterranean. A softer version grows in China, but the durable stuff is firm and a by-product of the wine-cork industry in Portugal and Italy.

Both Expanko and Sustainable Flooring show gorgeous samples of Mediterranean cork tile and mosaic cork tile. Expanko provided the new floors when Fallingwater was restored.

With flooring, comes the danger that what adheres it may be manufactured with formaldehyde and other toxins. A new product from Smith & Fong Plyboo, SoyBond, is formaldehyde-free, made from soybeans for use with bamboo. Plyboo also makes a line of nontoxic plywood.

• Certification and label help.

With the mainstreaming of green building, new green labels abound at Greenbuild Expo — and at every home improvement store. But which ones mean anything? Dalrymple says keep in mind that a third-party rating, like Green Seal for paints, cleaners and other products, is likely to be more dependable than the “green this or green that” labels created in the marketing departments of home improvement companies. A growing legion of online help is available to sift out the scientific from the marketing messages.

Ecolabelling is a tool for anyone. It’s a nonprofit that tries to compile data on every green label in the world and tells you what the label is worth.

The so-called “Amazon.com of green building products,” Buildingease helps designers, contractors and others search for certified green products. Click on “3″ to find legitimate third-party green product ratings. It’s a one-stop portal for researching, rating and buying green building products at the lowest price.

Mick Dalyrmple, owner a.k.a. Green

The newest entry in online aid is GreenKonnect, a search engine built for the green building industry. The Beta version bowed at Greenbuild Expo.  Watch for the actual launch. Utilizing a database of LEED-certified building projects and green products used in LEED buildings, site organizers hope to become a first stop for architects, engineers and contractors planning projects for LEED certification or other types. It will be free to everyone at first. Later, manufacturers will pay, based on product sales.

Thousand of products and so little time. A solid two day’s of looking is on display at Greenbuild Expo. For detailed listings, visit the Greenbuild website.

Then, if you plan to transition into a green home, start small, says Dalrymple. “Buy a few low energy bulbs. See how you like it. Pretty soon you’ll be opening a green products store and wondering: why did I do that?”

(Kate Nolan writes about the environment and health in Phoenix. She worked formerly as areporter for The Arizona Republic; managing editor at Phoenix New Times and editor at Playboy.)

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Would you feel guilty if your toilet was “phantom flushing” or slowly leaking gallons of water a day?

Leak Alertor

We would, and we’d be concerned about the costs on our water bill too.

A Philadelphia-area company feels our pain. The company, nth Solutions, has invented the Leak Alertor to let you know when the water closet is out of control, so you can get in there and fix the flap or that other thinga-majig that makes the toilet behave.

Nth Solutions’ staff has done a lot of research on this topic of wasted water too. They report that at any given time, one in five toilets in the US is leaking. So in the US, where the residential person-to-commode ratio is pretty high, 50 million toilets might be silently leaking.

That info comes from the American Water Works Association, an industry association that is committed to clean, safe water (and a thriving water industry). If it’s true, and we’re guessing the AWWA is in a position to know, you can start to see why you might need a Leak Alertor.

Still, we asked Eric L. Canfield, president of nth Solutions, to give us a little more to go on and he did.

Leaking toilets, he said, are the number one cause of high water bills and the average leaking toilet can waste hundreds of gallons of water a day or enough to fill a couple swimming pools if left to leak away for a year or so.

Yikes, you’d have to take a lot of one-minute showers to pay back that water debt!

But, still, we respectfully prodded Canfield: Wouldn’t I know it if my toilet were leaking? Wouldn’t it wake me up at night with a faint little whiney sound?

No, he said, it wouldn’t necessarily alert you. (But the Leak Alertor would, with a little red light.) Many leaks are silent. Furthermore, he explained, many people with less than perfect hearing might not catch a leaky toilet, and others, who do hear that “phantom flush” misinterpret it and think all is well in water closet land.

And so, Canfield has the solution, a water-conserving, made-in-America solution that’s a bit of a hard sell in these times, but does only cost $19.95: The Leak Alertor, installable in less than a minute, without tools.

Who knew?

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Where there’s a need, there’s a way. Turns out that the biggest number of ENERGY STAR homes are being built in steamy Sunbelt locations where keeping the AC under control is an urgent need.

The top market, with the most ENERGY STAR-qualified homes built since the program begin in 1995, is Houston, with 144,000 homes.

The next top cities with the most homes built to these guidelines include Dallas, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Los Angeles, according to a list released by the EPA, which announced today that there are now 1 million ENERGY STAR-qualified homes in the US.

The ENERGY STAR program requires that buildings take extra steps to conserve energy by using sufficient insulation, a tight building envelop, high-rated windows and efficient heating and cooling systems, making them 15 to 30 percent more energy efficient than homes built to standard code.

Along with passing the 1 million mark, the ENERGY STAR “label” for homes is growing in popularity, said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.

“This is an amazing achievement for the Energy Star program – but the real winners are the 1 million American families who have the chance to save money and keep harmful pollution out of the air. That’s great news for anyone who wants to cut costs and protect our planet,” Jackson said. “We’re going to keep the number of Energy Star homes growing, because every new Energy Star home is a step towards lower costs, cleaner air, and communities that are environmentally and economically sustainable. We’re giving everyday American homebuyers the power to lower their bills and join the fight against climate change.”

The EPA, which oversees ENERGY STAR, estimates that the existing ES-rated homes will save their owners, collectively, $270 million on their electric bills this year, while cutting greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to operating 370,000 cars for the year.

The cities with the most Energy Star-qualified homes:

• Houston, TX (144,000)

• Dallas-Fort Worth, TX (103,000)

• Las Vegas, NV (80,000)

• Phoenix, AZ (73,000)

• Greater Los Angeles, CA (57,000)

• Greater New York, NY (25,000)

• Tucson, AZ (19,000)

• San Antonio, TX (19,000)

• Sacramento, CA (18,000)

• San Diego, CA (18,000)

• Columbus, OH (17,000)

• Des Moines, IA (16,000)

• Indianapolis, IN (14,000)

• Austin, TX (13,000)

• Greater Philadelphia, PA/Wilmington, DE (12,000)

• San Francisco-Oakland, CA (11,000)

• Boston, MA (10,000)

• Denver, CO (7,800)

• Orlando, FL (7,600)

• Oklahoma City, OK (7,500)

Want to know more? You can take a virtual tour of an ENERGY STAR home at the program’s website. You also can find an ENERGY STAR builder in your home state or city, using the website’s builder finder.

A field monitor checks a gas meter for leaks. (Photo: Department of Energy)

From Green Right Now Reports

Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell announced today that the first installment of $123 million in federal Recovery funds for weatherization will begin to be released Nov. 2, part of $253 million that the state will use for this purpose.

The Governor said the funding represents an unprecedented level of investment that will help to create new, “green” jobs, save money for struggling families, and stimulate local economic activity as weatherization agencies buy required material, vehicles and equipment.

“The weatherization program stimulates the economy in several ways,” Gov. Rendell said in a statement. “It saves money on energy bills for people who need it the most, and keeps those dollars circulating in local communities because families will be able to spend more on food, clothing and other necessities. It also will create new jobs in the growing ‘green’ economic development sector.”

Pennsylvania’s allocation of $253 million for weatherization from the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is the fourth largest in the nation; only New York, Texas and Ohio received more. The money will be paid over three years.

Ohio technicians prepare to seal a roof prior to re-insulating an attic containing vermiculite. (Photo: Department of Energy)

In Ohio, the $266.8 million Recovery grant from the Weatherization Program is allowing the state to boost the energy efficiency of more than 32,000 homes. Adding insulation, sealing leaks and modernizing heating and air conditioning equipment will reduce energy costs for Ohio homeowners by an average of 24 percent. In general, the Weatherization Program allows for an investment of up to $6,500 per home in energy efficiency upgrades and is available to homeowners making approximately $44,000 a year for a family of four. The Department of has recognized Ohio as a leader in the weatherization program with 951 homes completed in July 2009.

Ohio allocated funds from the grant to local community agencies and other public and not-for-profit organizations. In addition, 54 independent contractors were hired to supplement existing contractors. It is estimated that by completion of the project at the end of March, 2012, 590 new positions will be created and 487 jobs retained.

The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs has awarded $288 million in federal stimulus funding to 66 cities, counties, and eligible nonprofit organizations across the state to weatherize the homes of an estimated 40,000 low income Texans. Overall, the state received $326.9 in weatherization funds, the balance of which TDHCA will award in 2010.

The Recovery Act provided approximately $314 million more in funds than what Texas typically administers each year for weatherization activities. By comparison, the state annually weatherizes approximately 3,700 homes using current funding levels of approximately $13 million.

When it comes to saving water, we all know that the commode can be a sieve, without actually being a sieve. In a typical household – unless people are obsessively washing clothes or taking large baths — more water is used to flush the toilets than for any other single use.

According to the US EPA, toilet water consumes  about 27 percent of all the water used in a typical household. So you might say, the throne is king.

But this is one Royal Flush you don’t want.

You’ve likely heard about potential solutions. You could enact a household rule, “When it’s yellow…” If you’ve got the constitution for it. But that might leave squeamish families blushing, and still flushing.

You could stick bricks in the back of the tank, but experts advise against that, saying the clay chaff that will be released could cause a bigger problem by getting caught in that pesky flap mechanism (which tends to go bad unprompted anyway). Then a running toilet would run away with all your water savings.

Perfect Flush (Image: Brondell)

Or you could bring home a solution that you’ve likely seen in airports and other public buildings, a demi-flush toilet attachment that allows you to choose when you need half a flush and when you need a whole flush.

Brondell, a company that develops eco-friendly bathroom innovations is offering just such a device for home use. Its “Perfect Flush” toilet retrofitting kit allows you to cut in half the water used to flush, whether you have an old-style 3.5 gallon toilet or a newer 1.6 gallon.

Retailing at around $99, the Perfect Flush offers a perfectly economical way to start conserving water. (No more waiting for the washer to fail so you can buy a more efficient one.)

You can buy the Perfect Flush at Amazon.com or Brondell.com. Builders can look to a handful of dealers, listed here.

The Perfect Flush control

Brondell also sells a toilet-paper saving bidet-like attachment for the toilet. Called the Swash, it uses water to help you, um, freshen up.

The Swash saves on trees. The company site reports that Americans use 34 million rolls of toilet paper every day,which requires the destruction of 221,000 trees and consumption of 255 billion gallons of water to process.

So the Swash is eco-friendly with regard to forests and water consumption even though it uses water.

Hey! Use them both and you can Swish and Flush. Not quite that Continental? Try the entry level Perfect Flush.

While cynics will say that water you flush down the toilet returns to the “water cycle,” and therefore it’s no big loss, recent reports about the feminization of fish in our waterways and the contamination of our drinking water from pharmaceuticals suggest that we give flushing a little more review. Many resources are required to cleanse the water, and certain chemicals resist water treatment. The downstream water quality seems to be degrading, because the chemicals and meds we use aren’t.

That debate aside, from a homeowner’s perspective,  the Perfect Flush’s ability to save barrels of water, also saves buckets of money.

Hotel Griffon, a water view and water saving ethos

In San Francisco, the historic Hotel Griffon recently took the plunge (or maybe we should say plunger) with Brondell, adding the Perfect Flush to its 62 guestrooms and suites.

The hotel projects that it will save 31,000 gallons of water every month or about 372,000 gallons a year.

That much water could supply around 20 average households for a year, using government figures.

(And when your toilet’s ready for replacing, you’ll find lots of dual flush options on the market.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

The next time you take a stack of old newspapers to the recycling bin, you might be helping make your home a more comfortable — and efficient — place.

Cellulose Insulation. (Photo: National Association of Certified Home Inspectors)

Cellulose insulation – made from recycled newsprint and other kinds of paper – has emerged as a legitimate choice for homeowners trying to combine environmental consciousness with good business. Like any insulation option, it has its good points and not-so-good ones, but it is something to consider when you decide to make your house a little cozier in the winter and a bit more comfortable in the hotter months.

What makes cellulose an attractive choice to homeowners thinking green?

For starters, you are re-using paper products that might otherwise turn up in landfills, where they decompose and give off greenhouse gases. For another, cellulose requires less embodied energy (the total energy required to transport raw materials, manufacture and distribute the product) than comparable insulation materials.

So, how does that compare to those nice pink rolls of fiberglass insulation, the ones that remain the most popular option?

Fiberglass is cheaper, but it also is difficult to work with and may create some health issues. Cellulose, despite the comforting notion that last year’s Sports section might be this year’s guard against costly energy leaks, isn’t completely green, because chemicals are added to keep all that paper from catching fire, or contributing to a blaze that started elsewhere.

Confused yet? Google “green insulation” for an afternoon, and you probably will be. While some alternatives get better reviews than others, there doesn’t appear to be a consensus as to who’s No. 1. In most cases, it simply depends on who you ask or what part of the equation is more important to you. While most of us would prefer to be green, overall performance and cost are considerations, too.

Insulation is evaluated in terms of thermal resistance, called R-value. That measures resistance to heat flow. The R-value of thermal insulation depends on a variety of factors: Type of material, thickness, and density. The higher the R-value, the more effective the insulation is.

If you combine layers of insulation, the R-value is the sum of the individual values. Keep in mind, however, that compressing insulation diminishes its R-value, so forcing too much into a space is counterproductive.

Simply by reducing the amount of energy required to heat or cool a building, insulation is environmentally friendly. How you go about it can increase (or diminish) the amount of good you are actually doing.

Here’s a quick look at some of the options:

Cellulose: According to the Cellulose Insulation Manufacturers Association, cellulose has the highest level of recycled content in the industry, up to 85 percent. Scrap also can be recovered and recycled on the site of an installation, another plus. Cellulose is a loose-fill product blown into spaces with pneumatic equipment, making it easier to use in hard-to-reach spots. It also provides a tighter fit than rolls and batts, or blankets. And, simply by using a recycled product, you are going a little greener.

Natural Fibers: Ever wondered what happens to leftover material at the blue jean factory? These days, some of it is going into attics and walls. According to manufacturer Bonded Logic, Inc., UltraTouch denim insulation “contains 85% post-industrial recycled natural fibers making it an ideal choice for anyone looking to use a high quality sustainable building material.” Unlike cellulose, it comes in batts, so completely sealing a space can be more problematic. In contrast to fiberglass, however, it doesn’t cause itching or other irritation and is easier to handle. Like cellulose, it also has the green advantage of finding a new use for recycled material.

Polyurethane foam: Doesn’t sound very good, does it? The Spray Polyurethane Foam Alliance – yes, there really is such a thing — begs to differ. The organization contends that SPF “is environmentally friendly, contains no formaldehyde or ozone depleting chemicals, saves energy and reduces the use of fossil fuels, thereby reducing global warming gasses. It also assists in providing good indoor air quality, requires less energy to produce than the leading insulation, and reduces the amount of energy required to transport and install it.” After it is applied, the foam expands to fill the space allowed, improving overall protection. One downside: It’s highly toxic during the installation phase, and you’ll probably need to steer clear of the premises for several days after.

Cementitious: Al Gore put Air Krete in his home. The National Audubon Society used it in its building. How can you go wrong? Air, seawater and formaldehyde-free cement are mixed to create this blown-in insulation option, which again serves to make for a tighter fit and a hostile environment for insects and other pests. Its non-flammable nature is a nice feature, too.

Fiberglass: Would the Pink Panther install something dangerous in your house? Even the leading manufacturer, Owens Corning, features pictures on its Web site of average folks installing their own batts of fiberglass insulation…wearing protective clothing, heavy gloves, and a face mask. Hmmm. Fiberglass remains the cheapest and most common form of insulation, but it’s worth considering that packages of the product also carry a cancer warning. Still, according to the American Lung Association, fiberglass insulation “is safe when it is properly installed.” Eye, skin, and throat irritation is common among installers who don’t take proper care.

Whichever way you go, this may be a good time to do it. The 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides for a federal tax credit for installing insulation of 30 percent of the purchase price, up to a total credit of $1,500.

Before you jump in, make sure your improvements qualify for the credit. Check out the fine print at energytaxincentives.org. For state and local information, visit dsireusa.org.

Already, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) is predicting lower heating bills for the winter of 2009-10, based on lower fuel prices and the anticipation of milder weather. In its Winter Fuels Outlook, the EIA projects average savings of about eight percent per household.

“Heating accounts for 31 percent of the typical home’s energy costs,” Alliance to Save Energy President Kateri Callahan said. “So using energy efficiency measures to lower those heating bills will keep real money in consumers’ pockets. Simply tightening up your home and insulating sufficiently to avoid sending precious warm air ‘out the window,’ for example, can cut yearly heating bills by up to 20 percent.”

For a different look at these and other insulation choices, visit the US Department of Energy.

For another side-by-side comparison, check out a table provided by the Cellulose Insulation Manufacturers Association.

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory put together this Insulation Fact Sheet.

Copyright © 2008 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

If you’ve ever thought about going solar to take a bite out of your utility bills, you may want to take another look: A perfect storm of events, policies and programs currently makes solar more affordable than ever.

The problem: He who hesitates may miss the best deals.

“People say, ‘It’s too good to be true,’” says John Berger, CEO of Standard Renewable Energy of Houston. “And, you’re right, it is. That’s why it’s not going to last.”

In theory, solar has always been an attractive source of alternative energy. It’s clean. It’s green. What’s not to like about harnessing power from the sun to climate-control your home, keep the lights on, and maybe even run a few appliances?

For the average person, the issue has been cost. Until recently,going solar on any kind of useful scale has been expensive, asking buyers to pony up big bucks, then wait 20 years or more to recoup their investment through monthly utility savings.

Here’s what has happened to change all that:

• Since the middle of 2008, the price of solar panels has dropped about 40 percent. Credit increased production of polysilicon and the opening of more panel-producing plants, particularly in China.
• The global economic slowdown: Installations in Europe – long a hotbed for solar power – are expected to be off 26 percent from last year, according to consulting firm Emerging Media Research. More supply + less demand = lower prices.
• More generous government subsidies: In 2008, homeowners could get a 30 percent tax credit on solar installations, but the credit was limited to $2,000. That ceiling was removed on January 1.
• And, yes, even many of your old-guard utilities are helping make solar more affordable. For the moment, at least, rebates from your regular utility can further slash your bottom line.

Put it all together, and going green by way of the sun isn’t only for those enjoying deep pockets. With so many moving parts, however, the current opportunity may be fleeting.

According to SRE’s Berger, the decline in materials cost will almost certainly lead to reduced government incentives. (If it’s already cheap – or cheaper – why subsidize?) At the same time, utilities have begun backing away from rebates. (In Northern California, Pacific Gas and Electric is cutting its rebate program by 29 percent; Phoenix’s Salt River Project trimmed 10 percent from its homeowners rebate in June.)

“Any incentives you can get from your local utility, or the state, or the federal government, you need to wrap them up now,” Berger says. “We’re already faced with incentives getting cut because of the price decline. We anticipate more by the end of the year, and we expect a whole lot more next year.”

For now, those with the resources to invest can enjoy big bargains.

About a year ago, Greg Hare of Magnolia, Texas, priced a system for his 7,000-square foot house and garage at about $100,000. He decided to wait. Over time, the drop in panel prices trimmed about $23,000 from that bill, and the beefed-up tax credit nearly doubled his savings. Ultimately, Hare took advantage of the situation and opted for a larger system, installing 64 panels rather than the originally-planned 42.

For those with more modest means, Berger estimates that a typical homeowner can cut 20 percent off his bill with a post-tax credit investment of $15,000 or less.

As prices become affordable to a wider range of potential customers, the long-term implications may be more significant than the current run of attractive short-term deals. Regarded by detractors as an environmentally friendly but largely impractical solution, solar appears to be in the process of becoming a real and viable industry.

When you think silicon, you think of computers. Yet, in 2008, more silicon went into solar panels than microchips, says Mike Splinter, CEO of Applied Materials, a Silicon Valley company that makes the machines that manufacture microchips.

“We are seeing the industrialization of the solar business,” he told The New York Times. “In the last 12 months, it has brought us a $1.3 billion business. It is hard to build a billion-dollar business.”

Where does your local utility fit in this picture? That depends largely on where you live and who controls the market.

In Austin, Texas, municipally-owned Austin Energy offers an aggressive rebate program, featured prominently on its website. Similarly, San Antonio’s CPS Energy touts the new kids on the energy block. In those cities, you can go solar and get considerable help in doing so.

In Colorado, on the other hand, the state’s largest utility (Xcel) tried passing a surcharge on homes and businesses using rooftop solar power. The initiative quickly crumbled in the face of public outcry and pressure from the governor’s office. (Environment Colorado is now lobbying the state to increase subsidies for residential solar power.)

“Typically, the municipal utilities are the ones more embracing of it,” Berger says. “The industrial utilities…hate it with a passion.”

Still, even seemingly-entrenched industrial power companies may have to reassess their position. According to data compiled by Credit Suisse Securities, wholesale power demand in the United States was down 15.3 percent in the second quarter of 2009 compared to a similar period a year ago.

Experts attribute much of that to the economic slowdown, but concede that conservation efforts and a move to alternative energy sources have played a part. If that’s the case, utilities that have dominated their markets may be forced to seek a different kind of role in a changing landscape.

Already, John Berger senses a change in the perception of the power of the sun.

“A lot of the utilities thought this was a social do-gooders business,” he says. “I’ve had some execs ask me that. ‘It’s really nice, what you’re doing for the planet, John.’ And I’ve always told them that I wanted to make one thing clear: We’re here to make money and help people basically get off the debt you keep putting on their backs.

“That wasn’t taken seriously until this year. A lot of it is being taken seriously now.”

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Significantly more Gulf Coast homes and businesses are at risk of disastrous flooding from hurricane-related storm surges than previously recognized by property owners or policymakers, a new study says.

The study also found that government minimum flood elevation requirements for properties vulnerable to storm surge throughout the Gulf Coast region are woefully inadequate. The report comes one year after Hurricane Ike struck and wiped away many of the structures on the Bolivar Peninsula near Galveston last September.

“HURRICANE IKE: Nature’s Force vs. Structural Strength” was issued by the Institute for Business & Home Safety, a not-for-profit applied research and communications organization supported by property insurers and reinsurers. The IBHS study questions the current basis for elevating properties along the Gulf Coast and urges the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) to provide greater incentives for building well above the minimum elevations now in place.

More than 50 percent of the nation’s population lives within 50 miles of the coast, with more than $9 trillion of insured coastal property vulnerable to hurricanes. The NFIP, which is the federal government program that provides flood insurance to homes and businesses, also establishes base flood elevation (BFE) levels for properties.

According to the new study’s findings, the BFE requirement for homes on Texas’ Bolivar Peninsula ranged between 13 feet for homes built in the 1970s and 17 feet to 19 feet for homes built beginning in 1983. All but a handful of properties within the first few rows of houses from the coast, built to even the highest elevation requirements, were washed away during Hurricane Ike.

By contrast, the study found that 10 homes on the Bolivar Peninsula designed and built under IBHS’s building code-plus new construction program, “Fortified. . .for safer living,” survived the storm sustaining minor damage. Those homes had outdoor decks at 18 feet that were destroyed, but the homes, which were elevated to 26 feet, survived.

According to IBHS Senior Vice President of Research and Chief Engineer Dr. Tim Reinhold, most homes in coastal areas are built to or slightly above 100-year base flood elevations.

“A 100-year flood means that the level of flood water has a 1 percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any single year,” Reinhold said in a statement “However, it is well recognized in the engineering community that coastal homes built to this level have a 26 percent chance of being flooded or demolished over the life of a 30-year mortgage. This chance increases to about 40 percent in a 50-year period.”

“All it takes is a breaking wave about 2 feet above the base of a house to knock out the bottom floor or destroy a frame house,” Reinhold said. “The chances of destruction can be significantly reduced by employing what has been learned about the importance of proper elevation, which can be relatively inexpensive when building a coastal home.”

By Hosea Sanders and Sylvia Jones

CHICAGO (WLS) — More people are deciding to save energy by installing solar panels — even while the debate continues over whether they are worth the investment. One way to live green while saving money is to conserve energy. If you’ve ever wondered whether solar panels are really the best way to do that, you can find out through an upcoming “solar tour.” >> Read the full story

(AUSTIN) — New restaurants, bars, office and residential buildings and parking garages are transforming downtown Austin every day.  With all these new structures come new rooftops.  While most of us would think of a roof just being a roof, others see potential beauty.

Austin company turning roofs green… literally

The student housing around West Campus used to be scarce.  Now the area is bustling with places to live, study and relax.  Eleanor McKinney is a landscape architect and is the first certified green roof professional in Austin.  She came up with something unique for one student housing rooftop, and now it’s covered in plants; a literal definition of “going green.” >> Read the full story

When it comes to clogged drains, it’s been a struggle to find an effective alternative to the many harsh chemicals that most people rely on to break up trapped debris. But a Houston company has developed a product that is brilliant in its simplicity and has the added benefit of being as green as you can get where brownish goop is involved.

The PermaFLOW Self Cleaning Drain by PF WaterWorks has already won the Best of What’s New Award from Popular Science. It replaces an existing P-trap — that curved section of pipe just below your sink — with an improved version that has been engineered to eliminate the need for secondary maintenance products and procedures such as plunging, caustic drain cleaners and messy drain dis-assembly.

We installed one in about 10 minutes and found it to be easy and effective. The PermaFLOW has a couple of unique characteristics that are hugely helpful. The first is that it is made of clear plastic, which allows you to actually see the problem you have or — more importantly — see the problem that you are about to have. Second, the device includes a swiper that you turn with a knob, which helps you sweep through debris before a major clog can occur.

These are improvements that are “duh” obvious and yet no one else appears to have re-thought the classic P-trap in this innovative way. (PF WaterWorks has a patent on the design).

Created by two serial inventors who are happy to remain behind the scenes, the PermaFLOW has one other critical design detail. “The shape of the plastic generates significant turbulence and actually pushes debris out, so you don’t have any debris settling in the trap area,” says Sanjay Ahuja, vice president of PF WaterWorks.

He also points out that the design works particularly well with low-flow faucets, something that most environmentally-aware consumers eventually get around to installing.

And while we were unabashedly impressed by how well the PermaFLOW works, Ahuja says he gets fan mail and calls for the new product all the time.

“I had a woman who called me from the West Coast and she said, ‘I want to order two more of these. One for me and one for God,’ ” says Ahuja, laughing.

The PermaFlow is available for $29.95 through Amazon.com. You also can buy directly from the PermaFLOW site. Ahuja says Home Depot is rolling it out in select stores and he expects it will be available through most major home improvement retailers by early 2010.

Related video:

View a demonstration of the PermaFLOW: