Energy Options » SAVE ENERGY

SUSTAINABLE ENERGY AUTHORITY CONTACT DETAILS

Editor — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 02:56:18 +0000

Sustainable Energy Development Authority

45 Clarence Street
Sydney NSW 2000
PH: 02 9249 6100 FAX: 02 9299 1519
Email: Unknown
Website: www.seda.nsw.gov.au

Sourced & published by Henry Sapiecha

POWER COMPANY IN NSW AUSTRALIA – INTEGRAL ENERGY

Editor — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 02:37:23 +0000

INTEGRAL ENERGY

PO Box 6366,
Blacktown NSW 2148
Phone: 131 081
Facsimile: 02 9853 6000
Website: www.integral.com.au
Email: integral@integral.com.au
The second largest state-owned energy corporation in New South Wales, Integral Energy was incorporated under the Energy Services Corporations Act 1995

Sourced & published by Henry Sapiecha

ENERGY AUSTRALIA CONTACT DETAILS

Editor — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 02:22:44 +0000

EnergyAustralia

570 George Street
Sydney NSW 2000
PH: 131 535 FAX: Unknown
Email: Unknown
Website: www.energy.com.au

Sourced & published by Henry Sapiecha

SUSTAINABILITY & ENERGY GOVERNMENT CONTACTS

Editor — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 02:17:50 +0000

Energy, Utilities and Sustainability, Department of

227 Elizabeth Street
Sydney NSW 2000
PH: 02 8281 7777 FAX: 02 8291 7799
Email: Unknown
Website: www.deus.nsw.gov.au

or www.energysmart.com.au

Sourced & published by Henry Sapiecha

SMART POWER USAGE METERS WILL SAVE YOU MONEY

Editor — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 13:37:30 +0000

Smart Meters Save $$$

Mechanical Engineers’ Device

Helps Electricity Conservation

January 1, 2007 — Smart meters are small computers that provide real-time information on how much electricity is being used by each customer and when, and can relay information back to the head office over the very same power lines they feed from. Smart meters can bill different rates depending overall grid usage, to encourage conservation. Users can program them to control appliances, for example running the dishwasher during off-peak hours, when rates are lower.

See also:

Matter & Energy

Reference

SAN FRANCISCO — During the winter, we crank up the heat. During the summer, we turn up the air. And all the time we’re eating up electricity. Now a new smart meter may help to save energy and save money.

Like most parents, finding ways to save is a priority for Trina Camping. But she thought saving on her electric bill was a lost cause. That is, until she saw the light and started using a SmartMeter.

“This is what makes a SmartMeter smart,” Mechanical Engineer Tim Vahlstrom, tells DBIS. “It’s mounted onto a typical electric meter.”

Engineers at Pacific Gas and Electric in San Francisco are working on SmartMeters. They’re mini computers that provide real-time information on how much electricity is being used by each customer and when.

“This utilizes a technology called ‘Powerline Carrier.’ So it puts the signal back on the lines that actually feed the Meter, back through the power lines, to the transformer, back all the way to the head office,” Vahlstrom says.

Everything is done remotely. You can turn your air conditioning, heating and lights on at home — even when you’re on vacation.

Vahlstrom says, “I want my thermostat to raise temperature by five degrees or four degrees if the price of electricity gets above this level. Then automatically the thermostat we can send a command to do that.”

Power outages can be detected immediately, and within seconds, power is back on. “It actually does these things remotely without a person on-site,” Vahlstrom says.

Peak power hours are from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. By running her dishwasher and other appliances later at night, the power company gives Camping and her family a discount.

“We’ve saved about $150 to $200,” Camping says. It’s the first step to saving electricity and saving money.

Minnesota, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Florida are already using the SmartMeters. Not all of the functions are available right now in every state, but will be soon.

YOUR FREE ECO ENERGY USAGE REPORT HERE

Editor — Mon, 10 May 2010 11:04:42 +0000

Is your power bill too high????

Free Home Sustainability Assessment

Accredited home sustainability assessors provide a face to face opportunity for people to ask and hear about other programs and rebates that can help them improve the environmental performance of their home.

Households are often overwhelmed by the amount of information available describing the best actions to save energy and water and to reduce greenhouse gases. It can be difficult to decide what action to take.

Householders can access a free, comprehensive Home Sustainability Assessment to reduce their energy and water bills, increase the comfort of their home and help reduce damaging carbon pollution. This independent assessment by a qualified expert assessor will provide advice from the smallest behaviour change to major investments such as a solar hot water system or photovoltaic panels. From this assessment, householders will get a tailored, expert report listing the most effective changes for their home.

The assessment will involve the physical inspection of major energy and water systems relating to thermal comfort, water heating, lighting, refrigeration, cooking, entertainment, water efficiency and outdoor consumption, and waste management. The length of the inspection will be influenced by the amount of information readily available, the size of the property and the number of energy and water systems to be considered. Each assessment should take around 1.5 hours to complete.

People who make energy and water efficiency changes to their home reap the savings that come from using less energy and water.

Cost of living is not the only saving. At the same time, each household that improves its energy and water consumption reduces the carbon footprint of their home.

Consider that the average household contributes 14 tonnes of greenhouse gas to the atmosphere each year and draws an average 292,000 litres.

Transforming our homes to be more energy efficient and water smart makes sense for our own cost of living and for the environment.

By making improvements to our homes today we can ensure that the homes of the next generation cost less to heat and cool, are more comfortable and contribute less carbon pollution.

Michelle Today on 0447776379 to book your ‘free’ assessment.

www.energy-options.info

ecoassessor@gmail.com

Servicing The Fraser Coast – Queensland Australia

HEAT ABSORBING PANELS CONTAIN LATEST COMPOUND FOR ENERGY SAVING

Editor — Sun, 02 May 2010 22:58:10 +0000

“Melting” Drywall Keeps Rooms Cool

AC killers: These acrylic microcapsules are filled with a paraffin wax that can absorb heat from buildings. Credit: Peter Schossig

Developers think these phase-change materials could reduce the need for air-conditioning.

Building materials that absorb heat during the day and release it at night, eliminating the need for air-conditioning in some climates, will soon be on the market in the United States. The North Carolina company National Gypsum is testing drywall sheets–the plaster panels that make up the walls in most new buildings–containing capsules that absorb heat to passively cool a building. The capsules, made by chemical giant BASF, can be incorporated into a range of construction materials and are already found in some products in Europe.

The “phase-change” materials inside the BASF capsules keep a room cool in much the same way that ice cubes chill a drink: by absorbing heat as they melt. Each polymer capsule contains paraffin waxes that melt at around room temperature, enabling them to keep the temperature of a room constant throughout the day. The waxes work best in climates that cool down at night, allowing the materials inside the capsules to solidify and release the heat they’ve stored during the day.

In some southern European climates, for example, the materials absorb enough heat during the day to save 20 percent of the electricity needed for air-conditioning. In northern Europe, where nighttime temperatures are cooler, a building incorporating the materials may not need an air conditioner at all, says Peter Schossig, an engineer at the Fraunhofer Institute in Munich, Germany, whose research group worked with BASF to develop the capsules.

The work is part of a push in the construction industry toward greener building materials that help maintain comfortable temperatures without using electricity. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, buildings consume more than 70 percent of the electricity generated in America, and about 8 percent of that is used for air-conditioning in homes and offices. Widely used lightweight construction materials including wooden framing and drywall enable contractors to put up buildings rapidly, but they don’t store much heat, so temperatures inside fluctuate throughout the day.

Phase-change materials offer a way to add thermal mass to lightweight building materials, says Leon Glicksman, professor of building technology and mechanical engineering at MIT. Since the 1950s, several companies have tried to develop passive cooling systems that take advantage of phase-change materials. But they had limited success because it’s difficult to incorporate these new materials into existing building substances.

BASF makes the microcapsules by rapidly beating melted wax into hot water. Since wax and water repel one another, the wax forms small droplets. When the researchers add acrylic precursors to the mix, the repulsion between wax and water drives them to coat the droplets’ surface. Finally, they add a catalyst to form an acrylic polymer shell around the wax. The resulting wet mixture can then be added to the powder that’s used to make drywall or dried out and incorporated into other construction materials, including concrete and plasters.

Chemical giant DuPont also makes encapsulated phase-change materials and has incorporated them into heat-absorbing panels that it markets in Europe. BASF’s strategy is a little different: the company sells the capsules to other companies to incorporate into a range of building materials, including ceiling panels, aerated concrete blocks, and drywall. Based on German electricity prices and climate conditions, a study conducted by BASF estimated that a family home made with plaster that incorporated 360 grams of the phase-change material (at a cost of $4,883) would save enough electricity to recoup the cost within five years.

National Gypsum is working with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and California’s Emerging Technologies Coordinating Council to field-test its heat-absorbing panels, which will be marketed under the name Thermalcore. The panels are made by mixing the BASF microcapsule-water solution with gypsum, the mineral used to make drywall. The paraffins used by BASF can be tailored to melt at different temperatures; those in National Gypsum’s panels liquefy at 22.8 ºC (about 73 ºF). According to the company, the panels can store 22 British thermal units per square foot.

National Gypsum will take at least a year to test the panels’ performance through all four seasons before bringing them to market. A spokesperson says the company may reformulate the panels to include more or less of the capsules, depending on how they perform in the climate of the western United States. Data from the field trials will also be used to model how much the panels help reduce energy consumption.

So far, the heat-absorbing capsules have only been tested in passive systems. But they could also be used in active systems in warmer climates, says MIT’s Glicksman. “In commercial buildings, you could run the air conditioner at night when electricity is cheaper and use the phase-change materials to maintain lower temperatures during the day,” he says. Schossig says his research group and BASF are gathering data from experimental active systems.

http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/24476/

Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 3rd May 2010

THERMAL PERFORMANCE FOR YOUR HOME – REPORT DONE FOR FREE

Editor — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 09:16:50 +0000

Residential Mandatory Disclosure

Commencing with energy efficiency by May 2011, phase-in mandatory disclosure of residential buildings for energy, greenhouse and water performance at the time of sale or lease will be invoked. This scheme is being instigated by the Commonwealth Government and will unify the many existing State schemes that are now in existence. To put it simply if you are a home owner wishing to sell your house you must first acquire a certificate from a qualified assessor who will visit you in your home and conduct an energy efficiency survey of your home leaving you with a certificate that you can hand to a real estate agent who can then list your property for sale.

The details on your assessment will give all prospective buyers a window into your home allowing them a full picture of what they might be buying and would have a star rating for the energy effectiveness based along the same lines as for new homes. Unlike new homes that will have to be a 6 star rating in the future, an existing home will be given a star rating that is appropriate to the standard that is found by the assessor. From this the buyer will be able to decide on their preference to purchase a home with all the bells and whistles or something that might be less expensive but requires some upgrading work to meet a higher standard.

The assessment will cover the building envelope including roof, walls, doors and windows as well as the energy efficiency of key building services.

Star Ratings

A star rating is given as part of the Energy Efficiency Rating assessment of a building, it provides a simplified indication of how efficient the building is, ranging from 0 to 10 stars (initially the range was to 6 stars) in 0.5 star increments. This is similar to energy labeling of appliances, such as refrigerators. A 0 star rating is very poor and means the building shell does practically nothing to reduce the discomfort of hot or cold weather. A 5 star rating indicates good, but not outstanding, thermal performance. People living in a 10 star home are unlikely to need any artificial cooling or heating.

Higher energy efficiency standards for both residential and commercial buildings got the tick of approval at last year’s Coalition of Australian Governments’ (COAG) meeting but builders and energy groups argue the scheme needs further changes and sustainability experts would like to see it go further.

COAG agreed that from 2011 the energy efficiency rating for houses will increase from 5 to 6 stars. Mandatory disclosure of energy efficiency for commercial buildings will commence in 2010 and for residential buildings by 2011.

Written by Michelle Hislop fistofcurry@hotmail.com

and published by Henry Sapiecha 15th Jan 2010

INTEREST FREE MONEY NOW AVAILABLE – APPLY HERE FOR A GREEN LOAN

Editor — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:38:46 +0000

INTEREST FREE MONEY FOR THE TAKING -GOVERNMENT FUNDED

The Australian Government has allowed each householder to have their residence assessed for eco friendliness and if you qualify give you an interest free loan up to $10,000 for improvemnts to the residence in supplying and installing any such facilities that will ensure compliance to the latest eco friendly standards.

THIS SECTION WILL BE EXPANDED IN DUE COURSE AS INFO BECOMES AVAILABLE TO GIVE YOU THE OPPORTUNITY TO APPLY FOR THESE INTEREST FREE LOANS.

WATCH THIS SPACE -more info

or GO TO CATEGORY-GREEN LOANS on right hand side of this site.

In the meantime if you have any queries about green loans address your enquiry to

fistofcurry@hotmail.com

Michelle HislopBA.Comm. JP Qual.[Qualified Assessor]

Don’t miss out-Apply now

FREE INSULATION INSTALLATION-$1,600 FROM THE GOVERNEMENT

Editor — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:35:49 +0000

*If you have any queries about solar or alternative power, water or heating questions then call us for an appraisal and assessment with a quote option for your selection.

FRASER COAST AREA – QUEENSLAND – AUSTRALIA

Up to 45% of your cooling efforts are lost through the ceiling.

Insulate your home today and keep your home cooler this summer

and warmer in winter

by ENERGY OPTIONS.

With current weather predictions that this summer will be

the hottest in years, insulate your home now with bulk insulation

(glass wool or polyester) or embrace new technology

and install the new REFLECTIVE FOIL insulation (R6.4)

offering up to 2.5 times the performance of bulk insulation.

REFLECTIVE FOIL is made from clean safe aluminum

and is PERFECT for asthmatics and allergy sufferers.

Make yourself comfortable with Solar Wise Insulation

by ENERGY OPTIONS

Did you know the summer sun could heat a roof to temperatures

as hot as 65 degrees? Did you also know in winter 26% of the heat

can be lost through the ceiling?

ENERGY OPTIONS QIS Solar Wise Insulation can provide

your home with comfortable living conditions even in the

hottest summer or the freezing cold of winter.

*TOLL FREE NUMBER 1800350069

admin@acbocallcentre.com

* is your representative. Call her now.

See if you qualify. She will come and see you and give you a Free quote.

Queensland Australia 07 41290152 0447776379

*Created and published by Henry Sapiecha 13th August 2009