The Amount of Energy Wasted by Businesses is Astonishing. But This Technology Could Reduce That

Growing up everyone had at least one friend with a pet reptile. But whether it was a snake, iguana or turtle, the most memorable thing wasn’t the animal itself. Rather, it was that mesmerizing reddish-pink glow of the infrared heat lamp inside its cage. Localized, targeted and direct, the lamp was an efficient way to keep that cold-blooded friend comfortable.
What if the same technology could be adapted for humans?
Crazy as it sounds, MITs Senseable City Lab is looking to do just that, reports Wired magazine. Given that commercial buildings account for 20 percent of national energy consumption but are rarely filled to capacity, this cost is a massive drain on our wallets — and a waste of energy to boot. So researchers are hoping to decrease this energy usage through hyper-localized beams of infrared heat on a human scale.
While HVAC systems blanket entire spaces with hot or cool air, Local Warming, as the concept has been dubbed, uses LED bulbs to directly beam rays of infrared light onto people, heating up the area around them.. A WiFi-enabled tracker allows this system to sense when a human is present and beam heat down like a spotlight from a ceiling rig.
Similar to track lighting, the system is comprised of a large infrared bulb surrounded by rotating mirrors that can direct the light in a focused beam. The current iteration is bulky, but future prototypes will use smaller LEDs to adapt the technology for home use. “It’s almost like having a your personal sun,” says Carlo Ratti, a professor in the Senseable City Lab.
DON’T MISS: 10 Do’s and Don’ts: Easy Ways to Save Energy — and Money — at Home
For now, perhaps the best use of Local Warming is in airy spaces where energy use is least efficient, like lobbies. Revolving doors have helped save thousands of dollars in energy costs but the addition of localized heat where foot traffic is less predictable can, according to Ratti, reduce energy consumption up to 90 percent.
Cheap, practical delivery of heat is the goal now, but the Energy division of Advanced Research Projects Agency (the folks who brought us the internet) is looking to invest in further research and development.  Down the road this technology has the potential to free architects from the aesthetic and design constraints imposed by traditional HVAC systems for even more efficient and energy-saving innovation.
 
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10 Do’s and Don’ts: Easy Ways to Save Energy—and Money—at Home

With a few cheap gadgets and some simple lifestyle changes, you can slash your energy bill and protect the environment. NationSwell talked to Helene Gotthelf, projects manager at the Institute for the Built Environment, a sustainability research center at Colorado State University, to compile a list of 10 easy do’s and don’ts for improving the energy efficiency of your home — while also saving you money.

5 Easy Energy Do’s

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5 Simple Energy Don’ts

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These Lamps Are a Lot Smarter Than They Look

We have smartphones, smart televisions, and smart thermostats, so why not smart lights?
As it turns out, we soon will. Last week, Silver Spring Networks announced it will build the largest-ever project to connect streetlights to a smart grid in the United States. The company plans to work with its client Florida Power & Light to build 75,000 smart lights  in the Miami-Dade County area.
Not only will this be the biggest such undertaking yet, but it will be the first to connect streetlights to a network used for smart metering. Each lamp will serve as a node that collects information about the grid. Workers will be able to control the lights, monitor outages, and figure out how to fix problems remotely. Because the streetlights will be connected to the same grid as houses and businesses, the additional information they provide will help the company diagnose and fix outages more quickly and pinpoint where the problem is originating. “To them, a street light is just another sensor on the network,” Sterling Hughes, Silver Spring’s senior director of advanced technology told Jeff St. John of GreenTech Media. “The lighting serves as a perfect canopy to strengthen the network.”
Silver Spring has previously worked on smart grid streetlight programs in Paris and Copenhagen. Hopefully this smart idea will prove to be a useful model here in the States as well.
MORE: How All These Snowstorms Could Make for Better Roads and Cities
 

Meet the Former Navy SEAL Saving Lives — by Saving Energy — on the Battlefield

Doug Moorehead remembers the exact moment senior Marine Corps officials rendered their verdict. In the summer of 2010, soldiers being trained near the desert town of Twentynine Palms, Calif., had been testing a hybrid generator system — a system Moorehead himself had helped engineer to power everything an off-the-grid military outpost needs. Out on the scorched Mojave Desert, home to the hottest temperature ever recorded, the devices — made up of a diesel generator equipped with solar panels, a high-tech battery and automation software — sucked up energy from the sun and stored the excess. As a result, the generator systems used diesel fuel for only a few hours each day, rather than 24/7.
Flash forward several months. Moorehead, a Navy vet and the president of Earl Energy, a startup based in Virginia Beach, Va., was at the Pentagon to discuss the results. He had just finished presenting the data that the military had collected during the tests when the senior official across the table said the line that still sticks in his mind to this day: “It’s almost too good to be true, Doug.”
If the device Moorehead had helped develop after retiring from SEAL Team Two was unbelievable —  indeed, it reduced fuel consumption by a whopping 70 percent — it was in part because the military’s setup had been in need of an overhaul for quite some time.
MORE: Life After the Military: Helping Veterans With Their Second Act
mohaveThe Mojave Desert, a scorching hot area used by the Marine Corps for training. Thinkstock
But Moorehead was the right man to revamp the system. At the United States Naval Academy, he found he loved the problem-solving aspects of science and technology, and says he could have been happy studying everything from physics to electrical engineering. “Unfortunately you can’t be an undergrad for 25 years, you have to pick one,” he says. He chose chemistry. Then he trained as a SEAL pilot navigator, spending three years working with battery-powered submarines, traveling 40-plus miles underwater at a go on top-secret work in places like the Pacific and the South China Sea. Those subs’ rechargeable batteries did not last long, he recalls. He applied to grad school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to work on building better ones.
There he joined forces with Yet-Ming Chiang, a professor of materials science and engineering, who encouraged him to try for something big in his research, rather than an incremental advance. Moorehead worked on coming up with a way to make self-assembling, rechargeable batteries: mix the right set of chemicals together, the idea went, apply them to a surface, then just add heat and watch the components arrange themselves. Going big paid off. By the time he finished his master’s degree, Moorehead was riding his bike across the Charles River several days a week to help train employees at the startup company A123 Systems in Waltham, Mass., which had licensed his technology from MIT.
Then it was back to the battlefield, in summer 2005. He trained soldiers in the Philippines and Colombia, and fought in Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. After nine years in the Navy, he headed to Harvard for an MBA and went to work at A123. In 2009 he ran into a former Naval Academy classmate, Josh Prueher (at a string of weddings, Prueher recalls), and heard about Prueher’s new company, Earl Energy.
ALSO: When Veterans Leave the Service, This College Helps Them Process Their Experiences
Fuel is enormously costly on the battlefield, both monetarily and in terms of the lives lost when fuel convoys are attacked. An Army Environmental Policy Institute study found that between 2003 and 2007, one military fuel convoy in 24 was attacked and resulted in a casualty, either injury or death, and that 1 in 8 Army casualties in Iraq during that period occurred while defending such convoys. “I recognized that fuel and maintenance and spare-parts logistics on the battlefield was a critical vulnerability,” Prueher says. Moorehead knew this issue well: “We spent a lot of time as special forces, providing security for the movement of necessities around Iraq — fuel, water, food,” he recalls. And he knew that with his knowledge of batteries, he could help.
Earl-Energy-1Photo courtesy of Earl Energy.
The generator system they eventually produced is surprisingly simple. Normally, a military generator runs on diesel fuel all day long, and it uses enough fuel to power everything attached to it, should the need arise. But often the need doesn’t arise — and that’s wasted energy. Moorehead likens it to turning your car on, driving it to work, leaving it running all day, driving home from work, parking it in your garage — then letting it run all night.
With Earl Energy’s system, the generator only needs to run a few hours, at the level at which it has the greatest fuel efficiency. The excess energy is saved in the battery, along with any solar energy that might be available. Automation software switches the generator off when it’s not needed and power is drawn from the battery, until it’s time to recharge again. It’s not complicated, but it is the change the military needed. “The technology is evolutionary, but the concept and its impact are really interesting,” says Capt. Frank Furman, U.S. Marine Corps, logistics program manager in the Office of Naval Research’s Expeditionary Maneuver Warfare and Combating Terrorism Department.
DON’T MISS: How This Navy SEAL Uses His War Wounds to Help Other Soliders
“If we want to fly a helicopter from point A, we need to get fuel to point A,” Furman continues. “That largely involves fuel convoys, which is why our enemies have relied on the IED as its primary weapon. That tactic is a reaction to our reliance on this specific form of energy. … We’ve been living it in Iraq and Afghanistan. With the cost of fuel rising and the costs of alternative energy generation — such as solar — falling, the economics of investment begin to make more sense.”
Earl-Energy-2Doug Moorehead. Photo courtesy of Earl Energy.
Moorehead’s technical savvy and on-the-ground experience led him to that panel at the Pentagon, where the numbers proved that Earl Energy’s generator system could perform above expectations. In addition to reducing fuel consumption 70 percent, it decreased the amount of time the diesel generators had to run by 80 percent. The Marine Corps bought two units, and dispatched them to Afghanistan for 18 months to be tested in a demanding combat situation. The hybrid generator passed with flying colors: Fuel consumption dropped 52 percent and generator run time declined by 80 percent. Ten Earl Energy generator systems are currently being used by the military around the world.
Now Moorehead and the rest of Earl Energy are working with defense contractors to incorporate the technology into products to be provided to the military. They are also developing new versions that run on natural gas and can be used in oil and gas prospecting. “We have ambitions that this technology could really change the way every single generator in the world operates,” Prueher says. “Not just the military.”
This is the first story in a series about former Navy SEALS who have gone on to serve the country in other fields, from business and government to social innovation and military affairs.
MORE: An Innovative Idea to Help Veterans and the Environment at the Same Time

Meet the Professors Who Want to Hack Your Radiator

The radiator isn’t exactly a paragon of energy efficiency. It’s been around for more than two centuries, and for nearly all of that time, people have been opening their windows in the middle of winter to combat overheating and avoid swimming in sweaty sheets. So to solve the problem, a technology company is hooking up a radiator cover to wifi to control temperature shifts more efficiently and make sure those windows stay firmly closed.
The Cozy, as the device is called, fits over the radiator and uses fans to regulate the temperature inside a room, blowing hot air when it’s needed and shutting off when it’s not. People can even use a smartphone to set their preferred temperature.
Radiator Labs, the company behind the Cozy, has installed the devices on 250 radiators at Columbia and NYU for whole-building beta testing. They estimate that each steam radiator wastes an average of 20 gallons of oil a year, with 30 percent of its heat wasted. In cities like New York with thousands of buildings that use old-school radiators to heat buildings, 20 gallons per radiator really adds up.
The company is currently raising money to start production on the Cozy. You can support their Kickstarter project by clicking here (and be sure to check out their video, too!)

There’s a Surprisingly Green Use for Styrofoam

Here’s the thing about polystyrene, AKA Styrofoam: It biodegrades slowly, pollutes our planet and makes annoying squeaking noises when rubbed on anything. But if you consider some of its other qualities — it’s long-lasting, lightweight, easily molded, and found everywhere as a waste product — it becomes the perfect building block for homes.
The use of Styrofoam in buildings, called Insulated Concrete Form (ICF), has been around for decades, but it’s rarely found in residential buildings. However, one such home is being constructed right now in Old Greenwich, Conn., the Stamford Advocate reports. “It’s incredibly energy efficient and environmentally responsible,” Michael Murphy of the construction company, Murphy Brothers Contracting, said. “People think of Styrofoam as bad for the environment, but that’s because it doesn’t deteriorate. It’s bad to throw away. For building something meant to last for a long time, Styrofoam is actually great.”
As the publication reports, the home’s entire exterior is being made of hollow, easily stackable Lego-like Styrofoam blocks that will later be filled in with concrete, thus eliminating the need for plywood. Also, anyone who has ever used a Styrofoam cooler knows that the material is a great insulator, which means the Greenwich home will require less energy for heating and cooling. Sounds like a dream home.
MORE: Will This Be the Largest Energy-Free Building in the World?

You Can Stop Feeling Guilty About Your iPad Now

Our lives are ruled by things that need plugging in and charging. And they all eat up electricity, but not as much as you might think. Check out this slideshow to see how much your devices cost per year to run. Turns out that your iPad takes just $10 per year to power, even if you run the battery down and recharge it every day. A Tesla electric car  stays charged for only $450 a year. And a fridge is a few hundred dollars if you have an energy-efficient one made after 2001. This isn’t license to leave the lights on or take 2-hour showers. But it’s important to understand that some things cost more to run, and others aren’t a big deal. The biggest part of your (or your landlord’s) utility bill is heating, not your latest iDevice.
 

Why Walgreens, Whole Foods Are Letting In More Light

This is one of those everything-old-is-new-again stories. Major retailers like Whole Foods and Walgreens are
discovering they can save money by retrofitting their daylight fixtures. What’s that mean, exactly? Replacing windows and skylights with new ones that let more light into a building. More sunlight means less need for electric lighting. And lower costs. Seems obvious, but windows weren’t always so efficient at preventing heat loss as they are today. When you multiply all the windows in all the big commerical buildings across the county, the savings add up to millions of dollars. Making existing buildings more comfortable and cost effective to run is an extremely green building strategy.
 

With This One Step, Elon Musk Turned SolarCity From a Panel Installer Into a Utility Company

Some industry analysts predict that solar companies will replace utility companies this century. Elon Musk just gave that prediction a lot more credibility. Musk’s solar company, SolarCity, announced that it is on track to raising $54.4 million from private investors. The company has roughly 68,000 signed contracts in the United States. The financial plan is remarkable because it is a first for a solar company; it means, as Fast Co.Exist notes, “SolarCity is financing itself as a utility might.” Other solar companies may soon follow, and soon after, all our roofs will be paved with panels.
Sources: FastCo.Exist
[Image: Araya Diaz/Getty Images for TechCrunch]

Facebook To Ramp Up Wind Power Usage

Facebook (a small dorm-room startup you’ve probably never heard of) plans to open a new data center in Altoona, Iowa that will run completely off of wind power. Scheduled to be operational in 2015, Facebook says the ability to run on renewable energy was a major factor in their decision to choose this location for the new center. MidAmerican Energy will build, own and operate the 138 MW wind farm that will power the center, and they aim to convert 25% of their data centers worldwide to clean energy within two years.