Re: Digital Tools Help Users Save Energy, Study Finds

[nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Dave Houston)]

I saw that article. There was another a few weeks back (NYT, IIRC) about a
company that manufactures equipment to generate electricity using waste heat
from smokestacks. The potential savings from both ideas is huge (4-5 times
the savings from CFLs) but most utilities are guaranteed a rate of return on
investment so they have no interest in reducing their plant & equipment -
the more they waste, the more they profit.

The smokestack generators could even be combined with scrubbers to remove
mercury and other pollutants.

But congress isn't likely to take on the electric power industry from whence
cometh campaign funds. Instead, they force CFLs on consumers. It's a twofer
as they can also collect campaign funds from Philips and Wallmart.

"Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/10/technology/10energy.html?ref=science
>
>"Giving people the means to closely monitor and adjust their electricity use
>lowers their monthly bills and could significantly reduce the need to build
>new power plants, according to a yearlong government study.
>
>The results of the research project by the Pacific Northwest National
>Laboratory of the Energy Department, released Wednesday, suggest that if
>households have digital tools to set temperature and price preferences, the
>peak loads on utility grids could be trimmed by up to 15 percent a year."
>
>(more at site - registration may be required - if so, just copy a paragraph
>into Google . . . )
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>---------------------------------------
>
>Sounds like a better way to do things than adding mercury to the environment
>in a commodity item sold by the millions (billions?) and trusting *everyone*
>to recycle religiously.  This study correctly points out that "peak loads"
>are what matter the most.  That's not likely the time that CFL bulbs are on
>line;  there's usually plenty of daylight available during peak load hours
>so the savings gains claimed by CFL use have to be taken with a grain of
>salt (in a tincture of mercury).
>
>I still firmly believe that if the problem is coming OUT of power plant
>smokestacks, that's where it should be controlled.  Schemes that add a known
>toxin to the environment in incredible numbers should be examined very
>closely so that we don't create as big a problem as the one we are trying to
>solve.  Automakers knocked the pollutants coming out of cars down to
>incredibly low levels compared to the 1960 levels once people and the Feds
>demanded it.  The power plant operators have to be brought to the same level
>of social responsibility even though they'll kick and scream every inch of
>the way.


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