Getting your hands on some green...stimulus
Not all this money will go for energy improvements at home. In fact, most will go to make government buildings more efficient.
But a part of it may be used to offset the cost for utilities that run energy conservation programs.
Those programs include things like performing standard energy audits where contractors come in and evaluate the insulation and appliances in your home, then make the necessary upgrades.
Of course you cannot please everyone and there are bound to people who say that this small start is not enough in these times of energy supply uncertainty. And here they are!
Just don't try to get a loan to do anything right now.
The economy has impacted American car companies in a big way. Most of us are not surprised since we were scratching our heads a few years ago thinking, "When they hell are they going to figure out that they need to get some really inexpensive vehicles with kick ass mileage in the pipeline?"
Here is a gallery of cars that may or may not help save Detroit with the Chevy Volt being the first car to be highlighted.
Of course with electric cars we will need to make infrastructure changes and the following blog takes a look at that:
Electric Cars and a Smarter Grid
And in a true smart grid, electric cars will not only be able to draw on electricity to run their motors, they will also be able to do the reverse: send electricity stored in their batteries back into the grid when it is needed. In effect, cars would be acting like tiny power stations.
“Most days, most cars are going to have lots of extra battery capacity,” said Mr. Kempton, noting that on average, American automobiles get driven for just one hour each day. Electrifying the entire vehicle fleet would provide more than three times the U.S.’s power generation, he said.
Heck, even China is offering up rebates for green vehicles. This thing might just take hold and change the world. Well the parts of the world that can afford it anyway.
Last, but not least, the UAE is looking at alternative energy. Apparently having large tracks of sandy land will lend itself to solar panels very nicely.
Using alternative energy, such as solar power, would not only prove to be an efficient way to cope with the region's increasing demand, the report said, but it would also allow for the export of excess capacities. For example, the UAE could produce its drinking water with the use of renewable energies instead of gas and thus better meet its projected demand, with limited pressure on electricity production.
| technorati tags: alternative energy, green blog, climate change, energy |
