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Fossil fuels and alternate sources of energy
Advantages and disadvantages of solar energy
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Green construction is growing rapidly because it is an alternative to expensive polluting fossil fuels in view of global climate change. Green aspects include helping the environment and can increase the amount of green (money) in one’s wallet. Today there is an enormous push toward investing in green technology and implementing green appliance usage and devices in older homes, newer homes and even homes under construction. There is also a push in the United States to decrease its dependence on fossil fuels to combat climate change, decrease pollution, the trade imbalance, and dependence of foreign oil. The objective of this paper is to explore a selection of green appliances on the market and how investing in them now will pay off in future years to come.
Air Conditioning Alternatives
Air conditioning is an amenity that many homeowners value. It is one appliance in homes and businesses that uses a large amount of electricity. An AC system represents half of the energy use in a building (Perez-Lombard 2011). Although it is hard to establish a universal system design due to the differences in building design, HVAC (heating ventilating and cooling) units are becoming more efficient then they were in the past. Modern day systems can intelligently pump air into rooms based on occupancy, thus eliminating the need to cool or heat an unoccupied room and dramatically reducing the cost of cooling and the demand on the power grid (Demetriou 2009). A large number of smart sensors and controls can be retro fitted to HVAC units to provide such capabilities (Valenti 2002). HVAC systems pull a large amount of power from the power grid. Although smart grid technology is starting to become popular, HVAC systems need to be used wisely. This mea...
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...nservative powers: automated comfort controls and new lighting systems aim to cut electricity costs and reduce pressure on the grid, (Power) Mechanical Engineering 57
Bansal, Pradeep, Vineyard, Edward , Abdelaz, Omar, 2011, Advances in household appliances- A review, Applied Thermal Engineering 31, Issues 17-18: 3748-3760
Stemp-Morlock, Graeme, 2007, Australia's war on drought, Environmental Health Perspectives 115.7: A348.
Yuill, David, Andrew, Coward, Gregor, Henze, 2010, Performance comparison of control methods for tankless water heaters, HVAC & R Research 16.5: 677
Schmidt, Charles, 2008, Room to grow: incentives boost energy-efficient homebuilding, Environmental Health Perspectives 116.1: A32
Bourgeois, Matt, et al, 2010, Tax incentives of going green, The CPA Journal, 80.11: 18+
UN Environment Programme, 2011, Advanced Materials & Processes 169.8:17
While DST’s conserves energy used to power businesses and industries, it is offset by an increased use of electricity from residential areas.
First and foremost, it’s essential that the appliances are addressed. Appliances are the “age spots” of a house. As a result of planned obsolescence, products such as refrigerators and dishwashers are meant to be replaced every ten to fifteen years. This leads to the innovation of new ideas during product manufacturing. For example, when manufacturers released stainless steel refrigerators, the once-popular white models with the convenient ice distributer quickly became outdated. This illustrates a simple rule: investing in new appliances is one of the quickest ways to make a home feel as though the builders recently made the finishing touches and packed up their tools. They instantly modernize the house. This is the reason new appliances weigh so heavily in a buyer’s decision ...
LEED, or Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design, is a certification program for green buildings with stringent requirements for building energy efficient and environmentally responsible structures. Some requirements of this program include specific building materials, smart grid capable, gray water reclamation systems, green space minimums, high levels of insulation and low thermal transfer glass (US Green Building Council). Green buildings are a must if we are to sustain our current level of growth. Despite the higher initial cost of these buildings, the long term energy savings make these buildings a smarter choice for
Internal Revenue Service, (2011). Energy incentives for individuals in the american recovery and reinvestment act Retrieved from http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=206875,00.html
The newly appointed district sales manager, Larry Barr, faces the problem of allocating sales quotas among his various sales representatives. This decision will affect everyone's earnings including his own. This problem is compounded by the fact that different territories have, for a variety of reasons, different potentials. In addition, the territory that is known to be the toughest will soon require a new sales rep.
For new or retrofit construction, every choice can lead to energy savings; energy that is derived primarily from fossil fuels. The typical household LED replacement for a 60w light lasts about 50,000 hours. Pretending that an incandescent could also last that long, it would consume about 3,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy whereas the LE...
As the environmental problems become more and more serious these years, especially that intense negative impact that buildings in modern cities bring to the cities, the concept of Green Building is being more and more important considered by local and federal government. According to the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), a green building is one that utilizes design and construction practices that significantly reduce or eliminate the negative impact of buildings on the environment and the building's occupants. Besides the more and more advanced building structure and technology, the main goal of green building is to protect the health of the occupants, save energy and reduce pollution to environment. There are many certifications of green buildings to judge whether the building meets the standard of green buildings and what environmental performance level is this building at, to help government regulators, building professionals and consumers to see better how this building can be improved and what is its impact on human beings and environment. Such green building programs include Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star program, National Association of Home Builders (NAHB Green), etc. Among them, LEED is one of the most popular certification programs that give the building credits for its environmental performance. In this essay, I will discuss the costs and benefits of different types of building projects that were certified by LEED.
Weltman, Barbara. "Tax Incentives for Going Green." NY Report. N.p., 3 Feb. 2010. Web. 06 Feb. 2014.
Kats, G., Alevantis, L., Berman A., Perlman J., & Mills, E. (2003, October). The Costs and Financial Benefits of Green Buildings: A Report to California’s Sustainable Building Task Force. Retrieved from http://www.usgbc.org/Docs/News/News477.pdf
For the prevantion of the electricity blackout we need to build smart power grid. A modernized electrical grid that uses analog or digital information and communications technology to gather and act on information, such as information about the behaviours of suppliers and consumers is known as a smart grid. This is used to improve the efficiency, reliability, economics, and sustainability of the production and distribution of electricity in an automated fashion[12]. The important aspects of smart grid is to electronic power conditioning and control of the production and distribution of
The beginnings of today's green revolution can be traced back to the environmental awareness of the 1960s and European design. New construction techniques have lead to the development of innovative materials and design concepts. Green buildings are designed, constructed and commissioned to ensure they are healthy for their occupants. Successfully designed green projects can involve an extensive array of factors, ranging from the resourceful use of materials, to careful consideration of function, climate, and location.
Kneidel, Sally, and Sadie Kneidel. Going Green: A Wise Consumer's Guide to a Shrinking Planet. Golden, CO: Fulcrum Pub., 2008. Print.
Unites States Green Building Council. (2014). Leadership in energy and environmental design. Retrieved from http://www.usgbc.org/leed#why
There is a very solid reason for selecting green technology as compared to the other technologies available because there is a very limited amount of natural resources like coal, petroleum available to man kind and these are getting depleted at an alarming rate. Moreover, green technology is turning out to be a good business these days as the market for greener products is increasing day by day. Consumers know that green products reduce their energy bills and these are always safer and healthier products to use, explains [1].
Household energy conservation is a very practical and realistic approach to conserving energy within our society. US households consume a tremendous amount of natural gas as well as electric energy. It has been calculated that the amount of energy consumed within the US increased exponentially from about 1850 to 1975. If energy continued to increase at this rate, we would be experiencing severe energy shortages in our current society. Luckily, steps towards conservation, including various energy regulations, have curbed that growth somewhat, brining the predicted 160 Qbtu/yr for the year 2000 down to around 93.8 Qbtu/yr by the year 1996. However, household energy usage is still a major issue as households consume about 38% of the total consumed energy and contribute greatly to natural gas consumption and issues such as global warming. Therefore, it is important that people understand how we use energy in the household and what steps can be taken to conserve that energy.