Friday, October 22, 2010

UMD Solar Decathlon…off to the races! | Sobuka Blog | Clean Energy and Green Tech News & Events | Solar Installations | Wind Energy RECs | Energy Audits | Green Remodeling | Green Financing

UMD Solar Decathlon…off to the races!

Posted on October 22nd, 2010 by alex

Imagine you are part of a team or associated with an organization guided through privileged academia, involved in a nation-wide competition on developing innovative technology based on solar power. Well, let me introduce you to Solar Decathlon. Since its inception in 2002 birthed from the U.S Department of Energy, Solar Decathlon is a program that sponsors collegiate competition in the best design, construction, and operation of solar-powered houses – graded on affordability, architectural appeal, and energy efficient engineering.

Their efforts have gone as far as establishing 90 plus collegiate team pursuing course curricula or programs geared towards designing solar-powered houses. They are also recognized as one of the recommended educational programs for colleges. The program is now expanding to other academic levels such as K-12 students.

Solar Decathlon works to educate associated students about conservative means while promoting clean-energy resources. They also try to inform the public about available energy efficient appliances that are very much useful to average home owners.

The University of Maryland Student Solar Decathlon team, champions to the 2005 competition, is participating in another Solar Decathlon competition. Represented as WaterShed, University of Maryland is designing a “mini-ecosystem that captures and fully utilizes the energy of the sun, wind, and rain. It [is intended to] make use of household “wastes” that retain valuable energy and nutritients.”

This design is inspired by Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay watershed, which is plagued by urban sprawl and poor environmental practices. The pursuit of WaterShed is grounded by its core principles on harnessing technology and illustrate the strategies to achieve efficient sustainable performances and advancements – Net Zero.

A brief description from the team coupled with these pictures about the engineering design show that: “One roof will have a photovoltaic array and the other will have a green roof. The house will also include an edible wall and garden for production of food. WaterShed will utilize solar orientation, overhangs and glazing, thermal collectors and an energy recovery system in order to achieve its goals.”

It is such an enlightenment to have University of Maryland chosen as one of the few to engage in this fascinating modern technology which would be applied to their municipal infrastructure – Maryland. Not only does this endeavor initiate newer energy efficient resources within the DMV, it builds a base to develop renewable energy culture from the younger generation. So let us cheer to the efforts and “pulse”  UMD Decathlon has created.

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This entry was posted on Friday, October 22nd, 2010 at 12:51 pm and is filed under Environment, Featured Content, Green Technology, Solar Energy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

beautiful!

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Sunday, October 17, 2010

Smart Meters are coming! | Sobuka Blog | Clean Energy and Green Tech News & Events | Solar Installations | Wind Energy RECs | Energy Audits | Green Remodeling | Green Financing

Smart Meters are coming…

Posted on October 6th, 2010 by Sulaiman

Smart meter technology is being implemented all over the world and now it’s becoming more and more popular here in the states and I ask myself the question why? The short answer I came up with was that the utility companies are trying to save money and address a problem at the same time. So what’s the problem?

The problem

The U.S. electric grid is an “aging infrastructure” made up of a network of complex independently owned and operated power plants/transmission lines and when combined with a rise in domestic electricity consumption it puts a strain on the electrical system (grid). When there is a strain on the electrical system (grid) or when electricity demanded surpasses the electricity supplied the utility company must respond. Utility companies can respond in a few ways; purchase more electricity/build new infrastructure to handle the load or implement “rolling blackouts” or  “brownouts” to reduce the load.

A rolling blackout is a deliberate interruption of service produced by utility companies in order to take stress off of the system’s energy load and prevent a “blackout” which is a complete interruption of power in a given service area. Rolling blackouts are usually intended to affect only a specific service area, and the energy provider will typically spread them among several service areas to insure that no specific area suffers substantially more than any other.

Brownouts are also deliberately produced by energy providers as an emergency measure to prevent the system from failing completely (blacking out). Typically, a utility company will decrease system voltage by 10-25%, usually for a short period of time.

In addition, electricity pricing is a problem. The problem is that electricity prices usually peaks at certain predictable times of the day and the season. In particular, if generation is constrained, prices can rise from other jurisdictions or more costly generation is brought online. Since the inception of electricity deregulation and market-driven pricing throughout the world, government regulators have been looking for a means to match consumption with generation. Traditional electrical meters only measure total consumption and as such, provide no information of when the energy is being consumed.

 The solution

A “Smart Electric Grid” and one component of that smart grid is  “Smart Metering” which provides an economical way of measuring real-time energy consumption, allowing price setting agencies to introduce different prices for consumption based on the time of day and the season.

It is believed that billing customers by how much is consumed and at what time of day will force consumers to adjust their consumption habits to be more responsive to market prices. Regulatory and market design agencies hope these “price signals” will delay the construction of additional generation or at least the purchase of energy from higher priced sources, thereby controlling the steady and rapid increase of electricity prices.

Many utility companies worldwide are now beginning to implement “Smart Meters”.

What are smart meters?

Smart meters are “digital” devices that allow wireless two-way communications between your home or business and your local utility company and unlike traditional “analog” meters they have the ability to transmit and receive data in real-time.   

Smart meter benefits?

Customers

Smart meters track the energy use in your home on an hourly basis and send this information automatically to your local utility company.  By automating the meter-reading function, smart meters deliver a number of benefits:

  • Enable special pricing options for customers to save energy and money.They support the implementation of Time-of-Use prices. By time-stamping your consumption data, local utility companies will be able to determine how much electricity was used during off-peak times and how much was consumed during on-peak periods. This capability allows homeowners to find electricity savings by shifting their electricity use. The Sobuka team blogged previously about how consumers will be able to see and control their energy usage in real-time thanks to smart grid control systems. The blog is “smart-grid-technology-for-your-home“.
  • By tracking electricity use remotely, all bills will be based on real-time consumption – eliminating the need for estimated bills.
  • Provide customers with enhanced energy information through the online My Account service, enabling them to better manage their energy use and costs.

Utility customers only save money when smart meters help them to cut their energy use. A good way to do that is by raising the price of electricity when demand is high, such as during the middle of a summer day, when high rates of air-conditioning use push the electric grid to capacity. Under such a scenario, known as dynamic or real-time pricing, it’s expected that customers adjust the temperature of their air conditioners a few degrees to save money. Consumers might chose to run their washing machine late at night when demand is lower and save even more.

 Utility

  • Greater operational efficiencies in the management of local distribution systems.
  • Make it easier to integrate renewable energy, such as wind power, and plug-in vehicles into the electric system.
  • Help improve customer reliability and outage management.
  • Improved outage detection, restoration, two-way communications can be used to “ping” a meter when the system detects an outage or when a customer calls regarding an outage to determine whether or not the outage is on the customer’s side of the meter, thereby avoiding a field crew dispatch. In the case of storm related outages, crews can be dispatched to the outage location or site of the problem as opposed to searching for the problem.
  • Remote meter reading reduces labor, no need for manual meter readers. Instead there will be drive-by or walk-by meter reading which is faster and quicker. However, the utility companies say there will be no layoffs planned, employees currently working as meter readers will be offered other job opportunities and training.  Although a meter reader will no longer be reading the meter, utility companies will still need to have access to your meters for safety and regular maintenance. For quality assurance purposes, after the initial installation, a meter reader will continue to read your meter for billing until the new meter has confirmed its reading reliably in the system.  This may take up to three months.
  • Eventually, utility companies will able to control the strain on system during peak hours by controlling “smart thermostats” purchased by customers who agree to allow the utility company to control their heating and cooling during peak time to receive financial rebates. Heating and cooling amounts to almost 50% of an energy bill of a typical single family home.

Environment

  • Reduces the need to build power plants, or avoiding the use of older, less efficient power plants as customers lower their electric demand.

This is beneficial for all utility customers because the costs of building new power plants or relying on older, less-efficient power plants are eventually passed on to customers in retail rates.  Building power plants that are necessary only for occasional peak demand is very expensive.  A more economical approach is to enable customers to reduce their demand through time-based rates or other incentive programs. When the utilities avoid the use of “peaker” plants to meet high demand, the environment benefits because peaker plants typically have higher greenhouse gas and other air emissions.

The Department of Energy (DOE) estimates that if the grid were merely 5 % more efficient, the energy savings would equal the fuel and greenhouse emissions from 53 million cars. As the United States accounts for 25 % of the world’s greenhouse emissions, this change could go a long way toward reducing the effects of climate change.

In summary, installation of “Smart Meters” are on the rise all other country and all over the world. The best thing you can do is become familiar with how they work and how you can benefit from their installation. For more information specifically about Pepco’s Smart Metering program use the following link. Pepco’s Smart Metering Program

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 6th, 2010 at 2:22 pm and is filed under Environment, Featured Content, Green Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

can't wait to monitor my energy more efficiently

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SG Blocks are "containing" homes | Sobuka Blog | Clean Energy and Green Tech News & Events | Solar Installations | Wind Energy RECs | Energy Audits | Green Remodeling | Green Financing

SG Blocks are “containing” homes

Posted on October 13th, 2010 by alex

This outta be more than a cool thing rather an amazing new wave in architectural technology topped with green initiative. Though it has been four years since its inception, their focus attests to the fact that green technology and innovation is just scratching the surface of efficient technology in construction. SG Blocks LLC is a missouri based company committed to developing greener construction in a stronger, efficient and renewable method. They excel in their construction services in Green Steel, Prefabrication and full modular construction. They primarily provide all these using steel shipping containers; which many don’t know is a good source of material that serves for a greater use than its initial purpose.

SG Blocks Development Director stated that after shipping containers is used, ranging from six to ten years, they “…recycle them into a superior building product, which requires a minimum amount of energy expenditures leaving a minimal footprint in terms of impact on the environment”. These steeled containers are reported to stand much greater amount of resistance in terms of weatherization while its duration is in the span of 50 plus years.

Compared to modified block or drywall construction, SG Block’s model is considered a preferred choice for remodeling by reduced construction of 30%, cheaper construction methods (than traditional projects) and significantly efficient as a leading transitional construction.  It is amazing looking from these pictures, the design and model, structurally molded from steel containers. This grass-root innovation SG Block has created, will move to greater measures as it elevates greener construction projects and affordability. It will certainly change – if not already, the nature of modern building construction.

Besides the impressive assessment of SG Blocks technology edge, it is important to understand that green remodeling is not only a better option but cheaper – especially with rise to recycled or renewable materials. Our purpose to highlight benefits of green remodeling is to impart newer knowledge of efficient housing endeavors to both uninformed and green-minded homeowners, share new DIY tips and encourage green remodeling practices to our DMV residents.

what is the state of your home? Stressed about your high electric bill expense?We will be delighted to help for either an energy audit or wind REC transition option here.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 13th, 2010 at 4:45 pm and is filed under Featured Content, Green Construction and Remodeling, Green Technology, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

old shipping container, new eco-friendly home?

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