Nissan Leaf Electric Car
So you've heard all of the buzz around Electric Vehicles hitting the road next year. Is it all hype? Take a look at the email I received from Nissan Motors today:
"We are thrilled with the overwhelming enthusiasm people like you have shown for the 100% electric...
Passive Solar Design
Are you in the market for a new building or home? Are you considering the option of building a green or energy efficient structure? Our recent article on building Net Zero homes will give you information on building the ultimate green home if you have a larger budget. ...
Weather Strip Your Home
Autumn is here and the cold weather is on the way for readers that live in cooler climates. it's time to start thinking about ways to keep the heat in your home this winter. We have some great posts on insulating your home but this may not be in your budget this year. ...
You don't have room on your roof or it's facing in the wrong direction to put Solar PV panels on it? Ok, you may want to consider a shed. Put Solar PV panels on it and voila! The Power Shed is born. This great idea is the product of a company called Midwest Engineering Consultants, who...
While looking for products to sell for the Mapawatt OpenSky store, I found a pretty cool (no pun intended) product called Cool-N-Save. The product sends a spray of mist over your Air Conditioner's condenser coils, which helps the heat transfer between the coolant flowing through them (which...
The October 2010 issue of Popular Science has a nice, 1 page feature on 3 upcoming electric car chargers. Before checking out the article, I recommend reading our post on Buying and Installing an electric car charger! In that post we mentioned the residential charging unit by Leviton, but...
I recently had a reader ask this question regarding controlling the temperature in her home with her programmable thermostat and air conditioner and how that affects her energy consumption:
I live in Florida so my question has to do with cooling my home. I notice that if I have the temp set at...
Google PowerMeter just released a new feature called Actions. From the official Google.org blog:
Google PowerMeter now offers personalized energy savings recommendations to help you save more energy and show off your savings. You can find it under “Take action” in your Google PowerMeter page....
The following guest post was written by Lyn Chapman, the General Manager of Energy Monitoring Systems Canada (based on Ontario), a manufacturers rep for the Efergy energy monitor. Lyn has been vocal in his support on the Efergy monitor, especially on our Efergy E2 energy monitor post, so I asked...
OK Mapawatt Blog readers, I'm asking for your help. We're working on a quiz to put up on the Mapawatt Facebook page and I'm having a little difficulty coming up with engaging questions. There are two issues I have:
I want good questions, not stuff like "How much CO2 is your TV responsible for...
All the talk of the "smart grid" is increasing consumer awareness on the importance of home energy monitoring.
There are 4 ways to monitor your homes electricity consumption:
The Old Fashioned "Read your meter" way
A "smart meter" installed by your utility
Buying a home energy monitor - see our...
A few days ago I was out and about and I had some time to kill so I stopped by a Northern Tool and Equipment store because I noticed on their website that they have a pretty good alternative and renewable energy section. Below are some of my observations and pictures taken at the store. ...
Beautiful View on Lake Austin!
Two weeks ago my wife and I travelled to Austin, TX to hang out with her parents for a weekend. It was only a 2-day trip, but we were able to get a great feel for the city. Austin is consistently ranked near the top in the most sustainable U.S. cities, so I knew...
Leviton Evr-Green Products
So you've heard all of the buzz about the new Electric Vehicles coming from auto manufacturers and you're ready to take the plunge? Before placing your order for the Volt or Leaf, there is some prep work you need to do. Buying a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) or battery...
When I saw the Renewable Energy Handbook by William Kemp for sale in the OpenSky store I was a bit skeptical of its value. This is due entirely to my experience with a "free" book called Green Millionaire which has the sole purpose of taking people's money by offering the most basic of "green"...
An evaporative cooler uses a combination of a water source and a fan to blow air that has moisture (water that has evaporated) in it into an area. In order for water to evaporate, it needs a heat source. An evaporative cooler uses warm air as the heat source to evaporate the water. When the...
Recently there has been a commenter adding comments to our TED 5000 posts promoting a competing product: the Envi by Current Cost. The commenter links to a company that sells the Envi, so even though I assumed he works for the company that sells a product which he was promoting (and not...
Stop that AC unit!
***Update - 8/20/2010 - The post below was originally posted in June of 2009 and has been incredibly popular. In that original post, I included a calculator to help people analyze how much electricity their AC unit consumes, but I'm not including it in this re-post because of...
We've written a few blogs now on Energy Vampire Loads, including The Biggest Vampire in Your Home - The Cable Box and How to use an Electronic Timer to control Vampire Loads. But one of the best products I've seen to control vampire loads in your home is the Belkin Conserve Energy Saving Surge...
If you live in Georgia chances are you've seen the Georgia Power energy hunting dogs "sniffing out energy savings". The ad campaign includes billboards and TV ads and is executed very well. From the Georgia Power website you can click on "Sniff out Energy Savings" for their Home Energy...