|
|
The 2010 Vancouver Olympics will be starting soon on February 12th, and though the Olympic Cauldron hasn’t yet been lit, there are still a lot of interesting things going on! This year’s Olympic organizers appear to have put a great deal of thought into improving the sustainability of the event. From partnering with indigenous peoples to attempting to neutralize the Olympic carbon footprint, organizers have made numerous efforts to green up which you can read about on their Sustainability web page.
One aspect of the operations that I find fascinating, has been the work done to reuse otherwise wasted heat energy. Several of the sporting arenas and the Olympic village are setup with heat reclamation systems. For example, at Riley-Hillcrest-Nat Bailey Stadium Parks the waste heat generated by the curling rink refrigeration plant will be used to heat pool water and space at the nearby aquatics center.
Now several of you may be wondering what good this information does the average person. Not many of us have the budget of a Host Olympic City to spend on sustainability projects. It turns out that it is quite possible to reclaim wasted water heat in the home. Here are a few facts from the U.S. Department of Energy’s website on Drain Water Heat Recovery:
- Between 80-90% of the energy used to heat water in the home, goes down the drain with the water.
- Drain water heat recovery systems can capture that energy and use it to pre-heat cold water before it goes to your water heater or other appliance.
- Heat recovery systems cost between $300 – $500, not including installation but will pay off between 2.5 – 7 years pending use.
So how do these heat recovery systems work? The core concept is simple and relies on heat exchange. Using a shower as an example, a heat recovery system could work as such:
- Heated water from the hot water tank gets sent up a pipe to the shower.
- As the person showers, the still hot waste water goes down the drain pipe.
- Normally cold water would be piped into the water heater to replenish the hot water supply. However, in a heat recovery system, the inbound cold water is sent through a pipe that makes multiple curls around the drainage pipe along the way.
- The heat of the outbound shower water is transferred to the incoming cold water. Usually these sections of the system are made with copper pipe to assist in the heat transfer.
- After going through the heat transfer, the inbound water has been pre-warmed before entering the water heater. This action reduces the amount of energy it will take the water heater to perform its job.
The system I’ve just described is basic and is only useful when doing something that uses hot and cold water at the same time. However, more advanced systems allow the capability to store the recovered heat for later use. It is an exciting idea for improving energy efficiency that has yet to become popular in the United States, though it appears to be doing quite well in Canada. So if you are considering some home renovations to improve efficiency or making changes to your plumbing, ask your contractor if they can perform this kind of work.
And next month, as you are happily watching the Olympics, just keep in mind that there’s a lot of green going on behind the scenes.
I’d like to apologize for the lack of updates as I’m afraid I took the holiday vacation to heart and it took reading some of the latest gadgetry news from CES to get me back in the game. As you may have noticed from the previous posting, the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show took place from January 7th to the 10th.
There appears to have been some interesting stuff at CES this year, including the Pocket Radar (which is a lot like it sounds) and the Eye-Fi, a wireless SD card for use with digital cameras. On the environmentally conscious front were two prominent products: the Picowatt and the Airnergy.
- The Picowatt won its manufacturer, Tenrehte Technologies, an award for “Best of CES” this year. Tenrehte was founded in 2009 and specializes in Wi-Fi enabled platforms. The Picowatt is a Wi-Fi enabled Smart Plug that allows home owners to monitor and manage the electricity use of devices connected to the plug. The device information is accessible via webpage or a Facebook app which will display current and historical electrical usage, as well as allow the user to control power to the device. The Picowatt is stated to be available to consumers in April for $79. Your can read our previous post on SmartGrids for more information about Smart energy management.
- The Airnergy is the latest effort in the arena of “free energy” battery rechargers, such as kinetic chargers and solar powered chargers. In this case, the Airnergy draws its power from Wi-Fi signals and charges devices through a USB port. This product raises some interesting questions in terms of how much and how quickly the Airnergy can build up charge from Wi-Fi signals since the amount will vary based on proximity to the wireless source, and how is this going to impact the free Wi-Fi offered by eateries and tea houses? The product is made by RCA and is expected to be available this year for $40.
That’s just a little news from the 2010 CES. Coming up next month is the Greener Gadgets Conference on February 25th!
 
Happy Holidays everyone. Hopefully you’ve gotten your shopping out of the way, and if not then you have my condolences. Now, on to some news. It looks like there are going to be two green events coming up in the next few months.
The first is the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) being held in Las Vegas from January 7th to the 10th. There are two aspects of the CES that make it of interest here:
- Organizers have been attempting to make the show more environmentally friendly through use of recycled materials such as carpeting and paper products. They’re offering food containers and utensils made of bio-degradable materials, and they’re recycling a large percentage of the trash generated by the event. It is a pretty impressive list of actions that you can read about here at CES Greening.
- Sustainable Planet Spotlight: This will be a feature of more than thirty exhibitors in the area of green technology. Organizers say it will be the largest showing of this type that they have ever had at CES. There will be displays, presentations, and product demos which you can read more about here. Sadly, I’m not going, so I’ll have to wait until after the event to see what innovations get revealed.
The other event of interest is the Greener Gadgets Conference being held in New York City on February 25th. While being smaller than CES, it still promises to be interesting with panels on Green Living and guest speakers such as Jeff Omelchuck from the Green Electronics Council. One of the highlights of the event will be the Green Gadgets Design competition which will be accepting entries until December 31st, 2009. Last year’s winners can be seen here. I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve made fun of some of these items before, such as the Standby Monster, but its still interesting to see people attempt to tackle the issues of how to make greener living easier.
One interesting fact is that both events are being produced by the Consumer Electronics Association who, in an attempt to encourage re-use, have offered a discount shipping rate for any booths that happen to be exhibiting at both events.
So let’s keep our eyes out for some green innovation in 2010!
Happy Holidays dear readers!
With the on-coming holidays and seasonal weather, its a good time to investigate some green options that we may not normally get to think about:
- Shrink-wrap your windows for added insulation! You can purchase indoor window insulator kits at most hardware stores for less than $20. These kits come with double-sided tape that allows you to apply a plastic film over your windows. Apply your hair dryer and the plastic shrinks to fit. Low cosmetic impact for a dramatic improvement in insulation. Not sure what I mean? Try google.
- Try manual garden tools! Eliminate a snow blower by using a wheeled snow shovel. See the Sno Wovel for one example
- Solar powered christmas lights! Now I’ll admit, I haven’t had the chance to use my Kill-a-watt on christmas lights before, so I have no idea what the actual energy savings are. However, if you are looking to free yourself from the restrictions of an electrical cord in the great outdoors, this is one way to do it!
- Give a green gift! If you aren’t sure what to get for the person who has everything, how about an environmental donation instead? Sierra Club has a selection of Gift Sponserships starting at $20. At the $25 level, all come with a cute stuffed animal, but there is also a virtual gift option for those of you who don’t need the extra fluff.
Note* For all you shoppers looking to buy environmentally friendly fabrics, please beware of products claiming to be made from bamboo. This past October, the FTC finalized a settlement with clothing manufacturer Bamboosa who had falsly claimed their products were made from bamboo. Other companies with similar violations are Sami Designs/Jonano, CSE/Mad Mod, and Pure Bamboo. Read the FTC press release here.
Just a reminder, being conscious of your actions is a great start to living a greener lifestyle.
The holiday season is approaching and retailers are beginning the ramp up for sales. With all the purchasing that is coming up, let us also keep in mind that there is also going to be some purging. So to help you with the hardest part of that (once you convince yourself to let that old PC go), here are a couple of links that may be of interest when it comes to getting rid of old electronics:
- Earth911.com : Aside from the pro-environmental information, this site features a fantastic search tool for locating recycling facilities in your area. Not only can you find electronics recyclers, but places to dispose of auto parts/fluids, batteries, and garden refuse.
- gazelle.com : This website offers people money for their old electronics based on the condition and then resells or disposes of them as appropriate
Its rather sad to see a list of only two items, so if you’ve got any suggestions or you’ve actually used gazelle.com, let us know in the comments!
|
|
Most Popular Posts