2006
May 2006. Try
A Solar Water Heater. Andrew Korfhage.
Coop America. With
a solar water heater, you'll get the hot
water your household needs while saving
money and energy and reducing your dependence
on coal-fired power. After a year with their
solar hot water heater, homeowners Bob Allen
and Lyle Rudensey say they'll never go back
to relying on a conventional water heater.
Even in gloomy, rainy Seattle, they are
saving money and energy by heating all of
their water with the power of the sun. "With
a lack of leadership at the federal level,
I feel it's very important that we all do
what we can to reduce our dependence on
fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gases," says
Lyle. "Solar hot water systems are
a great place to start. They're not as expensive
as solar photovoltaics, and they'll save
you substantial amounts of energy and money."
...With all their savings combined,
Lyle points out that his and Bob's
electric bills have dropped to a
low of $5. "Plus, the water
heater increased the value of the
house," Bob adds. "And
it's a hedge against future energy
cost increases."
..."Some people might think
that solar water heaters aren't worth
installing in a climate like the
Pacific Northwest, but that's not
true,"
says Lyle. "Germany gets about
70 percent as much sunlight as Seattle
does, and they are the biggest users
of solar power in the world. This
is something everyone can do that
really makes a huge difference."
2006 Spring. California
Illuminates the World. By Craig Canine, OnEarth Magazine. Excerpt:
...Leading-edge policies and technologies
that encourage efficiency have long been a
California export.... Energy policy makers
in other states as well as in the federal
government look to California's energy-conservation
measures the same way political analysts view
the New Hampshire presidential primary --
as a bellwether for the nation. California
was, for example, the first state to adopt
efficiency standards for appliances. These
went into effect in 1977 and were upgraded
throughout the 1980s. Florida, Massachusetts,
Connecticut, New York, and other states followed
California's lead, sometimes copying the California
code verbatim. This shift at the state level
convinced appliance manufacturers to join
with efficiency advocates in lobbying for
a uniform national standard, which Ronald
Reagan signed into law in 1987. Thus began
a process that continues to repeat itself.
Since 2004 several other states have adopted
at least some of California's latest standards,
many of which also wound up in last year's
federal energy bill. "The general pattern," says
Devra Wang, a staff scientist at the Natural
Resources Defense Council, "is that California
adopts new standards, other states follow,
and then they're adopted at the federal level."
California's efficiency standards for new
buildings, introduced in 1978 and known as
Title 24, have been replicated all over the
world. The code governing new construction
in Russia, for example, is cutting energy
use by more than 40 percent, thanks to California.
A similar effort now under way in China could
wind up as California's most enduring global
legacy.... If the planet is to tackle the
twin challenges of finding adequate energy
resources to drive hungry economies while
averting the worst consequences of climate
change from burning fossil fuels, the West
Coast is the place to look for leadership.... |
