6 Ways to Save Energy During Spring

The weather is getting warmer; it's time to pull out the grill, call the pool cleaner back, and get those gardening tools out of the basement. It's spring! But spring also means it's time to look at how you can save the most energy and the most money. 

Many Ways to Save

A lot of people can tolerate cold weather better than hot weather, which means, as the weather gets warmer and warmer, it will become increasingly difficult to fight the impulse to turn on the air conditioning and leave it on for hours. Fortunately, there are several things you can do to help keep your home cool without running up your energy bill.

Take it easy on the thermostat:

Set the temperature as high as you can while still being comfortable. The smaller the difference between the indoor and outdoor temperatures, the lower your bill will be. Keep the house warmer than usual when you are away, cool when you get home. Set "Away" and "Home" temperatures easily with a programmable thermostat.
 

Image: Wikipedia

Keep in mind: Your house will not cool any faster if you set the thermostat to a colder temperature than usual. In fact, this will likely result in unnecessary expense and excessive strain on the cooling system.

Make the most out of your windows:

Prevent heat from getting in through the windows by installing window coverings such as blinds (interior and/or exterior), awnings, high-reflective films, draperies, shades, insulated panels, and shutters. If you live in an area where it cools off at night, turn of your air conditioning and open your windows while you sleep. When you wake up, shut the windows and blinds to keep the cool air in, unless there's still a cool breeze. You can still get some good cool air into the house in the early morning before the sun starts hitting your house/yard.

Turn on those ceiling fans:

By using your ceiling fans in combination with air conditioning, you can actually set the thermostat four degrees higher but remember that fans cool people, not rooms. If you leave a room, turn off the fan. Turn on your bathroom fan when taking a shower or bath to remove the humidity and heat.

 

Drop the water temperature:

Your water heater uses 18 percent of your home's energy-use. Turn the temperature down to 120 degrees F.

Minimize appliance-use and artificial lighting:

Using the oven on hot days will make the house warmer and subsequently more difficult to cool. Stick to the stove, microwave, or grill outside. Minimize using a computer or TV, running the dishwasher, or using hot devices like hair dryers. Install efficient lighting that doesn't release much heat.

Seal leaks to keep the hot air out:

Seal cracks to keep warm out from leaking into the house. Add weatherstripping or caulk to seal leaky windows and doors.

 

Better for the Environment, Better for You

Ultimately, anything we can do to save energy and conserve natural resources will benefit all of us, both directly in terms of personal cost-savings and indirectly in preserving our world for the future. At Vosh, we are committed to doing our part for the greater good, which is why our car washers use less than three gallons of water for each wash. Additionally, we offer waterless car washes.


To learn more about us or to download the Vosh on-demand car was app, visit our website at [http://vosh.me/]http://vosh.me/.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?6-Ways-to-Save-Energy-During-Spring&id=9676317] 6 Ways to Save Energy During Spring.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s historic home cuts energy bill 60% with over 2,000 LEDs

Dining and dormitory area, Taliesin West (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Two of Frank Lloyd Wright’s historic estates are being retrofitted with ultra efficient LEDs as part of an overall effort to reduce energy use, while keeping the design sense of the properties close to Wright’s vision.

After an energy audit of the property, caretakers learned that they could offset the utility costs by 51 percent by providing more energy efficient lighting.

The designers followed three main tenants when refurbishing Frank Lloyd Wright's two homes, Taliesin and Taliesin West in Wisconsin and Arizona, respectively. The first was to maintain the warm, incandescent feel, even when removing the incandescent bulbs and replacing them with LEDs. The second was to reduce energy usage, as they are aiming to produce net-zero houses that create more energy than they use. And the third was to reduce maintenance and operating costs by installing lights that wouldn't need to be changed as much.

After examining LEDs from a number of companies, the ones from OSRAM Sylvania were selected because they most fit the bill for what was needed. These super efficient lights are expected to offset utility costs by 51% between both buildings and 60% at Taliesin West alone.


Frank Lloyd Wright is widely revered as one of the greatest architects of the 20th century, designing over 1,000 structures, 532 of which were completed.  He was highly interested in creating harmony between humanity and the environment, pioneering a philosophy he called organic architecture.  Transforming his homes into net-zero works of art is a testament to his ideals.




This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Source: Minds.

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New LEDs light the way to a Brighter Future

Light-emitting diode (Photo: teraminato)

LED light bulbs can be brighter and more energy efficient than ever, thanks to a high performance LED driver newly developed by researchers from the Department of Electronic and Information Engineering.

The new driver powers LED light bulbs with an innovative approach called multi-level PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation), which delivers remarkable improvements in terms of light quality and energy efficiency, when compared to pulse width modulation and linear driver approaches currently used in LED products.

By traditional method of pulse width modulation, LEDs are fed pulsed current instead of steady DC. The drive current is turned ON and OFF at a rate faster than being perceptible by human eyes. Powering LEDs in pulses makes their light output easily controllable.

The research team, formed by Dr Lai Yuk Ming, Dr Loo Ka Hong and Prof. Michael Tse, gives the PWM method a new twist. The pulsed operation is redesigned in a way to maximize light output while minimizing wasted energy in the form of heat. The result is higher lumen per watt. Dr Loo Ka Hong said they achieved additional energy saving by up to 15%.

Single LED module consisting of 32x32 LED pixels

When used in a large scale application, it can save a lot of energy. The LED billboard on One Times Square in New York is a good example. The math goes like this: The giant display uses 12 million bulbs and 250 KW of power. If the billboard is on for 16 hours a day, the energy bill comes to US$18,000 a month. A 12% drop in energy consumption means US$2,160 in energy savings. That’s something to roll your eyes at.

Furthermore, it has lowered cooling requirements and needs smaller size heat sink compared to conventional methods. That means LED systems can be made smaller. With excellent dimming capability, the new MPWM driver allows manufacturers to create fully dimmable LEDs, which can be dimmed down to 0 watt of power. These superior qualities pave way for brighter, smarter and more versatile LED lighting solutions.

The world is switching to LEDs for huge environmental benefits. If all the traditional light bulbs in the world were replaced with energy-saving ones, lighting energy use could be cut by 40%, according to Worldwatch Institute [1]. The Energy Saving Trust has similar projections [2], which said the resultant carbon saving would be the equivalent of taking 70,000 cars off the road.

Council House in Perth, Western Australia, lit up by LED lights installed on the window frames. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As the greenest alternative to incandescent lamps, LEDs are a popular choice of lighting but they are not perfect. Consumers are looking for a brighter and more natural glow matching up to incandescent light bulbs. The demand for brightness is even more pronounced in high power applications such as automobile headlights and architectural lightings. LED research worldwide is looking to build a perfect substitute to incandescent. It is exciting to have advanced LED lighting with a simple solution such as MPWM that brings about significant energy saving.

Obviously, the novel technology allows a better product to be made. High illuminating performance combined with good thermal protection allowed manufacturers to create compact lighting solutions with a very high lumen output. And the additional cost is little because all of these qualities could be achieved with the use of low cost ICs. This could be music to the ear for LED manufacturers.

This innovative applied technology has already aroused the attention of the international market. Recently it has won a Gold Award at the 41st International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva in April of 2013

Story based on materials provided by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, via ResearchSEA.

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