January 2010 Archives

Studies show that simply
giving people their energy information
can result in energy savings of up to 15%.

Google PowerMeter allows you to:

Google PowerMeter Features

Google PowerMeter is a free electricity usage monitoring tool that provides you with information on how much energy your home is consuming. Google PowerMeter receives information from utility smart meters and in-home energy management devices and visualizes this information for you on iGoogle (your personalized Google homepage). And, Google PowerMeter is free.

Studies show that being able to see your electricity usage in near real time, throughout the day, makes it easier to reduce it and save money. This sort of feedback requires either an advanced electricity meter, a "smart meter," or a consumer-owned electricity management device, and many of today's smart meters don't display information to the consumer.

Consumers should have access to data on their personal electricity use, control who gets to see this data and choose from a range of services to help them understand and benefit from this data.

Google is working with federal and state governments to ensure that energy policies encourage consumer information; read Google's comments to the Department of Energy on smart grid investment in the stimulus, Edward Lu's testimony to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, and  comments to the California Public Utilities Commission and our joint statement with leading companies and NGOs.

Google hopes that consumers will soon be empowered with an entire ecosystem of energy information products and services.

If all households in developed countries achieved a 15% energy savings by 2020, it would mean about a 470 MtCO2 equiv. reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

Read More at SolutionsForClimateChange.com

EPA wants to toughen the ozone limit adopted in 2008 by cracking down further on vehicles, power plants, factories and landfills. Much of the U.S. could then be in violation of federal regulations.

The EPA proposed allowing a ground-level ozone concentration of between 60 and 70 parts per billion, down from the 75-ppb standard adopted under President George W. Bush in 2008.

Eastern and Midwestern states, where much of the pollution comes from coal-fired power plants, will face utility scale changes.  Other states that have already tackled industrial emissions, such as California, will face non-point source emissions, largely from pollution from diesel engines in trucks and construction equipment, which emit nitrogen oxides, a precursor to smog.

PROTECT OUR HEALTH

Though complying with the standards could cost up to $90 billion nationwide, according to the EPA, it could also save $100 billion in health costs over time.

A 65-ppb standard -- the middle of the proposed acceptable range -- would avert 1,700 to 5,100 premature deaths nationwide in 2020 compared with the 75-ppb standard, the EPA estimates. The agency projects the stricter standard would also prevent an additional 26,000 cases of aggravated asthma compared with the Bush-era standard, and more than a million cases of missed work or school.

PROTECT FORESTS and SENSITIVE ECOSYSTEMS

The EPA also proposed setting a "secondary standard" to protect plants and trees from repeated smog exposure during growing season, a move environmentalists said would help national parks, forests and sensitive ecosystems. Trees and other vegetation absorb heat-trapping carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, making them an important check against global warming.

Environmentalists praised the agency for proposing regulations that match the unanimous recommendations of an EPA science advisory committee.

SOLUTIONS

Small businesses won't face the same scale changes as power plants, but their fleets will be affected.  This regulation can also provide small business with opportunities to help other companies with filtration, new fuels, high-performance vehicles, and reduced electricity from coal based utility plants. 

We'll be following this legislative and administrative change that will affect local communities and businesses of all sizes.