JouleBlog

Shopping for a refrigerator? The Energy Guide labels affixed to the floor models may not be a reliable guide to how much electricity a particular model uses, according to Consumer Reports.

In a report on ABC’s Eyewitness News tonight, a Consumer Reports spokeswoman questioned of the reliability of the ratings. “In our tests, refrigerators typically use about 20 percent more energy than it says on their yellow Energy Guide label,” said Celia Kuperszmid-Lehrman. “That’s because our tests are tougher, and we believe they better reflect how you’d actually use a refrigerator.”

For example, a GE model made by Samsung used almost 40% more electricity than the number on its Guide would suggest; an LG and Sears Kenmore made by LG used about 50% more, according to the broadcast. Consumer Reports says that the government’s test procedures need to be better defined, so that manufacturers can’t claim energy savings you are unlikely to see at home.

Consumer Reports said that the Energy Guide ratings often do not reflect real-world conditions in the home. The two refrigerators made by LG use significantly less energy only at the warmest settings required by the government tests. “But you’re not likely to use those settings, because your food’s going to spoil faster. So you’re not going to get the energy savings,” said Kuperszmid-Lehrman.

This isn’t the first time Consumer Reports has criticized the Department of Energy’s Energy Star program. In an October 2008 article it said the Consumers Union said the federal tests were out of date and its qualifying standards were too lax.

Solar panel installation on a San Francisco rooftop. Source: SolarCity

If you own a home or run a business in California,you could be eligible for financial help to tap into solar power. Pacific Venture Capital, a capital investment unit of the utility PG&E, and solar panel supplier SolarCity Corp., have announced $60 million in tax equity financing for solar installations for U.S. homes and businesses. SolarCity will offer financing options that will allow homeowners and businesses to purchase or lease solar panel installations with no upfront investment. SolarCity expects to install more than 1,000 solar systems under the investment, which is funded by PG&E.

In return for providing the upfront investment needed for the new systems, Pacific Venture Capital will receive lease revenues from SolarCity customers, along with the federal investment tax credits and local rebates for the solar energy projects. The companies say that the deal is the first such tax equity financing investment by a utility holding company and the first such collaboration between a utility holding company and a solar power provider. The solar systems funded under the agreement will be installed in 2010, predominantly in California, with some in Arizona and Colorado. More details are here.

German researchers have come up with a way to measure the energy consumption of individual appliances in the home–from your cellphone.

While everyone wants to save energy, it can be difficult to tell  how much energy the devices in their homes consume. Which consumes more power–the dishwasher or the television? The Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology FIT, an applied research group in Germany, has developed software that demonstrates the energy consumption of individual household devices. Each appliance is assigned a power plogg–a smart meter plug that provides data about energy consumption at the point of use–located between the power plug and the power outlet. It reports the power consumption at any given time to a PC via a radio signal. People can tell which device is guzzling the most energy by taking a look at the computer monitor.

But there no need to depend on a computer monitor to access the information. Instead, people can use a cellphone to check and control the energy used by various appliances, says Markus Eisenhauer, who developed the system. “It can be used to display the consumption by room, switch devices on and off, and dim lights,” he says. In another neat trick, if the cell phone’s camera is pointed at the device in question, the power consumption at the moment is displayed.

The technology behind this feature relies on a server that stores pictures of the individual devices, taken from a number of directions. The cellphone sends its picture to the server, which then compares the picture with the ones in its database. As soon as the server recognizes the device, it determines the power consumption at the time as reported by the associated power plogg, and sends this information back to the cellphone.

People can use their cellphones to see power use at any given time, examine a device’s total consumption, or detect energy guzzlers in the household that are not always turned on, such as the oven. They can also test various scenarios, such as comparing energy consumption of energy-saving bulbs with conventional light bulbs. With the cost of electricity depending on the time of day, people can save money by waiting until the electricity is cheap and then using their cell phones to switch on the washing machine.

Source: GreenUnivers

A French start-up company, Aeolus Water, says it has developed a wind turbine that draws fresh water from air, producing up to 500 gallons in 24 hours. As noted on the Cleantech Group’s Web site, the company has built a prototype wind turbine 14 meters high with an 8.5-meter turbine. The company is now seeking financial partners. A description (in French) of the turbine appears on the GreenUnivers blog.

In a sign that electric vehicles may be coming into their own, Ford Motor Co. has developed a two-way communication and control system that it says will allow plug-in electric vehicles to communicate with the nation’s electric grid via smart meters via wireless networks.

When plugged in, the vehicle’s battery system communicates directly with the power grid with smart meters provided by the utilities. Using the touchscreen, the vehicle owner can choose when the vehicle should recharge, for how long and at what rate. He can, for example, choose to accept a charge between midnight and 6 a.m., when electric rates are cheaper.

Ford has received $30 million from the Department of Energy to move the project forward. It is working with the Electric Power Research Institute and several utilities, including Southern California Power.