Mr. Green

September 30, 2008 - The phrase "green economy" gets used a lot in the press these days and it looks like more people are getting their minds (and pocket books) oriented towards energy efficiency and reducing our carbon footprint.

September 17, 2008 - September is here and fall is once again upon us. Ah, the leaves changing color, frost on the lawn, and most important to me… American football and energy efficiency.

You may be wondering, what do these two have in common? Well, many big football stadiums around the US are getting dressed up with new high-definition LED "video boards." (They're not just scoreboards anymore because they do a lot more than just display the score.)

September 10, 2008 - Sometimes, good intentions aren’t enough to transform a market from an old inefficient technology to a newer more efficient one in a reasonable amount of time.

The US DoE’s ENERGY STAR team learned that the hard way over the last decade or so with a less than enthusiastic market acceptance of compact fluorescent lamps (CFL). Introduced back in the 1970’s, CFLs had just 2% market share in 2006, due primarily to poor color, early burn-out, low light and size problems.

September 4, 2008 - It seems that whenever I turn on my TV, I'm being warned about the impending switchover to digital TV that’s coming next February. It's starting to feel like a doomsday prophecy -- strangely reminiscent of the old Y2K scare. But then I see the little light on my set-top box and take comfort that I'm connected through cable and therefore immune to the coming change.

August 25, 2008 - Question: what group is the largest energy consumer in the United States?

While those of you with teenagers, video game consoles, and multiple large flat panel TVs in your homes probably answered with your family name, the answer is actually the United States federal government. With that distinction, this could be an excellent opportunity for our federal government agencies to lead by example and purchase only energy efficient products, right?