Well, we asked our server what was going on. She told us that “corporate” had put a new rule in place at all the restaurants instead of investing in green products. The rule was that no spoons were to be placed on any place setting. I grew up in an environment where a full place setting was always set before a hungry customer, consisting of a fork, knife and spoon. Now, “corporate” in its wisdom has said that only if a customer ordered coffee was a spoon to be given to the customer. I have a six year-old that uses a spoon for her fruit bowl; we had to ask for a spoon.

After inquiring why this had occurred, I was informed that “corporate” believed that there would be an energy savings and yet not a single CFL bulb was in use. I asked how that was possible; I was told that if an unused spoon was rewashed it was costing the company money and energy. So to prevent this energy loss it was better to not put the spoon on the table. The customer would just have to wait as their coffee or hot cereal got cold or until the overworked and over utilized server was done handling the other customers who needed spoons (more likely food).

I find it hard to believe that the amount of money saved would be significant as opposed to using CFL bulbs to save money. I seem to remember, just after high school, I worked in fast-paced restaurant chain. Everyday practice was to wash the plates, pot, pans and miscellaneous items in one or two baskets, followed by the glassware, and then wash the silverware in the last basket. So, where would the energy savings be if dishes are washed this way?

While pondering this, I happened to look up. Having written a few articles on energy savings, I noticed that they were still using incandescent bulbs. From where I sat I could count more than fifty bulbs burning energy as I waited for my order, and no green products like CFL bulbs in sight. Everywhere I looked and in every room that a customer had access, there were no green products in use. If they were trying to save money, you would think some green products like energy saving CFL bulbs would be used.

It looked like each incandescent light bulb was running around 75 watts. I inquired as to the hours of this store and was told they were open 138 hours a week.

So I did a little comparison; incandescent vs. green products like CFL bulbs. Using a little math: 50 incandescent bulbs * 75 watts = 3750 watts per hour. To figure the total watts per week for the store, take the watts per hour 3750 watts * 138 hours the store is open per week = 517,500 watt hours per week. The grand total for one year would be 517,500 * 52 weeks = 26,910,000 or 26 megawatts for this store alone so I wondered what the saving would be using green products like CFL bulbs.

Being of a curious nature, I looked up the restaurant on the Internet and found 88 stores in the chain. So if I multiply the 27 megawatts by the 88 stores, I get around 2,368 megawatt hours per year.

Now, what if we replaced all the incandescent bulbs with CFL bulbs? Well, a replacement for a 75 watts bulb runs 18 watts. So 50 bulbs times 18 watts would equal 900 per hour. Then we multiple 900 watts times 138 store hours and we get 124,200 watt hours per week. Then multiply 124,200 * 52 week we would get or 6.46 megawatt hours per year. Now, take the megawatt hours per year (6.46) times the number of stores (88) and we get around 568 megawatt hours per year for the whole chain using green products. If we do a little subtraction, we would get around 2,368 minus 568 = 1800 megawatt hours savings. I would say that they would be saving more than pennies if they were using green products like CFL bulbs.

Michael Edwards has more interesting article on going green, checkout his green energy

When looking into saving energy using green products, have you forgotten those little 3 inch square power supplied in almost every power socket in your home? Those little black supplies are consuming power whenever they are plugged in.

Every time we purchase some new green products, phone, small portable vacuum cleaner, radio, battery charger, computer speakers or audio surround sound speakers to name a few they come with these little power supplies. When you look around; you will be surprised how many you will find plugged in.

When looking for other power consumers look no farther that your TV/audio/video system even if they are one of the new green products. If you have an ON/OFF switch on the remote the component it belongs to has a standby power supply.

In business small and large alike we all have those little power supplies connected to our printers, USB hubs, network hubs, desk lights and a few personnel items wither they are green products or not. Each one of these devices and even many of those new green products are consuming power even when an electronic device is not connected to it.

The consumption continues to occur after the lights are turned off. Under every desk, is a little power sucker or two draining energy all night. For example, a normal cubical with a desk and a computer may have 3-5 of the little black power supplies plugged in. Multiple those by 100 employees and you have 300-500 plugged in every night continuing to use electricity all night long.

But the cute little boxes and my new green products couldn’t use much electricity!

Many of the energy companies who love green products have stated on their websites or in their literature that 15% of your electric bill is paying for equipment that is sitting in standby mode or those small power supplies.

So what does green products, video components and black power supplies have in common? They all have a step-down power supply connect to the power grid. What is a step-down power supply? It is hundreds of feet of small copper wire. Both sides of this wire are connected to the plug and when the unit is plugged into the wall socket, it is using tiny amounts of power. Don’t believe me? Feel one that is plugged in, its warm isn’t it?

In order for a TV/stereo/DVD to respond to the ON/OFF button on the remote it must have some power supplied to the unit that senses this action. This sense unit requires electricity to operate and is where the other end of the transformer is connected. So in order for it to work it must be supplied power 24/7 to operate.

So how do we prevent all this power consummation?

A simple method is to connect all your TV/audio/video equipment and small power supplies to a power strip with an on/off switch.

Make sure you buy power strips with an on/off switch; this is the only way to make sure there is no connection to the 120 volt power in your home. When you turn the switch off you are truly disconnected from the power company and therefore no power consumption.

I know it seems inconvenient, first you have to find a power strip with a switch, then disconnect everything and plug it back into the power strip. Now every time you want to watch TV you have to walk over and flip the switch on. In a week or so it will become a habit and most likely you won’t think about it anymore.

Does this really work?

I pass my electric meter daily and see it spinning away even though I am using many new green products. I have also noticed my neighbors meter rotating about 1-2 rotations per minute when there is nobody home.

After buy some power strips, I plugged in the computer systems, video equipment, and battery chargers.

With the power strips turned off I checked the meter again. Wow, it had dropped to 1 rotation every 2 minutes, what an improvement and without having to invest in additional green products.

With everything there is an initial cost. Mine was around $20 dollars for these new green products, look around for the strips on sales. Maybe you can get them cheaper, try it you may find you save some money and reduce your carbon footprint at the same time.

Michael

This article is the first in a list of practical things you can do to save money on your monthly electric bill. Get some new green products, and maybe use the extra money to pay for a little vacation.

Throw out all the incandescent bulbs

CFL is an abbreviation for a Compact Fluorescent Lamp, which is a fluorescent light bulb with the same form factor as a traditional incandescent bulb (meaning it will fit in most places where you now have plain old light bulbs installed).

A CFL does not generate light the way an incandescent bulbs does. Incandescent light bulbs have worked essentially the same way since Thomas Edison invented them. When electricity is connected to both sides of a carbon filament, it gets hot and produces light. In CFLs (as with the older fluorescent tubes), a closed glass tube is coated with a fluorescent coating that glows when a current is applied to the argon and mercury vapor inside.

Green products do help. When you replace just one incandescent bulb with one of the new Energy Star CFLs, you will use 75% less electricity and save about $30 every year on your electric bill. With the average house having around 10 incandescent bulbs, this would save you $300 a year.

Many of the newer CFLs are available in a wide variety of shades of white light. The color varies from very warm (yellowish) to a bluish white light. This allows you to use the color of the CFL to set the mood of a space or room. Many CFLs come in “warm” colors to match the light of the old incandescent bulbs.

The bluish CFLs may have a negative effect on light sensitive people. If friends or family are light sensitive, a warmer color CFL might be better.

You will find on most CFL packages a number like 2700K. The K stands for Kelvin or color temperature range the bulb will produce when lit. The lower the number, the warmer (or more yellow) the color. Most Soft White bulbs will produce color in the 3500K-4100K range. Bright white or Daylight bulbs will be found in the 5000K-6500K range. Higher numbers are very blue and harsh.

To replace a 40 watt incandescent bulb, use a 9-13 watt CFL bulb; for a 60 watt incandescent bulb use a 13-15 watt; for a 75 watt incandescent bulb use an 18-25 watt CFL; and for a 100 watt incandescent bulb, use a 23-30 watt CFL.

Don’t forget that even though a CFL is one of the new green products, it cannot be thrown in the regular trash. In fact some states have laws that forbid this. I am told that a CFL contains about five milligrams of mercury, and should not be put in landfills.

Many retailers in your area like ACE Hardware, Home Depot and Orchard have recycling programs that will accept your used CFL green products.

A host of new green products for outdoors, poolside, garden, and sidewalk lighting are moving to light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs. The new LED bulbs are 90% more efficient than an incandescent bulb. I would recommend using an Energy Star compliant system; you will usually have a longer time between bulb replacements. However, stock up on replacement bulbs – the manufacturers seem to change the design every couple of years, and then it becomes hard to find replacement parts.

One of the next green products will look at is small appliance power supplies.

Michael

When doing the research for a article on new green products, I was unaware of many of the different ways to convert the energy of the sun into electrical power. I have written about solar cell or photovoltaic cell systems, so let’s look at another type of solar energy system.

This system is not new; it was originally conceived in 1816 as an industrial rival to the steam engine. It has been largely underutilized for the past century. With the need for renewable energy sources caused by the overuse of the fossil fuels interest has resurged in solar designs, and it is now being designed into many new solar collector systems.

The Stirling engine has many different designs, some more efficient than others. Some designs use the two cylinder Alpha design, some the Beta single cylinder design and some the Gamma design (a variation of the beta for use in multiple cylinder applications). The beta Sterling design has a single chamber with two pistons and uses a highly efficient regenerator gas as the thermal conductor.

To operate the Stirling engine only an external heat source is required, which could be anything from solar heat to the heat produced by decaying plants. In one model, the heat from a human hand powers a small version of the Stirling engine!

Operation is simple: the gases are heated by an external source, causing the hot gas to move toward a cold chamber, in the process, a piston is driven and a flywheel rotated. To put it simply, movement is achieved from heat expansion. A few knock-offs of the Stirling engines are small enough to fit in your hand. Others system are designed to drive electrical generators. They are a about the size of a fifty-gallon drum.

The Stirling engine is ideal for use in a solar power generating system. With one of the hottest heat sources available (sunlight), the hot chamber will continue to operate without external fuels as long as there is daylight. This makes it ideal for use as a peaker type power plant when the demands for electricity are at there highest.

With the space age list of available materials, the pistons in the hot chamber are much better designed to handle the high temperatures that would have fried previous generations. The new systems with the right mirror design and decent tracking systems are averaging up to 25 kilowatts of electricity

In a future article about green products I will list the different solar technologies and how they compare to the competition.

Michael

Green Products has found that one of the “emerging” technologies that has finally stabilized and become reliable is windmills or wind power. I say “reliable” because the early developmental windmills had a great many problems and were not ready for mass production. In fact, some of the early designs were maintenance headaches.

Modern designs and new lighter, stronger materials have come together to produce windmills that will last for many years without costly repairs. In fact, most of the major producers are offering five-year manufacturer’s guarantees.

The concept has been refined with a device called a net meter. The net meter takes a combination of inputs — one set from the power company and the other from your windmill. When the electricity is combined at the meter this will determine which way the meter will rotate.

The net meter is an interesting device in its own right. About 35 states use an electric meter that records usage in both directions. When rotating clockwise it records the electricity you use. When the same meter is running counter-clockwise it is reducing your electric bill. Some call it an electrical bank. It’s almost like pumping water into a water tower where it is stored to be used at a later date.

The risks are mostly financial. The main areas of concern are: not enough wind and possible equipment failure. In both cases, the propeller is not turning and no power is generated. Unlike solar though, the wind can theoretically be blowing 24 hours a day, and every minute the propeller is turning means more in the electrical bank.

One of the nice offsets is the rebates and tax credits you will get for installing a unit. In some cases, $11,000 or more is paid to you to offset the cost of the windmill. In California, this could bring the cost of install down to around 4,600 dollars.

Before you jump in and get your feet wet, check with the local contractor that will be doing the install. He will do a site evaluation to determine if the unit can be installed and whether it falls within your city’s code standards and guidelines.

In our next article from Green Products, let’s see what it would take to get completely off the electrical grid. Is it possible?

Michael