Standby power consumption from plugged in electronics, microwave, and other electrical equipment really uses a lot of power! For Canadians, eliminating standby power consumption would save a typical household 450 kilowatt-hours of electricity and $42 a year, or 4 per cent of the home’s total energy use, according to a 2008 report by Navigant Consulting Inc which is summarized in this Globe and Mail article. Pretty cool hey?
Some other interesting fact:
Canadians would cut five of the 6.3 terawatt-hours of standby power per year with more energy efficienct products
6 terawatt-h is enough to power all the homes New Brunswick
this will eliminate two megatonnes of greenhouse-gas emissions
And this is a pretty good movie illustrating how standby power, like a vampire, is sucking blood/money out of us!
A great article on the May 19 Globe and Mail analyzing how the BC Carbon Tax “’survived” the recent BC provincial election while Stéphane Dion Carbon Shift didn’t. Stewart Elgie, David Boyd, and Chris Waddell , three Law, Economics, and Journalism professors in Ottawa, have come up with six reasons:
Do not make Carbon Tax as the main issue for the election campaign (that’s what Dion and James did)
carbon tax is very important, but there are more important political issues
Keep it simple (not many understand the BC carbon tax; no one understands Dion’s carbon shift)
Timing is important (Dion brought up the carbon shift when oil is at record price; oil price was 1/3 of the height during the recent BC election)
Good communication! (Dion couldn’t get his point across; James couldn’t come up with solid carbon policy for her party)
Deep pocket (Dion had less marketing budget than Harper; James had less marketing budget than Campbell)
Best policy may not win! (Dion lost on a better policy; yet Campbell won with a better policy) - yes, the Carbon Tax is one of the best policies!!
Here’s one of the best quote about why Carbon Tax should not be the centre of the election campaign:
“If you are a travel company trying to sell a tropical vacation, you emphasize the beach, not the flight.”
- by Angus McAllister
This is it!! We want a sustainable/low carbon future; let’s emphasize on the ends, and let’s work together to get there - through carbon tax, renewable energy investment, energy conservation, or whatever the means might be!
I got an email today from the Toronto Hybrid Group promoting a new Internet TV station: Energy Rush.TV - made for clean shows only! It’ll be like a real TV channel which you cannot fast forward the show and there will eventually be paid commercials. The TV station is still in its infancy so you’re having a first peak here! I love the idea and since the core team for this TV station are all experts in the film/TV industry (they’ll write, produce, film, and edit all these TV shows), I’m really looking forward to their first official production! One day perhaps I’ll have a good idea for a film project!
This is a really cool gadget! It’s a solar LED light that is made to fit on a standard 2″ water bottle such as a Nelgene. What’s really cool about it is that when you have water in the bottle, water reflects the LED light and makes the bottle acting like a latern! Check out more pictures and all features about LightCap 200 here! It costs ~ $25 bucks, comes with light sensor so it turns off automatically during the day time! Or check out the new design LightCap 300 - the batteries lasts 15 hours!
Climate change gadget, Small Green Big Deal | flo | 
May 21, 2009 12:20 am | 
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