Archive for May, 2009

The Nightmare of Summer Energy Costs

Friday, May 29th, 2009

Last night I woke up sweating. It wasn’t from a nightmare or fever; rather, it was the cause of my girlfriend’s frugality. She’s an energy-nazi. If I walk out of a room, the lights and ceiling fan better be off or I’m going to hear about it; however, this is not to her detriment. The gratification of the energy-nazi is not instant; instead, it comes at the end of each month in reduced energy costs, and it is substantial.green-house

Maybe that’s what I have a hard time with, instant gratification? I actually appreciate her stinginess, because it saves us money. Although her ability to self-sacrifice in order to save is not a virtue we easily share, I’m learning – quickly.

The point is that there are different views of how to conserve energy and tighten budgets within every energy and money conscious household. Some share the view of my girlfriend and are willing to sweat it out if it means lower costs and higher efficiency, and there are those that want the creature-comforts of cold air during muggy summer nights but are still conservative with their environmental footprint. In reality, the differences between us are quite small when compared to those that do not believe energy conservation is important or leads to lowered budgets.

More importantly, we both strongly agree that our home should be Vampire Proof(TM), or void of all vampire energy use. We try to unplug every electronic that’s not in use, but it’s kind of a ridiculous practice – running around ensuring everything is unplugged. At what point can people like us stop running around like lunatics pulling the plug on glutinous, energy sucking machines?

Unfortunately, having a Vampire Proof(TM) home is not possible without OEM’s manufacturing their consumer electronics and appliances with technology that stops vampire energy dissipation or eventual government mandates that force OEM compliance.

I’m actually in awe of people like my girlfriend or anyone who can pass the marshmallow test with flying colors, but at least she’s understanding. When I came into work this morning, I had the below email in my inbox …

From: Girlfriend

To: Me

Cc:

Subject:

we could have turned the air on low? Sorry you didn’t get any sleep. How about we turn it on for 15 mins tonight and cool the house off before bed?

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Consumer Electronics are Killing Polar Bears.

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

Polar bears are pretty cool. At least, the ones in the Coke ads are. I assume if I were to meet one in the wild my opinion would change slightly, though, if observed properly from the discovery channel, I’m sure most of us can agree that they are majestic and have every right to thrive. Unfortunately, there are people that would argue that the polar bears’ demise is part of natural selection, but there is nothing natural about it. In fact, their habitat’s destruction is absolutely unnatural, and the rise in consumer electronic use is contributing to their extinction. I’m not a mammalogist or environmental scientist; rather, I’m just an observer that has noticed some interesting coincidences related to increases in power consumption at the same time that there were, and continue to be, significant decreases in the polar bear’s natural habitat – Arctic ice cover.polar-bear-picture1

In 1980, consumer electronics drained around 3% of an average US household’s energy bill. Today, they consume 15%. It is forecast to be around 20% by 2015. The exponential growth in their energy consumption equates to the sheer number of consumer electronics available today compared to 1980, their widespread use and functionality, in addition to the energy they waste. With Gen X’ers and Millenial’s becoming the consumer majority, consumer electronic use will only continue to skyrocket.  Likewise, the energy they consume will grow in succession.

This is not to advocate against consumer electronics, because today’s technology kicks ass. But, unfortunately with awesomeness comes super non-awesomeness. The fact is that consumer electronic energy use did not replace some other, possibly outdated, energy eater — it just added an appetite for desert on your tab.

Strangely, during the same period (1980-2009), our earth experienced an exponential decrease in Arctic ice cover due to increased greenhouse gas emissions caused by an increase in energy production. According to National Geographic, polar bears travel across Arctic ice cover as necessity each year to survive the harshest of climates. If they can’t make the annual journey, they will more than likely become extinct.

The real problem with consumer electronics is that most, if not all, continue to consume energy when not performing their primary function or while not in use. This effect is called vampire energy loss and costs an average US household 10%-20% of their annual energy bill, and the aggregate effect is producing 1.5 billion tons of unnecessary CO2 emissions. With the proliferation of consumer electronic use, vampire energy loss, or completely wasted energy, is contributing greatly to the decline in Arctic ice cover, which is directly related to the extinction of the polar bear.

It can be argued that anything that caused an unnatural rise in energy production during this period is a polar bear murderer. And by anything – I mean non Vampire Proof electronics.

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Clean Green Machine: Consumers Demand Green

Monday, May 11th, 2009

Technology firms are innovating, consumers are buying, and investors should be paying attention. The model is simple – build it (truly green) and they (consumers) will come. green_globe_260_x_260

Alibaba, a global Internet B2B giant, reported strong growth of keyword searches for words relating to renewable energy and energy efficient products, in addition, they reported that global trade in renewable energy products is rising drastically. In the same report, the global business site reported – 71% increase for green keywords in 2008 compared with 2007, which itself grew 67% from the prior year.

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is also weighing in on consumer Eco-trends and green demand in the May 2009 Home Technology and Energy Efficiency study that concluded consumers are very concerned about their home energy costs and are intent on reducing their monthly bill. Elminating wasted energy is the first major step in any home energy audit. As well, the CEA has released similar findings that green is more than an incentive; it is a must in new electronics and mobile device purchases. 

The findings of a December 2008 CEA study, Going Green: An Examination of the Green Trend and What it Means to Consumers and the CE Industry, uncovered that 33% of consumers expect to make green consumer electronics purchases over the next 2 years. “Consumers are now beginning to associate terms like recycling and energy efficiency with consumer electronics,” said Tim Herbert, CEA’s senior director of market research. “As they seek out those attributes in the purchasing process, there is enormous opportunity for manufacturers and retailers.” The report additionally found that 53% of consumers say they are willing to pay a premium for consumer electronics with green attributes.  photo7

Green Tech has conjointly generated buzz and maintains a large presence in the blogosphere, on twitter and through other popular online communities. Large B2C online retailers, like Amazon and eBay, have joined the growing green opportunity along with large global retailers, like Wal-Mart and Target.

Vampire energy loss is gaining press momentum this year from the Obama Administration, noteworthy news sources - like CNN, the New York Time, LA Times, the DOE, CEA and others.  The world is recognising that vampire energy consumption is severe and must be resolved, especially in consumer electronics. 

The CEA also found a disconnect between existing and emerging energy efficiency measurements and rating systems, like energy star and the voluntary 5 star rating system, because they vary in what measures what, where and at what kilowatt. According to the CEA, consumer confusion surrounds green labels since the consumer electronics industry lacks a holistic green indicator or metric. Likewise, the study says that consumers want an easier way to identify if a product is environmentally sound, and 74% of those consumers think manufacturers and retailers should do more to be Eco-friendly.

The overriding message of these studies is twofold: 1) Consumer demand trends overwhelmingly agree that Eco-friendly technology, electronics and products are a strong existing market that is only forecast to grow exponentially in coming years. 2) OEM manufacturers, retailers (both online and brick and mortar), and investors are presented with a unique opportunity to reap profits as well as be positive environmental stewards. Thus, green is no longer just a cause or mere purchasing incentive; rather, it’s a staunch, rapidly growing consumer and business market.

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