The list of links below include where to purchase hardware/software for creating an energy conserving, water conserving and smart home:
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ELECTRIC SHADE MOTORS: There are two manufactures:
1) www.somfysystems.com Click on Americas and USA:
2) www.techniku.com See animated shades Demo go up/down; 303 355 1471 for North America sales and support. My house uses techniku brand motors since 2003. Ask Techniku what/where retailer can make you shades using their motor. Then request retailer to use 3 mil see-through silver or bronze coated Mylar as the shade material on the pipe roller.(or any honey comb material if preferred) The Mylar creates a mirror at night to reflect and retain the heat in your house, rather than going out the windows. A second layer of honeycomb would be ideal but expensive.
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WEATHER MONITOR: Purchase Davis Weather monitoring stations here and get great installation advice from knowlegable sales folks: http://www.ambientweather.com WIth the supplied graph software, you can determine if enough wind and sun exist at you home for Solar and Wind Generators. Your local Solar contractors are the best source for advice.
URBAN TURBINE (Wind generator) This style of a turbine will surprise you. See the picture at www.mariahpower.com for a 1.2 Kw turbine. I am working with my city to get this approved and installed. It will add additional 120 volt additional power to my current 4.7 Kw Photo Voltaic panels.
HOME AUTOMATION: Get your home up to the 21st century and save energy as a result with HomeSeer and Z-wave: Monitor temperatures in all windows and rooms to determine if shades should be down or up. A computer can control your shades way better then a human can. Monitor your motion everywhere in the house for proper lights on/off, let the sun turn your lights off automatically, move heat from an overheated room to a cold room to fully optimize the heat: http://homeseer.com/what_is.htm , http://store.homeseer.com/store/Z-Wave-C52.aspx
ZWAVE DEMONSTRATION: I converted all home light switches and motion sensors to Z-WAVE for automated control from HomeSeer. Each switch has it's own proprietary IP address and creates a mesh network. DEMO: www.z-wave.com/modules/Z-Wave-Start/zwave.html
DAYLIGHTING SOLATUBE: www.solatube.com/homeowner/Introduction.php Short Demo of solar tubes. Daylight changes your attitutude to "feel better" in your house. No more dark spots! Silver lined Tubes reflect sunlight from the roof down to your hallway or bathroom or basement. Tubes come in 10, 14, 22 inch diameter. I recommend not using the 10 inch, but go for a 14 inch which is almost double the light. For large living rooms, use the 22 inch which is usually used in industrial buildings.
LED lighting: www.ledtronics.com , www.1000bulbs.com/LED-Ceiling-Lights/ or just google for LED lighting. LED Bulbs: COSTCO and SAMS CLUB (starting in November of 2008) now sell LED lights of various configurations CHEAP (compared to 100s of dollars). A bright full spectrum spot light (90 count led) pulls only 5 watts and costs $14. This means LED is main stream! Hopefully, LEDs can be found at Home Depot or Lowes soon in 2009 which increase the selection of shapes and colors.
Windows sun block SCREENS: www.advancedwindows.com Outside window screens to block the suns heat from entering the house during the summer, but removable for the winter.
HOT AIR heating panels: www.yoursolarHome.com Make any house a solar heated house using these panels mounted outside on your southern wall, or on the roof. Think of these panels as a furnace with a thermostat inside to turn it on and off at any time.
HOT AIR fans: A simple "swamp cooler" also called evaporative cooler will create a great air flow for quiet operation home made hotair panels. www.alliedelec.com/Search/SearchResults.aspx?N=0&Ntk=Primary&Ntt=600-027&sid=11E1C763D1D7 This link shows the specifc fan I use to boost the air flow through my "yoursolarhome" heatsheets. The sun creates so much heat in these black panels (up over 160 degrees output) that the PV powered fans need some help to increase air flow and through the heat deeper into the rooms. The booter fans is powered ON by inserting a cheap $10 furnace airconditioning thermostat inside the wall where the solar panel is putting out hot air. The thermostat control lever is set to the airconditioning setting, saying, I feel hot air, I need to turn on the fan to cool this down.
HOT AIR panels HOME BUILT: www.buildsolar.com/Projects/SpaceHeating/SolarBarn.pdf Save money on hot air panels and build them yourself. If done right, these home built can make your house look better, not uglier, by giving the appearance of more windows on the south wall (or roof).
HOT AIR FAN Thermostat: ACE HARDWARE model = Att101143t-005 Ace Heating and Cooling Thermostat $18.99 www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1273063&cp=2568453.2627949.1260927&pg=4&parentPage=family
INFRARED TEMPERATURE GUN: "Micro Temp MT-EXP" $44 and "RayTek MT6" = $58 Home Energy Audit Tools for yourself: www.amazon.com Search for: Infrared Thermometer, Kill A WATT (model P4400 and P4460, simple watt meter to test your TV, refridge), Smart Strip (power strip that auto shuts off phantom power loads)
SMOKE PEN: Google for Smoke Pen S220 Purhased mine at MeterMall.com for $47.95, Note that smoke matches burn out way too quickly (30 seconds) USE ON WINDY DAYS, Near Windows and Doors to see where you need to caulk and plug leaks.
BEST WINDOW GLASS: www.oikow.com/esb/35/glazing.html show nice pictures to explain U value: light passing through the window
www.wisconsinsolardesign.com/manuals/One-Inch%20Insulating%20Glass%20Unit%20Comparisons%20PPG.htm This Table lists and Compares many brands of thermal glass to determine best R factor and winter solar gain. Since I use automatic mylar shades, by windows have Low-E when I need it and direct full sun input when the house needs it.
LIVE WEATHER from HOMES IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD: www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=KCOWESTM2 (folks who purchase "Davis Weather" instruments from ambient.com join a national grid of weather collection, feeding local weather to the public and government. Search by zipcode.
SUMMER COOLING: Use Evaporative coolers in Dry Climates at 1/5th (and less) the operation cost of an airconditioner (homeDepot and Lowes) The ONLY insulated and air tight Whole HOUSE FAN is available from Tamarac Fans: www.tamtech.com/store/fans,category.asp In the winter time, this fan is insulated and air tight by closing the insulated lids with a motor.
CHEAP TEMPERATURE MONITORING: Maxim Engineering You can attach up to 250 small 1 inch x 1 inch circuit boards which measure the local temperature (about $10 each) to a single eithernet Cat5e cable and monitor many spots (such as windows) in your house/building. The catch is to run the ethernet wire. HomeSeer.com has a plugin to graph out the output.
WATER CONSERVATION: NEW TOILETS:
See pictures in next tab at left side: "Water Conservation" Many USA cities offer rebates up to $100 for HET toilets (HET = High Efficient Toilet) to reduce the demand on their city water supply. CHECK your Cities web. Westminster CO shows their list of qualified toilets at: http://www.ci.westminster.co.us/res/env/water/envwater_conservation.htm http://www.ci.westminster.co.us/articles/Toilet_rebate_application_2008.pdf LOEWs and HomeDepot offer HET toilets at just $150.
Puchased Aquia Toilet at Mcguckin Hardware DESIGN CENTER, Kevin Welch 720-406-2023 2460 Canyon Blvd Boulder, CO 80302 303 449 3779 www.designcntr.com
www.toiletwarehouse.com/totoaquiadualflushtoiletcst414m.aspx
-------------------MISC and EDUCATIONAL INFO -----------------------------
*** These folks have done a great job searching and collecting links from the internet for many green products, services, and education into one well organized website: www.greenbuildingsherpa.com
Environmental Films Festival: www.ceff.net 303-273-9527 These folks do a fabulous job each year collecting the best educational films about saving the enviroment. Many can be used for school room instruction. See these films live once a year in the beautiful old theater of the American Mountaineering Center 710 10th St Golden, CO. Mail to: Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education 15260 South Golden Road Golden, CO 80401. There are many other locations sponsering films also by searching Google.
Jay Leno and his PacWind Wind Turbines Video: www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/jay_leno_garage/4216780.html?series=11
GREEN ENERGY EFFICIENT HOME Educational information: www.green-energy-efficient-homes.com/about-me.html Click on the various tabs at left side.
ENERGY STAR "BUILDERS", List of for COLORADO:
www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=new_homes_partners.showHomesResults&partner_type_id=SHB&s_code=CO&letter=ALL¤t_sort_column=NAME&corrent_sort_order=ASC&layout=default&startnum=1&resultsperpage=186
ENERGY E-STAR HOME "RATERS" for existing homes:
Similar to the Yellow sticker seen inside new refrigerators and washers, you can get your home rated on a scale of 500 to 0 with 0 = netzero home. My home is rated at 26.
www.e-star.com/homeowners/list_of_energy_raters.html
CRES, Colorado Renewable Energy Society, Learn and network with others who are highly motivated in the energy subject. Attend monthly lectures from world known scientists and home owners: http://www.cres-energy.org/ Most states have their own branch of an "Energy Society" associated with ASES. Surround yourself with others who speak the same "energy" language!
ASES, American Solar Energy Society, Find many links to recommended contractors plus Solar Today magazine full of the latest information. http://www.ases.org/
NREL, National Renewable Energy Lab, Find the latest information from the worlds premier test Laboratory on Energy http://www.nrel.gov/
AIR TRAVEL CALCULATOR: See how green your Airplane travel is. Consumer Reports compared 10 websites for carbon footprint used on the same trip. In general the more info about your flight requested, the better: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/money/travel/carbon-output-2-08/overview/carbon-output-ov.htm?resultPageIndex=1&resultIndex=2&searchTerm=carbon
TOP 12 GAS SAVING CARS 2007: The newly revised US Government MPG criteria lowered the claimed MPG for ALL cars and trucks. This chart reflects the new rate for top cars as of 2007. http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars/new-cars/buying-advice/most-fuelefficient-cars-206/index.htm?resultPageIndex=1&resultIndex=1&searchTerm=top%2012%20gas%20savers By comparison, some large pickups are in the single digits with the new rating. Take good care of your older, resonable milage "car" and you are still "green" by not forcing the factory to build you a new car every few years.
OLED TV (skinny TV's): Save electricity > Sony, Samsung and many others will be selling the next generation Flat panel TVs soon. OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) is a monitor where the LEDs are so thin they can be printed like ink on your paper and use little electricty compared to today's Flat panels. Organic means the diodes are based on Carbon rather then silicone: 1) http://www.news.com/2300-1041_3-6203550-2.html?tag=ne.gall.pg , 2) http://www.thestreet.com/s/thin-is-in-with-sony-oled-tv/newsanalysis/technology-stories/10397458.html?puc=_googlen?cm_ven=GOOGLEN&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA Laptops of the future will have roll-out flexible large screens. In the future, your whole wall and ceiling may glow with OLED wall paper to light up the room and use very little electricty as seen in the orbiting Hyatt Hotel in movie: "2001 A Space Odyssey". Light fixtures will be old fashioned as a result. Just click or use voice control to change the color hue and brightness of your couch material or wall paper!
CAR: APTERA TYPE 1 electric car and Hybrid car about $28,000 on sale in California in 2008. http://www.aptera.com/details.php Google has invested big money into Aptera for a great future prospect.
CAR: Tesla MOTORS http://www.teslamotors.com/media/media_index.php $100,000 Tesla motors will sell an electric Roadster two seater first, and then move to production of sedans later. The name is in honor of inventer: Mr. Tesla of the 1800s.
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