Earth Hour 2009

Last year (2008) Earth Hour went global. This year Earth Hour 2009 is even larger, with more cities and more countries. The premise is simple -- turn out your lights, your TV, and any other appliances for 60 minutes as a symbol of your commitment to control climate change. Yes, it is a simple step of symbolism, but at least it is a step to control a problem that every nation on earth will soon face. On March 28th lets all turn out the lights!

[caption id="attachment_136" align="alignnone" width="250" caption="Logo for Earth Hour 2009"][/caption]

Global Energy Balance Explained

NASA's Earth Observatory site has great article on how the Earth's energy balance works. This topic is central to understanding global climate change, so if you really want to understand global warming, read this article. Without the blanket of air that surrounds us this planet this would be a very cold place to live. Interestingly, even with an atmosphere, without carbon dioxide it would still be a cold planet ( around 10 to 0 degrees average). A little carbon dioxide is a good thing, too much and you have a planet like Venus with an 800 degree surface temperature!

Google enters the smart grid arena

Google previewed its new smart grid technology last week, PowerMeter. What's the advantage of a smart power grid? The big advantage of a intelligent power grid is more efficient utilization of available power. For example, under heavy power loads a smart grid could request smart grid enabled appliances to go to a lower power state, saving the consumer money and keeping the power grid safe. It can also highlight inefficient appliances for the consumer.

Here's two links about the PowerMeter technology:

The Google PowerMeter site
Green Wombat post on Google PowerMeter

Have kids, want to save power? Try this ...

One annoying thing about kids is getting them to turn lights off. Sure with CFL or LED lighting it's not that bad, but every little bit helps. So why not have the lights turn themselves off? Try one of these timer switches from Intermatic:

Intermatic electronic wall timers

One thing about electronic timers -- make sure they work with CFLs, some don't.