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Energy-Saving Windows A Legacy Of ’70s Oil Crisis (text & audio)
Richard Harris, NPR
You may have noticed that clear-glass buildings are springing up in cities across the United States. The reason dates back to some 1970s-era research designed to make windows more energy-efficient.
In fact, this line of research turns out to be one of the biggest success stories to come out of the last energy crisis — and there are lessons to be learned, as America once again ramps up its energy research.
The technology is called low-emissivity window coatings, and these invisible films are the reason that architects in American cities are gleefully building those transparent glass towers.
(16 October 2008)
Energy concerns rekindle love affair with open fires
Juliette Jowit, Guardian
Sales of woodburning stoves and demand for chimney sweeps and coal surge amid fears about energy supplies
Faced with the gloom of winter, expensive heating bills and global insecurity, people are returning to the comforts of the hearth with a boom in open fires and wood-burners.
Solid fuel burners, chimney sweeps and coal merchants are all reporting a surge in business as customers try to find a cheaper way of heating their homes, and some even cite worries about energy supplies running out during a severe cold snap.
Instinct, though, might also be playing a part. For at least 125,000 years, probably much longer, fire has cooked food and offered warmth in cold climates and scared away predators — making it very important to humans, said evolutionary psychologist Dr Lance Workman.
(14 October 2008)
Related at the Guardian: Home fires: Rekindling an ancient love affair.
Renewable Energy Payments (REPs) to stimulate renewable investment (video)
Marc Strassman, Etopia News
Mike Antheil at FARE on Gainesville’s REP/FIT program
Mike Antheil, Executive Director of the Florida Alliance for Renewable Energy (FARE), talks about the impending adoption by the City of Gainesville, Florida, of a system of Renewable Energy Payments (REPs) to stimulate renewable investment.
(17 October 2008)