Jubbling.com - Consume less. Reuse more.
Jubbling - Consume less. Reuse more.
Personally, I don’t give a rat’s ass but if you do, here’s a link to “Red States Are Less Energy-Efficient Than Blue Ones: Another Partisan Divide?” The last thing we need to do is to push both sides further apart – blue states feeling all superior and red states caring even less about energy efficiency. [GTM]
Great story from FastCompany.com, “Carbon Taxing Your Own Employees To Improve Their Energy Use,” about AllEarth Renewables’ effort to motivate employees to reduce the amount of energy they consume.
How it works
At the start of the year, AllEarth Renewables gives each employee $6,000 to cover their annual driving, electricity and heating costs. Whatever they consume over that amount, they have to return to the company. The program was implemented at the start of 2012 and AllEarth Renewables’ Public Affair’s Manager, Andrew Savage, hopes it’s an idea that will be copied by other companies. From the start, employees worked together to develop ideas on how to cutback their personal energy consumption. The program was so effective, it even changed one employee’s car buying decision to a more fuel efficient diesel vehicle.
In addition to cutting back how much energy co-workers consume, probably the best feature of AllEarth Renewable’s REWIRE program is that it’s a great morale builder. Staff members working together and motivating each other to consume less electricity. If we gave out Jubbys, AllEarth Renewables would be our first recipient. [FastCo.Exist]
Vanderlande Industries of the Netherlands builds conveyors and automated sorters for airlines, shipping companies and manufacturing facilities. Their Greenveyor and Blueveyor conveyor’s require 50% and 75% less energy, respectively, to convey items compared to previous belt systems. The Blueveyor is Vanderlande Industries’ next generation conveyor and was inspired by the cradle-to-cradle design idea of creating efficient systems that are waste free. In addition to energy savings, the Blueveyor is PVC free, requires half the materials to build and is fully recyclable.
Energy efficiency and cradle-to-cradle design are great but what is the real reason Jubbling is mentioning Vanderlande Industries? Because it sounds a lot like Vandelay Industries – the place where George Costanza wanted to be hired as a latex salesperson. [GreenBiz]
Vampire draw is the excess power our devices consume when they are plugged in and fully charged. And according to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, vampire draw accounts for 5-10% of the residential electricity we consume. Bracketron would like to be the next company to end this type of unnecessary power consumption with their new GreenZero line of chargers that automatically shut off when your device is fully charged. Here’s a quick breakdown of their new power saving products:
| Mushroom GreenZero: Pressing the “mushroom” on the Mushroom Greenzero immediately activates the charger when connected to your USB powered device. When it’s fully charged or unplugged, the Mushroom GreenZero will automatically shut off and stop consuming electricity. Price: $24.95 to $29.28 |  |
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| Stone GreenZero: The Stone GreenZero is the mobile vampire draw killing USB charger that is built for travel. It folds down and has a smaller button that when pressed, starts charging your USB powered device and automatically shuts off when it’s fully charged. Price: $22.56 |  |
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| Stone Battery: The Stone Battery is a pocket-sized 1000mAmp battery that has an LED indicator to let you know when it’s fully charged and then it will recharge your mobile devices for up to 3 hours. When it’s connected, the Stone Battery will also automatically shut off when your device is fully charged. Two models of the Stone Battery are available – one for microUSB devices and another with an Apple 30 pin cable for iPhone, iPod and iPod Touch. |  |
Gizmodo posted an article about the “bleak circumstances” facing North Korea due to the policies of their former leader Kim Jong-Il. How did they represent this? By showing a satellite image with no lights turned on in North Korea at night. So as Jubbling goes, maybe there was one upside.
Google is everywhere and now, they want you to be able to track your electricity consumption online using their PowerMeter product. PowerMeter has been available since October 2009 and works in conjunction with a homes’ existing smart electricity meter or with 3rd party energy monitoring devices. Having a smart meter alone is not enough to access your data using PowerMeter; your utility company must partner with Google in order to gain real-time access to your energy usage.
Once your utility partners with Google, as San Diego Gas & Electric and TXU Energy have, your homes’ energy consumption information will be available online and access to the PowerMeter application is provided free of charge.
If your utility company has not partnered with Google, another way to track your energy consumption online with PowerMeter is by purchasing a product like Current Cost’s ENVI monitor. Connecting the ENVI monitor is relatively simple; connect two CT clamps at the electrical box on your incoming power lines. A transmitter will then send the information to the ENVI monitor which can be up to 100′ away. The ENVI monitor tracks energy usage and when connected to a PC, the ENVI monitor will transmit the data to Google PowerMeter for online monitoring.
The only downside we can think of with Google’s PowerMeter is the phone call from an obsessively Jubbling working spouse monitoring energy usage online and questioning power consumption at home. “How many lights are on?”, “Why do we have two tv’s on?.”
But the benefits of the Google PowerMeter definitely override any downside and that is why we classify it as a speedometer for your home. With access to instant energy consumption information, homeowners will find ways to reduce and see the results real-time as they make changes. The 30 day lag we’re used to will be a thing of the past.
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