The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a lot of information posted on various pages of their website. One that I discovered recently is an interesting tool called the Power Profiler. With this tool, you enter your zip code and select the name of your electricity company - the tool compares the fuel mix of your utility to the national average to give you an idea of how "clean" your power is.
In most power plants, fuel is burned to generate heat - the heat either turns turbines directly or generates steam which turns the generators. Burning fuel releases pollutants into the air, and the amount of pollutants released depends both on what type of fuel is used and whether any equipment is used to capture the pollution. The Power Profiler tells you, based on the type of fuel used by your utility, the amount of pollutants released versus the national average - thus telling you how clean your power is. This can give you an idea of how much good you can do by reducing your energy use. For me, living in southern Indiana, the fuel mix is heavily weighted towards coal - meaning that air pollutants are emitted at a higher rate than the national average. So reducing my power use, or using alternative power sources such as solar, has a big impact.
The Power Profiler website also gives you tips on how to reduce your energy use, and where you can purchase "green" power. All in all a pretty interesting tool - gives some good insight into how you can reduce your impact and improve the air around you!
6/6/11
Share Your Car?
For those you may not have heard of the concept, car sharing is similar to renting a car. Companies set up large fleets of cars in major cities and keep them parked in certain lots. You sign up to share a car for a set time period (hours or days) and simply return the car to one of the designated lots.
I ran across a couple of interesting articles (here and here) talking about the next big thing in car sharing - renting out your own car. There are a couple of services in California and other places that have started up. Basically, you sign up for the service and make your car available for rent by the hour or whatever you want. How the person gets the car differs - one service installs a system that allows the renter to open your car door with a smart phone. Insurance is taken care of by the companies who run the services.
It is an interesting concept - certainly one that would work well in a city. Not sure how comfortable I would be with this concept, even with a third party handling the transactions. And while this type of service can reduce the number of cars on the road, it doesn't necessarily reduce the number of miles driven - to do that you need to car pool, take mass transit, or walk/bike. But, its certainly one way to get the most out of the cars already on the road.
I ran across a couple of interesting articles (here and here) talking about the next big thing in car sharing - renting out your own car. There are a couple of services in California and other places that have started up. Basically, you sign up for the service and make your car available for rent by the hour or whatever you want. How the person gets the car differs - one service installs a system that allows the renter to open your car door with a smart phone. Insurance is taken care of by the companies who run the services.
It is an interesting concept - certainly one that would work well in a city. Not sure how comfortable I would be with this concept, even with a third party handling the transactions. And while this type of service can reduce the number of cars on the road, it doesn't necessarily reduce the number of miles driven - to do that you need to car pool, take mass transit, or walk/bike. But, its certainly one way to get the most out of the cars already on the road.
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