By: Todd Woody

The other day I came home to find a colorful flyer on my front door proclaiming, “Your meter just got smarter.”

While I was out and about in Berkeley, a worker from my utility, PG&E, slipped in the side gate and gave my old gas and electric meter a digital upgrade. So-called smart meters allow the two-way transmission of electricity data and will eventually let me monitor and alter my energy consumption in near real-time. I’ll be able to fire up an app on my iPhone and see, for instance, a spike in watts because my son has left the lights on in his room and a laptop plugged in.

Now I only learn of my electricity use when I get my monthly utility bill, long after all that carbon has escaped into the atmosphere. The situation is even worse when it comes to water consumption; my bill and details of my water use arrive every other month.

“When you tell people what total bucket of water they used in the past 60 days, the barn door is open and the animals are long gone,” says Richard Harris, water conservation manager for the East Bay Municipal Utility District, my local water agency.

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A great place to get an idea of what technologies are becoming important to both homeowners and service contractors is the AHR Show held in Orlando Florida this week. This year over 800 companies from all over the world displayed new or important technologies to an estimated 25,000 attending engineers, building professionals, and plumbing, heating, and air conditioning contractors.

A few years ago new technology made tankless water heaters a terrific new choice for reducing the energy consumed by domestic water heating. At the show this year over a dozen companies displayed tankless water heating products and it’s clear that this technology is here to stay.

Mini-split heat pumps are also a prominent trend. A number of manufacturers displayed inverter based multi-zone heat pump systems that offer unparalleled flexibility and operating performance. Manufacturers represented included a number of Chinese manufacturers joined by better know brands such as Fujitsu, LG, and Daiken. After looking at the capabilities of these systems you might wonder if US HVAC manufacturers will suffer a similar fate as the North American auto industry when facing Japanese imports starting in the late 1970’s.

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By: Cisco Devries

Property Assessed Clean Energy, or PACE, has taken off like wildfire since the concept was first introduced in Berkeley, Calif. in October ‘07. PACE allows private property owners to pay for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects through an addition to their property tax bill, overcoming the high upfront costs that prevent most property owners from investing in such retrofits.

PACE financing has the capacity to be transformative: property owners realize immediate savings on their utility bills with minimal money down; local green jobs are created through increased demand for retrofitting goods and services; and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are dramatically reduced. With America’s building stock responsible for approximately 40 percent of its demand for energy, these kinds of improvements have the potential to get us significantly closer to our GHG reduction targets. Recognizing the potential of this model, Scientific American magazine recently named PACE one of the top 20 ideas that can change the world.

States around the country are recognizing the potential of PACE. Over the past 18 months, 16 states have adopted legislative changes to allow municipalities to use property taxes as a vehicle for private property improvements of this kind. In California, PACE financing can even be used for water conservation improvements. While many states and municipalities are just beginning the process of designing their programs, several cities and counties around the country already offer PACE financing to their residents, or are well on their way.

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Grand Hall USA Inc. is introducing its new 98% efficient Condensing Water Heating line at the AHR show in Orlando Florida on January 25, 2010.

The new “Eternal Hybrid Condensing” line features a compact size that allows for either wall or floor mounted applications. With efficiencies of up to 99%, and an Energy Factor rating of .96, this new line sets a new efficiency standard for the gas water heating industry.

Two models are available. The GU145 has a maximum firing rate of 145,000 BtuH and can fire on most typical existing 1/2″ gas lines. The GU195 fires from 31,000 to 199,000 MbtuH.

Eternal Condensing water heaters operate of very wide flow rate without the pressure drops typically associated with tankless water heaters. All models meet NSF standards and can be used for residential or commercial applications.

For more information visit Eternal’s water heating website.

By: Bruce Mulliken

Cold where you are in the Northern Hemisphere? Do you now think global warming is a bunch of hooey?

If you lived near the North Pole or Greenland you’d still be a big believer in a warming planet. There’s a relative heat wave going on at the top of world, with temperatures way above normal. It’s part of the Arctic Oscillation which can freeze oranges in Florida but bring a kind of balmy weather to Labrador, Canada.

In the UK, where there has been unusual snow, there has also been less wind. Slower wind speeds mean less electric output from wind turbines and a greater reliance on energy from other sources. Winter won’t last forever and eventually power output from wind farms will get back to normal.

But what happens 10 years from now when Britain, as planned, gets 25 percent of its electricity from wind? What happens then if another Arctic Oscillation sets in? Will people freeze in the dark? Idle fossil power plants could be fired up if they hadn’t been torn down, but big power plants don’t come on with the throw of switch or the turn of a key.

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