How tiny is too tiny?

To begin to answer that question, check out these links:

• Micro Compact Home


• Micro Mini Home


• Would you live in a micro home?

Lowe's jumps on the LED bulb bandwagon

I've already mentioned Home Depot's adoption of the LED light bulb. Now comes word that Home Depot wanna-be Lowe's is doing the same. Cnet's Green Tech reports that the number two home improvement giant will be carrying a new Osram Sylvania 60-watt LED bulb. That's 60-watt equivalent, of course. The whole point is that the light only draws 12 watts of energy to produce the same illumination as a traditional incandescent bulb.

National Weatherization Day

A community activist in
Alabama helped weatherize
area homes.

At the White House blog, Energy Secretary Stephen Chu is celebrating National Weatherization Day. Money quote: “As a result of the Recovery Act weatherization program, more than 245,000 low-income families have had their homes upgraded, which means these families are paying lower energy bills every month.”

The Sierra Club is happy with the government’s efforts: “Across the country, federal recovery funds are helping people weatherize their homes for winter, creating jobs and reducing energy waste.”

Meanwhile, Rhode Island and Arkansas just got more stimulus money for weatherization efforts. And in Alabama, one charitable group visited local homes on Weatherization Day and made a range of energy-saving fixes.

Photo courtesy The Huntsville Times, with thanks.

A house with no furnace

An environmental lawyer and a partner at a design firm are building a house that will require no active energy inputs — no oil, gas, or electric heating. In chilly Massachusetts, it will rely exclusively on insulation and architectural design. Check out the details, with video and slide show, at the New York Times’ report.

New plastic holds promise of cheaper solar panels

Solar panels for use in long-term applications (generating energy for decades on roofs, say) are both stiff and heavy because they use glass to admit light but keep out water. But word comes now that a new plastic has the durability of glass but is lighter and flexible. The new plastic, from 3M, should last 20 to 25 years, the company says, according to a great report in MIT's Technology Review. The clear implication is that solar panels may soon be cheaper and require less energy to deliver.

Skyscraper retrofit

Very interesting details on the greening of the Empire State Building:

A sweeping $13.4 million energy retrofit is slashing the Empire State Building’s energy consumption by nearly 40 percent and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 105,000 metric tons over the next 15 years while trimming $4.4 million from annual energy costs.

More media attention for new LED bulbs

Now that LED bulbs are coming on the market at something like reasonable prices, as I posted last month, everyone is jumping on the trend. A New York Times article, To Go Where Compact Fluorescents Cannot, reports that both general purpose and specialty bulbs are coming to Home Depot.

But by the end of this month, the 2,200 Home Depot stores around the United States will stock seven types, including two substitutes for the classic incandescent bulb.

And on cnet’s Green Tech blog, Martin LaMonica is ready to try something new. “I more or less ditched incandescent bulbs for more-efficient compact fluorescents in my house years ago,” he writes. “But at this point, I'm awfully close to ditching CFLs for the latest in lighting technology: LEDs.” LaMonica goes on to say that the biggest problem in LEDs — they heretofore only offered illumination in one direction — has been just about solved:

In the past year, though, lighting manufacturers have introduced LED bulbs in a shape Edison would recognize that put out a decent amount of good-quality light. They still don't give off light from all sides as incumbent technologies do, but this latest generation of LEDs does a better job dispersing light, which means that you could use one (or a few) for overhead lighting.

With Home Depot stocking these bulbs now, soon they’ll be in stores everywhere.

---

Sept. 30 Update: On ZD Net, a columnist notes that these new LED bulbs are now available in Home Depot at an under $20 retail price.

Retailers continue to push green practices

Momentum continues to build for environmentally friendly practices in retail settings. The U.S. Green Building Council is expected to release its LEED for Retail standards later this year; in the meantime, many retailers are pursuing other forms of certification under LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design).

Since 2000, 2,600 retail projects have been registered with the USGBC, and half of those were approved last year.

And retailers achieving certification include not only big chains but also independent retailers. For example. JCPenney won kudos for recycling, installing energy-efficient lighting, and motion sensor faucets. Office Depot got LEED credits for skylights, Energy Star rated HVAC equipment, ands low-flow urinals. Even a small retailer like a Goodwill store in Macedon, N.Y., was recognized for adding carbon dioxide sensors to control air quality and a white roof design to reduce heat.

These retailers are not just looking for environmental cred or good public relations. They are moving to green practices to add to the bottom line. For example, consider Wal-Mart. According to the USGBC, studies show that daylight has a significant potential to boost retail sales. “Skylights incorporated into Wal-Mart’s prototype Eco-Mart in Lawrence, Kansas yielded a surprising discovery,” reads a USGBC report. “To cut costs, skylights were installed over only half the store. Sales per square foot was significantly higher for those departments with access to natural light. Wal-Mart subsequently mandated daylighting in all new stores.”

Online, there are many suggestions for increasing a store’s eco-friendliness; here are a few:

• Eliminate waste: reuse shopping bags, and encourage shoppers to use canvas rather than paper or plastic.
• Use sustainable materials: certified wood can be used for interior construction, and durable recycled carpet is now available.
• Sell green products: Do the research necessary to source and offer green products to your customers.
• Save energy: Reduce a store’s carbon footprint with smart thermostats, lighting on timers, and energy efficient bulbs. There are even ways to reduce the energy wasted by electronic cash registers and computers.

There may be a side benefit for retailers in going green as well: a more motivated work force that feels a sense of accomplishment.

Stimulus money funds energy generation at door maker plant

Door maker CMI has received a grant of $1.3 million through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The company will use the money to install a steam turbine at its Towanda, Pa., facility. According to the company, "the new system will use existing excess steam to generate up to 1,000 kilowatts of electricity." The press release continued:

Governor Edward G. Rendell said CMI’s steam turbine project is one of nine new large-scale combined heat and power projects being supported by the state. Together, it is estimated these projects will create enough energy to power 180,000 homes for one year and slash carbon dioxide emissions equal to 180,000 passenger vehicles, while creating jobs and stabilizing power distribution networks.

Myth debunked: Cap and trade does NOT require retrofits

According to Snopes.com, the famed Internet rumor fact-check site, e-mail gossip has it that "the 'Cap and Trade energy bill' requires that all existing real estate must meet new energy standards before it can be sold." And Snopes answers that rumor today with an emphatic "FALSE."

HR 2454 contains no provisions requiring that existing homes "must meet the new energy standards" before they can be re-sold. Likewise, the bill includes no requirements that an existing residential property undergo an energy usage-related audit or inspection and be assigned a "certificate of efficiency issued by a federal building efficiency inspector" before it can be re-sold or rented.

... the bill merely provides for federal funding to be offered as incentives for owners of existing properties to voluntarily improve the energy efficiency of their structures.

Now, all of this is good news for home improvement retailers. For one, even if the cap-and-trade aspect of the legislation is defeated in the Senate, laws requiring efficiency in new construction are still likely to reappear. And for another, the provisions encouraging retrofits -- but not requiring them -- will bring in new business, without alienating those who think the government is forcing action.

But first, your job is to educate your customers, so they won't believe every wild thing they read in their in-boxes.

What's coming out of Copenhagen for the home improvement industry

Dec. 7 sees the start of the U.N. Climate Change Conference, the biggest gathering of world leaders addressing eco-issues since the meeting at Kyoto, Japan, 12 years ago.

Despite a carbon dioxide cap-and-trade bill that passed the House this summer, Senate heel-draggers have denied the president the signed legislation he had hoped to bring to Copenhagen. Resolved not to repeat Bill Clinton's mistakes in Kyoto (Clinton signed the Kyoto Protocol but could not get it ratified by Congress), Obama has signalled that he does not expect a formal treaty to emerge out of Copenhagen -- he won't seek a treaty until he has a signed law in hand.

So what does that have to do with home improvement? Well, Obama won't want to leave Copenhagen empty-handed, so he'll focus on other areas of agreement. For example, check out this Nov. 17 Energy Department press release boasting of areas of agreement with China:

The two Presidents announced the launch of a new U.S.-China Energy Efficiency Action Plan.  Under the new plan, the two countries will work together to improve the energy efficiency of buildings, industrial facilities, and consumer appliances.

There's more here. 

So the government may soon be pushing tighter building standards and electricity-stingy appliances. The point is that as we see more emphasis on energy efficiency initiatives coming out of Copenhagen, like this one with China, there will be more opportunities for green retailers and builders.

Update: President Obama today confirmed that he will attend the Copenhagen meeting. I don't think he'd be going if he didn't think there was a reason to do so.

The green wave breaks

When you look up from the individual grains of sand -- LEED certification, carbon offsets, Energy Star, recycling -- and you really see the wide beach, you can't help but notice the tide of changing attitudes coming in at last.

I remember when the only environmental issues in retail were those forced on business by activist groups such as PETA and the Rainforest Action Network. Ten years ago, the most controversial environmental issue in home improvement was sustainable forestry, and when Home Depot decided to source products made from certified wood, it was big news -- but retailers had to be harangued into it.

What a difference a recession makes. Businesses are looking for ways to cut costs, and suddenly everyone wants to save the planet, one utility bill at a time. Consumers are looking for ways to save, too, and when a green product offers that, it sells.

But deep in our hindbrains, a couple generations brought up in this post-Silent-Spring culture are not unwilling to look for other reasons to embrace eco-friendly products, now that they cost as much as traditional equivalents. The Lorax has made us more receptive to the idea of being more planet-friendly, and we feel good about our newfound acceptance of green practices and products. A number of research reports say consumers prefer green window cleaners, recycled carpet, and green bug spray -- products that don't save money on electric bills -- so long as they don't cost more at check-out.

And that evolving acceptance has wider ramifications. Take a look at a random sample of news out last week:

• Information Management Online analyzed the agreement between the U.S. government and Wal-mart to both "start tracking the sustainability profile of their suppliers as well as their products and services." That's $800 billion in products that will now be scrutinized for environmental impact.
• The Financial Times takes a look at ethical investing in retail and concludes, "What started out in 1984 as a quixotic experiment has now turned into a big business, as investors not only intensify their scrutiny of corporate practice, but step forward to exercise their voice and shape corporate behaviour."
• Crain's Detroit Business reports on research revealing "80 percent of businesses have taken steps toward sustainability" in southeast Michigan. And if I may be so bold, as goes southeast Michigan, so goes the nation.
• A commercial real estate company is bragging that its sustainability efforts are equivalent to planting 9 million trees or taking 4,500 cars off the road. For 108 properties, "the estimated total investment to optimize sustainability performance in these properties is about $59 million. Resulting annual savings from the investment will be about $19 million."

The sea change here is that alternative has become mainstream, that yesterday's Greenpeace activists are today's corporate sustainability officers and LEED accredited professionals. Tomorrow, the world.

Photo: green tide by Adamwithoutanyhands, used under a Creative Commons license.

EPA updates Top 20 Green Retailers list

The EPA has announced its updated Top 20 Retailer Partner Ranking for its Green Power Partnership program. First on the list is Kohl's, with Lowe's coming up in sixth place. According to the EPA:

Top Partner Rankings highlight the annual green power purchases of leading organizations within the United States and across individual industry sectors.

Here's the Reuters article, looking mainly at Kohls.

Stimulus smart grid money heads into home channel

Last year the power companies were predicting new smart grid technology and hyper-efficient appliances. GE, for example, is pushing this tech, no surprise, seeing as the company stands to sell a lot of new smart meters. Well, the Obama administration is using $3.4 billion in stimulus money to help that trend along.

While most of the cash is going to a wide range of power companies, $19.3 million of that is going to the home channel's own Whirlpool Corp. to help spur the creation of smart appliances such as dryers. These machines will be able to read the electric grid in order to regulate power use and save money, for example, by turning on when electricity is cheaper.

Here's what Whirlpool exec VP Bracken Darrell said at the Energy Efficiency Global Forum & Exhibition in Paris last April:

By 2015 we are prepared to make ALL the electronically controlled appliances we produce, ANYWHERE in the world, capable of receiving and responding to a signal requesting curtailment of the appliance’s energy consumption. These products will also be capable of providing the consumer with contemporaneous information about their energy consumption. Whirlpool would also require any manufacturer that is licensed to use the Whirlpool brand to add similar capability to products bearing the Whirlpool brand.

I have to count myself unconvinced, though, so far. Are consumers going to be happy leaving their wet laundry in the drier until 3 am, when the electric rates go down? What if they have another two loads to dry after that? And will consumers want their clothes to sit in a ball in the drier getting wrinkled from 4:30 am until the consumer gets around to taking them out two or four hours later? I look forward to seeing how the engineers at Whirlpool tackle these problems. $19.3 million says they'll think of something.

Renaissance Lighting earns Energy Star label

Renaissance Lighting, who I blogged about last year, has earned Energy Star qualification for its newest downlight LED fixtures. According to Renaissance, the new recessed downlight fixtures deliver at least 35 lumens per watt and meet other Energy Star requirements for efficiency, light levels, and color.

Making old homes more energy efficient

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has launched a Weatherization Guide for Older and Historic Buildings. The site includes some interesting advocacy for keeping historic windows in place:

Going green is about more than just energy performance. To determine real environmental impacts, one must take into account the embodied energy of the new and existing windows, the environmental impacts of manufacturing new products, and the expected lifecycle of the product. Embodied energy includes the energy required to extract the raw materials, transport them, make them into a new product, ship the product, and install it. Existing historic windows have all of this energy embodied in them. Tearing out historic windows for replacement units not only wastes embodied energy, it requires additional energy to remove and dispose them. This is on top of the energy required to create and install the new windows.

Webinar this fall will focus on solar energy for retailers

I'm the managing editor for two magazines on the business of retail, and one of them, Chain Store Age, is partnering with Schneider Electric to present a webinar on solar energy for retailers. The online event will feature speakers from Xantrex Technology, a Schneider subsidiary. To attend the free Oct. 15 webinar, please register online.

Silver linings in green pools

After a long cool damp June (at least here in the northeastern United States), at last we're getting some hot summery weather. Time for ball games, picnics, and swimming pools! And you can enjoy the beautiful blue water in your green pool, too.

The big problems with pools, eco-wise, are water loss, electricity used to run pumps, and chemicals. But each has a solution. Pool covers stop evaporation and are a good safety feature. Energy efficient pumps are now on the market. And there are alternatives to traditional chemical treatments as well. For a good round-up, check out these two articles. And here are five more eco-friendly solutions.

And for those seeking a recycled above-ground option, check out these swimming pools made from big recycled garbage dumpsters! That's them in the photo above.

Natural lighting boosts retail sales -- at least it did in 1999!

I was browsing the Web, following interesting links, and I came to a company -- Entech Solar -- that makes skylights for commercial businesses. And that led me to a link at the bottom of that page, on Skylighting and Retail Stores. (If you want to read the report, you have to go there and click on the link yourself, since I was unable to embed it.)

That research report, in PDF format, had some interesting results, including these:

Skylights were found to be positively and significantly correlated to higher sales. All other things being equal, an average non-skylit store in the chain would likely have 40% higher sales with the addition of skylights, with a probable range between 31% and 49%. This was found with 99% statistical certainty. After the number of hours open per week, the presence of skylights was the best predictor of the sales per store of all the variables that we considered.

and also

Informal interviews with shoppers repeatedly confirmed that the vast majority of shoppers were not aware of the skylights. The questioner, looking just like any other shopper, would approach a shopper and ask: “May I ask you a question?” The response was universally affirmative. We then asked, “What do you think of the skylights in this store?” The typical response was to look up, look puzzled, and then say, “That’s funny. I never noticed them before.” Out of 42 interviews in 10 skylit stores, only three shoppers could be found who were already aware of the skylights. Two of those volunteered that they had only noticed the skylights because their small child had pointed them out on an earlier trip, while looking up at a balloon or other bright object.

and also

A store with skylights is observed to have a sales index higher than an equivalent store without skylights. This is clearly the largest effect of any of the variables considered, (at B=+1.55). It is possible that there may be other reasons that the skylit stores are performing so well as a group. In our site visits, we made every effort to try to identify other characteristics of the skylit stores that might contribute to higher sales, but we did not find any obvious candidates. However, that possibility should always be kept in mind when examining these results.

and this

These results show that adding skylighting to the average non-skylit store within the chain would be likely to improve its performance by 40%, with a probable range somewhere between 31% and 49%. Thus, if this non-skylit store were averaging sales of $2/SF, then its sales might be expected to increase to between $2.61 and $2.98 with the addition of a skylighting system.

But here's the biggest caveat -- the study was conducted in 1999! Ugh. I have a call in to the research company, and I'll post any updates I hear about. The research was sponsored by the utility company PG&E, which encourages me, since a utility company would not, I think, preferentially seek out research that suggests decreasing electricity use. Food for thought.

Incandescents: Reports of death greatly exaggerated

The New York Times has a very interesting article on new technology designed to make traditional incandescent bulbs more energy efficient -- enough so that they will likely meet government mandates on efficiency that otherwise would require switching to CFLs.

Normally, only a small portion of the energy used by an incandescent bulb is converted into light, while the rest is emitted as heat. Deposition Sciences applies special reflective coatings to gas-filled capsules that surround the bulb’s filament. The coatings act as a sort of heat mirror that bounces heat back to the filament, where it is transformed to light.

Indeed, the incandescent bulb is turning into a case study of the way government mandates can spur innovation.

Philips Lighting’s Halogena Energy Savers is a line of bulbs now on the market that uses this technology. These are available now at Amazon and Home Depot, according to the Times, but evidently not yet on the Home Depot Web site.