location based blog: energy

I agree that there is a great need to deploy promising technologies, and the cash grant and loan guarantee programs are helping some of these technologies to reach the mass market. I believe Chu was talking about committing long-term policies to invest in R&D.; He noted that the U.S. is still a leader in innovation, so, like you said, there is an enormous amount of great R&D; going on still. But China is able to move aggressively with demonstration and deployment because it's got long-term plans and money to accelerate R&D; to reach demo/deployment more quickly. To keep up, we, too, need to commit more money, or else we'll be outpaced.

Comment on DOE Chief: U.S. Is in Trouble Without More Energy R&D; by Ucilia Wang

Backlink: http://gigaom.com/cleantech/steve-chu-u-s-is-in-trouble-without-more-science-rd/#comment-531063

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Comment on DOE Chief: U.S. Is in Trouble Without More Energy R&D; by Ed Hands

Energy and food are the keys to the future. Those that control those two items will truly be in charge of their destiny. Chu has hit the nail on the head. I hope our leaders (on both sides) will be able to see through the politics and realize the importance of this to our future.

Comment on DOE Chief: U.S. Is in Trouble Without More Energy R&D; by Ed Hands

Backlink: http://gigaom.com/cleantech/steve-chu-u-s-is-in-trouble-without-more-science-rd/#comment-528655

Monday, November 29, 2010

Chu: Will America Miss Its "Sputnik Moment" on Energy?

America is at a "Sputnik moment", Energy Secretary Stephen Chu said today, and the government's next moves will determine whether the country leads the global cleantech race or loses it to China.

"This is the threat that I see," Chu said in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. "The U.S. still has the opportunity to lead in a new industrial revolution. It is a way to secure our future prosperity, but I believe our time is running out." The timing of the speech was no accident. It came as new global climate talks got underway in Mexico and as President Obama prepares to sit down for talks with the new Republican leadership in the House of Representatives. When the U.S.S.R. launched the Sputnik satellite in 1957, it shook the American industrial and military establishment; few knew the Russians were capable of such a feat. Eleven days afterward, President Dwight Eisenhower announced a new commitment to scientific R&D that led to decades of American technological dominance. Of course, today's announcement was made not by President Obama, but a cabinet secretary. And that just begins to state the differences between 1957 and 2010. Eisenhower faced a clear enemy at an emphatic historical moment. He wasn't saddled with a $13.7 trillion national debt or an opposing political party whose top priority was denying him another term in office. To fend off likely Republican opposition, Chu steered away from divisive issues like climate change and instead turned his attention to the threat from China. He cited figures from a report about China's rising scientific prowess, designed to scare even the most angry and penny-pinching Tea Party congressman. In the last 15 years, Chu said, China has gone from 15th place to 5th in international patents and from 14th place to 2nd place in published research articles. Of 50 or so nuclear reactors under construction around the world, 30 are in China. China just surpassed the U.S. with the world's fastest supercomputer, has a 220-mph rail line that is the fastest in the world, and has broken ground on a rail network almost four times larger than the next most developed rail country, France. The U.S. is just sketching out its plan for high-speed rail. Furthermore, Chu cited figures that eight of the ten global companies with the largest R&D budgets have set up research facilities in China and/or India. And then there's the fact that U.S. tech giant Applied Materials has built the world's largest private research facility -- in China. Chu remained upbeat that the U.S. could win the energy race by building on investments the Obama adminstration has made so far, notably through the Energy Department's ARPA-E program that gives seed funding to promising energy technologies. ARPA-E has set ambitious targets, like a car battery that can go 500 miles on a single charge, synthesizing fuels from sunlight, and reducing the cost of photovoltaic solar by a factor of four, so it can compete with coal. "Let's seize this opportunity," Chu said. "We can't afford not to." David Ferris is the managing editor of the Matter Network.

Chu: Will America Miss Its "Sputnik Moment" on Energy?

Backlink: http://featured.matternetwork.com/2010/11/chu-will-america-miss-its_3210.cfm

Friday, November 19, 2010

International Energy Agency Says 'Peak Oil' Began in 2006

The International Energy Agency has released its World Energy Outlook for 2010, forecasting for the first time that the global crude oil production peak that so many have long feared, has in fact already been reached-more than four years ago. International demand has since fallen slightly thanks to a recent global economic downturn, but once economies around the world have recovered, the IEA says daily crude production alone will no longer be sufficient to meet their needs.

So is the world is headed for a Mad Max-style apocalypse? Not according the IEA. The 2010 report projects that increases in other fossil fuels like natural gas and tar sands will mostly supplant crude in meeting new demand-with clean, renewable energy sources also making major gains. The IEA says that daily global oil production will "plateau" at around 68 million barrels per day by 2035, as total energy demand increases by more than 35 percent over the same period. Thanks in part to pledges from governments to reduce their countries' reliance on fossil fuels though, new contributions to the energy mix will help to avert the sort of catastrophic oil spike that many have predicted to coincide with the start of the "peak oil" age. Apocalypse Later But while the projection may bode well for the world economy, the IEA is convinced that even if governments live up to the pledges they made in lowering greenhouse gas emissions, the 2009 Copenhagen Accord's goal of limiting climate change to less than 2 degrees C will not be reached. If the world continues on its current trajectory, the organization says that average global temperatures will likely rise by at least 3.5 degrees C. The group recommended that the following conditions must be met to achieve the Copenhagen Accord's intended outcomes, which it calls the "450 Scenario:" - Oil demand must peak sooner and decline more sharply than it would under natural "peak oil" conditions.

- Coal will have to play a significantly smaller role in the energy balance, with global demand peaking in 2020 and declining steadily thereafter.

- Demand for gas and liquified natural gas must also also peak before the end of the 2020s.

- Renewables and nuclear power must double to represent nearly 40 percent of the energy market by 2035.

Advanced vehicles will also have to make rapid gains in the coming years-to levels in the upper reaches of what most analysts believe is possible. By 2035, the IEA says that not only will 70 percent of new worldwide vehicle sales will have to come from advance technology plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles, but that that those cars will need to run mostly on electricity generated from nuclear and renewable sources rather than fossil fuels. The IEA's Outlook is considered by many to be one of the most comprehensive and authoritative annual energy market analyses available to the public. (Though last year's report came under fire after the agency was accused in The Guardian of downplaying the severity of the impending oil crunch in an effort to not "anger the Americans.") The IEA has worked independently with the United States and 27 other member countries to help minimize the fallout from energy market instabilities since 1974, when it was created in response to the 1973 oil crisis. Its current mandate is the promotion of what it describes as "the three E's": energy security, economic development, and environmental protection. Reprinted with permission from HybridCars

Post originale: http://featured.matternetwork.com/2010/11/international-energy-agency-says-peak.cfm

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Organs of UK Nuclear Workers Secretly Harvested; Energy Secretary Apologizes

fernlyn writes with word of a report detailing a decades-long practice of clandestine post-mortem organ removal from the bodies of dozens of workers in the UK's nuclear energy industry; Britain's Energy Secretary Chris Huhne has apologized to the families of those workers whose organs were taken without consent or even acknowledgement. Many of the organs taken were removed without any apparent forensic purpose in mind. Surviving relatives are understandably upset with what they see as cavalier treatment of their loved ones' bodies (even beyond unauthorized organ removal), such as the replacement of bones with lengths of broomstick.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Solar Shield Protects Energy Network

by Joshua S. Hill

Life in the universe can be difficult for inhabited planets, especially when you're directly in the path of a massive coronal mass ejection (CME) shot out from your own life-sustaining star. Even without a massive network of interconnecting power lines sweeping across the planet, these solar storms can wreak havoc; but add in that same network of power lines and life becomes very tricky. Theorists have predicted nationwide blackouts with year long delays if such a storm were to hit and be strong enough to blow up transformers. One such storm hit on March 13 of 1989 and damaged transformers in Quebec, New Jersey and Great Britain, and is reported to have caused more than 200 power anomalies across the United States. Naturally, there is concern. This concern has led NASA scientists to develop a new project called "Solar Shield," which is aimed at protecting transformers in the 30 minutes before the solar storm hits. "Solar Shield is a new and experimental forecasting system for the North American power grid," explains project leader Antti Pulkkinen, a Catholic University of America research associate working at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "We believe we can zero in on specific transformers and predict which of them are going to be hit hardest by a space weather event." How it Works Solar Shield doesn't have any of the cool futuristic components that its name suggests it does, but what it does have is just as impressive. "Solar Shield springs into action when we see a coronal mass ejection billowing away from the sun," explains Pulkkinen. "Images from SOHO and NASA's twin STEREO spacecraft show us the cloud from as many as three points of view, allowing us to make a 3D model of the CME, and predict when it will arrive." A CME takes somewhere between 24 and 48 hours to travel the distance between its ejection point on the Sun and our planet, which gives us plenty of time to model the cloud. The last 30 minutes before impact are the most important, however. The cloud will sweep past ACE - a spacecraft stationed 1.5 kilometres upstream from Earth - and will take measurements of the CME's speed, density, and magnetic field, and immediately transmit that data to the Solar Shield team working at Goddard's Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC). "We quickly feed the data into CCMC computers," says Pulkkinen. "Our models predict fields and currents in Earth's upper atmosphere and propagate these currents down to the ground." The team are then able to make predictions based on the information which has been garnered and warn utility companies which transformers need to be taken out of the grid - temporarily - to prevent a lasting blackout. The Future While Solar Shield has yet to be tested under actual geomagnetic storms and is therefore extremely experimental, the scientists behind the design are hopeful. "We'd like more power companies to join our research effort," he adds. "The more data we can collect from the field, the faster we can test and improve Solar Shield." Reprinted with permission from Planetsave

Post originale: http://featured.matternetwork.com/2010/11/solar-shield-protects-energy-network.cfm

Friday, November 12, 2010

US, India Launch Space-Based Solar Energy Initiative

by Mridul Chadha

Just before President Obama started his India tour the Indian Space Research Organisation and U.S.'s National Space Society launched a joint forum to enhance partnership in harnessing solar energy through space-based solar collectors. Called the Kalam-NSS Initiative after the former Indian President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, the forum will lay the groundwork for the space-based solar power program which could see other countries joining in as well. The idea of a multilateral space-based solar energy program was initiated by an Indian Defense Ministry think tank, Institute of Defense Studies and Analyses. A report prepared by Peter Garretson, a US Air Force lieutenant colonel called up on the governments of India and the United States to initiate this pathbreaking project and make the space-based solar energy a commercially viable business venture by 2025. Addressing the press at the National Press Club in New Delhi, Dr Kalam said, "By 2050, even if we use every available energy resource we have: clean and dirty, conventional and alternative, solar, wind, geothermal, nuclear, coal, oil, and gas, the world will fall short of the energy we need." One of the biggest advantages of space-based solar energy is that it is not intermittent in nature as ground-based solar energy resource. An array of solar panels stationed in a geostationary orbit around the world will receive sunlight for 99 percent time of the year. Plus there are no losses due to atmospheric interferences. This partnership between the two countries is likely to gain pace and strength as the United States has now removed some technology-transfer restrictions which were imposed on some scientific research organisations in India after the 1998 nuclear tests. Organisations like the ISRO and Bharat Dynamics will now have access to some sensitive and unique technology. Researchers speaking at the press conference referred to this initiative as a landmark deal which would benefit both the countries. For the US, the deal would potentially create thousands of jobs as it is likely to contribute majority of the hardware for the project. For India, the project would mean enormous amounts of clean energy which it could use to electrify its rural areas and drive its economy. Reprinted with permission from Ecopolitology

Post originale: http://featured.matternetwork.com/2010/11/us-india-launch-space-based.cfm

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Energy Giant Areva to Invest $3 Billion in India Solar Power

by Mridul Chadha

France-based energy company Areva (CEI.PA) is planning to invest $3 billion in India's rapidly growing solar power sector. The company plans to set up 1000 MW solar thermal power capacity in the next five to seven years. Areva already has a presence in the biomass sector with 60 MW installed capacity and launched a joint venture with Astonfield to increase the capacity to 100 MW. Apart from renewables, the company is also expected to gain significant share in India's nuclear energy market through the Indo-French nuclear deal signed last year. Areva is among several foreign companies looking to enter the Indian solar power market. This 'solar rush' is the result of the planned National Solar Mission (NSM) which aims at installing 20,000 MW of solar PV and solar thermal power generation capacity by 2022. With the current installed capacity of merely 12 MW (as of 30 June 2010) there is tremendous room for growth and foreign investors can tap the financial incentives being provided by the government to expand their presence in India. The planned 1000 MW solar thermal capacity will, however, not come under the National Solar Mission. The solar reflectors and other equipment to be used in the plants are likely to be sourced from outside India and as per policy regulations a solar plant is eligible for NSM financial incentives only if it uses Indian-made equipment. Nevertheless, Areva can take advantage of another policy initiative announced by the Indian government. Almost all the state governments have been obligated to procure a definite minimum percentage of their power demand from renewable energy-based power plants and solar energy-based power has a separate minimum quota as well. In case any state government fails to achieve the specified target it would be required to buy Renewable Energy Certificates from any renewable energy-based power producer. Thus the Areva-backed power plants can indirectly earn profits. There is also an acute shortage of skilled professionals in the solar energy sector in India. There are only a handful of companies providing consultancy services for providing engineering and logistical support for designing and setting up a solar energy plant. Areva is planning to launch such services as well. Entering the nascent solar energy sector in India is a highly intelligent move on part of the Areva management. In addition to the nuclear energy market which is comparatively difficult to enter and sustain operations in (due to stringent Indian laws), Areva is also looking to take full advantage of India's favorable solar energy policies by deploying its engineering and executional experience. Reprinted with permission from Earth & Industry

Post originale: http://featured.matternetwork.com/2010/11/energy-giant-areva-invest-3.cfm

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Britain's New Green Deal: Transforming Energy Efficiency

Britain's new government is proposing radically new energy policies, with a "Green Deal" that would retrofit the country's woefully energy-inefficient housing stock. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, UK Energy and Climate Minister Greg Barker talks about why an overhaul of the approach to energy is essential for the nation's future.

Britain's new ruling coalition knows it faces a formidable task if it is to fulfill its pledge of being "the greenest government ever." But Greg Barker, the UK's new Energy and Climate Change Minister, says that even in the face of budget cuts and fiscal austerity, he is optimistic about what the coalition can do to put Britain on course to meet its goal of cutting carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050. Barker, 44, a former PR executive and Conservative member of Parliament, is promoting the government's plan for a so-called new Green Deal, a program aimed at retrofitting Britain's notoriously energy-wasteful homes with efficiency improvements, with no upfront cost to homeowners. "We have one of the lowest energy-efficiency ratings in Europe," he says, "and that's something that's simply not acceptable." In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Barker discussed how the Green Deal would work, the role of offshore wind and other renewables in Britain's future, the need for new nuclear plants in the UK, and the government's plan for a green investment bank that would help finance new low-carbon technology. "We think that there is a clear commercial advantage for the UK in being an early mover in the drive to a clean economy," he said. Yale Environment 360: Your government is now promoting a new Green Deal. Can you explain how that would work, and specifically when it comes to homeowners, how it will enable them to make major energy-efficiency improvements without sustaining unaffordable costs? Greg Barker: Well, I think it's important first to put it in context. The new coalition government elected in May of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats really comes together at its strongest on the green agenda. And the new prime minister, David Cameron, within days of taking office, committed to being the greenest government ever. What does that mean? Well, really that means going beyond the rhetoric of the Blair years and actually coming up with some really clear policies for delivering transformation to a low-carbon economy during the next decade. One of our flagship policies is the Green Deal. And that recognizes that the UK has been lacking far too long in energy efficiency, both in the business sector and also critically in the domestic sector. We have one of the lowest energy-efficiency ratings of any country in Europe, and that's something that's simply not acceptable. So there's a lot to do. And therefore, what we need is a real game-changer, a complete step-change in the scale of investment in energy efficiency. Historically, most programs for energy efficiency have been driven by annually capped grants from central government to particular programs. And while in themselves they've been worthwhile, relative to the scale of the challenge and the 26 million homes that we have to transform, we've been making very slow progress. e360: So what is the coalition government proposing? Barker: What we're going to do is go away from the stop-go, government-funded programs, and through using smart regulation, open up this market to the private sector. We believe we can create a market that will bring in billions of pounds of investment into energy efficiency for homes and businesses. We're going to create a mechanism whereby the cost of making these [energy-efficiency] measures can all be financed through pay-as-you-save models, with the finance being repaid over a period of 20 years through the bill on each individual property. Now, that's a big change. To date it had to be paid upfront, either by the individual homeowner or through a grant. By pinning the repayments to the bill of the property, it means it's not a debt. It's not even a mortgage. It doesn't need to be credit-scored, because if the individual living in that particular home moves, dies, ownership changes, or they cease to rent, it stays on the bill of that property, just like the conventional energy bill. But there's one golden rule: The cost of financing the measures, which would be anything up to 6,000 pounds, must always be less than the savings anticipated from the installations [of energy-efficiency measures]. e360: Who will pay the upfront costs? Barker: The upfront cost will be paid for by private sector finance. Now, in some cases, those companies with a big balance sheet may wish to finance it themselves on their own balance sheet. Others, and I think it will probably be the majority, will team up with banks and commercial finance houses as a partnership. So far as the consumer is concerned, there's no upfront cost at all. As far as the homeowner is concerned, all they have to do is have an energy audit for their home. That independent audit will say this home qualifies for the following measures, and providing that they meet the payback rule, then those measures will be installed and be financed through the property's energy bill over 20 years. Again, the golden rule: Savings will be always bigger than the financing costs, which means that not only will people end up with new improvements to their property or the property that they rent, but actually they'll see lower bills immediately as well. e360: You mentioned that your new government is making a total change and a new approach to energy issues. Just recently, the largest wind farm in the world opened just off the coast of Britain, and yet the vast majority of the contracts for that project actually went to non-UK companies. Barker: Absolutely. And only 20 percent of the supply chain on this largest wind farm in the world has been met from the UK. We've got to change all that. That's Labor's legacy to the coalition. We've got to make the UK not just a great place to deploy these new technologies, particularly offshore wind, but we've actually got to make it a great place to manufacture the capability that we're going to deploy. So we, the new government, have an ambitious vision to create the necessary supply chain. And that means attracting in new participants, attracting new investment into the UK, making sure we have an optimum business condition. That's why despite the fiscal situation we're bringing down the corporation tax, why we're streamlining planning measures, and why we're looking to reform the system for support of offshore wind to make sure that it's extremely competitive internationally. e360: You've also talked about creating a green investment bank. How would that work, and would that be part of the funding projects in industries like this? Barker: Yes. The green investment bank is critical to our vision for a low-carbon economy. We see it not as supporting or subsidizing non-commercial projects, but as being key to catalyzing and leveraging greater amounts of private-sector finance, often helping just alter the risk profile or give greater certainty to projects where there's a strong public-sector interest. There are three things to business, which we think are absolutely essential ingredients for long-term success of the transition to a low-carbon economy. We think business needs these three things in government policy: transparency, longevity, and certainty - TLC, if you like. And too often in the past, the short-term measures have been tinkering with policy, which has sent confused and mixed messages to the investment community. What we need to see is actually fewer interventions in the market. But when we do intervene, we need to do so in a very robust fashion that is transparent, clear, and gives real long-term certainty to business. e360: Would this green investment bank be set up with a combination of private and public funds? Barker: We're currently looking at the various models. Three government departments - my own Department of Energy and Climate Change, the Department of Business Innovation and Skills, and, of course, the Treasury - are currently looking at various models, and we'll be making further announcements soon. We are determined to come out on the ambitious end of the spectrum, but I also think that the institution that emerges won't be fully cooked on day one. We want to create something that is sustainable, that commands the confidence of the markets, but is also capable of growing and expanding its role as it develops a track record of success. e360: How will austerity and the budget cuts that the government is making - how is that affecting the ambition of what you're trying to do and the scope of it? Barker: Well, of course, it's tough. We the new government inherited a very difficult situation. The last Labor government doubled the national debt and left us the highest deficit in the G20. But we are taking prompt action to turn that around and to transform public finances. Unless the market's going to have confidence in the public finances, unless the economy is on a sound fiscal footing, then no sector can grow over the long term. So we see returning the public finances to a sound state of affairs an absolute priority across the board. Obviously that does mean that some tough choices have to be made, but the low-carbon transition and investment is absolutely vital to our recovery, and we are determined that we will endeavor to protect the core public investment in that. e360: I'm interested in what you see as the role of nuclear in Britain's energy future. I know a number of plants are set to expire in the next decade. Do you favor more nuclear plants being built in Britain, and if so, how will they be funded? Barker: Well, a diverse energy mix is absolutely vital to the UK's future. That means a strong role for renewable. But it also means other sources of clean energy like nuclear must be part of the mix. Now, we do see new nuclear as being part of that mix, an important part of that mix. But that doesn't mean to say that there's going to be public subsidy for nuclear, and that's the important differentiating point... We are confident that the private sector can come forth with viable projects for a new fleet of nuclear reactors that are safe and commercially viable. e360: Do you see the switch to renewables as important for Britain's overall economic recovery and future growth? Barker: Absolutely. We think that there is a clear commercial advantage for the UK in being an early mover in the drive to a clean economy. We think that gaining competitive advantage in these growing industries such as offshore wind and other renewables will actually provide thousands of jobs in the future, will create an added value economy. And we are committed to making sure that the UK isn't just a great place to deploy renewables, but that we actually we capture a lot of that R & D that's going on in our universities and in the research houses of our leading companies. Photo by Terry Grealey/flickr/Creative Commons Reprinted with permission from Yale Environment 360

Post originale: http://featured.matternetwork.com/2010/11/britains-new-green-deal-transforming.cfm

Monday, November 8, 2010

Energy Efficiency: Real Estate's Next Granite Counter Top?

by Elisa Wood

A lot of good economic reasons exist to pursue energy efficiency. Still the average person tends not to. This is no surprise. If I cannot see, touch, buy, sell, trade or save efficiency, if it's invisible, how can I pay it any real attention? Often on the vanguard, Boston-based Conservation Services Group is working on an idea to make home efficiency more tangible. It is a surprisingly simple idea. One that is likely to leave a lot of people saying, 'Of course. Why didn't I think of that?' You might say CSG is making energy efficiency the next granite kitchen counter top of the real estate business. Through a $348,000 grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, CSG is working on a metric to describe a home's energy efficiency value. When a homeowner lists a house for sale, the metric would be included in the multiple listing service (MLS), right along with the home's price, number of bedrooms, square-footage and location. Suddenly, efficiency is tangible, something that can be quantified and can add or detract to home value. It's not yet clear what that metric will look like. It might be a numerical score or a certification like the Energy Star label. Figuring that out is part of CSG's task, as it puts in place a program for New York over the next two years. "You can imagine the pitfalls in establishing what this score would be," said David Weitz, director of CSG's Applied Building Science Division. "How do you present it in a way that is accessible to the greatest number of people. Unfortunately, there is no right answer." CSG plans to hold focus groups with homeowners to get a sense of what might work. The idea is to come up with a measurement that translates into a selling point, much like the granite counter top or hard wood floors. The hope is that sellers will install efficiency to increase their grade. Presumably, the higher grade will make the home more marketable. Weitz also must convince MLS administrators to accept the metric and include it in the listings. Fortunately, CSG is not alone in this pursuit. Similar programs are in the works in other parts of the country. In addition, the US Department of Energy is working on creating a national an 'e-scale' label for homes. Weitz hopes the DOE effort and various local labeling initiatives will come together to create consistency in labeling nationwide. In winning the award, the 26-year-old CSG edged out more than 350 proposals, submitted last April, from organizations in 44 states that offered scalable approaches for spurring energy efficiency retrofits in existing buildings. Grants totaling $2.7 million went to nine winners, which were evaluated by a panel of experts in real estate, finance, construction, government policy and energy efficiency technologies. "In the past, people would buy a house without any real understanding of its ongoing energy costs. Establishing an energy efficiency category, within MLS listings, will help during the selection process by providing homebuyers with another essential piece of information," Weitz said. If it's successful, who knows, maybe someday the real estate mantra will no longer be 'location, location, location,' but instead, 'efficiency, efficiency, efficiency.' Reprinted with permission from Cleantechies

Post originale: http://featured.matternetwork.com/2010/11/energy-efficiency-real-estates-next.cfm

Monday, November 1, 2010

Energy Labeling to Be Required On TVs

by Nino Marchetti

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced that those EnergyGuide labels consumers are familiar with on home appliances such as washing machines and refrigerators will now appear as well on televisions built after May 10, 2011. This is a mandatory requirement from the FTC to electronics manufacturers, as opposed to the voluntary Energy Star labeling program from the EPA. The EnergyGuide labels, like the one pictured below, will provide useful information to consumers such as the television's estimated annual energy cost and a comparison with the annual energy cost of other televisions with similar screen sizes. It will be required that the new labels be visible from the front of the televisions, in the form of either a triangular label or a rectangular label. And, beginning in July, 2011, websites that sell televisions will be required as well to display an image of the full EnergyGuide label. The FTC said it was required to consider whether EnergyGuide labels should be displayed on certain consumer electronics, including televisions, by the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007. In March last year the agency sought comments on whether the labels should be required on these products. Based on the comments received, it ultimately moved forward with yesterday's decision. The consumer electronics industry, for its part, seems to be welcoming the new label requirement. A statement put out by the industry's trade group the Consumer Electronics Association said that it is "an exciting and important development for consumers that will provide helpful energy use information for TVs." Reprinted with permission from EarthTechling

Post originale: http://featured.matternetwork.com/2010/10/energy-labeling-required-tvs.cfm