There was a flurry of energy efficiency news this week! Here are some tasty bits.
Fuel-cell mania
The much-hyped Bloom Box gets competition from Panasonic, ClearEdge, and the funky-sounding Oorja Protonics, the latter of which could ostensibly provide customers with heating for free, unlike Bloom.
Energy-efficient gaming?
Leaving an Xbox 360 on all the time is said to have the energy use of about two new refrigerators! A bill being considered in the Senate directs the DOE to consider energy efficiency standards for video game consoles. As of yet, they don’t have "sleep" or low-power modes like computers and other appliances.
Energy Star needs a makeover
A new survey says Energy Star needs to evolve to include rankings, and that men and people under 35 don't care about the Energy Star label as much as women and people 35-55. Surprising...or not so much?
Data for the masses!
Rep. Ed Markey introduced an energy bill to give consumers real-time access to info about their power consumption. Only about a third of utilities currently plan to give consumers that data to customers, Markey said.
Lights out for incandescents
Toshiba stopped making mass-market incandescent light bulbs Wednesday in favor of more energy-efficient light bulbs. They'll focus on LED lights now, after 120 years of making incandescents. Sweet!
A cell charger that isn't a vampire
AT&T announced a cell phone charger with zero phantom energy use. The charger, available in May, is said to automatically shut off when your phone is done charging. However, smarties point out that cell chargers use a relatively teensy amount of energy, and that if you don't need a new charger, unplugging your old one is just as good. Will you get one?
Fridge woes
A new report says more people are buying energy-efficient refrigerators—but they're keeping their old, energy-guzzling ones too, so overall energy use increases. Whoops. About a fourth of households have two fridges, and retiring an older secondary fridge could save you between $400 and $750, the study said. 'Fess up: do you have a second fridge?
--Holly