March 13, 2017
If you’re a solar owner, figuring out how much electricity you actually used in a given month is not as easy as it used to be. When all your power came from the utility, a handy graph or chart on the side of your bill probably showed how much electricity you used each of the… Read the entire post »
March 3, 2017
Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo has announced a goal of increasing the state’s clean energy capacity by 10 times by the end of 2020. That’s a very impressive and ambitious goal, and we commend her for the commitment to the environment and to the economic growth that comes with a flourishing renewable energy industry. The Governor’s… Read the entire post »
January 20, 2017
I bet if you could pre-buy your car’s gasoline or your home’s heating oil at a 40% discount for the next 25 years, using a low-cost loan if needed, you would jump. So why haven’t you jumped at the chance to make your own solar electricity at a 40% discount for the next 25 years?… Read the entire post »
December 14, 2016
If you’ve been paying attention to non-election news, you may have heard that recently scientists measured carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in our atmosphere above 400 parts per million (ppm) at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii. So what? When I started New England Clean Energy, I was also presenting for Al Gore. Gore had organized the… Read the entire post »
October 26, 2016
The New York Times has a great new quiz to help you gauge the impact of drinking bottled water. It’s quick, it’s fun, and it’s important, so I encourage you to take it. The quiz got me thinking about “garbage patches” or “gyres” — something I haven’t done in a while. I decided… Read the entire post »
October 20, 2016
My headline for this blog post might have you scratching your head. Why would the president of a solar company talk about alternatives to going solar? But since the day I started New England Clean Energy, my focus has been on helping the environment so my kids and their kids have a planet left to call… Read the entire post »
October 17, 2016
New England Clean Energy’s Solar Engineer Kevin Gebo, and Alpha Rho President David Tall, recently led a tour of Alpha Rho in Fitchburg, Mass., for students from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). The students are members of the WPI chapter of Engineers Without Borders USA (EWB). The group toured the rooftop and indoor components of Alpha… Read the entire post »
October 10, 2016
“Heat pumps” are well known to HVAC professionals and energy-efficiency experts. Heat-pump based systems have been used for years in milder climates to warm and cool homes and other buildings. In the past few years, the technology has improved to the point that heat pumps are now becoming popular in colder climates like New England.… Read the entire post »
August 22, 2016
In my previous article on energy conversion, I suggested that when energy is converted from one form to another, some energy is lost. I lied. Technically, the energy is not lost. It does, however, get converted to an unusable form – typically heat. Let me start with an example. At my house, we heat with natural… Read the entire post »
August 18, 2016
Why care about energy? When I ask this question in the classes I teach, students give me three answers. “We need it.” “It’s expensive.” “It’s getting more expensive.” Do we need it? Try making breakfast or getting to work without energy. Is it expensive? According to energy.gov the average New Englander spends around $3,000 on energy… Read the entire post »
I started writing The Energy Miser in 2011 because I like to analyze energy issues and pontificate about my findings. Got a topic you want me to cover? Let me know.
