Reducing Energy Consumption in the Home and Apartment
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January 28, 2008
January 25, 2008
Air Car!
Hello, EcoBlog readers! I recently stumbled upon a news story which I think will be worthwhile to post here- it isn't directly related to the Duluth community, but it could certainly have an environmental impact! Here is a link, I hope you enjoy:
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Air_car_runs_on_compressed_air_0104.html
January 24, 2008
Living Green Conference
For more information please follow the link to EAGLE's website http://eagle-ecosource.org/
January 17, 2008
"Planning for Energy and Climate Uncertainty"
Thurs. Jan. 17, 7 pm
"Planning for Energy and Climate Uncertainty"
Learning about Climate Change, Energy Transition and Relocalization
Thursday evening event: Duluth
* A program for the general public hosted by State Rep. Bill Hilty, Chair of the MN House Energy Policy and Finance Committee. Held in conjunction with the Lake Superior Energy Association and sponsored by the University of MN-Duluth's Sociology/Anthropology Department.
Presentations by Daniel Lerch, author of Post Carbon Cities (see http://postcarboncities.net/) and John Kaufmann, Oregon Dept. of Energy, staff to the Portland Peak Oil Task Force (see http://www.portlandonline.com/osd/).
Thursday, January 17, 2008
7:00 p.m.
UMD-Duluth: 90 Bohannon Hall (lecture hall): 1207 Ordean Court
Duluth, MN
Free; no registration needed. See http://www.d.umn.edu/maps/ for
directions. For a flyer and more information contact Laurie Hilty at
lhilty@frontiernet.net 320.233.6626
January 15, 2008
MUST READ: The voice of the EcoBlog...Frog!
Hello and welcome to all! This is the voice of the EcoBlog Frog reasoning with you. I am really excited that you have found me. As my description says I am a place for University of Minnesota Duluth students, faculty and staff, along with the help of the Duluth community, to share the happenings of what is going on environmentally within our community. I encourage everyone to become an author and write on me. In order to do so you will have to email Jonathan Tupper @ tupp0008@d.umn.edu. Please put "Author" in the subject line. He is my pawn and will request that you sign an agreement to keep the content that you post appropriate.
If your interest level isn't that of an author status, I still encourage you to write comments about the blogs you see on me. You can simply do so by clicking on the comment link. Again I encourage you to keep this content appropriate for my pawn will filter it before it is published.
If my pawn has already emailed you, please omit these steps. Thanks for your interest in me!
January 14, 2008
Reducing Energy Use in the Home and Apartment
This is the Millennium Star home that Minnesota Power's Dean Talbott served as the Project Coordinator for.
UMD's student run group Sustainability Coalition has teamed up with the Office of Civic Engagement to provide a series of environmental education seminars relating to and addressing the issue of sustainability. The seminars will be held on a monthly basis over the spring 2008 semester. The first seminar is scheduled for January 30, 2008 at 5 pm in the Griggs Center. We are happy to welcome Minnesota Power's, Program Manager, Dean Talbott to the UMD campus. Here is a description of what Dean will be talking about. "With the recent increases in energy prices and a broader awareness of climate change, homeowners and renters are more aggressively seeking cost effective
solutions for reducing energy costs in the home or apartment. This seminar will present a variety of both low cost and no cost energy saving measures plus a brief overview of larger mechanical and thermal improvements such as air sealing and insulation along with a glimpse into renewable energy systems," Dean Talbott, Minnesota Power.
There will be free cookies and drink provided by the Office of Civic Engagement! This event is open to the entire UMD community. Look forward to seeing you there!
Continue reading to view Dean Talbott's biographical sketch.
Biographical Sketch
Dean Talbott
Program Manager
Minnesota Power
Dean Talbott is a program manager and customer service representative for Minnesota Power, an electric utility serving northern Minnesota based in Duluth. Dean is responsible for the development, marketing, and implementation of a variety of residential conservation and load management programs and provides consultation and resource services to the utilities customer base. He works closely with building professionals, consumers, and manufacturers to foster and promote healthy home construction and broad based energy conservation and sustainability.
He currently serves as Project Manager for several MP utility programs, including: Triple E New Construction, Low Income Energy Partners, Renewable Energy/Distributed Generation, and various research and development projects.
Talbott recently has been the project coordinator for the Millennium Star Model Energy-Saving Demonstration home, and oversees the educational program related to that project. (www.mnpower.com/energyhome). Dean is also a founding member and coordinator for the successful annual Energy Design Conference that is in its 18th year. He has worked in the field of energy efficiency and healthy home construction for over 25 years and has worked in a variety of capacities in the energy and housing field.
January 4, 2008
Knock out your electric bill with the Kill-A-Watt electric consumption meter
By Doug Anderson
In the spring of 2007, Minnesota Power teamed up with 28 Central and Northern Minnesota public libraries to make the Kill-A-Watt electric consumption meter available to library patrons on a checkout basis. The Kill-A-Watt meter is capable of measuring the electric consumption of specific 120v plug in appliances in kilowatt hours over a certain period of time. After metering an appliance, people using the KAW meter can then take the amount of electricity used and calculate how much money it is costing them to run that appliance by using some simple instructions included in the carrying case that the meter comes in. The purpose of this program is to help individuals understand how much any single or group of appliances are contributing to their overall electrical load and to use that information to make informed choices on how much to use that appliance, eliminate it altogether, or upgrade it to a more energy efficient model. Some appliances that could potentially use a considerable amount of energy and would be worth using the KAW on are refrigerators that are older than 10 years, older dehumidifiers, and space heaters. These appliances have the potential to use between $10 and $20 per month in electricity depending on how much they are used and their age. The meter is not just for high use appliances though and can be used on anything that plugs into an outlet. If you are interested in learning more about how much electricity your appliances are using, the KAW meter is available for checkout at all of Duluth’s public libraries and anyone that holds a library card can check one out for 2 weeks. If you live outside the Duluth metro area and want a list of other libraries that have KAW meters please email Doug Anderson at tmp_djanderson@mnpower.com.
Doug Anderson is an independent consultant for Minnesota Power’s Conservation Improvement Program team.