TopTen Energy Saving Products
TopTen launched a consumer guide giving people around the world the opportunity of making informed decisions on the energy costs of appliances they buy. Topten’s goal is to fight climate change and energy consumption by driving demand and encouraging innovation for super-efficient products in common categories from appliances to electronics.
TopTen provides a real-time list of the very best so consumers can achieve very real cost and energy savings. Energy-efficient products offer one of the quickest, least painful routes to significant greenhouse gas reductions. The most efficient products in common consumer categories such as refrigerators and televisions use up to 50 percent less energy than the category average. Even a modest consumer shift (10 percent of current sales) to the most energy efficient products could have a considerable impact on climate change by eliminating the release 100 million metric tons of carbon-equivalent gases each year.
Founded by the Swiss Agency for Energy Efficiency and WWF, TopTen’s logic is simple. By naming the ten most efficient products in each category, the organizations make it easy for consumers to cut through the clutter of products on the market. And growing demand and publicity for efficient products in turn spurs manufacturers to innovate, accelerating the introduction of next-generation efficiency. The product selection and ranking on the TopTen website is up to date and based on independent research.
- Energy conservation alone is the largest source of all actions to curb CO2 emissions by more than one third in the next few decades.
- Energy efficiency is the quickest, least lifestyle-changing route to planet-saving levels of greenhouse gas emissions.
- If hundreds of millions of consumers worldwide make smart choices for the most efficient products, they will not only save money from increased energy bills, they will also substantially cut global warming and other pollution.
- On average, products on a TopTen list use half the energy of a standard model.
- Their goal is to encourage manufacturer innovation by growing demand for increasingly energy-efficient products, and recognize leaders in the race for energy efficiency.
Kauai Renewable Energy from the Wind
Hawaii is developing sustainable sources of energy from sunshine, trade winds, surrounding ocean, and geothermal activity for the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative to reach its goal of seventy percent clean energy by 2030. Importing oil to meet the state’s demand is not sustainable. Renewable energy resources and energy-efficiency efforts could potentially meet a substantial portion of the current electricity needs of the Hawaiian islands.
The wind was an important resource for ancient Hawai‘ians, who relied on the trade winds to sail their voyaging canoes. And for the people of Hawaii today, the wind holds tremendous potential as a clean, renewable energy source. Wind turbines can be used as stand-alone applications, or they can be connected to a utility power grid. For megawatt-sized sources of wind energy, a growing number of utility providers combine multiple wind turbines close together to form a wind plant to supply power to their customers.
On Maui, the thirty megawatt Kaheawa Power Project began producing power in 2006. On the island of Hawaii wind turbines have been producing electricity for many years. The original South Point wind farm has been turned off and fourteen new 1.5 Megawatt turbines have been installed at the Pakini Nui Wind Farm. At Upolu Point in North Kohala, where the wind blows 70 percent of the time, a 10.5 Megawatt wind farm began producing power in 2006. On the island of Kauai, the Kauai Electric Utility Cooperative has signed an agreement with UPC Kauai Wind Power for a 10.5-megawatt to 15-megawatt project.
Kauai Renewable Energy from the Sun
Hawaii has an abundance of natural resources, sunshine and wind. Hawaii’s islands also have great potential for increased energy efficiency in buildings and for construction of “net-zero energy” buildings that generate as much energy as they use each year. Hawaii’s renewable energy sources have the potential to free us from our dependence on imported oil, which today supplies 90% of our energy. To achieve the goal of the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative, we need to turn our plentiful sunshine, strong trade winds, and surrounding ocean into sustainable sources of energy for a clean energy future.
Sunlight, or solar energy, can be used directly for powering homes and other buildings, generating electricity and hot water heating, and a variety of commercial and industrial uses. The main building of the Hawai‘ian Island Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary houses a part of the first photovoltaic grid-connected system on the island of Maui.
Utilities and power plants are increasingly taking advantage of the sun’s abundant energy resource and extending the benefits to their customers. Concentrating solar power systems allow power plants to produce electricity from the sun on a larger scale, which in turn allows consumers to take advantage of solar power without investing in it.
Solar power can also be used in smaller systems for the home. Homeowners can use solar technologies for daylighting and water heating, and may even be able to produce enough electricity to operate “off grid”, or to sell the extra electricity back to the utilities.
Partly because of the abundant supply of sunshine throughout Hawaii, and partly because of new regulations and economic incentives that support the installation of solar systems in Hawaii, solar energy is positioned to offset a substantial portion of our fossil fuel dependence.
Kauai Renewable Energy from the Sea
To achieve the goal of seventy percent clean energy by 2030, the Hawai‘i Clean Energy Initiative is working to develop renewable sources of energy. Hawaii must transform the way we meet our energy needs by converting to the clean, sustainable sources. The Hawaiian Islands have abundant natural resources including wind, sun, ocean, geothermal, hydroelectric, as well as temperate conditions to grow energy crops for biofuels.
The ocean that surrounds our islands has long sustained its people, and today new technologies are being developed that will enable us to tap the ocean as a source of energy for future generations. Oceans can produce mechanical energy from the waves. Wave power devices extract energy directly from surface waves or from pressure fluctuations below the surface.
Cold water from the ocean depths has shown promise as a cost-effective alternative to traditional air-conditioning systems. The Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawai‘i Authority began using a small-scale deep seawater air-conditioning system to cool three of its research compound buildings, and has saved up to as much as $4,000 a month in energy costs.
Hydropower is using flowing water as it moves downstream towards the sea to power turbines and generators which convert this energy into electricity to be used in homes and businesses. There are currently plants on Hawaii, Kauai, and Maui. Renewable energy resources and energy-efficiency efforts can potentially meet a substantial portion of the current electricity needs of the Hawaiian islands.
Kauai Renewable Energy from the Land
Hawaii is rich in renewable energy sources that have the potential to provide future energy. Our geothermal activity, plentiful sunshine, temperate climate, and year-round growing season can all be tapped to provide sustainable sources of energy that are essential for clean energy.
Geothermal energy taps the Earth’s internal heat for a variety of uses, including electric power production, and the heating and cooling of buildings. Many technologies have been developed to take advantage of geothermal energy from hot water or steam reservoirs, and use it to drive generators to produce electricity. Other geothermal resources exist within the hot rock and magma that are miles beneath the Earth’s surface. Today, geothermal energy supplies 20% of the Big Island’s energy needs.
Plants are another source of energy derived from the land. Biomass can be used to produce electricity, transportation fuels, or chemicals. Hawaii has the potential to significantly increase the proportion of clean energy they use for ground transportation through alternative fuels such as biodiesel, ethanol, and electricity for electric vehicles.
Biomass energy also has the potential to boost our agricultural industry directly and indirectly. Biomass can be derived from sugar, with plantations on Kauai and Maui having a capacity to produce a combined total of about 46 megawatts of power. Ethanol made from sugarcane molasses has been produced in Hawaii and mixed with gasoline to produce fuel for automobiles. Used cooking oil is being converted into biodiesel at facilities on Maui and Oahu. Electricity is being produced from refuse and landfill gas. A plant on Oahu produces approximately eight percent of its electricity and processes about 600,000 tons of waste per year, generating electricity that would otherwise have required about 600,000 barrels of oil annually.
Energy Conservation In Schools
A staggering six billion dollars – that is the annual energy bill to run America’s primary and secondary schools. Colleges and universities are also spending billions each year on energy. The least-efficient schools use three times more energy than the best energy performers. But schools in Hawaii can lower their energy bills by 30% or more by adopting a strategic approach to energy management. Schools are a great place to teach Hawai‘i’s children about energy and resource conservation. Schools can lead the way to a clean energy future for Hawaii.
Hawaii’s schools can help lead the way by improving energy performance, and Integrating energy conservation into the curriculum. Schools are central to their local communities and should reflect community values – like energy conservation. Beyond the educational value of creating energy-efficient schools, there is also a benefit to the bottom line. High-performance schools can lower a school district’s costs by up to 30%. Energy is one of the few expenses a school can cut without sacrificing educational quality. And building an energy-smart school doesn’t have to cost more to construct than a conventionally built school.
Hawaii’s schools can lead the way to a clean energy future by serving as classrooms to teach future generations about wise energy use, because the next generation is the key to Hawaii’s future. One of the most valuable lessons children can learn at school is the importance of conserving energy, and it is critical that our schools lead by example and take a proactive stance on implementing energy-efficiency measures.
