Photo: www.senatorferlo.com

Yikes! Seems like winter descended upon us overnight. Got any tips on how to keep warm without sending energy bills skyrocketing? We’re all ears. At the bottom of this post, see that red “comment” link? Click on it and share your suggestion. The best ideas will be published in the Tribune next week.

Photo: www.redrok.com

 The city of Chico boasts the world’s largest solar tracking array at its water pollution control plant, we are told by the company that created it, Powerlight Corp. A solar tracking array does the same thing as more conventional solar, using the sun to create energy, just differently.  The clean energy generated by the 1.1-megawatt facility has already saved the city an estimated 1.6 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) per year, the company said.  This would be the same as removing CO2 emissions from an estimated 160 passenger cars annually.   

At a ceremony held by the city this week to dedicate the year-old facility, PG&E presented the city with a solar rebate check for $3,813,791 – the largest single solar rebate ever awarded by PG&E, the company said.  Solar tracking systems differs from standard fixed mounted photovoltaic (PV) system in that they track the sun’s course throughout the day, maximizing the system’s electricity output. 

Photo: boifromtroy.com

Scraps from Oakland’s Oliveto and Scott’s Seafood, as well as other Bay Area restaurants, will be turned into clean, renewable energy at the UC Davis Biogas Energy Project on the UC Davis campus, officials said. The university is having startup ceremonies for the waste-to-energy plant today.

Eight tons of leftovers weekly (and later, as much as eight tons daily) will be processed at the facility, officials said. The leftovers will come from restaurants including San Francisco’s Slanted Door, Jardiniere, Scoma’s, Boulevard and Zuni Cafe, and Oakland’s Oliveto and Scott’s Seafood. Each ton of broccoli spears, cantaloupe rinds and fish bones should produce enough energy on average to power and heat 10 California homes per day, according to officials. The natural gas produced could also be used to power cars and trucks.

To be technical about it, the plant will test and bring to market an advanced anaerobic digestion technology that focuses on organic waste recovery and conversion for the production of biogas fuels and bio-based products. Got that?

Photo: www.history.rochester.edu

If you’re thinking about buying a house with a solar roof, or installing one, there’s a new online resource for you. The State of California now has its own solar Web site, “Go Solar California.” The site is amazing, with a section on “Solar 101″ with stuff about the history of solar, and tons of other info. Note photo of solar panel on left; has it ever occurred to you that these things might be more popular if they were less boring-looking? What if a digital photo of Britney Spears or Nelly Furtado were etched into each one?

Photo: pixel.fhda.edu

Yes, singing in the shower is one of the funnest ways to let off, er, steam, but Energy Australia, one of that country’s largest electricity suppliers, is telling subscribers to put a plug in it. According to the agency, singing in the shower adds an extra 9.08 minutes to a normal scrub. Energy Australia is sending out 500,000 shower timers to families throughout Sydney, the Hunter and the Central Coast to help keep showers short. Singing, daydreaming, shaving and other “nonessential activities” in the shower are adding to the average family’s power bills and also contributing to global warming, it says.

Photo: www.japanparts.com

Gentlemen (and ladies), start your engines - and if you want to save gas, make sure that engine belongs to a Toyota Prius hybrid electric, Honda Civic hybrid, or some other hybrid vehicle. Most of the top fuel-economy cars are hybrids, according to the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which just issued their 2007 Fuel Economy Guide.Here’s what they tell us: The Number One car for fuel efficiency is the Toyota Prius (hybrid-electric), with mileage of 60 highway/51 town; 2. Honda Civic Hybrid, 49/51; 3. Toyota Camry Hybrid, 40/38; 4. Ford Escape Hybrid FWD, 36/31; 5. Toyota Yaris (manual), 34/40; 6. Toyota Yaris (automatic), 34/39; 7. Honda Fit (manual), 33/38; 8. Toyota Corolla (manual), 32/41; 9. Hyundai Accent (manual), 32/35, and Kia Rio (manual), 32/35; 10. Ford Escape Hybrid 4WD, 32/29. released today.

Photo: Flex Your Power Web site

There are actually a gazillion cool energy blogs, but this one is especially good because it comes from those fine folks at Flex Your Power: the Power Plug Blog. This blog is doing a great job of covering energy events as they happen - for example, the latest post is a report on the first inaugural West Coast Green Residential Building Conference and Expo.This was the first residentially focused green building expo in the United States, and took place in San Francisco September 28 through 30.

Photo: www.metrokc.gov

 Allied Waste, a major trash collector in California and No. 2 in the nation, has cut emissions from its trucks 65 percent, according to the company that helped it do it, Ethos Fuel Reformulator. According to Ethos Fuel, the trash collection company also increased its mileage 10 percent. And that ain’t talkin’ trash!

Photo: www.ufasce.com

Looks as though companies started competing for the title of Biggest Alternative Energy User almost as fast as the ink dried after Gov. Arnold?Schwarzenegger signed AB 32, aiming to reduce the state’s global-warming pollution.

First, Pleasanton-based grocery giant Safeway trumpeted its purchase of an additional 174,000 megawatt-hours of wind energy, making it California’s largest corporate purchaser of green wind energy. Not to be outdone, San Francisco-based Wells Fargo jumped on the stagecoach, er, bandwagon, buying renewable energy certificates to support generating 550,000 megawatt-hours of wind energy.

Now, Wells Fargo boasts that it’s “the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy in the United States according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.” Nice to see the big guys competing for such a worthy goal!

The full story: Pleasanton-based grocery giant Safeway Inc. is making blowout moves to save energy, purchasing Read the rest of this entry »

Photo: www.schoolscience.co.uk

Have you ever read a news story about oil prices and wondered what in the world the phrase “sweet light crude oil” is referring to? Doesn’t that sound like Karo syrup, not petroleum? Well, your faithful Energy Blogger visited the Independent Petroleum Association of America symposium today in San Francisco and found out the answer for you.

“Sweet” means as opposed to “sour.” Sour oil has foul-smelling sulfur in it, which has to be refined out. “Light” means as opposed to “heavy” oil, which has to have the elements that make it heavy?refined out, a complicated and costly process. How about that! The mystery revealed!

Oh, and BTW, gas prices are expected to remain low through the winter. Praise the Lord and pass the sweet light crude!