Good updates from EcoGeek

Two good stories we want to share with you:

The US Environmental Protection Agency has released its Clean Air Act standard for carbon emission from new power plants. Under the proposed EPA rule, any new fossil-fuel-fired power plants (whether fueled by coal or natural gas or any other fossil fuel) would have to meet an "output-based standard of 1,000 pounds of CO2 per megawatt-hour (lb CO2/MWh gross)." (EPA Fact Sheet PDF) EPA believes that over 95% of existing gas-fired plants would meet this standard, but that coal-fired plants would need to incorporate carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology in order to meet the limit.

The proposed rule does not apply to existing plants or to plants currently under construction. Nor does it ban new coal power plants from being built (althoughothers have remarked that this marks the beginning of the end of electricit from coal). But new coal plants will have to meet standard with additional equipment that is still costly to install and to operate. This makes it increasingly likely that new power plants will utilize fuels other than coal...

AND: 

I have a new smart meter on my house, and I'm far from the only one. The number of smart meters installed across the country is growing quickly. Smart meters are digital, rather than analog, equipment to measure the amount of electricity each customer uses. However, smart meters are able to collect more data than just the electricity that has been used, they can also track the amount of electricity used as well as when it was used. Smart meters also are often equipped with wireless two-way communication for easier meter reading, among other uses.

The White House recently announced an agreement with nine "major electricity suppliers" under which consumers will be able to get access to data about their own energy use. In addition to getting the information themselves, this would allow consumers to use third-party applications to track their energy use and "empower consumers to make wiser energy decisions." Congressional representative Ed Markey plans to introduce legislation that would require this information to be available to all consumers...

Both important steps.  The smart meter is a big step towards not only allowing individuals to track, thereby, control their use of energy, but we will soon have new devices available, that will sit between us and the utility company, that will allow them to manage the flow of electricity to places that don't need it (such as when you are at work and can run your house on less), to places that need more--such as hot days trying to cool big commercial buildings.


Both changes will lead to efficiency which leads to a smarter planet.


Look for a show update tonight or early tomorrow.