Last year, the U.S. raised its fuel economy standards for cars and trucks for the first time in decades. By 2025, the fuel efficiency of vehicles will be required to double. As a result, oil consumption is predicted to fall and—given that the U.S. remains the world’s largest consumer of oil—global crude prices might fall [...]

Whenever Scientific American posts an article about electric cars, we see comments along the lines of “electricity comes from burning fossil fuels, so electric cars don’t really reduce your carbon footprint, and the electricity is more expensive than gas anyway,” possibly with more expletives. Ignoring issues of civility, it’s a good question. There’s no such [...]

What would it take to convince you to spend $45 on a 100-watt lightbulb? A Silicon Valley company called Switch Lighting is banking that it has the answer. Switch is a start-up that plans to roll out a replacement for wasteful incandescent lightbulbs that is efficient, long-lived and attractive—whether lit or unlit. Switch makes LED [...]

On Tuesday, September 20, I’m set to moderate a panel on energy efficiency, specifically as it applies in New York City. As part of Climate Week NYC, the panelists will explore what the local utility Consolidated Edison—and some of its partners—are doing to manage electricity use in the city that never sleeps (which means we [...]

The world is waiting for a clean revolution, a shift away from the greenhouse gas-emitting, mountain-leveling, air-polluting, fossil-fuel burning way of life. The world may have to wait a long time if past energy transitions are anything to go by, according to environmental scientist Vaclav Smil of the University of Manitoba—especially since fossil fuel energy [...]

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), for a price premium of $350, U.S. consumers can buy a refrigerator or freezer that will use 35% less energy over its lifetime (compared to a base model). But, the relationship between incremental cost increase and energy savings is not a linear one. What does this mean? [...]

This month, CNBC released a list of energy sector “Disruptors” – five energy companies that they believe “are uniquely positioned to influence the future of the energy market and climate policy.” Their list shed light on a strengthening energy sector trend toward increasing emphasis on energy efficiency. This topic was also the focus of Dr. Ernest [...]

…well, not exactly. But, it could happen soon thanks to a nanogenerator created by Dr. Zhong Lin Wang and his team at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Ga. Watch my short video to see how. Video: Shannon Alderman: Producer/Editor. Robynne Boyd: Writer/Editor

The best way to meet increasing energy demand might not be to supply more. But, while efficiency improves security, hurdles abound. Last night, the latest edition of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Journal was released. Titled “Visualising the ‘Hidden’ Fuel of Energy Efficiency,” this publication focuses on efficiency as a valuable tool in our energy [...]

Note: Many statements contained in this piece are the result of an in-person interview between the author (Melissa C. Lott) and Chevron Energy Solutions’s President, Jim Davis in the fall of 2011. In the future, the world will demand more energy than it does today. While the exact amount might be disputed, with a global [...]

Last month MIT’s Technology Review reported on a new development that the energy efficiency of computers doubles roughly every 18 months: The conclusion, backed up by six decades of data, mirrors Moore’s law, the observation from Intel founder Gordon Moore that computer processing power doubles about every 18 months. But the power-consumption trend might have [...]

By C. Sylvan A building revolution is happening right under our noses. And it looks like this (see left). You may have seen this plaque at the entrance to Office Depot, in the lobby of your office building, or at a multi-family housing development in your area. This plaque means that the building has achieved [...]

Today, buildings account for 40% of the energy consumed in the U.S. each year. However, since the 1980s, the real cost of energy has increased more than fivefold, leading to greater awareness of energy use and its resulting environmental impact. This leaves a significant opportunity area for green building retrofits, particularly in building HVAC systems. [...]

By Kelsey Morris As a summer intern at Go Green Squads, I worked on projects related to increasing the energy efficiency of residential buildings in Austin. Over a summer full of record high temperatures, including more than 80 days above 100 degrees, I saw first-hand how energy efficiency could potentially impact entire communities.  I also [...]

By, Brent Stephens and Joshua Rhodes Just like check-ups with your doctor can evaluate your health and spot early warning signs of future problems, energy audits can evaluate your home for inefficiencies and find ways to reduce ongoing energy waste. A detailed energy audit can find culprits responsible for very noticeable problems, such as high [...]

In one of the best quips I’ve ever heard at a scientific conference, cosmologist Max Tegmark complained about a lecturer’s vagueness and pleaded for some quantitative predictions: “numbers—you know, the kind with decimals in them.” Like Tegmark, I love data. Concrete information beats hand-waving speculation any day. So it’s awfully fun to use a home [...]

Editor’s Note: Scientific American’s George Musser will be chronicling his experiences installing solar panels in 60-Second Solar. Read his introduction here and see all posts here. When people talk about using renewable energy to save both energy and jobs, the jobs they’re usually referring to are engineering and construction. But if my solar experience is [...]

Editor’s Note: Scientific American‘s George Musser will be chronicling his experiences installing solar panels in 60-Second Solar. Read his introduction here and see all posts here. Monday’s New York Times had an op-ed piece about our house. Well, at least it felt like it was about our house. The author, Richard Moe of the National [...]

Bricks, sticks, and hay are decidedly pedestrian building materials in comparison to a new building that just opened to the public last Thursday in Hamburg, Germany. Ambitious architects have built an apartment covered in a thin layer of living, breathing algae. The building, known as BIQ (for Bio Intelligent Quotient), meets the extremely stringent passive-house [...]

Energy efficiency sounds like a good idea on multiple fronts; mitigating global warming, reducing dependence on foreign oil and saving money. Conservatives and liberals may disagree about the first reason, but you would expect both of them to enthusiastically embrace energy efficiency based on the other two reasons. Yet we find attitudes toward energy efficiency [...]