| Thursday, February 03 | | · | Oh Baby - It's Cold Outside |
| · | WattBusters Super Bowl AD |
| Tuesday, December 28 | | · | Thanks from WattBusters |
| · | Technology and Safer Chimneys |
| · | Hot Tips in a Cold Bathroom |
| · | Portable Motion Sensor LED Light For Everyone |
| · | Global Coal Demand Up, Mining Surging |
| · | Ancient Baghdad Battery |
| Monday, November 29 | | · | Cow Flatulence - Global Warming Stinks |
| · | Travel, Turkey and the Thanksgiving Flush |
| Monday, October 25 | | · | Oil Be Home for Christmas - Energy Spike for Home Heating Expected |
| · | Blinded by the Light - Color Temperature |
| · | Candy Energy - Sugar Bomb |
| Thursday, October 21 | | · | Michigan PSC predicts High Heating Bills This Winter |
| Tuesday, October 19 | | · | Halloween - The Trick or Treat of Daylight Saving Time |
| Friday, September 17 | | · | Idle Worship |
| · | California Tripping - Air You Go |
| · | Water Whirled - Southern Cal |
| · | Wind Power at Altamont - Beak Efficiency |
| · | Solar Chimney - Size Matters |
| Monday, August 23 | | · | Energy Hogbusters For Kids - Battle of the Bulb |
| · | Weatherstripping - To Air Is Human |
| · | Blackout and Blue Skies - What the Haze is Going On? |
| · | H2-Oh Look At That Water Bill |
| Friday, July 23 | | · | Device Saves Nearly 100% of Energy |
| · | Trying To Maintain |
| · | Let There Be Light |
| · | The Habitual Roast |
| Monday, July 12 | | · | American Idle |
| · | Technology Whiz - No Flush Urinals |
Older Articles
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| Oil Be Home for Christmas - Energy Spike for Home Heating Expected
Monday, October 25 @ 18:03:27 EDT
by Mark |
 Oil prices topped the $52/barrel mark on October 7th and then over $54/barrel on October 11th taking us into record high territory. Concerns that heating fuel supplies may prove inadequate for the upcoming winter may be the main reason.
Heating oil stocks were down 1.2 million barrels to 51.2 million barrels in the week
to October 1st, which is 6% lower than a year ago. Normally, inventories
rise at this time of the year in preparation for the cold winter months.
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| Blinded by the Light - Color Temperature
Monday, October 25 @ 17:54:24 EDT
by Mark |
 Have you ever been driving on the freeway, late at night and all of the sudden you feel you're about to be abducted by an alien spacecraft? The brilliant, unearthly blue-white lights sweep over you, reflect off your side and rearview mirrors and sear your eyeballs. The colors inside of your car literally come alive as your shadow on the dashboard creates a sharply contrasted 2D image of yourself. Just when you think that maybe Steven Spielberg got it right, the blonde in the Audi zooms around you with her high beams on.
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| Candy Energy - Sugar Bomb
Monday, October 25 @ 17:43:24 EDT
by Mark |
 We often discuss energy savings at WattBusters but how often do we think about
the ways that fuel is converted to energy. Natural gas to heat, coal to
electricity, sugar into screaming, bouncing children, etc. Since
it's close to Halloween and candy will probably be fairly abundant around the
house, let's zero in on sugar.
Sugar is technically a form of carbohydrates and carbohydrates are good for
you, as long as you eat the right kinds in the right amounts. Carbohydrates are
your body's main source of energy. But before you reach for the
carbs in a candy bar, take some time to learn about sugar. Babies are born
with a sweet tooth. Human milk is quite sweet, so a child begins life
making the connection between eating, drinking, and pleasure.
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| Michigan PSC predicts High Heating Bills This Winter
Thursday, October 21 @ 19:14:47 EDT
by webmaster |
Webmaster's Note: The following article was reprinted from the Michigan
Public Service Commission's website (link at the end of this article). Local
newspapers, radio and TV are all reporting a projected increase of $106 to $253
dollars for this coming heating season. The time for installing energy
saving products is now, before the high cost of heating and lighting your home
hits your pocket book. WattBusters offers a wide variety of energy and
water saving products for you home. Simply
click here to order online.
Heating-fuel expenditures per household are expected to increase this winter in Michigan and the rest of the country due to both higher fuel prices and, colder weather than last year which was warmer than normal. The following table shows historical and normal weather, average Midwest household demand, total expenditures, and Michigan price projections for natural gas, #2 heating, and propane. In Michigan 79 percent of homes are heated with natural gas, 10 percent propane 7 percent electricity, 4 percent home heating oil with the balance use wood or solar.
This analysis is based on heating bills analysis and price projections in the Energy Information Administration October 2004 Short Term Energy Outlook. The analysis uses historic Michigan prices, projected based on national trends. The actual increase for any given home will depend on many factors and the relative energy efficiency of the home. These figures are intended to show relative magnitude of the change in price and consumption.
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| Halloween - The Trick or Treat of Daylight Saving Time
Tuesday, October 19 @ 17:31:12 EDT
by Mark |
 This year, we get to say goodbye to Daylight Saving Time at 2AM, October 31st, on Halloween morning. Daylight
Saving Time begins for most of the United States at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday of April and reverts back to
standard time at 2 a.m. on the last Sunday of October. Depending on who you talk to, DST can be either a
trick or treat.
The idea of daylight saving was first conceived by Benjamin Franklin during his stay as an American
delegate in Paris in 1784, in an essay, "An Economical Project." Some of Franklin's friends,
inventors of the oil lamp, were so taken by the scheme that they continued corresponding with
Franklin even after he returned to America.
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| Idle Worship
Friday, September 17 @ 15:48:54 EDT
by webmaster |
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Editor's Note: This article was written by Christopher Sawyer, Executive Editor for
The Automotive Field
Guide and was reprinted with his permission.
Blue Heat? Isn’t that a movie about a super-silent police helicopter?
 No.
That was Blue Thunder. Blue Heat is a line of auxiliary heaters from Webasto (www.webasto.com).
Versions are increasingly common on diesel vehicles, which have a tough time
producing adequate heat to get the cabin up to temperature on cold days.
Automakers from Alfa to Fiat to MG Rover to VW offer these units on their
diesel-powered vehicles to increase heat output in the passenger compartment.
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| California Tripping - Air You Go
Friday, September 17 @ 12:49:21 EDT
by webmaster |
As a Michigan native, Southern California has always seemed far removed from me. The only time I think about it is when a Michigan football team travels to
Pasadena and generally get their behinds kicked in the Rose Bowl, or when I see wildfire stories on the news. Having
its very own 'Govenator' is pretty good for public awareness too.
I visited California for the first time in early September with my wife. Time to meet the
in-laws. My first impression while approaching Ontario Airport in Southern Cal was that the little mountains seemed to be surrounded by what appeared to be sand or dried kitty litter. The only green thing I could see was the gentleman seated two rows in front of me (he didn't enjoy flying). We landed, collected our baggage and exited the airport but I didn't see the mountains. On closer inspection, they were there in the distance but very faint and ghostly looking. That was my first run in with smog. The temperature was around 102 degrees but the humidity was only around 10%. I handled the heat better than my wife's rubber-soled roman sandals. She thought she'd stepped on gum but it was just melting footwear. (Note to self: Don't go barefoot.) I'd always heard about the warm weather in Southern Cal but I didn't realize that it's pretty close to desert conditions.
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| Water Whirled - Southern Cal
Friday, September 17 @ 12:44:44 EDT
by webmaster |
 While
continuing my trip in California, the thing I noticed immediately (after locating the mountain through the smog) is how dry the brush
appeared. Instead of bending in the breeze it looked like it would just break off, kind of like Donald Trump's
hair. Hot, dry weather is the norm in Southern California around this
time of year. The running joke each morning while looking at the cloudless sky was, "It looks like rain today".
You could say rainfall is sporadic at best.
I wondered how so many people could live in a region without enough water to support them.
It seems that instead of living where the water is, California has figured out ways to bring the water to
where the people are. Through engineering, sheer will and even some slight-of-hand, California has created a system of aqueducts that span hundreds of miles.
Think of them as manmade rivers that redirect precious H2O from water-rich areas to dry, populated urban and farm areas.
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| Wind Power at Altamont - Beak Efficiency
Friday, September 17 @ 12:37:32 EDT
by webmaster |
 Traveling from Stockton to San Francisco introduced me to the windmill farm at Altamont Pass. There looked to be hundreds (the actual figure is around 6500) of turbines. It was lightly to moderately breezy but what I saw had me scratching my head. I counted only a handful of the turbines turning. With civilization encroaching from both the San Francisco and Stockton directions, I wondered why the turbines were idle. Why build so many towers if you aren't going to generate electricity with them?
A bit of research showed me that there are varied reasons but most have to do with legal issues.
The issue that came up the most was bird deaths. I was quoted between a hundred and millions of birds killed when actually speaking to people. The descriptor changed, usually in conjunction with the number - "100 birds splatted", "1000 birds slaughtered", "10,000 birds massacred", etc. Figuring that I was receiving emotional responses, I looked up "altamont bird deaths" online. Again, the numbers varied widely but 1100 bird deaths per year seemed to be a figure that was repeated often.
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Here's a technology particularly suitable for generating electricity in deserts and sun-rich wasteland. Sounds like some of the areas I passed through in southern California. Picture you're in a hot car on a sunny day but your car has a long chimney
on the roof that let's the hot air rise out. Now picture a turbine built into the chimney that spins as the hot air passes and generates electricity. That's something like the idea behind a solar chimney.
