Tag Archives: efficiency

Dan Gibson Learn what energy efficiency programs your natural gas utility offers

Posted on January 12, 2012 by Dan Gibson | 2 Comments


You should probably check with your local natural gas utility to see what they offer in the lines of energy efficiency programs. Energy efficiency programs provide incentives and services that assist customers in making improvements and investments in home energy efficiency to reduce energy costs. These programs offered by utilities aren’t new, some have been in place for more than 30 years, but they have risen quite a bit in recent years.

According to a new report released by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), “Nationwide the budgets for these programs reached $942 million in 2010, saving 529 million therms-enough natural gas to take care of the needs of 695,000 average American homes. These programs have experienced rapid growth. In 2005 total budgets were $125 million nationwide.”

Read the rest of the story →

Posted in energy, Natural Gas | Tagged | 2 Comments

Dan Gibson Carter Oosterhouse at the International Builder’s Show

Posted on January 12, 2011 by Dan Gibson | 1 Comment


There are quite a few AGA er’s down at the NAHB International Builders’ Show (IBS) in Orlando this week. The IBS is the largest residential building industry tradeshow in the world. The event is projecting more than 60,000 attendees and 1,200 exhibitors this year. There are more than 200 educational sessions and special events during the show. They have a nice interactive grid feature on their website to help you figure out where to go.

If you decide to stop by the Natural Gas and Propane Industries booth, you may run into Carter Oosterhouse, host of HGTVs Carter Can, a regular contributor to the Rachael RayRay Show and the spokesperson for the Council for Responsible Energy. Carter’s a big fan of natural gas appliances. He was actually on Fox News today (see video below) talking about them and some other great energy saving tips. Here’s what he said about natural gas appliances:

Natural Gas Water Heating:

  • Heats water up to twice as fast and ensures comfort even during a power outage.
  • More than 50% reduction in carbon emissions.
  • Among the many types of water heaters on the market, some models – such as highly efficient gas storage water heaters, heat pumps, solar water heaters and tankless water heaters – are up to 50 percent more efficient than traditional gas storage water heaters.
  • Energy Star qualified tankless water heaters will save an average of more than $40 per year for each person in your household, compared to a conventional gas model.Fuel costs will continue to creep up, making it all the more practical to think about a long-term strategy for saving energy and money on your next water heater.
  • Tankless water heaters have a 20 year shelf life.

Natural Gas Clothes Drying:

  • More than 50% reduction in carbon emissions
  • Clothes are dry in nearly half the time

Natural Gas Cooking:

  • Style and performance upgrade for heart of your home.
  • Precision control preferred by 96% of professional chefs.

Let us know if you’re at the IBS show in the comments.


Carter Oosterhouse talks responsible energy: MyFoxORLANDO.com

Posted in events, Natural Gas, video | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Dan Gibson Natural gas and energy efficient gadgets

Posted on August 9, 2010 by Dan Gibson | Comments Off


Energy efficiency is one of the key aspects people look at when they’re trying to look at ways to address our energy needs, which are only going to grow in my opinion. We talk about energy efficiency quite often around the office because of this.

watercalc 475 Natural gas and energy efficient gadgets

Water Powered Calculator

I was thinking about this while I was reading an article on Mashable profiling 5 Energy Efficient Office Gadgets. I’m actually thinking about buying the water powered calculator. The calculator uses water-activated batteries that produce about the same amount of energy as alkaline batteries. The real advantage though is those batteries aren’t toxic because they’re made of carbon. Just refill your battery tubes with tap water every two or three months and your calculator should be solving problems for a good long while.

If you really want to talk about energy efficiency though, you have to talk about natural gas. Since 1970, the number of natural gas homes has increased by more than 70 percent. At the same time, today’s homes use 40 percent less natural gas per household than 40 years ago. That’s a tremendous energy savings. A good deal of that savings is due tighter homes, more efficient appliances, and investment by natural gas utilities (our members) and their customers in energy efficiency programs. According to our energy efficiency fact sheet, Natural gas utilities invested nearly $565 million in natural gas efficiency programs in 2008 and budgeted about $927 million in 2009.

Here’s some data from the fact sheet on how the use of Natural Gas in home appliances saves energy:

    • Gas efficiency has improved tremendously over the past three decades as evidenced in the declining consumption of natural gas per household during this time period, falling one percent annually from 1980 through 2000 and declining further to 2.2 percent annually from 2000 through 2006. As a result, the average American home uses 40 percent less natural gas now than in 1970.
    • On a national average basis, natural gas is three times more efficient than fossil fuel generated electricity in providing energy for end-use applications. While 92 percent of the energy content of natural gas is delivered to customers as useful energy, less than a third of the energy used in the production of electricity reaches homes and businesses.
    • Efforts to improve appliance technology have resulted in natural gas furnaces and boilers that are up to 96 percent efficient.

      Be sure to take the time to read the entire fact sheet and let us know your thoughts on energy efficiency in the comments below. Anyone going to try the Solar Gadget Charger? I wonder if it will work with my iPod?

      Posted in energy, Natural Gas | Tagged | Comments Off

      Mike Pomorski There are $20 bills outside your house!

      Posted on December 23, 2009 by Mike Pomorski | Comments Off


      President Obama, who has been promoting the weatherization of homes and businesses as both an energy-saving and money-saving practice, was recently quoted saying, “If you saw $20 bills just sort of floating through the window up into the atmosphere, you’d try to figure out how you were going to keep them.”  It is hard to disagree.

      But what if you were driving or walking near electricity infrastructure and you noticed that $20 bills were oozing out of the wires and floating onto the road?  I imagine that you’d try to stop and pick those up too.

      If site-based efficiency gains (caulking your home or installing higher efficiency appliances) are like collecting $20 bills for yourself, then source-based efficiency gains are like society finding $20 bills laying all over the place.

      After accounting for extraction, generation, transmission, and distribution (or, after adopting a source-based efficiency measure), three times more energy reaches the customer with the direct use of natural gas as compared to electricity.  Put another way, if you start with 100 units of source energy, 32 of them will reach the customer if they are converted to electricity first, but 92 of them will reach the customer if they are used directly in natural gas furnaces, water heaters, etc. (for more information see AGA’s new direct-use slides here).   It is a story you have likely heard before, but it bears repeating.

      This is not to say that people should allow $20 bills to float through their windows.  But we should all be thinking more about the $20 bills lying on the road.

      Posted in Natural Gas | Tagged | Comments Off