energy consumption

20 Stories

Tokyo's Idea Amid Energy Crisis: Put On a Turtleneck

Yuriko Koike, the city's governor, credits French president as an inspiration on how to stay warm

(Newser) - Winter is coming, and amid Japan's energy crisis, Tokyo officials are offering a suggestion to save energy and stay warm in the coming months. "Warming the neck has a thermal effect," Yuriko Koike, the capital city's governor, told reporters Friday, per the Guardian . "I'm...

What That Beer Fridge Is Really Costing You

Second refrigerators tend to be old energy hogs

(Newser) - Oh, the second fridge. Almost one in three households in the Midwest has one; locals know it affectionately as the "beer and deer" fridge, reports the Chicago Tribune . Across the rest of the US, the average is closer to one in four households. Some 15% of those second fridges...

As US Electricity Use Stalls, Utilities Scramble

Household use to expand just 0.7% per year: feds

(Newser) - Sure, you're attached at the hip to your iPad and like to crank your air conditioner, but electricity guzzling isn't what it used to be in the US. In the middle of the 20th century, electricity use grew about 8% yearly; now, it's set to expand just...

Your DVR Is an Energy Vampire
 Your DVR Is an Energy Vampire 
Jun 15, 2011 3:56 PM CDT

Your DVR Is an Energy Vampire

New ones use about half the amount of a refrigerator

(Newser) - Your cable box never sleeps—and hence, never stops costing you money. America’s set-top boxes suck down $3 billion worth of electricity, an environmental group said in a report yesterday. The increasingly standard HD-DVRs are especially bad, consuming more than half the energy of an average new refrigerator—roughly...

Pot Farms Eat Up 1% of Nation's Electricity

Smoking joint like leaving light on all day

(Newser) - Bad news for eco-conscious stoners: That joint you just smoked hurt the planet. Marijuana grown indoors accounts for 1% of America’s yearly electricity consumption, or $5 billion worth of energy, a study finds. That’s equivalent to the annual energy bills of 2 million homes. And in terms of...

President Obama Energy Speech: Bloggers and Left and Right Say It's a Lousy Plan
Obama's Energy Speech: Smart Politics, Lousy Plan
OPINION roundup
Mar 30, 2011 1:56 PM CDT

Obama's Energy Speech: Smart Politics, Lousy Plan

Early reaction finds little to get excited about

(Newser) - President Obama laid out his energy plan for America, with the headline-grabbing line that he intends to cut oil imports by a third in about a decade. Read the full text here . A quick survey of bloggers of all stripes finds them underwhelmed, in part because they don't see much...

Let's Label Oil Like Calories
 Let's Label Oil Like Calories 
OPINION
Mar 9, 2011 12:14 PM CST

Let's Label Oil Like Calories

US needs to go on an energy diet as prices rise

(Newser) - With oil prices soaring once more, America’s in for a shock. After all, we use more fossil fuels than any other developed country, using them not just in our cars, but to make, power, and transport nearly everything we buy, observes Amanda Little in the New York Times . This...

China Passes US in Energy Consumption

Consumed equivalent of 2,252 million tons of oil last year

(Newser) - China has passed the US as the world’s most energy-hungry country, according to new data from the International Energy Agency. China consumed the equivalent of 2,252 million tons of oil last year, about 4% more than the 2,170 million tons the US guzzled. The US is unlikely...

California Plans Ban on Power-Guzzling TVs

Nation's first TV energy standards expected to pass

(Newser) - The consumer electronics industry is kicking hard against California's plans to introduce energy consumption maximums for TV sets. An industry lobby group argues that buyers should be allowed to decide whether they want a power-hungry flat-screen TV set or not, and warns that the move could cost the state jobs...

Human Blood Fuels New Light Source
Human Blood Fuels New
Light Source
Oct 2, 2009 10:18 AM CDT

Human Blood Fuels New Light Source

Gruesome lamp intended to make point about energy usage

(Newser) - Figuring that people would use less electricity if they had to cut themselves to turn on the light, a British designer has cooked up the “blood lamp.” The ingenious bulb is full of luminol, a chemical forensic scientists use to check crime scenes for blood, LiveScience explains. Just...

Flat-Screen TVs Must Use Less Energy: Calif.

State is the first to demand better efficiency

(Newser) - Move over Hummer, there's a new energy-hogging villain in town—flat-screen TVs. California yesterday became the first state to mandate better energy efficiency for televisions, reports the San Jose Mercury News. All sets sold there must reduce consumption 30% by 2011 and 50% by 2013. The industry is outraged, but...

EU Slaps Gas Firms With $1.5B Fine for Price-Fixing

(Newser) - The European Union's powerful competition commissioner slapped two energy companies with record fines of $1.53 billion today for cartel misbehavior. GDF Suez and E.ON, two of the world's biggest gas producers, colluded to avoid competition in French and German energy markets and drive up prices. It's the first...

Spam Doesn't Waste Energy, Humans Do
 Spam Doesn't Waste 
 Energy, Humans Do 
ANALYSIS
Apr 16, 2009 12:25 PM CDT

Spam Doesn't Waste Energy, Humans Do

Study miscalculates how people use computers: Kaplan

(Newser) - A recent study that equates spam’s carbon footprint to that of a whopping 2.4 million homes is fascinating, but completely wrong, Jeremy Kaplan writes in PC Magazine. The researchers traced most of the energy usage to the end user’s computer, but that energy-waster would probably be left...

Energy-Wasting Spam Also a Pain in the Earth

It hurts environment and productivity, authors say

(Newser) - Spam e-mails consume 20% of companies' energy budgets, enough collectively to run 2.4 million houses, says a study commissioned by the security firm McAfee. Most of the waste results from end users sifting through the 62 trillion junk items sent annually, eWeek reports. Eliminating spam would be the equivalent...

Apple Revamps Desktops
 Apple Revamps Desktops 
Mar 3, 2009 12:45 PM CST

Apple Revamps Desktops

Energy efficiency key to overhaul

(Newser) - Apple today announced updates to its desktop line: All computers got a boost in energy efficiency and meet upcoming EnergyStar 5.0 regulations, CNET reports. Prices dropped on some models as well: The new Mac Pros start at $2,499 and feature Intel Xeon processors; the iMac now starts at...

EU Will Ban Incandescent Bulbs
 EU Will Ban Incandescent Bulbs 
Jun 19, 2008 2:07 PM CDT

EU Will Ban Incandescent Bulbs

Capacity might be only speed bump to quick switch to CFLs

(Newser) - The European Union is set to begin phasing out the incandescent light bulb in favor of compact fluorescent bulb, Der Spiegel reports. The highest-wattage bulbs will go next year; the transition to CFLs—using a fifth of the energy and lasting 10 times longer—should be complete in 2015. 

At Last, US Gas Consumption Starts to Fall

High prices, economic crash cause first decline in 17 years

(Newser) - The price of gasoline quadrupled over the last decade, but Americans responded by driving more and more in ever-larger gas guzzlers as if nothing had changed. But $4 gas combined with an economic black hole may have finally gotten the message across, reports the New York Times, as American gasoline...

Hybrid Owners Put the Pedal to Fuel Efficiency

Prius' real-time feedback alters driving habits to max MPGs

(Newser) - Leaving the bad old days of drag-racing in the dust, greenies are now engaging in their own race for fuel efficiency, reports the Washington Post. With hybrid vehicles such as the Toyota Prius giving up-to-the-second feedback on just how much gas passing that little old lady in the right lane...

Alaskan City Goes Green—by Necessity

After avalanche, Juneau is forced to find ways to use less energy

(Newser) - An energy conservation effort born out of necessity has turned the residents of Juneau, Alaska, into poster children for the green movement, the New York Times reports. Electricity rates skyrocketed 400% after an avalanche knocked out several major transmission towers last month; the state capital has since lowered its electricity...

Turn Clocks Ahead Tonight
Turn Clocks Ahead Tonight
Mar 8, 2008 4:40 PM CST

Turn Clocks Ahead Tonight

Some doubt that daylight saving time conserves energy

(Newser) - Time flies when you’re trying to save energy: Americans will have to spring their clocks forward by an hour tonight—technically at 2am— for daylight saving time. The sleep-reducing tradition is happening a month earlier than usual in a government effort to cut down on electricity use and take...

20 Stories