Energy

  • Experience Energy at St. Louis Science Center

    The St. Louis Science Center is widely renowned for its family-friendly exhibits.  The massive marble roll in the main lobby catches everyone’s attention, and the life-size Tyrannosaurus rex intrigues kids both big and small.  The latest addition to the Science Center is the Experience Energy gallery.  This is a great place to explore and learn…

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    My ReVolt Against Fossil Fuels

    I got my first chance to drive a Chevy Volt a couple years ago when I worked a few hours in a booth at the St. Louis Auto Show.  Now, this was far from the experience you might expect; I drove it inside America’s Center and was asked not to exceed 5 mph.  The person…

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    Achieving Net Zero

    Most people would love the possibility of having a clean, renewable energy system that produces all of their electricity.  As utility rates continue to climb, our summer electric bills have gotten our attention and seem to scream for an alternative solution.  Many people are discovering that solar electric systems are well suited to accomplish this…

  • Keep the Utility Bills Coming!

    I’m sure most people can’t relate to this, but I actually look forward to getting our utility bills.  We’ve made a number of investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy, along with some behavioral changes to be more conservative in our energy use. We got our electric bill today for the period 7/30-8/28.  During this…

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    Carrots and Sticks

    Legislators have long used a variety of incentives and disincentives to encourage or discourage certain behaviors.  Subsidies, like tax credits and loan guarantees, help jumpstart and grow new businesses.  Taxes, penalties and outright bans make it uncomfortable or illegal to continue doing what we’ve done in the past. So when the federal government banned the…

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    Saving with Solar

    For those of you who’ve been following my blog or Going Green column for a while, you may recall the success story on home energy efficiency I wrote about late last year.  Since our first energy audit in 2007, we’ve made a number of improvements to our home to reduce the amount of energy we…