Switching to Sustainable Landscape Care Brings a Bumper Crop of Benefits – Eat Your Yard

Posted on January 21, 2012 | Leave a comment

While doctors Elaine Hanson and Bruce Robbins were busy with their practices and raising three children, landscape care around their University City home was a low priority, handed off to maintenance companies. But when Elaine retired, they decided to match the garden and its upkeep to their green lifestyle that includes solar on the roof and an electric car in the garage.

Help turned out to be close at hand. Their son Jeffrey Robbins and his childhood pal Ari Tenenbaum are partners in Revolution Landscape

(www.revolutionlandscape.com) devoted to sustainable landscaping and organic garden care. Starting two years ago with a small side yard by the driveway, the duo has gradually transformed the ho-hum quarter-acre lot into a water-wise edible landscape weaned of chemicals and pesticides.

Read more at: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/jan/20/organic-at-last/

Disclaimer: for information and entertainment purposes only

Leave a comment

Posted in Cool Things

Tagged , ,

SDG&E’s Solar Rate Plan Sidelined

Posted on January 20, 2012 | Leave a comment

State regulators on Wednesday turned down a proposal to charge solar customers substantially more for their use of the distribution grid, citing possible inconsistencies with state law.

The ruling on behalf of the California Public Utilities Commission sent SDG&E back to the drawing board as it seeks to recover more infrastructure costs from customers who generate their own electricity but still use the grid. California’s two other investor-owned utilities, Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric, filed as interested parties to the case.

The underlying issue of who pays for infrastructure costs as more utility customers generate their own energy from the sun, wind and other renewable energy sources could eventually wind its way to the state legislature.

Read more: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/jan/18/regulators-reject-new-charge-solar-customers/

Disclaimer: for information and entertainment purposes only.

Leave a comment

Posted in energy retrofitting, energy savings

Tagged ,

Creating Electricity at Home

Posted on January 19, 2012 | Leave a comment

It may appear counter-intuitive, but getting millions of solar panels onto rooftops saves more money than it costs. Feed-in tariffs enacted by state governments have enabled ordinary Australians using their savings to build a solar power station at home benefiting the community.

Contact the appraisers at www.socalappraisalserv.com for your value questions.

When those solar households who had saved to get their panels installed under the solar feed-in tariff programs export their solar production to the grid, which occurs mostly during higher demand daytime periods, they are given a slightly higher than average retail rate for the electricity they are selling. The prices they have been paid are relatively meagre when compared with the ridiculously high rates paid to big coal or gas power plants.

At the same time that little solar households who have invested their money in a rooftop power station are being paid between 44¢ and 60¢ per kilowatt hour, the old power companies with their dirty belching coal and gas plants are receiving as much as $12.50.

Read More at: http://smh.domain.com.au/green/creating-electricity-at-home-20120118-1q5h3.html

Disclaimer: for information and entertainment purposes only.

Leave a comment

Posted in energy retrofitting

Tagged , ,