Hot Green Gizmos
A range of energy-saving devices for the home
Newsweek International
Sept. 6-13 issue - HEATING
Nice Warm Ears
Electric heat is costly, and burning coal is dirty. So why not burn corn? Corn stoves have been around since the '70s, but new models increase efficiency by better regulating the flow of corn into (and air through) the burn box. Most manufacturers are in corn country: the United States and Canada. Amaizablaze models range from $1,325 to $2,095 apiece. The midsize unit (50,000 Btu; $1,859) doubles as a fireplace insert. Northern's NorthStar Corn Stove ($2,030 at northerntool.com) boasts self-cleaning features. Countryside Corn Stove by American Energy Systems (about $2,500) has recently been modified for smaller European homes.
—Kathryn Williams
LUXURIES
Soak And Save
Utah-based Bullfrog Spas plans to unveil a patented hot-tub design called JetPaks at a September trade show in Paris. While running a traditional tub costs about $40 per month, a Bullfrog costs around $13. The reason: 90 percent of the plumbing is contained inside the Bullfrog's shell, so heat can't escape as easily as it does from a normal tub. Bullfrog spas have been available in Europe under a Belgian brand, but the company is now taking over under its own name. (Former Russian president Boris Yeltsin owns one, and he has a reputation for knowing how to relax.) The new JetPaks models will sell for $3,000 to $10,000 at bullfrogspas.com and are expected to be in retail locations in Europe and Asia by the end of the year.
—Sandy Lawrence Edry
INSULATION
All Paper
Warmcel is an insulation made from recycled newspaper and treated with inorganic salt for fire resistance. Because it's a loose cellulose fiber, Warmcel fills nooks that quilt insulation can't, and saves 20 to 40 percent more energy. Made by Britain's Excel Industries, Warmcel has been around for 20 years, but new injection methods now make it possible to install in walls, as well as attics. Available in Europe and North America.
—William Underhill
SENSORS
On Time
Smarthome.com is the Amazon.com of the electronic home-improvement market. Among its thousands of energy-saving gizmos are motion-sensor light switches, smart thermo-stats that connect to your alarm system to tell when you're home, and a computerized timer that allows homeowners to control lights, even dim them, when they're away. The timer's touchless switch responds to a wave of the hand. It sells for $29.99. Smarthome ships worldwide.
—K.W.
POWER
Not Just Hot Air
A small German firm called SenerTec has created a home version of an industrial cogeneration plant, which recaptures waste heat to increase fuel efficiency. Introduced 18 months ago, SenerTec's combo generator/ hot-water heater turns out five kilowatts of power and uses waste energy to produce hot water. Its fuel-efficiency rating of 90 percent is double that of ordinary hot-water heaters. Units sold: 8,000. Cost: €13,000.
—John Sparks
LAUNDRY
Clean And Green
Maytag's Neptune Front-Load washer and dryer helped set the standard for front loaders, which use up to 40 percent less water and 65 percent less energy than the old top loaders. Rather than agitate clothes, a front loader turns the wash over and over while waterfall baffles scoop water and shower it on top. Prices are coming down: the Neptune now goes for $999 to $1,519—still double the price of top loaders. But Maytag insists owners can recover the price premium within a few years by lowering their utility costs. Savings for an average family can amount to $165 a year, which helps ease the sticker shock. Available worldwide.
—S.L.E.
© 2004 Newsweek, Inc.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5852737/site/newsweek/
The Price Is Wrong
Even $50 a barrel can't wean the world from oil. Only government can
By Leonardo Maugeri
Newsweek International
Sept. 6-13 issue - Is the internal-combustion engine dead? listening to all the voices calling hybrid vehicles the future of transportation, you might think so. Alternative energy is back in style among the chattering classes. But oil prices would have to go a lot higher to make so-called renewables—such as solar and wind energy—commercially viable. That means their future won't be decided by consumer tastes or market conditions, but by government policy.
These are facts. Any oil company will use whatever energy source makes economic sense, since its basic mission is not to pump oil. It's to create value from energy. We figure the cost of one kilowatt of solar photovoltaic power at a minimum of five times the cost of oil power, even when oil is hovering near $50 a barrel—a price we don't expect to hold up for long. Solar power is even less competitive against cheaper fossil fuels like coal and natural gas, and relies on mature technology. A radically new technology—perhaps replacing the silicon in photovoltaic cells with polymers—will be needed to make solar cost effective. That day is at least 20 years off. Wind and biomass are closer than solar to becoming competitive with fossil fuels, but their capacity to supply large amounts of energy is limited. And even the most modern windmills have inspired a popular backlash on esthetic grounds.
Many energy industrialists think nuclear is the answer, but they rely on a misleading analysis of its cost competitiveness. Even if you ignore the political concerns surrounding nuclear waste, producers often fail to correctly calculate the real price of electricity produced from nuclear energy. It costs about as much to close a nuclear plant as it does to build a new one, which is why nuclear power companies are now lobbying worldwide to delay planned plant closings.
There's also a lot of fuzzy talk about things like hybrid homes and cars. Many analysts note that while consumers still pay a lot more for hybrid cars than they can make back in gas savings, this gap is closing. What this line of reasoning ignores is that no technology competes only against itself, and combustion engines are rapidly evolving, too. The rush to innovate is led by the makers of diesel engines, which nearly match the gas efficiency of hybrids, but at much lower cost to consumers. Diesel also cuts greenhouse emissions by 30 to 40 percent compared with gas.
The conclusion is that even with real oil prices at their highest levels in 20 years, no alternative can compete head to head with fossil fuels on a scale broad enough to challenge their market dominance. Given this outlook, market forces won't wean society away from oil, gas and coal. Only government can do this. And since the late 1970s and early 1980s, public funding for R&D in the energy sector has been halved in the United States and Europe. Incentives and subsidies to produce alternative energy sources have fallen throughout the developed world with only a few exceptions—Japan, Germany, Denmark and a few others. This is why, for example, the bulk of U.S. solar hardware is exported to Germany and Japan.
In the United States, public policy continues to support America's love of the sport utility vehicle, which is the major factor behind the continued surge of American oil demand. An absurd loophole allows SUVs to be considered light trucks—and thereby not subject to passenger-vehicle emission requirements. The average total (federal plus local) tax on gas is 25 percent, compared with 50 percent in Japan and more than 70 percent in Western Europe, which partly explains why an American consumes twice the energy of a European. Yet any attack on this policy structure is seen as an attack on the American lifestyle, a quick form of career suicide for politicians.
Europe also faces large (but very different) obstacles to the adoption of new energy sources. For example, high gasoline taxes do encourage conservation, but they also count as the third or fourth largest source of revenue for most European governments. This gives policymakers a double-edged incentive to maintain the fossil-fuel status quo, because a transition to cleaner alternatives would cut their tax income, while raising outlays to subsidize the transition.
Yet the road to a society less dependent on oil is clear. If politicians were serious about these goals, the solution would be at hand: a mix of tax increases on oil products; more rigid mileage and emissions standards for automakers, and incentives to retire old cars and buy cleaner new ones. The transportation sector is crucial, since it will account for about 80 percent of the growth in world oil consumption over the next 25 years. These measures would motivate automakers to step up research, development and production of new cars, and consumers to buy them. But knowing the best road doesn't guarantee that society will take it.
Maugeri is group senior vice president for corporate strategies at Eni, the Italian oil and gas company.
© 2004 Newsweek, Inc.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5852664/site/newsweek/