Cool your house by planting shade trees (Photo: Department of Energy)

Rather than pumping air conditioning into an overheated house, keep your home cool this summer by keeping hot air from getting in in the first place. We recommend these seven tips to keep your house cool from the outside.

1. Use awnings:
Keeping heat out can keep your A/C costs down. Use window awnings to shade south- and west- facing windows that get a lot of sun exposure.

2. Hang white drapes:
Alternatively, or in addition to awnings, white drapes help reflect light and keep the sun from warming up your home.

3. Plant shade trees:
Plant trees of the appropriate size, density, and shape to provide shade for your house. Be careful to avoid blocking any air conditioning units or shading solar panels, including those that might be on your neighbors’ roofs.

4. Shade the pavement:
Oddly, planting trees, shrubs, and ground-cover plants to shade the ground and pavement around your home can help keep your house cool. The plants reduce heat radiation, cooling the air before it reaches your house.

5. Install a white or cool roof:
If you live in a hot, sunny climate, you might benefit from a cool roof, which can reduce roof surface temperatures by 50 degrees Fahrenheit or more, reducing cooling loads inside.

6. Seal leaks:
You sealed the cracks and gaps on the inside of your home, but what about the outside? Look around the outside of your house for any unnoticed leaks and seal up to keep hot air out. Sealing your home can be a huge step toward cutting your energy bills.

7. Service your A/C:
Outdoor air conditioners can collect a fair amount of debris, making them work harder. This video shows you how to clean out your A/C to save you up to 15% on cooling costs. (Indoor A/C units also benefit from tune-ups).

• Find more summer savings tips from Flex Your Power
• Watch more energy efficiency how-to videos
• Related: Energy-saving tips for the living room, kitchen and bathroom.

This October 1-3, West Coast Green, the nation’s largest conference and expo on green innovation in building, business and design is returning to San Francisco at the Fort Mason Center. Registration is now open, and the deadline for advanced pricing is Friday, July 31st.

West Coast Green is the largest event of its kind, with an international audience of over 14,000 innovators and entrepreneurs. Over 300 exhibitors will be showcasing the latest in resource-efficiency among a stunning array of green and healthy building products. This year’s conference will also feature 175 inspirational speakers including Hunter Lovins, author and International Consultant; Panama Bartholomy, Advisor to the Chair of the CA Energy Commission and Ray Anderson, Founder of InterfaceFLOR.

Flex Your Power is happy to announce that our partnership with West Coast Green allows e-Newswire readers a 20% discount on a full conference pass. Your pass gives you access to all Keynotes, Leadership Summits, Education and Networking Sessions, full access to the Tradeshow Floor and more. Remember to register by July 31st for advanced pricing in addition to your 20% discount.

How to register:
To receive the 20% Flex Your Power e-Newswire discount, register through this URL: http://www.webregpro.com/events/wcg/09/partners/flex/, and select ‘Your Full Conference Pass.’

A low-flow showerhead and aerators are included with every kit.

San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) and the San Diego County Water Authority are teaming up to encourage energy and water conservation by offering no-cost Home Energy and Water Savings Kits that you can easily install in your own home. The kits contain one low-flow showerhead, one faucet aerator for your kitchen and two faucet aerators for your bathrooms. Once installed, low-flow showerheads and faucet aerators can cut up to 11 percent of your water usage, which will help reduce your energy and water bills.

“Energy and water savings go hand-in-hand because households use quite a bit of energy to heat the water they use,” said April Bolduc, spokesperson for SDG&E. “This partnership with the San Diego County Water Authority will help our customers save money.”

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) offers a similar program for its residents, providing showerheads, aerators, and toilet flappers along with a no-cost water-wise evaluation. California residents who live outside of SDG&E or SFPUC territory may be able to find similar offers by checking our rebate finder.

To order a kit from SDG&E, visit sdge.com/energykit, or call SDG&E’s Energy Information Center at 800-644-6133.

To schedule a no-cost water-wise evaluation from the SFPUC or to obtain water-saving devices, visit their site or call 415-551-4730.

• Find rebates on energy and water saving devices with our rebate finder
• Learn more about low-flow showerheads and faucet aerators
• Related: “Room by Room: 9 Ways to Save Energy and Water in the Bathroom” (e-Newswire 6/30/09)

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced $300 million in Recovery Act funds to finance state-run rebate programs for consumer purchases of new ENERGY STAR qualified home appliances. The largest state in the program, California, is eligible for $35 million, and will have the flexibility to choose which appliances are included for rebates as well as the rebate amount for each appliance. The DOE recommends that states and territories focus their program efforts on heating and cooling equipment, appliances, and water heaters as these products offer the greatest energy savings potential. Specific targets include: central air conditioners, heat pumps, boilers, furnaces, room air conditioners, clothes washers, dishwashers, freezers, refrigerators and water heaters.

To be eligible, states must submit a preliminary application by August 15, 2009, followed by a full application due October 15. The DOE anticipates that a vast majority of the funds will be awarded by November 30, 2009. In the meantime, California already offers a cornucopia of rebates and other efficiency programs, and will ideally be able to use the forthcoming funds to augment these programs and maximize efficiency benefits for Californians.

• Read the press release from the U.S. Department of Energy
• Find rebates, incentives, and services in your area

Solar panels go up on a roof in San Francisco (Photo: Flickr)

When it comes to harvesting sun power, the Golden State is indisputably number one according to a recent assessment from Environment California. A longtime leader in energy efficiency and renewable energy, California currently has a solar capacity of more than 500 megawatts, the equivalent of a major power plant, and boasts two-thirds of the national total. For comparison, New Jersey, the runner up, claims only 70 megawatts.

Perhaps even more impressive is the rate at which solar is catching on. The number of California rooftops sporting solar panels has skyrocketed from 500 to nearly 50,000 in just a decade, while total solar capacity in the State increased by a third from 2007 to 2008.

Nationally, the states in which solar is growing the fastest are those that provide the most generous subsidies, say industry experts. In California, the statewide California Solar Initiative has helped spur solar installations with rebates and financial incentives, while municipalities like Berkeley are also beginning to offer programs.

But even with the increases of the last decade, solar power still has a long way to go, representing about one-quarter of 1 percent of California’s total energy capacity according to the California Energy Commission. The world leader, Germany, produces about 1 percent of their energy from solar with a total 5,400 megawatts. The miniscule numbers serve as a reminder that while renewables may be growing, they are only one slice of the clean energy pie, a slice that pales in comparison to the potential gains of efficiency and conservation.

• Visit the California Public Utility Commission’s Go Solar California page, part of the California Solar Initiative
• Read background: “With Push Toward Renewable Energy, California Sets Pace for Solar Power,” by Felicity Barringer, The New York Times (7/15/09)
• Related: “Rooftop Solar Grows with Reduced Prices” (e-Newswire 1/26/09)

Cool roofs can help cut air conditioning bills by up to 50%. (Photo: Department of Energy)

Cool roofs are getting a lot of attention these days, and rightly so. Not only do they have the potential to cut a building’s air conditioning bills by up to 50% by reflecting light and reducing heat gain, but they can also fight global warming directly by reflecting heat back out into space. In a recent address at a conference in London, Energy Secretary Steven Chu praised the technology, saying that whitening the world’s roofs and roads would have the same effect on global warming as removing all the world’s cars for 11 years.

Now, cool roof technology has taken another step forward with a new paint designed by Colonel Ronald R. Savin, an 82-year-old former military scientist from the Inland Empire, and owner of Hyperseal, Inc. Likened to a Rice Krispies treat, the paint’s Hyperglass topcoat is filled with tiny glass “microspheres” - the same hollow balls that are used to lighten airplanes and bowling balls. The microspheres are suspended in a reflective paint and help to deflect heat, while a waterproof undercoat made of recycled rubber helps prevent water damage and erosion. Hyperseal paints are free of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and the undercoat even has the added benefit of providing a use for the millions of tires that are discarded each year in the U.S.

Savin’s paint is already reflecting rays atop the Anaheim Hilton, which spent $150,000 to coat their roof. According to the director of property operations at the Hilton, the project cost $300,000 less than the cost of a conventional repair to the leaky roof, and those savings will be only be augmented by reduced cooling loads summer after summer. Another customer, resident David Baron of Rancho Mirage, credits Hyperseal paint with cutting his $2,500-a-month summer electricity bill by more than half.

Cool roofs are not ideal for everyone as they can increase heating loads in the winter, but for homes and businesses in hot, sunny climates, the technology may be nothing short of a very bright idea.

• Learn more about cool roofs
• Read background: “Reflective roof paint repels the heat,” by Tiffany Hsu, Los Angeles Times (7/15/09)
• Read background: “White roofs to fight global warming,” by Steve Argreaves, CNNMoney.com (7/13/09)
• Related: “LBNL Scientists Call For International Effort to Install White Roofs and Cool Pavements in World’s Largest Cities” (e-Newswire 9/17/09)
• Related: “Study Confirms Building Cooling and Energy-Saving Benefits of Green Roofs” (e-Newswire 8/6/08)