MakeHeat

From April – worth checking to see if you can still get rebates:

http://planetgreen.discovery.com/home-garden/cash-caulkers-rebate-money.html

Just found some sealed batteries at a discount for the DIY’ers at the AltE store:
They’re “open box”, which means that they can’t sell them as new, but they still carry the full warranty, and they’ve discounted the price.  Go to the AltE store and search for agm battery “open box” – include the quotes.

Great idea, and they’ve solved the problem of calcium and other mineral buildup by adding a water filter.  Now if I can figure out a way to connect one to my window unit…

Cool-N-Save: Instantly save up to 30% on your Air Conditioning costs!.

SEBRING – A year ago Roger St. Laurent decided he was going to make his carbon footprint smaller.He started off by adding two solar panels to heat his water. Soon his cost saving ambitions grew and he added 22 solar panels to power his entire house.His last electric bill was $6.47.”Its unbelievable,” said St. Laurent, a retired Sebring resident.”I told my wife was this a good idea or what.”His 2,800 square-foot Sebring home is an energy saving machine. In the family room, beside the solar panel circuit board, hangs St. Laurents first zero balance electric bill.

via Resident goes solar, electric bill drops to nothing.

Religious organizations in the United States are putting faith in solar electricity as a long-term means of generating cleaner electricity.

In Farmington, Utah, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has introduced its first solar-powered meetinghouse in the Northern Hemisphere, with more under construction.

In California, the Catholic Diocese of San Jose recently activated solar-electric systems at five parish-school combinations and a cemetery.

In Saratoga, Fla., a Jewish synagogue, Congregation Beth David, installed solar modules under a power-purchase agreement that required no upfront payment….” Read more from SunPluggers.com

“…

Among the measures McDonnell signed into law Friday:

A $500 tax credit for every green job created with a salary over $50,000, applicable for up to four years and for up to 350 jobs per company.

Establishing a new Virginia Offshore Wind Development Authority, with 11 citizen members who will seek money, recommend research and break down regulatory barriers to building wind turbines off the coast.

Allowing natural-gas companies to recover costs for upgrading pipelines and other equipment, moves that will make such systems more efficient and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Creating a new Virginia Universities Clean Energy Development and Economic Stimulus Foundation. This body would “look to commercialize” many of the green technologies being tested and researched at state universities, McDonnell said.

Most of the bills easily passed the General Assembly this year, and almost all of them rely on incentives and tax breaks instead of government mandates — a business-friendly approach that McDonnell promised to pursue as a candidate last year. …”

http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/4000299

” A new technique developed by engineers for producing power-conducting plastics could slash the cost of making solar panels, say researchers.

With mounting concerns about global warming and energy demand, plastics could represent a low-cost alternative to indium tin oxide (ITO), an expensive conducting material currently used in solar panels, according to the researchers.

‘Conductive polymers (plastics) have been around for a long time, but processing them to make something useful degraded their ability to conduct electricity,’ said Yueh-Lin Loo, associate professor of chemical engineering at Princeton University, who led the research team.

‘We have figured out how to avoid this trade-off. We can shape the plastics into a useful form while maintaining high conductivity,’ Yueh-Lin Loo added. …” Read full story at:
http://sify.com/news/plastic-electronics-can-slash-cost-of-solar-panels-news-international-kednkcidcjd.html

Australia’s got a big subsidy for farmers willing to make some changes in their farms for the better – up to 50%! “…Works include everything from solar pre-heating to variable speed drives on vacuum and milk pumps, replacing inefficient hot water heaters, tapping into off-peak power and replacing old plate coolers and sizing them correctly. …”

This could be a far easier retrofit than putting piping in the floor, and repair would be easier too!  The heating factor is a little difficult to fathom for the northeast, where in-floor heating makes more sense.  In the south, where the cool will travel naturally down and into the living area, this makes the most sense.  Still – I might like to try it in a small room.

Oikos: ESB: Hydronic Cooling.