Reducing Your Energy Costs

If you followed the 2008 presidential race, you may have heard the term, "Smart Grid", and wondered, "What is that?" Both candidates expressed the need for a Smart Grid to guide America towards energy independence.

According to the Electric Power Research Institute (www.EPRI.com), a Smart Grid is a power system that can incorporate millions of sensors all connected through an advanced communication and data acquisition system. This system will provide real-time analysis by a distributed computing system that will enable predictive rather than reactive responses to blink-of-an-eye disruptions.

There are a couple of companies that I want to make note of. A company in Germantown, MD, Current Group (www.currentgroup.com), is very involved in the Smart Grid effort. They provide Smart Grid applications for the utility companies. Even Google has gotten into the act. They are currently prototyping a free service, Google Powermeter (www.google.com/powermeter), that will allow you to monitor your household energy consumption. Studies have shown that access to your energy information can save 5% to 15% on your monthly bill.

The HR1: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (http://thomas.loc.gov) that Congress passed in February provides $4.5 billion dollars for the modernization, security and reliability of the U.S. electricity infrastructure. The Act includes investments to put "Smart Meters" into 40 million U.S. homes. A smart meter is a device that will deliver the consumption data to the Google service.

Imagine, by monitoring energy use, you could see if your refrigerator, those incandesent light bulbs or your toaster is costing you money. You can figure out how much it costs to cook dinner, wash clothes or take a shower. This has the potential to be a great tool to teach people how to reduce their energy foot print.

Is McDonalds Targeting African Americans?

I have been getting my weekend fix of NFL football lately and I have noticed that McDonalds has been running a lot more commercials with African-Americans. I wonder if they are focusing their advertising towards the "urban" community. I brought this up to a few people and I got some interesting responses.

"Cause we're the only ones still eating that unhealthy stuff."

"Three items you'll find in a 'lower' class neighborhood...church, liquor store w/ the built in check casher and McDonalds. In the end, which one has more advertising dollars?"

"Why can't we be in a Subway commercial...it's time Jarred got replaced with a brother."

I'm not sure if they are targeting or not but I have decided to not eat McDonalds any more. For me, this won't be a racial thing but a health thing.

Let me know your thoughts.

When Do You Stop Wishing Happy New Year

I was just wondering, when is the last day you can wish someone Happy New Year?

I asked this question to a few people, seems like there is a running theme.

Most people agree that January 31st is the cut off. I'm going to try wishing someone Happy New Year around May 1st. See what the response will be.

One person has two rules. One for personal friends and another for business associates.

Personal friends - Up until Martin Luther King day. If you haven't communicated with a loved one by then, you really need to do better.

Business associates - Up until January 31st. You really don't care about their New Year anyway. It's just something to fill space before you start your meeting or make a sales pitch.

I wonder what the rule would be for strangers. Or even for people whom you don't like.

I guess in the end, spreading cheer never has an expiration date! Well it's still January,

Happy New Year!

Multi-Media Blogging Course

I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

• The best blogging techniques.
• How to get traffic to your blog.
• How to turn your blog into money.

I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it's still free.