Feature-length documentary film Earth Days will premiere on Facebook with a live video stream and a chat at 8 p.m. EST on April 11, more than a week before the over-the-air PBS television premiere at 9 p.m. EST on April 19.

The film chronicles the history of Earth Day in the United States and investigates issues related to the today’s American environmentalism movement.  It has been playing the festival circuit and in select theaters for months, leading up to its PBSAmerican Experience premiere. Earth Days has pulled a 70 rating on Metacritic — “generally favorable reviews.”

The Facebook event will use a new social-streaming platform provided by a company called Brand Networks. The entire documentary will play (its producers claim this will be the first feature-length documentary to stream on Facebook) alongside a social stream of updates that can either be restricted to folks watching the event or made available to other Facebook friends.

Director Robert Stone will be joined by American Experience Executive Producer Mark Samels to interact with the community watching the film, though nobody’s said what that interaction will entail.

You can RSVP to the Facebook event page. It currently has 543 confirmed guests, 398 maybes and 2,344 from which it’s awaiting reply. That’s just the event page, though; there’s no telling how many will show up without RSVPing. In case you’re on the fence, here’s the trailer.

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A couple weeks ago, we noted the city of Topeka, Kansas’ humorous attempt to get Google’s attention: by rebranding their city “Google, Kansas.”  Why would they do such a thing?  Because they want in on Google’s fiber action — the search giant’s proposed plan to sell 1 gigabit-per-second broadband to consumers.  Now Baltimore, Maryland is getting in on the fun as well.

The city has appointed  a “Google Czar” — yes, that’s the actual title — to lobby the company to put Baltimore on the list of cities in the initial trial.  Tom Loveland, CEO of a local tech company, Mind Over Machines, has been appointed by Baltimore’s mayor to take this exalted, but volunteer position.

The Baltimore movement has also launched a website, BmoreFiber , which states in huge, bold letters, “Ask Google to Invest Billions in Baltimore’s Future.“

These attempts by cities to catch Google’s attention, while humorous, show a massive desire for better broadband in this country.  It’s kind of sad that it takes an outsider, Google, to spur faster broadband development.  Meanwhile, companies that offer broadband as a core business, like Comcast, drag their feet with service that is an order of magnitude slower at huge prices.

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Home Performance Resource CenterA new study suggests that the majority of materials associated with building efficiency are manufactured domestically.

While solar and wind manufacturers struggle to fend off Chinese competition, energy efficiency equipment seems to have no such problem.

According to a recent study commissioned by efficiency advocates, equipment like caulking and insulation — basic tools for retrofitting the country’s homes and businesses — is almost entirely made in the United States.

About 96 percent of caulking used domestically is made here, the study said, and various types of attic and wall insulation, as well as spray foam and duct sheet metal, are all over 90 percent American-manufactured.  Even 96 percent of replacement windows for American buildings are made here.

The study was sponsored by the Home Performance Resource Center, a nonprofit linked to Efficiency First, an advocacy organization.  A firm called Newport Partners conducted the analysis; it used government data to determine what share of each type of products was imported.

Matt Golden, the chair of Efficiency First, said he was surprised that the numbers were so high for caulking, but insulation was easier to explain.

“You don’t want to make it in China, because a container full of insulation costs so little it’s not worth shipping,” Mr. Golden said.

Shan Maitra, the owner of Fiberlite Technologies, a Missouri-based manufacturer of cellulose insulation (a type of insulation not covered in the study but estimated by its industry association to be predominantly American-made), noted that one of his key raw materials — recycled newspapers — was generated domestically, so it made sense to make the insulation in the United States, rather than ship the papers to China and then bring back the finished product.

Even heavy, expensive equipment — such as refrigerators, water heaters and (especially) furnaces — are largely made in the United States, the study found.

Replacing old, energy-guzzling models with new ones is a key part of making a home more efficient.

Mr. Golden said that a key reason for conducting the study was to avoid the “Buy America” provisions embedded in many aspects of federal stimulus money.  The associated red tape, he explained, could complicate matters for people buying caulking at a hardware store.

His group wanted, he said, to make the case “that the stuff we’re doing is so high-content domestic in the first place, that the ‘Buy America’ provisions don’t really accomplish anything.”

Materials are a relatively minor part of the overall cost of getting an efficiency retrofit, Mr. Golden noted.  Insulating a house, he estimated, probably breaks down to 30 percent materials and 70 percent labor — whereas for a solar panel, the materials (which may come from overseas) would absorb a greater percentage of the cost.

His point is that efficiency generates plenty of domestic jobs not only for manufacturing, but also for installation.

“You’re getting many more local jobs with the simple retrofit measures,” Mr. Golden said.

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WellHome President Larry Laseter testifies on behalf of the HOME STAR Coalition

The proposed HOME STAR efficiency retrofit program was the subject of a hearing today before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, with testimony by Larry Laseter, president of WellHome, a subsidiary of Efficiency First founding member Masco Corporation.  Laseter testified on behalf of the HOME STAR Coalition, which is comprised of a broad group of industry, labor, energy and environmental supporters, along with more than 600 small businesses representing all 50 states.

“We applaud the efforts of the administration to introduce a jobs creation bill and stand together in support of the HOME STAR program, which will deliver a rare triple win for the American people in the form of jobs, savings for consumers, and a positive impact on the environment,” Laseter told the committee.  “The HOME STAR program will put our nation’s skilled construction force back to work, benefit homeowners through comfort and energy efficiency improvements to their existing homes, and result in long-term energy and environmental gains.  We urge Congress to expedite approval of this program so that Americans can get back to work.”

The committee also heard testimony from a number of other public- and private-sector experts, including Catherine Zoi, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.  In her prepared remarks, Zoi provided an overview of the HOME STAR incentive program and concluded that:

Retrofitting millions of American homes may truly transform energy consumption throughout the Nation.  It may also put people to work in good, domestic jobs while saving Americans money and enabling significant contributions toward GHG emissions reduction targets.  Public investments can lay the foundation for a vibrant private-sector led retrofit industry.  Workers can get trained and certified, small contractors can grow their businesses, and millions can save money on their energy bills.

On October 19, 2009, Secretary Chu stated, “In the next several decades, I believe that energy efficiency is our most powerful tool for reducing our carbon emissions and reducing our energy bills.” Home energy retrofits could be critical to realizing both of those goals, while supporting American job creation. I thank the Committee for its hard work on energy efficiency and specifically in crafting the legislative proposal being considered today. I sincerely hope I have the opportunity to implement this program soon with the aim of achieving our interconnected goals of creating good clean energy jobs, reducing our reliance on foreign sources of energy, and reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.

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Kirk J. Condyles for The New York TimesA program to encourage homeowners to add solar panels and make their houses more energy efficient through higher property taxes aims to scale up.

A widely praised program to encourage homeowners to add solar panels and make their houses more energy efficient is on the verge of a ramp-up.

The model sets out to eliminate high up-front costs — a key reason why people resist making such improvements.  It does so by allowing homeowners to pay for the renovations gradually, through higher property taxes, which can also be passed on to subsequent owners if the house is sold.

The initial cost is covered by the municipality, generally through a bond issue.

The two-year-old program is called Property-Assessed Clean Energy, or PACE, and 18 states have passed legislation allowing these programs.  About a dozen more are considering similar legislation, according to Cisco DeVries, who helped develop the model and is now president of Oakland-based Renewable Funding, which helps administer the programs.

Mr. DeVries acknowledged that despite all the buzz, fewer than 2,000 properties had entered the program so far, with not all of those projects yet finished.

“It is pretty nascent,” he said.

He added, however, that several of California’s largest municipalities — San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles County — are poised to implement the programs in the next few months.  California already hosts a particularly successful program, in Sonoma County.

Programs are also getting ready to start in Annapolis and Montgomery County, Md., and in Santa Fe County, N.M., among other places.

The federal government is helping.

“Most, but not all programs, are using federal stimulus dollars” to get started, Mr. DeVries said.  Next week, he added, federal officials are expected to announce grants for governments seeking to start the program in their areas.  Legislation introduced in Congress would provide further help, like federal guarantees and tax exemptions for the bonds.

“But that is longer term,” Mr. DeVries said.

One hitch: As the program spreads, it is encountering some tricky legal issues. Merrian Fuller, who works in the electric markets and policy group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, said that mortgage lenders were concerned about the program. That is because if the homeowner defaults, the lender is on the hook for the payments if the mortgage is greater than the home’s value. As a result, lenders group in several states are opposing the program.

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Senate committee hearings scheduled next week for the Home Star Act of 2010

The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources has unveiled language for proposed legislation authorizing the HOME STAR energy retrofit program, which would allocate $6 billion in federal funds to provide short-term consumer incentives for residential energy improvements.  The legislation was designed to stimulate job creation in the construction and manufacturing sectors by giving millions of American homeowners access to substantial rebates for cost-effective efficiency upgrades.

As expected, the language calls for a combination of:

·         Prescriptive rebates for eligible efficiency upgrades (the SILVER STAR path)

·         Performance-based rebates for whole-home retrofits designed to achieve energy savings of 20 percent or more (the GOLD STAR path)

·         Quality assurance and fraud-prevention provisions

·         Funding for state and local energy retrofit financing programs to help homeowners pay their share of the upfront costs

The SILVER STAR path would provide rebates up to $3,000 or 50 percent of project costs (whichever is less), with potentially higher rebate amounts available for GOLD STAR projects.

Now that the so-called “discussion draft” has been released, the Senate can move forward with hearings about the proposed legislation – a process that is due to begin next week.

Supporters of the bill are encouraged to contact their Congressional representatives in the House and Senate to press for passage of the legislation.  Efficiency First provides a quick and easy way to voice your support at www.efficiencyfirst.org/home-star.

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Nearly one in ten Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. customers is now buying power from a source other than the utility, BGE said Monday.

About 75,000 residential customers and 25,000 commercial and industrial customers, of BGE’s 1.2 million customers in total, have shopped around for cheaper electricity.  BGE estimates that 40 percent of the actual supply of electricity being used in the region is coming through competitive energy suppliers, however.

An increase in competition can, in theory, lead to lower electricity prices.  Gov. Martin O’Malley has pushed for an end to electricity competition in Maryland, saying it hasn’t developed enough to save residents money.   The proposal has been slow-moving in the General Assembly’s 2010 session, which ends in April.

BGE officials encourage customers to shop around for cheaper electricity.  While the utility was once more of an energy generator, it’s now largely focused on electricity distribution and doesn’t make money off of the sale of electricity.  It buys power in large batches several times a year to sell on to customers.

“When competition is given time to develop, the marketplace responds with lower prices and customers reap the benefits,” Mark D. Case, BGE senior vice president of strategy and regulatory affairs, said in a statement.

Electricity suppliers offering service in BGE’s service area include BGE Home, Commerce Energy Inc., Clean Currents, Dominion Retail Inc., Washington Gas Energy Services, and ProEnergy Consultants.  Standard BGE electricity is being sold at 11.97 cents per kilowatt hour, while power is being sold for as little as 10.25 cents per kilowatt hour under a two-year contract from BGE Home.  BGE Home, like BGE, is a subsidiary of Baltimore energy giant Constellation Energy Group Inc. (NYSE: CEG).

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Bloom EnergyBloom Energy spent nearly a decade developing its fuel-cell technology. Above, five Bloom Energy Servers sit outside eBay’s headquarters in San Jose, Calif.

By TODD WOODY

In The New York Times on Wednesday, I wrote about Bloom Energy, the once-secretive Silicon Valley start-up that has apparently made a big breakthrough in developing a fuel cell that can generate electricity at competitive prices while minimizing greenhouse gas emissions.

The company is officially unveiling its Bloom Energy Server at a news conference on Wednesday morning featuring Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California; Colin L. Powell, the former secretary of state and a Bloom board member; and John Doerr, Silicon Valley’s leading green-tech investor.  But on Monday and Tuesday, I had the opportunity to spend some time at the start-up’s headquarters in Sunnyvale and to see the Bloom box up close.

In contrast to the usual Silicon Valley practice of announcing a coming product, Bloom spent nearly a decade developing its fuel-cell technology while saying nary a word.  Over the past year and a half, it has quietly sold and installed 100-kilowatt Bloom boxes at Google, Bank of America, Wal-Mart and other big companies.  The boxes cost $700,000 to $800,000 a piece.

“Silicon Valley is learning some hard and important skills, mainly making stuff again,” said Mr. Doerr, a partner at the venture-capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and a Bloom Energy board member.

Making stuff, particularly solid-oxide fuel cells, is very hard work.  Such fuel cells have been something of a holy grail as they can operate at extremely high temperatures to maximize efficiency and can use a variety of fuels, like natural gas and biogas.  Since the heat allows the fuel to be directly transformed into electricity through an electrochemical process, the expensive precious metals and rare-earth elements used in other fuel cells to act as catalysts could theoretically be eliminated.

But finding cheap common materials as substitutes and ensuring fuel cells don’t crack and leak under such conditions have stymied scientists for more than 30 years.

So how did Bloom crack the fuel-cell conundrum?

“I call it R.&D. on steroids,” K.R. Sridhar, Bloom’s 49-year-old co-founder and chief executive, said at the start-up’s offices.  “We created an R.&D. platform where you continuously improve, validate and test.  Learn why it broke and move on.”

Mr. Sridhar worked on fuel cells as a scientist on NASA’s now-defunct Mars program, where precision engineering and exotic materials were at his disposal.  At Bloom, scientists used sand — the silicon-based stuff that gives the Valley its name — to create a thin ceramic wafer that resembles a floppy disk.

In the manufacturing area of Bloom’s offices, wafers shuffle through a machine that paints lime-green ink — the anode — on one side and black ink — the cathode — on the other.  Mr. Sridhar says the ink is made from common, low-cost materials and infused with some proprietary “magic dust.”

The ceramic wafer serves as an electrolyte, and as fuel passes over the cell and mixes with oxygen ions, the resulting reaction generates electricity.  Each fuel cell generates 25 watts of electricity — a couple of years ago, it was 5 watts, said Mr. Sridhar.

On the other side of the office, workers assemble stacks of fuel cells that fit into polished metal cubes that look like they could have been designed at Apple.   A 100-kilowatt Bloom Energy Server will fit in a parking space.  (“I didn’t want it to look like a power plant that you hide away,” Mr. Sridhar said.)

Bloom executives said the energy server, which can be installed in a matter of hours, operates at an efficiency of 50 to 55 percent and can reduce greenhouse gas emissions 50 to 100 percent depending on the type of fuel used.

Mr. Sridhar said the Bloom Energy Server has been generating electricity at a cost of 8 to 10 cents a kilowatt-hour.

In California, where Bloom has installed 30 fuel-cell systems, commercial electricity rates averaged about 14 cents a kilowatt-hour in October 2009, according to the latest figures from the United States Department of Energy.  Elsewhere, commercial rates averaged 7 to 24 cents a kilowatt-hour.

Last July, eBay flipped the switch on five Bloom Energy Servers that now supply 15 percent of the electricity at its San Jose, Calif., campus, or about five times as much energy as generated by its 3,248 solar panels, according to Amy Skoczlas Cole, director of the company’s Green Team.

“We’re expecting a three-year payback period,” said Ms. Skoczlas Cole, adding that the calculation includes state and federal tax incentives that halved the price of the fuel cells.

In seven months of operations, Bloom has replaced a few fuel-cell wafers, but the machines have otherwise operated without a problem, Ms. Skoczlas Cole said.

Bloom executives said the company spent years developing a proprietary seal made from low-cost materials to prevent cracks and leaks. They estimate that the Bloom boxes will have a 10-year lifespan and that the company will have to swap out the fuel-cell stacks twice during that time.

Mike Brown, an executive with UTC Power, a leading fuel-cell maker, said the fuel cells need to last at least four or five years for the technology to be competitive.

Northern California’s largest utility, Pacific Gas and Electric, has asked regulators for permission to install fuel cells from Bloom and a competitor, F uelCell Energy, according to Janice Berman, a senior director at P.G.&E.

“We think it’s one of the emerging technologies that has great potential, and we’re really interested in understanding how the technology interacts with the grid,” she said.

One byproduct of fuel cells is water, and Bloom has patented and proved a fuel-cell design that could also tap electricity generated by solar panels and wind farms to electrolyze water to produce hydrogen that could be used as fuel in the cell.

“That’s the killer app,” said Mr. Sridhar, who said such a product probably would introduced within a decade.

Mr. Brown wished his rival well.

“We hope they’re successful because that it brings more attention to fuel cells,” he said.  “But if they’re not successful, it is not good for the industry because it looks like it’s just more hype about fuel cells.”

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Leaky windows and faulty insulation can sap money out your front door, but a home energy audit can help counter the loss of energy while lowering your power bill.

So where do you get your home audit — your local utility company or a private auditing firm?  The answer may depend on how much energy savings you want for the initial outlay.

Taking steps to conserve energy can cut your electricity bill by as much as $600 a year, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.  Add tax credits of $1,500, and it’s not surprising why performing a home energy audit is a burgeoning business.

The free home energy audit offered by many power companies is usually comprised of a visual inspection.  That could include identifying energy hogging appliances as well as leaky windows, air ducts and areas where insulation is lacking.  A professional audit, which can cost $300 to $500 depending on the home’s size, is a more in-depth assessment — about two hours long and utilizing measurement tools to identify leaks, according to the Department of Energy.

The free utility audits give homeowners ideas on how to save energy, but fee-based energy audits, because they are so detailed, can potentially save homeowners 30 percent or more on energy costs, according to Brian Castelli, executive vice president at Washington, D.C.-based Alliance to Save Energy, a nonprofit group of that supports energy efficiency.

A free energy audit makes sense for homeowners who aren’t paying excessive energy bills or aren’t dealing with drafty areas of their home, says Mark Cannella, a partner at Cleveland-based Pro Energy Consultants.

"If a homeowner truly has an issue and truly wants to make a home more energy efficient, a full-blown audit is necessary," Cannella says.

Utility companies help consumers conserve

For some homeowners, swapping out old appliances may be enough.  According to the Department of Energy, replacing your old, in-room air conditioner for one with an energy efficiency rating of 10 can cut your A/C energy costs in half.

Duke Energy Corp. of Charlotte, N.C., offers a free home energy audit through its House Call program.  During an assessment, a specialist reviews appliances, analyzes home energy use, checks the home for air leaks, examines insulation levels, and monitors heating and cooling systems. Duke says homeowners get a custom report within 10 days, providing ways to increase efficiency and reduce energy loss.  The report’s recommendations could include buying energy-efficient appliances, adding insulation or sealing up leaks.

Although it isn’t free, Long Island Power Authority of Uniondale, N.Y., or LIPA, offers its Home Performance with Energy Star program.  Customers pay $200 to $400 for the home assessment performed by contractors accredited by the Malta, N.Y.-based Building Performance Institute, an organization that offers contractor training and certification.

LIPA says it will rebate 25 percent of the cost up to $3,000 if customers choose to follow up on recommended electric energy-saving measures from the Energy Star program.  LIPA reimburses after it receives proof the work was done.

The utility company also is testing a program to select customers with electric heat or air conditioning in which accredited contractors perform assessment and sealing services for free.

LIPA will cover 75 percent of recommended energy-saving measures up to $3,000 from the free service, says Dan Zaweski, LIPA assistant vice president. In addition, electric heating customers can save from $150 to $300 a year, depending on the home’s square footage, under the program.

Buyer beware when it comes to audits

Not all fee-based home energy audits are created equal.  As in any budding industry, there are fly-by-night companies that claim to be experts but really aren’t, according to Cannella.  Make sure you’re using an accredited auditor and that the auditor uses specific energy measurement tools.

Before hiring a professional auditor, check with the local Better Business Bureau to verify the company is legitimate.  Also, ask for references and confirm the auditor does a blower door test and thermographic scanning.

You want to be sure the auditor uses a calibrated blower door and infrared cameras," says Celia Kuperszmid Lehrman, deputy home editor at Yonkers, N.Y.-based Consumer Reports.  The blower door is a powerful fan mounted on the front-door frame that tests a home’s air leakage; thermography (infrared scanning) pinpoints failures in insulation.  Proper home air tightness will reduce energy usage and eliminate drafts, the Department of Energy says.  Private auditors will take around four hours before providing a detailed report.

Bottom line: Whether you go with the free assessment from your utility or pay for a more detailed one from a private auditor, any steps taken to curb energy usage will save you dollars over the long run.

"Sealing up your house, adding insulation and sealing duct work can result in between 20 percent and 40 percent savings," says Cannella of Pro Energy Consultants.

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