Are you looking for more ways to be green in 2013?
On Monday at International CES, Ford announced it is collaborating with Whirlpool, Eaton and SunPower to provide the average American with easy tools to live a more eco-friendly life. Other featured companies include: semiconductor provider Infineon and Nest Labs.
For the partnership, called MyEnergi Lifestyle, each company offers products that help people reduce their carbon footprint, and to consume less electricity at home and while commuting.
The project began when Ford realized it had information that would be useful to other companies striving to be eco-conscious, according to Mike Tinskey, Ford's manager of Vehicle Electrification and Infrastructure. The car maker has a proprietary database of energy companies on- and off-peak hours, which customers can tap into when they sign up on the Ford website to register their electric vehicle. After customers enter their zipcode, the Ford app talks to the cloud; so when they plug in their Ford electric car, it only charges during off-peak hours. This results in a less expensive energy bill for the consumer and an even greener electric vehicle.
Tinskey said that electricity time-of-use rates used to be clearer — off-peak hours were typically around midnight to 7 a.m. Now, there's both winter and summer peak and off-peak hours. There's also a rate structure that has several peaks and off-peaks each day.
The companies they worked with for MyEnergi Lifestyle had green products, but didn't have this database.
"We aren't typical companies that would sit in a room together, but we started learning about some new things we can do," Tinskey said.
For example, Whirlpool's smart refrigerator knows the off-peak hours because of the database. Now, energy-sucking functions such as making ice are done during off-peak hours.
Ford's partnership with SunPower resulted in a solar-panel system called "Drive Green for Life." Electricity is generated during the high period, and when you're not using power, it pulls power off the grid during low-rate times.
The collaboration will also make homes more efficient.
Power-solutions company Eaton has a solar smart panel that knows how much power is going to each circuit of your home. That way, you can see which appliances are using a lot of energy (and perhaps plan to replace those with more energy-efficient ones).
What's more, consumers don't have to spend beaucoup bucks to buy all these products at once — each company has its own standalone product that works in its own cloud. Of course, to use this go-green system you must be on a timed-use rate energy plan, which lets people sign up to pay different fees at different times.
"Historically, natural-gas heaters prevailed because they tend to be cheaper," he said. "[But] with an electric heater and shifting hours, it's more efficient and eco-friendly with a timed-use rate."
A Georgia Institute of Technology computer model predicts a 60% reduction in energy costs and more than 56% in carbon dioxide saved from a single home, when a MyEnergi Lifestyle product is integrated.
What "smart" product, vehicle or home appliance, if any, do you plan to purchase this year? Tell us in the comments below.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, alexsl
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