California will require that new homes include their own solar panels beginning in 2020, state officials announced Wednesday in the latest step to position the state as the leader in clean energy.
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Take the step towards sustainable living with these 7 tips. Inch yourself each day towards a zero-waste lifestyle while also making your home look and feel more peaceful and beautiful. There are many reasons to make your home more sustainable, and saving money on your energy bills is only one reason. Many people choose to go greener to save the environment for future generations by reducing their carbon footprints. Fortunately, making your home more sustainable may not be as complicated or expensive as you might think. Here are seven key things you can start with today.
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Eden Full, a 19-year-old Princeton University mechanical engineering student has developed a non-toxic, cheap, recyclable device made out of metal and bamboo that allows solar panels to follow or track the Sun without the use of an electric motor. This does two things: 1) it boosts the output of the solar panels by about 40% (huge) and 2) it does so using a much cheaper and simpler method than traditional trackers commonly used in commercial projects (her technology costs $10, a lot less than the typical $600 solar tracker).
Eden and the SunSaluter (being developed by her company, Roseicollis Technologies, now) have won a number of big awards for this ‘simple’ device. She just won $275,000, in the 2011 Postcode Lottery Green Challenge and $10,000 in the the EcoLiving 2011 Awards a few months ago. And she’s also won a $100,000 fellowship from the Thiel Foundation this year. Way to go Eden!
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