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World’s Population with Access to Safe Drinking Water

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:03:42 +0000

The relative water consumption per capita, percent usage of available freshwater in each country, and the respective breakdowns of use in agricultural, municipal, and industrial sectors are shown for the 120 fastest-urbanizing countries.

Just Science App

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:55:26 +0000

“Just Science” highlights the easy-to-understand video map of climate change recently released by the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature (BEST) study.

The app features a color-coded map of the world that displays how the Earth’s land temperature has changed between 1800 and 2009. Monthly data from local recording stations produce a red, green, and blue global visualization of the temperature’s deviation from historical average.

Dive into the rich graphical representation of how the temperature around you has changed since the Industrial Revolution. Let the colors speak for themselves. Skip getting your answers from difficult-to-understand scientific papers or politically-biased media pundits. Instead, spend 5-10 minutes with Just Science and you can see the patterns of climate change yourself.

The BEST study temperature data comes from 39,000 unique stations located around the world – more than five times the number of stations found in previous studies. Sources range from handwritten British logbooks originating from 19th century naval explorations to modern continuously monitoring digital stations, and the math is calibrated to know the difference.

Fueled by an aim to resolve widespread public and scientific criticisms of incumbent studies on the global surface temperature record (the key indicator of climate change), the Novim Group (www.novim.org) initiated and sponsored the BEST study (www.berkeleyearth.org) to conduct a new scientific analysis of global climate change.

Using Just Science’s advanced custom-tailored features, you can:

• Interact with a color-coded video map of global climate change
• Explore details by zooming into continental regions
• Change playback speeds and increments to search for trends
• Visit Wikipedia to reference concurrent world history
• Follow Novim’s news articles
• Learn more about Novim and the BEST study

Photovoltaics Economics Calculator

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:48:06 +0000

Web-based tool which allows you to describe your solar system in detail and provides a detailed breakdown of what sort of power you'll get out of it and how economical of a investment the system will be. It uses the TMY2 solar data from the NREL Renewable Resource Data Center. This calculator allows users to customize their setup, providing greater feedback on how much power is provided when, and most importantly, a detailed economics breakdown of how the investment works out. It also keeps track of battery charge states for off-grid users.

Degree Day Reports

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:44:37 +0000

Quick and easy web-based tool that provides free historical degree days for 1,200 stations in the U.S. and Canada, 1994 to present. Degree Day Reports charts show mean daily temperature, cumulative heating and cooling degree days, and monthly comparison of any two years. Optional report (provided via email) compares month-by-month degree days for any two years and any balance point temperature. Degree day forecasts (next 14 days) and energy use forecasts are available from the same site.

Climate Consultant

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:27:33 +0000

Free, easy-to-use, graphic-based computer program that displays climate data in dozens of ways useful to architects, builders, contractors, and homeowners, including temperatures, humidity, wind velocity, sky cover, and solar radiation in both 2-D and 3-D graphics for every hour of the year in either Metric or Imperial units. Climate Consultant 3.0 also plots sun dials and sun shading charts overlaid with the hours when solar heating is needed or when shading is required. The psychrometric chart analysis shows the most appropriate passive design strategies in each climate, while the new wind wheel integrates wind velocity and direction data with concurrent temperatures and humidities and can be animated hourly, daily, or monthly. Because energy codes require slightly different types of buildings in each climate zones, it is important for people who are designing, constructing, or maintaining these buildings to understand the unique attributes of their climate and how it impacts their building’s energy consumption. Climate Consultant 3.0 reads climate data in the EPW format that the Department of Energy makes available at no cost (in fact there are more than 1300 stations from around the world available in this format).

Athena Model

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:20:52 +0000

Practical, easy-to-use decision support tool that provides high quality environmental data and assists with the complex evaluations required to make informed environmental choices. Our goal is to encourage the selection of material mixes and other design options that will minimize a building's potential life cycle environmental impacts and foster sustainable development. While there is a growing desire to put the environment on an equal footing with cost and other conventional design and product performance criteria, the task is by no means simple. It requires current, reliable and comparable environmental data in readily usable forms. The notion of Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been generally accepted within the environmental research community as the only legitimate basis on which to compare alternative materials, components and services.

3E Plus

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:17:38 +0000

Industrial energy management tool to simplify the task of determining how much insulation is necessary to use less energy, reduce plant emissions and improve process efficiency. The 3E Plus insulation thickness computer program is designed for facility managers, energy/environmental managers, industrial process engineers, and the industrial industry, the program is a valuable tool for determining the return on investment of an insulation upgrade on pipes, ducts, tanks, and boilers.

3E Plus is an integral part of several private sector and government-sponsored energy efficiency programs. It is featured in the National Insulation Association's (NIA) Insulation Energy Appraisal Program (IEAP). The IEAP provides detailed instruction on how to use 3E Plus as well as how to perform a complete energy appraisal on pipes and ducts. The Department of Energy also used 3E Plus to develop its Industrial Insulation Guidelines.

Measure and Estimate Water Wasted Due to Leaks

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:20:00 +0000

Measure and estimate the water wasted due to leaks.

Energy Cost Calculator for Faucets and Showerheads

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:18:39 +0000

Energy Cost Calculator for Faucets and Showerheads

Refrigerator Retirement Savings Calculator

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:14:10 +0000

Calculates potential savings from replacing an old refrigerator with a new ENERGY STAR refrigerator.