Smart thermostats do more than automate a fixed heating and cooling climate control schedule. These app-enabled smart home devices make it possible to adjust your thermostat from your smartphone whether you're on the couch, at the grocery store or on vacation -- anywhere your smartphone is connected to a cellular or a Wi-Fi network. Many of these devices also work with Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri now too, giving you yet another way to adjust your thermostat settings with remote access.

Some smart thermostat systems also use smart features like a motion sensor to determine if you're home or away and automatically change the temperature -- both heating and cooling -- for you. Other systems rely on a geofencing radius -- once you get a certain distance from your home, they switch to away mode and then back to home mode when you return.

To accompany these modern features, a lot of connected heating and cooling systems boast innovative designs. From a rounded shape to a responsive touch screen, today's thermostats look different than they used to.

Let's explore the available options model-by-model. We'll highlight what makes each model stand out from the rest and ultimately pick an overall winner of the best smart thermostat from the pack. Here's a list of smart thermostats we've tested recently:

Read more:Amazon Echo, Google Nest and all the best smart home gifts of 2019

The Ecobee SmartThermostat is my favorite pick for best smart thermostat available today. Yes, it's expensive at $249, but it has the performance and features to back it up -- especially if you want to talk to Alexawithouthaving to buy an Amazon Echo. If you don't want or need an Alexa speaker, the $169 Ecobee3 Lite Wi-Fi thermostat is also a great option. Read our Ecobee SmartThermostat with Voice Control review.

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The Honeywell Lyric T5 costs $150, making it our choice for the best smart thermostat pick for those on a budget. I know that isn't exactlyaffordable. But it's a solid price tag for a Wi-Fi thermostat. Many models, including the Nest Learning Thermostat and the Ecobee4, cost $249. This makes the T5 a great "budget" option that works with Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri (via Apple HomeKit). Read our Honeywell Lyric T5 Wi-Fi Thermostat review.

Read more: The best smart home devices of 2019

The Ecobee SmartThermostat has a built-in Alexa speaker. Ask the speaker for the temperature, current weather forecast, to tell you a joke -- and to adjust the air conditioning of your smart thermostat, all without needing a separate Alexa speaker. This Wi-Fi programmable thermostat also offers mobile app integration with Google Assistant and Siri, so if you have a Google-Assistant-enabled smart speaker or a HomePod, you can control it with Google Assistant and Siri commands. Read our Ecobee SmartThermostat with Voice Control review.

Read more:12 smart thermostats to make your home the right temperature

Read more: Nest Thermostat, Amazon Echo, Philips Hue: The best smart home tech of the decade

The Ecobee mobile app setup is straightforward and easy to install and navigate. That sounds simple enough, but so many apps make it tough to find the specific setting or feature you're looking for. Not so with Ecobee's smartphone app. And that's important because the mobile app is one of the main ways to interact with your Wi-Fi thermostat when you aren't standing directly in front of it (aside from using a voice command). Read our Ecobee SmartThermostat with Voice Control review.

Let's talk about testing. Smart thermostats start with the installation. Installations can vary widely from thermostat to thermostat and HVAC system to HVAC system, but there are some basic steps required for installing these devices. As always, consult a professional installer if you have any questions about the setup process. Here are the general steps:

Was the thermostat setup especially difficult to install? If so, why? Certain models require a C-wire, for example, which can complicate the installation if you don't have one. Not sure what a C-wire is? Start here.

From there, I move on to the app. Every smart thermostat has one. I download the app and create an account if I don't already have one. Then I configure the thermostat following the steps in the app. This usually means connecting to the local Wi-Fi network, giving your thermostat a name like "Hallway" or "Bedroom" and then you can start using your thermostat.

How well does the app work? Is it easy to navigate to the thermostat settings you need? Is it simple to create a schedule or enable geofencing? This factors into the thermostat's usability score, along with how simple the thermostat hardware itself is to control manually.

I also test smart home integration, especially voice-enabled systems you can access through voice assistants like Alexa, Google Assistant or Siri. Most connected thermostats have compatibility with at least one voice assistant and some, like the Ecobee3 Lite and Ecobee SmartThermostat, work with all three. Do the voice commands flow naturally, like they would in an actual conversation? Did the thermostat actually adjust the temperature -- heating and cooling -- according to your commands?

All of these things determine a smart thermostat's overall score and how likely I am to recommend it.

Read more:

Originally published earlier this year.

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The best smart thermostats of 2019 - CNET

A Big Storm The Day Before Thanksgiving?

Mother Nature is a drama queen. Yes, it's been a cold November, and where are we living when 40s feel like sweet relief? In spite of a few feeble clippers, November has been storm-free and snowfall amounts are running below average, to date.

Cue the trumpets and drum roll please. Models spin up an impressive southern storm one day before Thanksgiving. It's way too early for specifics - the storm track and forecast will change over the next week. Count on it. But one of the biggest travel days of the year may be complicated by heavy wet snow close to home.

Why should any of this be easy?

In the meantime skies dry out and brighten up a little today. 50F is possible tomorrow (be still my heart) before the next storm drags cooler air into town Thursday. The atmosphere should be mild enough aloft for rain in the metro with a couple slushy inches north

The mercury flirts with 40F next weekend before cooling off Monday, setting the stage for a potential slush-fest next Wednesday.

May I please be excused?

Dueling Models. Temperature forecasts for MSP (GFS up top, ECMWF bottom). Graphics courtesy of WeatherBell.

Why You Shouldnt Heat Up Your Cars Engine in Cold Weather. A post at Mental Floss explains"...In older car models that relied on carburetors to run, frigid weather did pose a threat to engine performance. Gasoline is less likely to evaporate in colder temperatures, which would have led to carburetors failing to get the right mixture of air and fuel into the engine. This sometimes caused cars to stall out, and that's likely what led to the practice of heating up our vehicles in our driveways in the winter. But if youre driving a car that was made in the past few decades, this is no longer something to stress over..."

Near-Historical Cold During First 2 Weeks of November. Dr. Mark Seeley has interesting context in Minnesota WeatherTalk: "...As a result of the unusual cold, agricultural soils are beginning to freeze up for the winter season with frost depths in some areas already down to 6-12 inches. Lake ice cover has begun to form as well. But is still quite unsafe for human traffic. You can keep track of lake ice-in dates at the DNR Climate Office web site. One further note: the compilation of seven colder than normal months across Minnesota during 2019 (Jan-May, as well as Oct, Nov) has produced a mean statewide temperature for the year that ranks among the 15 coldest in history, a real aberration in the context of our multi-decade long warming trend in the state..."

"Dreariest Place in America?" Amazingly, it's not Minnesota! The Pacific Northwest gets top honors but parts of Appalachia come in a close second. Here's an excerpt from CityLab: "...Using a formula that takes into account annual precipitation, number of days with precipitation, and cloudiness, Brettschneider has determined that the "dreariest" place in the United States to live is ... Seattle. At least it has company. Seattle shares the dishonor of Nation's Gloomiest Suck-Pit with Buffalo, according to this index, with each city logging high dreary scores of 27. Coming in second are Pittsburgh and Portland, Oregon, followed by Cleveland, Cincinnati, Lexington, and Bostonensuring Brettschneider will now be hated on both coasts..."

Map credit: Brian Brettschneider

IBM Launches New Weather Model. Does ECMWF (European model) have a worthy new competitor? Here's a clip from CNBC.com: "In a potentially historic marriage of supercomputing and big data, IBM goes live Thursday with a global weather model that it says can provide far more accurate forecasts for the entire world. Called GRAF Global High-Resolution Atmospheric Forecasting the new model offers high resolution weather forecasts globally with a detail for areas as small as 2 miles wide, compared with 6 to 9 miles for weather models covering parts of the world outside such advanced regions as Europe, the U.S. and Japan. IBM says its new supercomputer, DYEUS, built just to run the model, will issue 12 trillion pieces of weather data every day and process forecasts every hour, while many global weather models update only every six to 12 hours..."

When the U.S. Tried to Control Hurricanes. The Wall Street Journal (paywall) had a fascinating article over the weekend that caught my eye; here's an excerpt: "...It was decided to attempt to modify hurricanes only in a safe zone far enough from coastal regions that inadvertent landfall would be avoided. In 1963, the Stormfury team decided to carry out two modification attempts on Hurricane Beulah, even though the storm was relatively weak and had an indistinct eye. On the first attempt, the seeding material missed the giant clouds, and the storm remained unchanged. On the second, the seeding was on target and maximum winds declined by 20%. A lack of suitable hurricanes for seeding frustrated further attempts to refine or ratify the hypothesis until 1969, by which time researchers had revised their understanding of the storms. Rather than trying to cause instability in the inner eyewall, they focused on injecting a massive amount of silver iodide to stimulate the formation of a second, outer rainwall that would weaken the original eyewall by cutting off its supply of heat and moisture..."

Who Is Winning the Thermostat War? CNN.com has an interesting story; here's an excerpt: "According to a 2015 paper, temperatures in office buildings appear to be based on the heat needs of a 40-year-old, 154-pound man. That gender bias actually has an effect on worker productivity. Prior studies have shown that women perform at higher levels on mental tasks when they are warmer, while men tend to function better at a cooler temperature. One study tested verbal and math skills of Berlin college students and found that increasing the temperature from the 60s to the 70s Fahrenheit improved female math scores by 15%. Men's scores dropped by 3% with the same temperature variation. Clothing didn't explain the differences -- both sexes wore T-shirts and shorts during the exams..."

Introducing the Mustang Mach-E. A story at Fortune has details: "...Enter the Mustang Mach-E, a gamble so great for the worlds sixth-largest automaker that the galloping horse on the vehicles grille is one of the few things in common with its predecessor. The Mustangs slinky silhouettelong hood, short rear deckhas been altered to accommodate the bulbous curves of a four-door, albeit still rear-wheel-drive, utility vehicle. Its signature snarl, courtesy of the internal combustion engine, has been replaced by the subtle whine of a battery-powered electric motor. (Ford will add an artificial sound for the benefit of unwary pedestrians and U.S. regulators.) Its expected to retail in the $40,000 range with a $7,500 federal rebate, a substantial premium over the $27,000 gasoline-powered base Mustang but competitive with electric-auto maker Teslas popular Model3 sedan. Its range is approximately 300 miles, also on par with the Model3..."

Photo credit: "The lines shaping the nose of Fords new Mustang MachE reserve the family likeness but drop the usual honeycomb grilleafter all, theres no internal combustion engine to cool." Photograph by Marvin Shaouni.

Wired.com (paywall) has more information on the Mustang Mach-E.

"Range Anxiety". As Electric Vehicle Use Grows, Charging Areas Lag Outside Metro. A story at Star Tribune resonated (with my own personal experience driving an electric vehicle). Here's an excerpt: "...Encouraging electric vehicle use and building the ancillary charging infrastructure is one way, they say, to combat climate change. The number of electric vehicles registered in Minnesota was 9,401 last year, more than double the number in 2017. Some 10,495 have been registered this year, although the overall number registered statewide is still under 2% of all vehicles, according to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. To support them, more than 300 charging stations of varying capacity are located throughout the state, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Most places to plug in are clustered in the Twin Cities metro area. Drivers outside the cities just have to try a little harder to find their electrical boost..."

Photo credit: Alex Kormann Star Tribune. "George Host charged his Tesla at the ChargePoint e-vehicle station near Canal Park Lodge in Duluth."

In 2029, the Internet Will Make Us Act Like Peasants. Oh really? Intelligencer has an eye-opening prediction: "...The structure of the internet is headed toward an arrangement the cybersecurity expert Bruce Schneier calls digital feudalism, through which the great landlords, platforms like Google and Facebook, are becoming our feudal lords, and we are becoming their vassals. We will provide them with the data-fruits of our browsing, in a nominal exchange for vague assurances of their protection from data-breach marauders. The sense of powerlessness you might already feel in the face of a megaplatforms opaque algorithmic justice and the sense of mystery such workings might engender would not have seemed so strange to a medieval peasant. (Once you explained, you know, what an algorithm is.)..."

Talking Dog. Big Think had a post that blew me away. Stella appears to have a better vocabulary than I do: "A speech language pathologist (SLP) has taught her puppy Stella to use 29 words.Stella "speaks" by stepping on large buttons programmed with recordings of words. The dog expresses her desires, comments on household events, and offers opinions. SLP Christina Hunger remarked: "If Jake and I were distracted, Stella began saying 'play' repeatedly until we threw her toy or engaged in tug of war. Stella would walk to her water bowl, notice it was empty and say 'water.' If we had finished dinner and didn't mention going for a walk yet, Stella would say 'walk' multiple times while staring at us. If her toy was stuck under the couch, she would say 'help' and stand right where she needed Jake or I to look. When our friends were putting their jackets on or were standing by the door, she would say 'bye' to them. Jake and I were simply amazed."

Image credit: Hunger4Words.

One Way to Protest a Losing Season. A story at The Washington Post (paywall) caught my eye - I guess we can all feel this guy's pain. Here are a few excerpts: "...After watching the Pittsburgh Steelers dominate the Cincinnati Bengals for the umpteenth time, all Bengals season ticket holder Jeff Lanham wanted was a little attention from his wife. Instead of grabbing her attention through conventional means, Lanham winked at a friend, who had joined him at his sports bar in Milan, Ind., about 40 miles from Cincinnati. Then he jokingly proclaimed he would live on the roof of the restaurant if the Bengals lost to the Arizona Cardinals the following week Since Oct. 7, the day after Cincinnatis loss to the Cardinals, the 42-year-old father of two adult children has only taken half a day off, to honor a previously arranged cooking agreement to help a family friends sick child..."

Photo credit: "Jeff Lanham and Dennis Walker, who previously waited out Bengals misery." (Lanham family).

37 F. high yesterday in the Twin Cities.

40 F. average high on November 18.

27 F. high on November 18, 2018.

November 19, 1981: Heavy snow with near blizzard conditions is observed over parts of the state. A two day total of 10.4 inches of snow was received at Minneapolis, which caused the inflated fabric of the Metrodome to collapse and rip.

November 19, 1957: Snowstorm in Southeast Minnesota. A foot is dumped at Winona. Heavy crop losses.

TUESDAY: Early shower. Cloudy skies. Winds: NW 8-13. High: 42

WEDNESDAY: Milder. Rain arrives Wednesday night. Winds: SE 8-13. Wake-up: 34. High: 48

THURSDAY: Metro rain tapers. Slushy north. Winds: NW 15-25. Wake-up: 36. High: 40

FRIDAY: Mix of clouds and sunshine. Winds: W 5-10. Wake-up: 25. High: 35

SATURDAY: Intervals of sun, a little milder. Winds: NW 7-12. Wake-up: 26. High: near 40

SUNDAY: Gray, few rain showers possible. Winds: SW 7-12. Wake-up: 29. High: 42

MONDAY: Mostly cloudy, few flurries. Winds: NW 10-15. Wake-up: 31. High: 38

Climate Stories....

Conversations, Opinions are Core to Curbing Climate Change. Check out this post at The Minnesota Daily: "...I think society has had this assumption that if you are trying to convince people of something, all you need are facts, Blumenfeld said. Its much harder than just standing at a lecture and yelling facts to an audience, then hoping that ... everyone goes home and changes their lightbulb. Scientists and educators at the University of Minnesota are finding ways to connect Minnesotans to the global conversation about climate change. This is part of an effort to explain its local impacts. University Extension, whose mission is to share research knowledge across the state, is trying to make climate change data more relatable. According to a 2019 Yale University study on climate opinion across the United States, 66 percent of adults in Minnesota think global warming is happening. At the same time, 64 percent say they rarely or never discuss it as a topic..."

Image credit: Hailee Schievelbein.

What's Driving Antarctica's Meltdown? InsideClimate News highlights sobering new research: "...Now, new research is highlighting another threat: Since 2000, moist and warm tendrils of air known as atmospheric rivers have been swirling toward the coast more frequently, bringing more rain and surface melting. Antarctica has been losing about 250 billion tons of ice annuallyin recent years, and research shows the rate has increased sixfold since 1979. At this pace, researchershavesuggested, West Antarctica's ice shelves may reach climate tipping points and crumble, sending sea level rise surging well beyond current projections. The floating ice shelves, partly frozen to the sea floor or to fjord walls, hold back vast quantities of land-based ice that could raise sea level more than currently projected if the ice's flow to the sea speeds up, said Penn State climate researcher Richard Alley..."

Arctic Outbreak May Have Toppled 400 Records, But Over the Long Term Warm Records Rule. Long-term global perspective is required, according to Capital Weather Gang: "...In Chicago, the period from 2010 to Nov. 14 of this year also shows way more record daily highs compared with record lows, when viewed as raw numbers or as a percentage basis. Percentage-wise, the disparity is 74 percent for record daily highs and 26 percent for record lows. Interestingly, the 1990 to 2000 period in Chicago had more daily record lows compared with record highs. In Minneapolis, which is often significantly affected by Arctic outbreaks, record highs are beating out record lows by 92 percent to 8 percent since 2010, the NOAA/Climate Central data shows. And in Houston, which was also affected by the current cold snap, the current decade has a 89 percent to 11 percent split between daily record highs and record lows, through Thursday..."

Climate Crisis Will Profoundly Affect Health of Every Child Alive Today, Report Says. Here's an excerpt from CNN.com: "...A warmer world means more disease, famine, early death from natural disasters such as fire and heat waves, and more major mental health problems. Everyone will be affected, but the most vulnerable will be disproportionately threatened: children, the elderly, people with underlying health conditions and the poor. "The public doesn't fully see this as a human health crisis. Maybe polar bears were our early indicator -- the proverbial canary in the coal mine. But when you talk about this crisis, the bear images should be replaced with pictures of children," said Dr. Jonathan Patz, a professor and director of the Global Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who was not involved with the new report. "Children are suffering from the climate crisis. They are suffering with asthma, diarrheal disease, dengue fever. It is so important for the public to understand the climate crisis is absolutely a human health crisis..."

New Crop of Pests Invades. If you missed it, Jennifer Bjorhus's story at Star Tribune, deserves a read. Here's an excerpt: "...The spotted wing drosophila is just one of several destructive invasive insects, weeds and diseases moving in on Minnesota as climate change brings warming winters, longer growing seasons and increased rainfall. To the general public, these invasive insects may be most obvious in their destruction of trees: Eastern larch beetles have decimated stands of tamaracks, and the emerald ash borer has ravaged city canopies. But the damage to agriculture could turn out to be just as serious. The drosophila cost growers $2.4 million in crop losses and spraying costs in just one year and quickly forced some Minnesota fruit orchards out of business, according to a recent study. Some produce operations might be forced to install elaborate netting and other costly techniques to protect their crops. And farmers are on alert for another invader, the brown marmorated stink bug, which caused catastrophic damage to the produce harvest in several mid-Atlantic states in 2010, according to the University of Massachusetts Amherst..."

Photo credit: "Ryan Femling of Afton Apple Orchard is battling the spotted wing drosophila, an invasive fruit fly that destroys his raspberry crop." Photo by Mark Vancleave Star Tribune.

How to Cut U.S. Carbon Pollution by Nearly 40% in 10 Years. The Atlantic has the story; here's a clip: "...The research is promising. Last week, a study from economists at Columbia University found that the tax plan with the most support in Congress would slash American carbon pollution by almost 40 percent within a decade. It would outperform any Obama-era climate policy and go well beyond the United States 2015 commitment under the Paris Agreement. Theres only one hitch: the politics. There is a popular, revenue-neutral carbon-tax bill in Congress, but it is only bipartisan on a technicality. Dozens of Democrats support the plan. Its sole GOP backer is planning to leave politics..."

Photo credit: Jonathan Ernst / Reuters.

How Climate Change Will Change Kids' Reality: Climate Nexus has headlines and links: "Babies born today will face unprecedented health risks and life-long health consequences from rising temperatures, according to new research published Wednesday from The Lancet. The 2019 Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change, a comprehensive yearly analysis tracking the impact of climate change on human health across 41 indicators, finds that under a business-as-usual scenario, a child born today will face a world on average 4C warmer by their 71st birthday. They will face life-altering consequences including food shortages, spread of disease, lack of safe drinking water, increasingly deadly fires and floods, and increasing numbers of days across expanding regions where temperatures and air pollution make it unsafe to go outside."Without immediate action from all countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions, gains in well being and life expectancy will be compromised, and climate change will come to define the health of an entire generation, Lancet executive director Nick Watts told CNBC." (AP, New York Times $, USA Today,The Guardian, Vox, Wired, NPR, CNN, CBS, Reuters, Gizmodo, Fast Company, CNBC)

Flood, Fire and Plague: Climate Change Blamed for Disasters. Reuters connects the dots: "...In China, health officials have reported a rare outbreak of pneumonic plague after two cases were confirmed this week in Beijing. The two were infected in the province of Inner Mongolia, where rodent populations have expanded dramatically after persistent droughts, worsened by climate change, state media said. An area the size of the Netherlands was hit by a rat plague last summer. The wider implications for health are sobering. The Lancet medical journal published a study this week saying climate change was already harming peoples health by increasing the number of extreme weather events and exacerbating air pollution. A warmer world brings risks of food shortages, infectious diseases, floods and extreme heat..."

File image: NOAA.

Excerpt from:
Mostly Rain This Week - Storm (and Snow) Potential Increases Next Week - Minneapolis Star Tribune

The year 2019 has experienced vicious wildfires in California, Australia, and many parts of the world. In California,experts warnthat there is a threat of more fires going forward due to warming climate. On the other hand, the wildfires in Queensland and New South Wales in Australia have been blamed on an abnormallylong drought season.

Interestingly, there seems to be a common thread between these two incidences, and that is climate change. Temperatures across the earth are warmer than ever before. According to NASAsEarth Observatory, the earth is 0.8 degrees Celsius warmer today than before 1880. While temperatures began rising steadily since the Industrial Revolution, the pace was highest from 1975, Earth Observatory noted. Scientists at Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), an affiliate of NASA, argued that humans are overwhelmingly responsible for the temperature rise.

The scientists at GISS argue that greenhouse gases from fossil fuels and other human activities trap heat and prevent it from escaping to space. Notably, this argument forms the backbone of the case for renewable energy. Besides the rising danger of global warming, other factors that make renewable energy attractive include advancement in technology that facilitates the generation of electricity from renewable energy sources. This advancement has pushed the price of production down, and hence the energy is affordable.

Renewable energy has officially moved from the concept stage to implementation. Across the world, many governments and private players are spending billions of dollars to install renewable energy production facilities. According to a KPMGreport, investment in renewable energy increased by 18% between 2004 and 2015.

Interestingly, the report noted that developing countries took the largest share of the investment. According to theGlobal Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2018report, global investment in renewable energy topped $240 billion for the eighth straight year in 2017. In 2017 alone, $279.8 billion went to investment.

In 2018 alone,over USD 1 billionwent into R&D projects targeting renewable energy. Notably, the number of countries committing funds to the projects in 2018 was 29 as opposed to just 21 in 2017. Due to the investment, the global renewable energy industry is expanding at an unprecedented rate. In 2017, the global renewable energy market was approximately$928 billionin value. Further technological improvement, as well as continued avoidance of fossil fuels, should encourage more growth.

China is by far the largest player in the renewable energy industry. In particular, the country had an installed renewable energy capacity of695.87 gigawattsin 2018. Comparably, this is as much capacity as the next four countries combined. Interestingly, the consumption of renewable energy is highest in China than anywhere else. In 2018, China consumed143.5 million tons of oil equivalent(Mtoe) compared to 103.8 Mtoe for the US, 47.3 Mtoe for Germany, and 27.5 Mtoe for India.

Interestingly, most of the renewable energy generated in China, and globally,comes from wind power. Notably, China generated close to 199 gigawatts of renewable electricity in 2015 but close to 150 gigawatts came from wind power. Of the 122 gigawatts generated in the US, about 75 gigawatts came from wind power. On a global scale, wind power composed of close to 430 gigawatts of the 785 gigawatts of renewable electricity generated in 2015.

According toREN21, 51% of renewable energy consumed goes to the heating and cooling sector. Notably, consumers use solar energy to heat water and other heating applications. The transport sector, on the other hand, uses almost 31% of renewable energy. In particular, the proliferation of electric vehicles is the driver of this high consumption rate.

Other sectors that are applying renewable energy include manufacturing industries and other corporations. Companies like Apple, Walmart, and Targethave installed solar panelson rooftops to generate electricity for their operations. According to the2018 Solar Means Business Report, there are over 35,000 projects in 43 US States that have an installed solar capacity of 7,000 megawatts. The report further noted that Apple has the highest installed solar capacity at 393.3 megawatts.

Thedeclining costof renewable energy generation is the biggest driver of growth in the industry. As more companies continue to invest in technological advancements, the costs should fall further going forward. For instance, in the nine years since 2010, it costs79% lessto store electricity in a battery. Further, the price of the production of solar and wind power is 18% cheaper in 2019 compared to 2018.

Looking forward, supportive policies from the government should spur further growth for the industry. Further, a lot of interest is coming from investors, a signal that more funds will be available to make renewable energy more affordable in the future. To cap it all, advancing technologies have made it easier and cheaper to generate renewable power, hence pushing down its cost on the consumer end.

Via News TV

Continued here:
Renewable Energy Holds Huge Potential to Replace Fossil Fuels, Here Is a Breakdown of the Industry - Via News Agency

The city of Collegedale is repealing some of its residential building codes to better match those maintained by the state of Tennessee and neighboring Chattanooga.

In January 2019, Collegedale adopted standards set forth by the 2012 International Energy Conservation Code for residential and commercial buildings. The related updates to the city's building codes required all new construction to have additional insulation and tighter ducts to reduce heating and cooling being lost throughout the house.

But since the city's adoption of the 2012 standards, the state has reverted back to 2009 standards, which are easier to maintain and cheaper to install, said Andrew Morkert, the city's buildings and codes director. Based on his two decades of experience, the 2012 standards are more "stringent," he said.

At the city's Nov. 4 board of commissioners meeting, the board approved an ordinance to revert its residential building codes back to the 2009 standards. It's easier for developers to be consistent with the codes they are used to, Morkert said.

At the Collegedale Commissions next meeting Nov. 18, the Municipal Technical Advisory Service will share its independent assessment of the citys Police Department and alleged quota system. The meetings begin at 6 p.m. at Collegedale City Hall, 4910 Swinyar Drive.

The city is keeping the tighter standards from 2012 for commercial properties, with the intention of keeping owners of larger buildings more accountable for their energy usage through the testing required by the updated standards.

The ordinance will be up for a second reading at the board's Nov. 18 meeting.

At the Nov. 4 meeting, the board also voted to allocate an additional $43,750 toward a new greenway through Veterans Memorial Park.

Currently, if the park's greenway users want to stay on the sidewalk, they must either go through the entire course or turn around and double back. With commissioners' unanimous approval, 350 feet of sidewalk will be added to create a shortcut through the park.

In addition to the sidewalk, the city is planning to add benches and signage within the park.

Email Sabrina Bodon at sbodon@timesfreepress.com.

Follow this link:
Collegedale starts process to revert some building codes - Chattanooga Times Free Press

Fords Mustang Mach E electric crossover is a big deal for the auto industry. Theres no denying that an iconic brand like the Ford Mustang getting rebuilt from the ground up with a compelling electric makeover is a historic moment in the movement away from ICE vehicles.

But how we got to this point is just as important as this vehicle. And what Ive found out after a few weeks of Ford interviews and research is that much of this Mach E Mustang was inspired by Tesla.

Maybe they were just blowing sunshineat mebut the Ford executives I spoke with absolutely think this is the future of the Mustang and of the wider Ford product line. They readily admit that everything Ford has done up until today in electrification was compliance focused and not at all compelling from a drive standpoint. Sorry, Focus Electric drivers.

Everything changed when Jim Hackett took over from Mark Fields as Ford CEOa little over two years ago. One Hackett quote stuck out at me at the time, and rings true after seeing the Mustang Mach E finished product:

The biggest challenge, is to have everybody see the future, Hackett said. Its our right to win there. We dont have to cede that to anybody. Tesla, anybody.

From day one of Hacketts tenure, Tesla was the company that Ford wanted to emulate more than anything else. Sure, Ford has a ton of stuff going for them including a great legacy. But looking to the future, a lot had to change at Ford.More technology. More innovation. Faster updates. Less meetings and bureaucracy. Quicker thinking and reactions. Boldness. These are all statements Ive heard Ford talk about, describing what the team had to accomplish in making this Mustang in just two years.

During every step of the Mustang reveal you can see Teslas influence.

I want to clarify here and will along the way: This is a great thing. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said on numerous occasions that Teslas mission is to move the whole industry forward more quickly. This is exactly what that that influence looks like.

As the vans full of Mach E journalists pulled off the 105 highway, I was shocked to see SpaceX headquarters and the adjacent Tesla Design studio in the background. We were pulling into the hanger where Tesla holds all of its Los Angeles events. Journalists were looking out for CYBRTRKs (OK, me too). I was calculating the odds that this was some sort of coincidence. How many places are there in the Los Angeles area to have a car event? To use the same spot that Tesla often uses seemed a littleballsy.

I asked a Ford rep later and they indicated that no, it wasnt in fact a coincidence and they wondered if I thought they were sending a message. I definitely do, though that message may have a lot of different interpretations depending on which horse you are backing.

At every press briefing from interior/exterior design, center stack, battery, motor, etc there was one thread that bound the project together: that Ford considered this an urgent project in both time and significance. It is basically Fords do-or-die project and nowhere is that more obvious than their choice to use their most iconic brand: Mustang. If this fails, so does Mustang.

Not only was the Mach E project make-or-break, it had to be done quickly and, quite coincidentally Im sure, timed with Teslas release of the Model Y. When Hackett stepped in, the car that would eventually become the Mustang was still a compliance car (Fords words) with short wheelbase, 15-inch wheels and probably resembled a Ford Focus Electric v2 with the accompanying anemic range. Hacketts team redesigned the whole car from the ground up. In Fords words, this would have to be a monumental car to carry the pony logo.

With reduced meetings, approval times and general bureaucracy, the teams got the transition done in two years, something that would have taken twice as long at the old Ford. Tesla of course is often Id argue rightfully criticized for rushing things out the door without the same level of testing that legacy automakers go through. Time will tell if Ford was able to eliminate mistakes that those additional years of QA would have caught, but brief rides in prototypes literally circling SpaceX/Teslas LA campus and on the Hawthorne airport taxiway where I first felt Ludicrous mode and experienced the Roadster 2.0 went very smoothly. Acceleration wasnt ludicrous, particularly right off the line. But it was certainly close to the equivalent Model 3/Ys Ive ridden in.

If Ford doesnt want us to draw direct lines to Tesla, they sure didnt show it. Nowhere was that more pronounced than the Mach E interior. Getting inside, it felt like a Model 3 interior in a weird and strange way: minimalistic heating and cooling ducts that ran the length of the dashboard; big tablet screen in the middle; even the center console between the seats felt similar.

Surprisingly, I really think the differentiations from Tesla which Ford incorporated were almost all positive experiences. The gear shifter is a dialer instead of Teslas stalk. And Ford has a nice driver side display for speedometer and other important driver needs, as opposed to the Model 3s single center display.

Obviously you are sitting a significantly higher than the Model 3 (more like the X or Y) and that makes getting into the vehicle a whole lot nicer, especially for my 46-year-old knees and back. The seats are more cushioned and luxurious compared to Teslas, which I would call sporty/minimalist. Ford is going 100% vegan on the interior, including the steering wheel, which Tesla has also committed to on Model 3/Y starting next year.

The rear space is friggen huge and even folks well over 6 feet tall will feel comfortable in the back. The glass roof (yes, Tesla) really helps here.

Hey, a huge vertical tablet interface right in the middle of the dashboard without many other buttons anywhere. Stop me if youve heard this one before.

While the Mach E center console might look like they mixed in a little Model S/X with a few parts Model 3, the actual interface is a lot different and in many ways nicer. For one, the Mach E has wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, so not only do you get to use your smartphone apps and technology but you dont even have to take it out of your pocket. There are 2 Qi wireless charging ports if you do want to charge your smartphone and, get this, even a USB-C charging plug (though Fords interface folks couldnt answer what amperage it delivers).

The screen itself is beautiful and bright with a dial that sticks out of the lower middle portion. This is actually ingenious as it is just glued onto the display and is currently dedicated to volume control though Ford engineers said that it could be updated to do a lot more in future OTA updates.

Speaking of updates, Ford is saying it is matching Tesla not only with OTA updates for the center stack but for the rest of the cars software as well. Ford could theoretically improve pony-power or range with future updates just like Tesla, though I would keep my expectations a little (and by this I mean a lot more than a little) lower from a frequency and significance standpoint.

Fords interface is tile-based and very smooth in early testing. It also has its own in-house maps and charging spot-finding technology that it licenses from a set of other companies. So if you dont have a smartphone with you, you can still navigate and listen to music including streaming Sirius. There are up to 3 different driver profiles that can be set for the Mach E, as well as a fourth guest profile to keep your settings separate.

When Ford invited me to Dearborn last month to preview what we are seeing today, my first reaction to the unveiling was this is a beautiful car, but it doesnt scream: Mustang'. At the time, I was looking at it from the side rather than the front and rear which each have signature Mustang accents.

However, over the past month, Ive almost entirely reversed course to the point that I would almost call the rest of the ICE-powered lineup the Mustang imposters. And, if you believe Fords rhetoric (and I do), that is indeed the case. This is the new Mustang from which all others will be derived. The others are classics.

Im not going to give credit to Tesla for inventing the crossover form factor, though they did popularize the skateboard battery pack which optimizes this design. Ford puts 98.8kWh of LG batteries below the car which, at 300 miles of range, makes the efficiency a lot closer to a Model X than a Model Y.

Yep, the Mach E even has a frunk, and they even call it a frunk, just like Tesla. It is huge and waterproof and insulated for perfect cooler applications. Theres even a drain so you can clean it out with a hose. Perfect for dirty clothes or stinky foods. But of course this was popularized by Tesla.

Fred already did a great post on the specs comparison between the Mustang Mach E and the Model Yafter Mach E specs were leaked a few days ago. With similar release dates and such similar specs in terms of range, room, price, etc. it is hard to deny that these two American-designed and built EVs are going to go head to head.

The Ford Network of EV chargers is just a mishmash of other EV charging networks out there, including slow Level 2 chargers. Each of these networks suffers from speed and reliability issues. Ford needs to own this.

Weve seen that Fords Lincoln subsidiary already has its Tesla-looking Superchargers ready. Ford would be well served to build out its own charging network.

(Update: and now weve got a photo of a Ford-branded version of their Supercharger-looking level 2 chargers, from the Mach E reveal event, see right)

As of now dealers who will sell the Mach E (1100 are currently signed up) will be required only to have a Level 2 charging station. Ford could make a huge step into having a real nationwide charging network by requiring dealers to install their own 150kW Level 3 charging networks. In fact, it would be a great way to educate prospective buyers on how easy and quick it is to charge the vehicle.

Speaking of dealers, Ford is doing something it never has before in taking $500 deposits for the Mach E online. They should also give customers a way to avoid the dealership experience all together (yes, like Tesla). Not for everyone, but for people who know what they want and dont want to haggle or wait.

To sum it all up here, it is clear that this Mach E would not exist without Tesla. But Ford should be proud of the fact that it is able to not only turn its poor EV showing around but in many ways catch up to Tesla. The Mach E will be an excellent EV for those people who, for whatever reason, dont want a Tesla, but still want much of what it has to offer and in many cases much more. In fact, Im very seriously considering throwing my own $500 down.

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Great artists steal: Why Fords Mustang Mach E was inspired by Tesla in all the right ways - Electrek

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How to Install a Heat Pump for Heating & Cooling | Ask This Old Househttps://www.youtube.com/user/thisoldh...

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How to Install a Heat Pump for Heating & Cooling | Ask This Old House

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Tony and Chris came out today and I cannot say enough about the professionalism that they displayed checking out the issues we had.

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January 7, 2019

2019/10/12

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Tony and Chris came out today and I cannot say enough about the professionalism that they displayed checking out the issues we had.

Austin was honest, helpful and friendly. We felt he provided a true estimate of our needs. We love to support family owned businesses.

Just had a new water heater installed today. Both Austin & Paul where great. They even sent a picture of Austin to see who to expect.

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As always Steve did an excellent job, hes been our guy for the past 9 years I guess here, servicing our heat pump can't say enough about him and your company and the good job that you do. So we are happy campers. The only other thing I can say is you talk to the owner and recommend that Steve gets a raise. Thanks appreciate it.

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Pacific Heating & Cooling | Tacoma WA | One Call Does It All!

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