Iqua BHS-603 Sun Solar Powered Bluetooth Headset solar panel that provides theoretically infinite standby time. An eco-friendly Bluetooth headset at a low price, that rarely needs charging is a useful gadget we all can use.

The city of San Francisco recently started GreenFinanceSF, a financing program that helps to pay for water savings, energy efficiency, and renewable energy projects that you might not have been able to afford.  The repayment obligation is attached to the property, rather than the individual, and is paid back through property taxes over the life of the financing.

Eligible projects include energy audits, upgrading heating systems, upgrading water heaters, installing solar hot water, installing solar electric panels, and conserving hot water. The program has an online application and application processing fee of $300.

‘Cash for Clunkers’ Appliance rebates start shortly.  Energy Star website has links for each State’s program as each state is different.

In California, we have the $35 million California Appliance Rebate scheduled to start in April, 22 2010 covering:

• Refrigerators
• Clothes washers
• Room air conditioners

Three residential appliance categories were selected to be eligible to receive rebates: clothes washers (rebate $100), refrigerators (rebate $75), and room/window air conditioners (rebate $50). FAQ link. These rebates are in addition to existing rebates offered by California’s utilities or appliance manufacturers

The rebate funds are estimated to last six weeks, so start shopping now. Be sure to recycle your old appliances.

Wall Street Journal had a good article quickly examining  various promising technology and realistically looking at when they could make an impact.

Nuclear, Carbon capture, Solar, Wind, Algae biofuels, Fusion and electric cars where examined.  It is pretty clear that nothing major is going to hit in the near term.  We really need to conserve energy, put solar panels on our roofs, drive more efficient cars, and push hard on clean technology.

Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) has recently added the voluntary Critical Peak Pricing (CPP) program that gives lower energy rates on non-CPP event days (non peak days) in exchange for higher rates on CPP event days. (high use Summer days)

You agree to pay higher peak rates of 60 cents a kilowatt-hour on no more than 15 days a year in exchange for a 3 cent discount on all other energy use times.

This is designed for businesses using more than 200 kW per month who can pull back energy use during peak days. The program has resulted in lower bills for some big customers like datacenters.