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Sustainable Living News 29 July 2025 - 31 October 2025

Stop Vampire Appliances from Sucking Your Wallet Dry – Slay These Hidden Power Drains

Stop Vampire Appliances from Sucking Your Wallet Dry – Slay These Hidden Power Drains

With electricity prices climbing (U.S. rates are ~24% higher than in 2019 meltek.com), every saved watt counts. This Halloween season, energy experts and utilities across the U.S. are urging consumers to hunt down and “stake” these hidden power vampires before they drive up the bills. Duke Energy Florida notes standby loads lurk in every home – from phone chargers to game consoles – and “can drain energy – and potential savings – accounting for as much as 20% of your total energy costs” news.duke-energy.com. Similarly, Pacific Gas & Electric warns idle appliances can quietly add “$100 a year” to a
31 October 2025
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Home EV Charging Revolution: Government Axes Red Tape to Help Millions Without Driveways

Home EV Charging Revolution: Government Axes Red Tape to Help Millions Without Driveways

Red Tape Axed for Kerbside Charging In a bid to accelerate the electric vehicle revolution, the UK government announced it is overhauling planning laws to help drivers without off-street parking charge at home. Ministers plan to scrap the requirement for planning permission before fitting a “cross-pavement charging gully” outside one’s home electrifying.com. These narrow covered channels let a charging cable run safely under the sidewalk from a home power outlet to a car at the curb, without creating a trip hazard autocar.co.uk autocar.co.uk. Currently, homeowners with driveways can install a charger on their property freely, but those who park on
30 October 2025
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Your Heat Pump Just Got Stronger: How a 20% Power Boost Signals a New Era for Home Heating and Cooling

Your Heat Pump Just Got Stronger: How a 20% Power Boost Signals a New Era for Home Heating and Cooling

The Rise of Software‑Defined HVAC Why Quilt’s Update Matters Most people think of heating, ventilation and air‑conditioning (HVAC) equipment as fixed hardware—once installed it runs the same way until it fails. Quilt, a Bay Area startup founded by veterans from Nest, Google, Apple and Tesla, is challenging that paradigm by turning the heat pump into a software‑defined appliance. Quilt’s two‑zone ductless system already boasted impressive efficiency ratings (SEER2 25 and HSPF2 12). Yet in September 2025 the company released an OTA update that boosted heating and cooling capacity by more than 20 % techcrunch.com. The update raised the outdoor unit’s cooling output from 19,700 BTU/hr
5 October 2025
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Your Next Rooftop Will Be a Power Plant. Rooftop Energy Technologies: Present and Future Innovations.

Your Next Rooftop Will Be a Power Plant. Rooftop Energy Technologies: Present and Future Innovations.

Solar PV costs have fallen about 90% over the last decade. Modern home solar panels often exceed 20% efficiency, with typical residential systems of 5–10 kW. In the United States, over 4 million homes had solar panels by early 2024. Global rooftop PV adoption could reach about 100 million households by 2030. In the United States, the rooftop solar roofing market is projected to reach nearly $1 billion by 2025, as California mandates solar on almost all new homes starting in 2023. A Dutch startup unveiled the Blade X1 rooftop wind turbine at 1.4 meters tall, generating about 2,500–3,000 kWh
29 July 2025
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