Sign up | Login with →

Green Building

What does Measurement & Verification mean?

May 16, 2012 by Bruce Thomason
with 150 views
0

Victor Correia/Shutterstock

M&V protocols vary from each utility to the next. What’s required in TX may not be necessarily required in Massachusetts. M&V plans are customized to each project, based on the scope work of the project, the technology, and the confidence level established by the utility with respect to the anticipated savings for the... [read more]

Senate bill aims to appraise value of home efficiency

May 10, 2012 by Dan Haugen
with 219 views
0

Say you were getting ready to put your home on the market and wanted to make a quick investment to boost the selling price. Would you be better off buying a granite countertop for your kitchen, or an ultra-efficient furnace that would lower heating bills by hundreds of dollars every year? [read more]

Military moves ahead on smart energy investments despite political opposition

May 3, 2012 by Peter Lehner
with 305 views
0

Frontpage/Shutterstock

Last month, the U.S. Army announced the opening of a 30,000-square foot research facility in Michigan for developing fuel cells, hybrid systems, battery technologies and advanced alternative fuels for the next generation of vehicles. Under Secretary of the Army Joseph Westphal described the benefits of the lab in his dedication speech:... [read more]

The Latest Publication from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development: 'The Energy Mix'

April 28, 2012 by David Hone
with 574 views
0

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) held its annual company delegate conference in Switzerland this week. For the WBCSD Energy and Climate team the event marked the launch of the latest WBCSD publication “The Energy Mix”. This is a document that started life back in the middle of last year, originally as a response to the reaction from a number of governments to the events in Fukushima. The initial aim was to inform policy makers on the implication of sudden changes in energy policy, such as the decision by the German government to rapidly phase out the use of nuclear power. But as the work got going, the document took on a number of additional dimensions. [read more]

Critical Need for Energy Savings and Loan Performance Data Remains Unmet

April 27, 2012 by Kat Friedrich
with 193 views
0

Providing energy efficiency loans could give financial institutions new market opportunities. Unfortunately, their underwriters don’t have enough loan performance information to finance large volumes of energy efficiency projects yet. This lack of information inhibits the scaling up of energy efficiency retrofits in the residential and commercial sectors. [read more]

Sub-metering can lead to big reductions in electricity consumption

April 23, 2012 by Tyler Hamilton
with 273 views
1

My Clean Break column this week highlights a commissioned study by Navigant Consulting, which looked at the impact that sub-metering has on electricity consumption in apartment units and condos versus those units on a bulk metering/billing system. The reductions appear to be quite large, as you’ll read, but there’s one caveat before you... [read more]

Communities Dive In: Local Planning for Energy Efficiency

March 27, 2012 by Eric Mackes
with 173 views
0

This post is the second of three on sustaining local energy efficiency efforts. The first post described trends in local implementation of energy efficiency. The next post will explore sustainable funding sources.While some local governments are still just testing the waters of energy efficiency; many others have decided to dive in... [read more]

exclusive

Powering the People 2.0: Investing in a Better Army

March 26, 2012 by Henry Spethmann
with 263 views
0

The Energy Collective was recently invited to attend Powering the People 2.0, hosted by the Edison Foundation and the Institute for Electric Efficiency. Among several presentations, the panel of army and military related experts was one of the most specific. [read more]

One Small Button for Man, One Giant Leap for Data Access

March 23, 2012 by Jason Hartke
with 179 views
0

Today the White House launched the Green Button Initiative, which connects more than 15 million Americans with their utility providers for streamlined access to their energy data. Nine utilities and electricity suppliers initially signed up for this landmark program designed to enable consumers to put their energy consumption into their... [read more]

Window Film: An Energy Savings Superhero?

March 15, 2012 by Nathanael Baker
with 446 views
0

To the casual observer, energy efficiency means very little, that is until they see the cost savings associated with making tweaks to their homes and businesses.  According to a new report, one energy retrofit may be more efficient than the rest. Who's thought of installing window film on their windows lately?  Well, the... [read more]

Efficiency Standards To Save Americans More Than $1 Trillion By 2035

March 13, 2012 by Joseph Romm
with 220 views
0

Sadly, America’s wildly successful energy efficiency standards have fallen victim to politics in recent years. Despite being used over the decades as a way to encourage innovation, increase customer choice, and reduce pollution, efficiency targets have been bizarrely branded as a government tool to control people’s lives. Well, here’s... [read more]

Energy Efficiency Finance 301: The Growing Popularity of On-Bill Financing

March 2, 2012 by Casey Bell
with 327 views
0

The promise of energy efficiency investments to boost the overall economy and to create and sustain jobs is becoming more widely accepted, as shown in part by the ever-growing number of cost-effective energy efficiency financing programs across the country. Such programs reduce first-cost barriers for energy efficiency... [read more]

Illinois eyes efficiency gains through building code

February 29, 2012 by Dan Haugen
with 313 views
0

Illinois is on track to become the first state in the Midwest to require new homes pass a blower door test and meet rigorous new standards for air tightness and insulation. [read more]

Federal Agencies Respond to Risks of Climate Change

February 28, 2012 by Steve Seidel
with 230 views
0

C2ES is pleased to release our updated report, Climate Change Adaptation: What Federal Agencies are Doing, which lays out the rapidly expanding efforts across the federal government to respond to the increasing economic risks of extreme weather and climate change.  Federal agencies are under growing pressure to reduce costs,... [read more]

The Smart Energy Act of 2012

February 17, 2012 by Matthew Stepp
with 490 views
0

 The next ten and half months hold little promise of Congress producing a coherent national clean energy strategy.  The same legislative gridlock over the federal budget that stalled debate on key issues last year looks to come back in force this year as well. But that doesn’t mean high-impact clean energy policy can’t be... [read more]