Get Energy Smart! NOW!

Blogging for a sustainable energy future.

Get Energy Smart!  NOW! header image 4

Entries from May 2007

National Academies call on G8 leaders for action … press is asleep

May 30th, 2007 · 1 Comment

On May 16th, The U.S. National Academy of Sciences joined 12 other national science academies … in calling on world leaders — particularly G8 leaders who will meet in June — to address global climate change and energy-access issues by promoting low carbon-emission energy systems and more efficient use of energy. The academies also urged […]

[Read more →]

Tags: alternative energy · emissions · Energy · energy efficiency · G8 · Global Warming

Astroturfing to fight mileage standards

May 29th, 2007 · Comments Off on Astroturfing to fight mileage standards

The automobile industry is investing “way north” of one million dollars to gin up grass roots opposition to the Senate proposals for moving automobile fuel standards to 35 miles by 2020. As per the Detroit News Despite rising gas prices and a growing concern about climate change, the auto industry is going on the offensive […]

[Read more →]

Tags: astroturfing · automobiles

If all counties were Arlington … we’d be Energy Smart …

May 29th, 2007 · 1 Comment

There are good examples out there, of places and areas which are moving on a path toward a better tomorrow, who are taking the steps to Energize America. Arlington County, Virginia , in sight of the US Capitol and home of Arlington Cemetary and The Pentagon, is one of those communities. Paul Ferguson, the County […]

[Read more →]

Tags: energy efficiency

Building Energy Efficiency …

May 22nd, 2007 · 1 Comment

Global Warming skeptics often focus on the messenger, Al Gore, rather than listening to the message. We should hope the same thing will not occur with the  Clinton Global Initiative‘s (CGI) Energy Efficiency Building Retrofit Program. This is related to the CCI’s C40 Cities: Climate Leadership Group, which brings together 40 of the world’s largest cities […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Clinton Climate Initiative · energy efficiency

IEA 2007 … Great resource, lousy predictions?

May 22nd, 2007 · 4 Comments

The Department of Energy’s Energy Information Agency released the International Energy Outlook 2007.  As with always, what a magnificent resource — a tremendous amount of data that anyone interested in energy issues will be citing.  Their rearward look — what’s happened already — invaluable. Their forward look — what will happen — would be laughable […]

[Read more →]

Tags: energy information agency

Solar as roofing

May 21st, 2007 · Comments Off on Solar as roofing

The vast majority of PV installed on rooftops is just that … installed on rooftops.  Developing in recent years have been Building Integrated PhotoVoltaics (BIPV) The objective being, the transition of solar PV, from being just a merely bolted on afterthought, into being an integral part of the building, dare we say part of every […]

[Read more →]

Tags: renewable energy · solar · Solar Energy

Solar Electricity as Cheap as Coal Electricity

May 21st, 2007 · Comments Off on Solar Electricity as Cheap as Coal Electricity

Photon Consulting has issued a report claiming that, by 2020, by 2010, the cost of solar will be below the price of grid electricity for at least 50 percent of OECD residential demand, equivalent to around 1,500 GW of solar power. This is much larger than the 15 GW of cell/module production PHOTON Consulting anticipates […]

[Read more →]

Tags: General

“Energy Revolution”: Man the barricades, the fight is on

May 17th, 2007 · 8 Comments

On energy policy, we need to change fast, or sink slowly Governor Richardson, at a speech earlier today at a New America Foundation Energy Efficiency conference, laid out an energy concept worth paying attention to. With an aggressive set of objectives based on five core principles, Richardson has stake[d his] claim to being the next […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Bill Richardson

Financial world tackling Climate Change?

May 15th, 2007 · Comments Off on Financial world tackling Climate Change?

To continue the stream of business news related to tackling Global Warming (Wal-Mart and Kohl’s solar; MSNBC Europe’s 50 low-carbon companies, News Corporation’s climate change strategy), a key player in the financial services world has made a commitment of $50 billion targeted toward tackling Climate Change.  Citi plans to build on $10 billion it has […]

[Read more →]

Tags: business practice · General

Smart Policy gone STUPID — Rural Electricity run amok

May 14th, 2007 · Comments Off on Smart Policy gone STUPID — Rural Electricity run amok

Simply put, we can’t afford as a nation to be stupid anymore … And, part of the path toward stopping stupidity is understanding when smart policy has gone awry and now is stupid … simply bad for the nation. Truth be told, there are many programs and many arena where that is true. For an […]

[Read more →]

Tags: coal · electricity