Get Energy Smart! NOW!

JamesS had an interesting turn of phrase amid a discussion of the need for a national smart grid with significant change to management of our electrical system.
Patch work is great for quilts and old jeans — not so great for a 21st century Electric Utility system.
This caught my attention, the word paints a strong imagery [...]

[Read more →]

100 … 100 percent.  Such a ’round’ and definitive figure provides the basis for a very clear, simple target to think about.
With all the delays toward action related to climate mitigation and the mounting impacts of climate disruption around the globe, the concept of 80 by 50 (80 percent reduction carbon emissions by 2050 — [...]

[Read more →]

The Romney-Ryan energy plan has been appropriately castigated for embracing and enshrining fossil fuels while disdaining and dismissing renewable energy systems (and, well, totally ignoring energy efficiency).  (One could say that the Romney-Ryan campaign is rejecting energy from heaven and embracing (with passion) energy from hell.) With mindless ‘Drill, Baby, Drill’ cheering, enraptured sonnets for Keystone [...]

[Read more →]

Guest Blogger J. Siegel has been doing a series of pieces on this blog (list below … latest here) on her work within her own master-metered condominium and, beyond that, on working to develop a community of master-metered communities to share lessons and seek leverage for energy efficiency and renewable energy programs to help them [...]

[Read more →]

a;s

[Read more →]

Understanding how feedback impacts people and institutions (whether in sports, school, militaryoperations, or …) in learning and change (hopefully, improvement) is a complex and fascinatingworld.  Data collection and feedback systems, as a tool for providing building/system operators the ability to make more informed decisions about energy use, are a critical pathway toward more effective (generally, [...]

[Read more →]

Putting aside any and all other issues, deregulation can offer several real advantages: disruptive options can enter markets; and, consumers can have choices.  Of course, while anyone comparing U.S. cellphone rates to European prices has legitimate reason to wonder about this uncertain benefit, at times real opportunities for positive change can emerge.
This summer, consumers in Pennsylvania [...]

[Read more →]

The Washington Post’s front page, 9 March 2012, featured an article entitled “Affordability award goes to $50 light bulb” (and the online title: Government-subsidized green light bulb carries costly price tag). Reading like a partisan hit job against the Department of Energy’s efforts to use ‘prizes’ to foster technological innovation into the market place, this [...]

[Read more →]

Energy policy is a rather complicated domain. That complexity is worsened when factual errors (whether purposefully driven or accidental) enter into the discussion. In the weeks since the news broke about U.S. refined products now being a net export, rather than import, marketplace, it is hard to overstate the number of times where people have [...]

[Read more →]

Two years ago my husband and I, empty nesters for more than 20 years, moved from our four-bedroom split-level house to a three-bedroom condo and from a car-dependent life to an apartment community one and a half blocks from Washington, D.C.’s Metro. As part of the renovation of our new home we purchased Energy Star [...]

[Read more →]