Get Energy Smart! NOW!

Despite all the green washing out there (and there is lots of it, lets be clear), corn-based ethanol is far from a panacea in terms of reducing America’s dependence on imported oil, dependency on fossil fuels, reducing greenhouse gases and representing a good investment for the taxpayer. While supporting corn ethanol is, it seems, great […]

[Read more →]

Every day, I strive to Make Energy CENTS from the Home to the Globe. Whether programming the thermostat to low temperatures overnight to providing comments on national energy policy drafts to opening discussions as to Energy COOL technologies and concepts, my efforts to Energize America to a prosperous, climate friendly future cross a broad spectrum. […]

[Read more →]

Two years ago, Harry Reid stared into Faux and Balanced cameras square on and spoke truth: Coal makes us sick … Whether particulates driving asthma, black lung afflicting miners, diseases due to polluted waters from mountain top removal and coal waste, mercury in our food stream reducing IQs, or otherwise, burning “coal makes us sick“. […]

[Read more →]

Secretary of Energy Steven Chu has advocated cool roofing as a very high payoff tool to improving energy efficiency in the built environment, reducing heat island impacts, and helping to move us forward in climate change mitigation. Yesterday, Secretary Chu announced a series of initiatives to spur cool roof deployment in (on) Department of Energy […]

[Read more →]

Words and framing matter. When we consider the situation in the Gulf of Mexico, with the disastrous gushing of oil due to the (seemingly) criminal negligence of BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling, moving forward to ending the flow of oil into the Gulf would be a significant move forward and something that we want to happen. […]

[Read more →]

We must have cheap energy! This is a mantra from the right, from blinder-wearing economists, from fossil-foolish interests. In their calculation of price, however, those chanting the ‘CHEAP’ mantra don’t care to account for ‘externalities’ like worsening Americans’ health, destroying our environment, sabotaging our economy, and threatening our future. And, well, they simply aren’t ready […]

[Read more →]

Amid our financial (economic) travails and a seemingly snail’s pace movement toward a clean-energy future, there have been reassuring bright lights.  One of these has been the emergence and spreading of Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs.  (White House PACE policy framework (pdf) Building on experiences such as in Berkeley, California, PACE provides a path […]

[Read more →]

BP…lie lie ieesss Yah so what, some birds die Laugh Laugh to the bank HA HA, an oil rig sank. There are many ways to deal with tragedies and painful situations, with parody often being an effective path. Well, rewriting Lady Gaga with “Oilmance” might have captured how to think about Bloody Polluters. See the […]

[Read more →]

Looking 40 years out is difficult for most of us and developing effective policy taking 40 years in the future seriously is difficult for most political institutions.  Manana … demain … tomorrow … later … putting off action is natural for us procrastinators. (Note: roughly 20 percent of Americans self-identify as “chronic procrastinators and it […]

[Read more →]

The contrasts are stark. The week when Deepwater Horizon blew was also the week in which Interior Secretary released the (hopefully) decisive decision to give the go-ahead to Cape Wind. Stark choice: do we want to drill aggressively, increasing the risks of massive oil damages to our oceans and costs or do we want to […]

[Read more →]