Get Energy Smart! NOW!

Facing growing and increasingly prominent calls to restore solar panels to the White House roof, roughly 30 years after Ronald Reagan pulled off the panels President Jimmy Carter put up, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu made an exciting announcement at Green Gov last October: As we move toward a clean energy economy, the White House will […]

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Sometimes, your kids tell you great things. We have the coolest house on the street. Wow. We’re cool — according to the kids. Certainly isn’t the non-existent slide for the pool that isn’t there. Our lack of a huge media room and the glaring absence of a gym didn’t contribute. And, while I’ve always thought […]

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This guest post is from Bill McKibben who is the co-founder of the grassroots climate group 350.org, and Schumann Distinguished Scholar at Middlebury College. Nothing tests a relationship like home renovation (well, maybe twittering crotch shots, but I mean for ordinary folks). Fixing the kitchen, putting in a new bathroom: “It can bring up core […]

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The hardest challenges for moving to a clean energy future are not technological or engineering … they are cultural and procedural and shifting incentive mechanisms and so many other intangible — but ever so real — barriers.  Breaking through these barriers to enable tangible progress is a necessary, difficult, and often messy task. Sometimes, this […]

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Innovation. It’s the new buzzword. Haven’t you heard.  It’s the rage.  Ten times … The President used the word “innovation” ten times in the State of the Union speech. The first step in winning the future is encouraging American innovation.  None of us can predict with certainty what the next big industry will be or […]

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Since diving into the deep end when it comes to energy issues, almost every day sees new fascinating concepts, approaches, and technologies. Fascinating … exciting … even hope inspiring at times. And, as well, as the passion builds, so many of these are truly Energy COOL. The concept of Silver Bullet solutions concerns me and […]

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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. […]

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The biannual Solar Decathlon, sponsored by the US Department of Energy and bringing together 20 university teams from the United States and other countries, is an amazing event that merits far more attention than the hundred or so thousand visitors and the spotty news (and blog) coverage of the event. Truth be told, the Solar […]

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Today, a poll popped up: How do you primarily heat your home / apartment? This question gave me pause. Sadly, for a self-proclaimed (and labeled by others) energy ‘geek’ and one who values feedback (systems) to enable better decisions/energy use patterns, I realized that I simply can’t answer this question.  The problem: multiple heating systems, […]

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This is part of a series of brief posts on ‘clean energy jobs‘ opportunities for sparking meaningful employment, quickly, in the United States as discussed in Clean Energy Jobs: Stimulate Me. Clean Energy Jobs Go Swimming: $300 million per year for 10,000 jobs Legislation is, they say, analogous to making sausage. Sometimes, in the mixing […]

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