By Elisa Wood Efforts have been underway for decades to conserve both energy and water, but never in concert. This is unfortunate because energy uses a lot of water and water uses a lot of energy. Two leading conservation organizations have set out to bring the efforts together. The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy and the Alliance for Water Efficiency this week published a white paper that describes the co-dependence of water and energy resources, and outlines strategies to use both more efficiently.
Continue reading Energy efficiency absorbs water
By Elisa Wood The Environmental Protection Agency calls big-backyard neighborhoods like mine “automobile dependent locations” and contrasts them with “transit-oriented” neighborhoods, places where you can hop a bus or easily walk to regular destinations. The agency recently looked at which kind of neighborhood uses the most British Thermal Units (BTUs), taking into account size and type of house, its energy efficiency, and vehicle use of its occupants. This is known asLocation Efficiency.
Continue reading Energy Efficiency and the Annoying Guy Next Door
By Elisa Wood We’ve been hearing for years that the energy efficiency industry needs to find its equivalent to the cell phone. These days industry folks refer to it as the ‘killer app,” the revolutionary product or service that consumers can’t resist. But lately, partly because I’m dieting, I’ve been thinking what energy efficiency really needs is something akin to a Weight Watchers dessert. Let me explain myself.
Continue reading Energy efficiency and Weight Watchers
By Elisa Wood We keep hearing that China is going to become a really big deal in world energy markets. But it wasn’t until I read this statement by Jane Henley, CEO of the World Green Building Council, that I grasped the scope of its coming influence:
Continue reading Time to Export Energy Efficiency?
By Elisa Wood For a long time the energy efficiency industry operated largely under the two-guys-and-a-truck-model: local businesses made up of small contractors. Then the ‘super’ energy efficiency service companies (ESCOs) emerged, big operations taking on big contracts often for government, schools or hospitals, like the $35 million deal that Pepco Energy Services signed with the Prince George’s County Maryland Public Schools this week.
Continue reading Export opportunity for US energy efficiency?
By Elisa Wood The White House issued a report July 14 that credits federal stimulus money for the rapid drop in costs for electric cars. Once written off as a technological mishap, the electric car now appears nearly road ready for American consumers. The price tag is dropping rapidly, in part because of the $12 billion the federal government has pumped into alternative vehicles, according to the report. Of that $5 billion went to electrifying the US transportation fleet.
Continue reading Electrifying vehicles: A car and its drama
By Elisa Wood And now for a dose of reality. No doubt smart meters are a good thing, but even their most ardent fans must admit that a degree of hoopla surrounds these little digital boxes. We hear that if consumers can just see how much power they use in real time, and what it costs, our energy woes will be no more. Smart meters will even cure the blind. The energy blind that is.
Continue reading Smart meters: Truly a cure for energy blindness?
By Elisa Wood The energy world operates under the premise that more is better. If we build more power plants, we’ll have ample supply, and electricity prices will drop. Even better, if those plants are clean and green, we’ll displace older, dirtier plants and reduce emissions. That will help our economy by producing
Continue reading Are we thinking about energy all wrong?
By Elisa Wood It’s likely that you’ve heard of EnergyStar and seen the recent headlines about US Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency efforts to ensure that appliances are as energy efficient as the blue EnergyStar label indicates. It’s less likely that you’ve heard of a parallel DOE effort to ensure that minimum energy conservation standards are being met. Because mandatory efficiency standards apply to the manufacture of appliances and therefore are
Continue reading There’s a new sheriff in town
By Elisa Wood We’ve been hearing a lot about a drop in energy consumption as a result of the economic downturn. In fact, US energy use per person declined last year to its lowest level since 1968. Economic activity and energy use are directly linked. But lately, several reports have noted that the economic slowdown is not the only reason energy consumption is falling. Aggressive energy efficiency efforts also have
Continue reading Energy use drops: It’s not just the economy…
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