energy efficiency Articles
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Energy Efficiency
Location: Connecticut Project Start Date: 2009 Element Markets represents a large industrial client in Connecticut that generates energy and steam onsite from a natural gas combined heat and power (CHP) system, which is used to drive the company’s production line. Efficient CHP systems are eligible to earn Class III Energy Efficiency Credits (EECs) within the Connecticut Renewable ...
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Is there romance in energy efficiency?
My mother told me many good reasons why I should get married. She appears to have forgotten one. It’s energy efficient.Single people – at least those without roommates – appear to be gobbling up a lot of our energy supply. In fact, one person households are a main cause of consumer energy waste, according to a recent study “Consumer Energy Spending and the Demographics of Over-Consumption” by SMR ...
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Why Isn`t the Deep South Green? Or is it?
Everyone is seeking the elusive killer app that will revolutionize energy. Most expect it to be a high tech gadget, or new form of generation or a way to finally store mass quantities of electricity. Not anthropologist Susan Mazur-Stommen. She’s looking in a completely different place: inside our heads, or more specifically inside the heads of those who live in the Deep South. ...
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Mining for Energy Efficiency in New York City
New York City recently became the first in the US to make public how well (or poorly) large, private buildings within its borders perform when it comes to energy and water use. A city website displays information about 2,065 large commercial properties, encompassing 530 million square feet. ...
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Energy Efficiency and the rebound effect: Neither big nor bad
Now that you’ve installed efficient light bulbs in your house, do you think: “Guess I’ll leave my lights on all night. What the heck – it won’t cost me any extra.” Probably not. But some extreme critics of energy efficiency would have us believe this is the end result of appliance standards and energy savings technology – that we simply consume more ...
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Getting ready for the next US industrial boom
Selling large manufacturers on energy efficiency isn’t easy, even though they stand to achieve great bang for the buck. Manufacturers are apt to only consider efficiency improvements as part of a major plant expansion or improvement. Such capital expenditures tend to occur in a cyclical fashion, and manufacturers give little thought between cycles to new efficiency measures.The good news is that ...
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Where do the US presidential candidates stand on energy efficiency?
We know that what a political candidate says during a campaign often differs from what the eventual office-holder does. We also know that candidates choose their words carefully to give themselves wiggle room for modifications in course. So we listen for innuendo and subtleties when candidates talk about our special interests. What kind of qualifying language do they use? Are they truly against ...
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Where is energy`s cell phone
Electric industry restructuring often gets criticized for failing to deliver the goods. It was supposed to not only drive down rates, but also spark innovative new technologies. After all, deregulation of the telecommunications industry gave us the cell phone. Where is energy’s nifty gadget?Initiated more than a decade ago, electric deregulation has produced no such consumer hit. But it has led ...
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Desert Year: Why Is It So Hard to Care?
Guest blogger, Energy Efficiency Markets Reposted from Real Climate Economics Why is it so hard to care about snakes? Or the desert? The climate? And especially the environment more generally? This time the snake was real. Right there on the side of the road. Some evenings ago, however, in the waning hours of twilight, it turned out to be just a short length of black rubber hose that was ...
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Energy Efficiency is PRO Business
There is a lot of current debate about whether the State of WA should require utilities to make greater investments in energy efficiency. This has caused some waves within the business community which has legitimate concerns about energy prices and is usually in opposition to government mandates and. Although not proven, the common belief amongst businesses is that laws requiring investments in ...
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Retire the clunker?
What would it take to convince you to get rid of your gas-guzzling old clunker? Would US$5,500 do? Some members of Congress think this is the magic figure. Under a bill introduced in the House and Senate today, Uncle Sam would give you a credit of up to US$5,500 to scrap your old car. You could spend the credit on a new, fuel efficient vehicle or mass transportation.The proposal makes a lot of ...
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US$3.1bn for state energy efficiency programs - Just one catch
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act promises to advance the US energy efficiency movement with an unprecedented US$26 billion infusion of funds. Of that, US$3.1 billion goes to state energy efficiency programs through the Department of Energy’s State Energy Program. Great news, right? Maybe not, says the Electricity Consumers Resource Council (ELCON) and the National Association of ...
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Trillion dollar answer to Bachmann’s light bulb question
US Congresswoman Michele Bachmann often asks why government should tell us which kind of light bulb to choose. Turns out it’s a question with a trillion dollar answer. We will save $1.1 trillion through 2035 because of existing energy efficiency mandates for light bulbs and appliances, according to a report issued this week by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy and the ...
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Prospects for US energy efficiency companies in Israel
The push for energy efficiency has clearly become worldwide, creating new prospects for US green energy companies to pursue export and foreign partnerships. One such opportunity comes from Israel, with the help of the United States-Israel Science and Technology Foundation (USISTF), a Washington-based non-profit organization. Israel is not a country we hear much about in terms of energy ...
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Energy efficiency: not a sound bite business
I’m a star at the neighborhood playground because I write about energy. Let me explain. I have a young son, and often find myself next to the swings talking with other parents. Inevitably we talk about work. Inevitably it comes up that I know a little about energy. And inevitably I'm surrounded by a crowd that wants to know-- demands to know--why the US doesn’t use more green energy. They are ...
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How long will efficiency be the favored choice?
Energy efficiency creates an odd sort of market. Nothing (lack of energy use) competes for customers against something (energy generation). There is no free lunch and even nothing, energy efficiency, costs something. But for now it is cheaper than its main competitor, the power plant.In fact, it is often three times less costly to install efficient light bulbs, better insulate buildings or pursue ...
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Best Places to Learn About Energy Efficiency
Companies often email me asking for good sources of information about the energy efficiency business. These emails are coming more and more frequently as this industry continues to grow. Many of the emails come from newcomers trying to break into the field with a new product or service. They include information technology companies, engineers, manufacturers, mom & pops, insurance firms, ...
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What if the light bulb produced more than light?
Talk about a light bulb moment. A professor of engineering at Edinburgh University recently demonstrated for the first time to a wide audience his technology that uses common every day lights to transmit data. Harald Haas streamed a video through a desk lamp at Ted Global 2011at Scotland’s Edinburgh International Conference Center in July. If commercialized, the technology not only ...
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Survey: What will it take to make buildings more energy efficient?
Companies are unaware of the actual costs of their energy use. Less than a third have commissioned energy audits for their buildings. Further, two thirds of those surveyed overestimate the cost of energy efficient construction. A surprising 75 percent saw benefit in energy regulation and described lack of enforcement as a problem. The solution Not too much carrot and not too much stick, ...
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Is today`s intereste in efficiency a blip
Political leaders push energy efficiency when electricity rates spike, then drop it like a hot potato when prices fall. So how long will the current interest last? Three reports out this week indicate power prices will not ease any time soon. Indeed, forces are in place to only push costs higher. One force is the renewable portfolio standard, according to Standard & Poor’s Ratings ...
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