California Is First State To Set Energy-Efficiency Limits For Computers NPR, December 16, 2016 California is the first state to adopt efficiency standards for computers and monitors, the state’s energy commission announced this week. The commission approved regulations that limit the amount of energy computers and small servers can use when they are idling, asleep … Read more
Gita Subramony, ERS, for Zondits Currently, 90% of the homes in Amsterdam use natural gas to provide heat. City Lab takes a look at how the Netherlands’ capital is planning on moving away from natural gas as a heat source. The city is planning on switching buildings over to a district heating system, starting with … Read more
Residential Energy Efficiency Direct Install Programs — Case Study Clean Technica, December 1, 2016 The challenge is that education and behavior can be elastic. Sometimes behaviors become habits. Other times, people regress once they stop seeing visual cues or hearing messages affirming their behaviors. For this reason, hardware improvements are often deemed to be long … Read more
Advocates’ fears realized as Wisconsin directs energy dollars to internet access Midwest Energy News, December 9, 2016 Wisconsin ranks 49th in the country for internet speed and gets low marks for citizens’ access to broadband internet. The situation is hurting the state’s economy, experts say, and few would argue against investments to improve this situation. But clean … Read more
Ethan Forauer, ERS, for Zondits A few months ago we reported on the release of the highly anticipated ACEEE 2016 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard report. This annual report provides key insight into the integration of energy efficiency across the United States and offers states a reality check on their progress towards often ambitious goals. … Read more
David Reynolds, ERS, for Zondits Seriously. The point of this article is to challenge those who believe in energy efficiency and all of the benefits it provides to society and to the environment – and to our continued employment in a noble field. It is time to rethink, reevaluate, and restate the benefits of energy … Read more
How Utilities Can Become Efficiency Innovators Greentech Media, November 28, 2016 The New York Public Service Commission, seeking innovative solutions in its Reforming the Energy Vision proceeding, instead opted for an outcome-oriented approach to measuring and incentivizing efficiency performance. An outcome-oriented metric would focus on the policy goal of reduced energy use overall, putting a smaller … Read more
Jon Maxwell and Brian McCowan for Zondits, June 8, 2015. Image credit: PixShark “Thank you. Your evaluation has helped us greatly with improving our program.” How often do evaluators hear that phrase? The answer is, of course, not very often. The reasons are many and varied, but the overriding reason is that evaluators, program administrators, … Read more
EU plan for CO2 limit to power reserve schemes hasty: Poland Reuters, November 30, 2016 The European Commission’s proposal to attach emissions limits to subsidies paid to utilities that set aside capacity to avert blackouts would be hasty and bad for the environment, Poland’s energy ministry said. A draft law published by the EU executive … Read more
Climate hawks unite! Meet the newest members of Congress who will fight climate change. Grist, November 16, 2016 Last week was an awful one for anyone who cares about the environment. The new Congress and president-elect have a broad, aggressive, anti-environment agenda. Donald Trump has promised to scrap the Paris agreement, repeal all climate regulations, and … Read more