Brian McCowan, Zondits staff, 2/12/2024 Hot on the heels of COP28 (Was COP28 a Success? It Depends on Who You Ask | Zondits), two new reports are sounding alarms on climate change. The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service announced that 2023 was the hottest year ever recorded—and that’s in 173 years of record-keeping. The … Read more
Christopher Dyson, Zondits guest, 1/16/2024 Fans not embedded in HVAC equipment—”stand-alone” fans—are used in many industrial, commercial, and agricultural applications (such as exhaust, ventilation, and manufacturing processes). The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that installed fans in the industrial sector alone consume about 79 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) annually, which amounts to about 11% of all … Read more
Jeremy McDonald, Zondits guest, 4/17/2023 Since the onset of the pandemic, we in the HVAC industry have wrestled with far-reaching improvements to our HVAC systems. Increasing ventilation air exchange, implementing air cleaning devices, and related investments are all important strategies to improve indoor air quality (IAQ) and protect building occupants. However, recognizing that IAQ issues are … Read more
Brian McCowan, Zondits staff, 5/31/2022 Many U.S. states offer tax credits and efficiency program rebates for the installation of electric heat pumps in homes and commercial buildings. Newly introduced federal legislation would provide tax credits directly to the manufacturers of such products. The Senate bill is sponsored jointly by Democratic Senators Klobuchar, Smith, Hickenlooper, Whitehouse, … Read more
Patrick Hewlett, ERS The fact that our reality has transformed tremendously since the infection of COVID-19 is nothing new, and like many other industries, the world of energy efficiency is not the same as it was pre-pandemic. Much of this change has been brought upon by the shift of work and social lifestyles to remote, … Read more
greentechmedia.com, June 5, 2020. Current conversations around the energy transition often focus on the power and transportation sectors. But decarbonization of other sectors, such as heat, is also critical to meeting national and regional climate targets. Heat makes up 35 percent of global energy consumption, and when it comes to space heating, direct combustion of fossil … Read more
This article was originally published on neea.org on Feb. 11, 2020. Commercial buildings represent about 19 percent of U.S. energy use; of that, about 20 percent is lighting. To take the next big leap in lighting efficiency, the Northwest is turning to a promising solution: luminaire level lighting controls (LLLCs). LLLCs combine LEDs with integrated controls … Read more
Zondits recently connected with Maria Murphy, Senior Program Manager at the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA), who is working to bring high-performance HVAC solutions to the market. NEEA is a collaboration of over 140 utilities and efficiency organizations working together to advance energy efficiency in the Northwest on behalf of more than 13 million consumers. BetterBricks … Read more
Clean Heating Is Part of NY’s Energy Efficiency Solution Written by Sneha Ayyagari & Miles Farmer, nrdc.org, March 16, 2018. Achieving New York’s climate and clean energy goals hinges upon a comprehensive and ambitious plan to increase energy efficiency savings in New York across all fuels. As NRDC and a large coalition of advocates expressed … Read more
Jesse Remillard, ERS, for Zondits A recent episode of the 99% Invisible podcast explores the origins of air conditioning (A/C) and how the widespread adoption of central air systems affected building designs thereafter. The 99% Invisible podcast is all about the things that largely go unnoticed but are essential to the modern world we live … Read more