While the legislation to phase out incandescent bulbs has grabbed headlines and opinions over the past few weeks, there are other lighting changes flying under the radar that will affect thousands of businesses across the country.
As part of the CLEAN Energy Act of 2007, most inefficient T12 fluorescent lighting will
The price of gas is headed skyward again, nearing $4 a gallon fueled by unrest in Libya and the rest of the Middle East. The rising cost of gas is painful for millions of people still living paycheck to paycheck, forcing them to squeeze even more out of every dollar. If the price of oil continues to rise it could endanger our fragile economic
Cleantech in Australia has been growing by leaps and bounds. Australian Cleantech provides numerous services, including the development of different policy initiatives that would stimulate future cleantech investments. Through Cleantech Australia, many topics have been covered, including renewable energy, low emission technologies, recycling, low emissions
Europe has a challenge ahead, in terms of renewable energy targets. The UK government has signed up to a commitment which states that by 2020, 15% of energy production will come from renewable sources. Quite a target for any government to achieve, but in a climate where purse strings are being tightened, this challenge is ever more complex. However, the UK
Have you ever been on a sailboat when the wind kicked up and a big gust tossed you into the water? (Not that I have, of course. My friend maintains that he is an “expert captain.”) Or have you experienced the wind dying down and it’s like you’re going nowhere fast? (He’ll deny that one too.) Wind has a similar effect on the power grid
Biomass generation plants primarily burn waste wood, but as their role in clean energy is expanding, more wood will be needed. Where will it come from?
Xcel energy has developed a demonstration project to test which tree species, soils and climates will be most conducive to “biomass plantations” – trees
You might think by this headline that I’m about to rant about the news regarding energy efficiency policy that was circulating last week. President Obama outlined a plan called the Better Buildings Initiative to incentivize energy efficiency in commercial buildings during his visit to Penn State. Actually, I want to explain why multifamily energy management struggles with this
A recent Harris Interactive poll conducted among Fortune 1000 companies found that nearly 90 percent of Fortune 1000 senior executives feel a moral responsibility to make their companies more energy efficient. According to the study, respondents felt it was their moral responsibility to cut energy use, beyond the ethical imperative to follow regulatory
How great is it when one good thing creates a bunch of other good things? According to national averages provided by the American Wind Energy Association, the 201-megawatt Nobles Wind Farm in southeastern Minnesota created approximately:
• 200 construction jobs
A new study, recently published by Totaro & Associates examines the U.S. patent landscape of wind turbines to determine which technological trends have emerged so far and what we might be able to infer for the future direction of wind turbine technology.
The study focused on the most prevalent
A recent article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune featured a Montevideo, Minn., business owner who upgraded his energy equipment with the help of his local utility. On the surface, it may not seem newsworthy – thousands of businesses in Minnesota and across the country partner with their local utility to take advantage of energy efficiency rebate programs.
Starting in 2006, the government of Norway created a target of reaching 30 Terra Watt hours of elevated annual production of energy efficiency and renewable energy by 2016. Currently, the power system in Norway is hydropower dominated. Over the last few years, due to the investment the Norwegian government has made to increase efforts in the development of
I think it would be a system operator’s nightmare. You’re responsible for keeping everyone’s lights on, but a passing set of clouds cuts the output from several solar arrays from 100% to 20% — and then raises it back up to 100% in less than a minute.
Fluctuations like that would put me in the
We know Minnesotans are hardy stock, but will their electric vehicles match their owners’ mettle? That’s one of the things being tested by the City of St. Paul and Drive Electric Minnesota, a collaboration of businesses, nonprofits and government agencies in the Twin Cities. They’ve teamed up to build an EV infrastructure