Since the 1970s when environmental concerns first hit the political front, we have made great attempts to encourage sustainable development. These attempts include things such as recycling, carpooling, using energy efficient lights and purchasing products which do not emit harmful chemicals. What is still not being taken into account are things such as
Tag:
efficiency
In the case of the federal government overreach on property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing — this overreach — Fannie, Freddie, and the FHFA (Federal Housing Finance Agency) took issue with the fact that the PACE lien on the property is senior to the mortgage. To recap, a senior lien is the thing that really gives PACE its value and is well explained here.
With the recent “shellacking” (as President Obama referred to the election results) of the Democratically controlled Congress, much of the buzz in the cleantech space has been doom and gloom. Is cleantech doomed to a new dark age? I do not believe so.
Energy policy is one area where there is an
Some interesting news recently went unnoticed. Indeed, last month, Russia unveiled a massive energy efficiency plan as the country wastes as much energy as the French economy consumes.
Soviet-era buildings and factories completely lack energy efficiency as they were built as cheaply as possible to answer the demands of the government at that time.
But this might soon change. The Moscow Times
Since taking office, President Obama and his Administration have taken unprecedented steps to build a clean energy economy in this country. You may have already read about the events and announcements across the Administration in October on this front. I wanted to highlight a few items from the last couple of weeks:
Once a building or facility manager has an ENERGY STAR statement of energy performance in hand they’re ready to set goals for improvements that will raise their rating but are often faced with no budget and minimal management support. The key to turning that situation around is showing how common best practices that cost little or provide quick payback can create both
When the East Kentucky Power Cooperative proposed building a new 278 megawatt coal-fired power plant, a coalition of local environmental groups and concerned members of the cooperative became determined to stop this dirty energy and emissions project. For the past few years groups like Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, the Sierra Club, and the
We are bombarded daily by advertisements selling us soft drinks, pharmaceuticals, cars, insurance, junk food, teeth whitener, diet programs, and on and on. But when was the last time someone tried to sell you on using more electricity?
I cannot think of a single commercial that encourages us to plug-in, even though
In seeking to establish new standards for home improvements that would increase energy efficiency, the EPA is asking for comments from the public. They have released a draft protocol which contains a series of best practice tools that would protect indoor air quality during a home energy retrofit. The goal is to devise a set of standards that would ultimately ensure
Market drivers in the home energy management (HEM) space are indicative of any residential energy efficiency market –they pivot on energy efficiency measures and applications affecting the bottom line. Additionally, in the residential energy efficiency space –and more specifically
Why do so many companies fail to capitalize on the abundant opportunities to save money through improved energy purchasing and efficiency?
One reason may be the lack of high-level positions for energy management at many companies. This is a practically a “no brainer” because the position can
Last fall, the Middle Class Task Force and the Council on Environmental Quality released a report called Recovery Through Retrofit, which identified the key barriers standing in the way of strong and sustainable home energy-efficiency industry. For the past year, we have been
The European Union has unveiled plans for a single European energy market, a 1 trillion-euro ($1.38 trillion) strategy to achieve energy security and cut fossil fuel emissions.
The 10-year plan would include upgrades
The World Bank’s lending for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects increased by 300 percent between fiscal year 2007 and fiscal year 2010, to a record $3.4 billion. But over that same period, lending to fossil fuel projects also jumped 430 percent.