All Blog Posts (709)

Slow and steady wins the race. And over the past few months, energy efficiency has quietly been grabbing the media coverage from it’s sexy cousins the Renewables, like solar, wind and geothermal.

Early this month I reported that green as in wallet (saving money) was hot.  Now the July issue of Realtor Magazine is reporting that saving money is …

 This blog is cross-posted with Remodeling Magazine with the kind permission of the editor.

Let me recommend an excellent, well-written blog indeed.  Melissa Baldridge goes well beyond the nuts-and-bolts conversations in which we so often engage, and she presents ideas from a broader perspective.  At the point where remodeling meets building performance, the industry necessarily concerns…

Here’s something you don’t hear people complain about much these days: worker shortages.  That is, unless you’re in energy efficiency, an industry that is booming as others are busting.

Sixty percent of those responding to a recent survey by the Association of Energy Services Professionals cited a lack of talented workers in energy efficiency.

“Energy efficiency is a rapidly growing segment of the overall energy industry and we…

*This post was drafted by Isaac Elnecave and Michael Hairston of the MEEA Policy Team

At the recently concluded ASHRAE Winter Meeting in Montreal, significant changes occurred to the development of the ASHRAE 90.2 standard (ASHRAE 90.2 is the companion standard to ASHRAE 90.1 and applies primarily to residential dwellings). Prior to the…

By Alan Meier

It’s easy to lose the longer perspective when we are involved in day-to-day efforts to save energy. That’s why I want to focus on a single home—Danny Parker’s house in Florida—to illustrate the bumpy road to zero energy use. The figure on the right shows 21 years of electricity use, along with many of the major events in Danny’s household. (Follow the green…

I attended a green energy conference nearly a decade ago in Washington, D.C., where several speakers expressed astonishment at the audience’s clothes. People were dressed in business attire. Where were the ponytails? The Birkenstocks?

The event marked a new age for green energy, the beginning of its migration from counter-culture to corporation.

Today green energy is, well, more like conglomeration. But still the industry carries remnants of its former self, the occasional…

Who doesn’t pat themselves on the back when Google puts money into their industry? Ah, the giant likes this market. I must be on the right track!

So what does it mean now that Google has announced it will retire its Google PowerMeter because it didn’t catch on? Are all those companies who are investing in smart grid on the wrong track?

Clearly not. Google had star quality…

By Eric Woods

Pike Research

Guest Blogger, Energy Efficiency Markets

June 22, 2011

At Connectivity Week in Santa Clara, recently, I took part in a series of panel discussions on data center energy efficiency. The discussions covered a wide range of issues from the practicalities of infrastructure optimization to the possible role of data centers in demand response schemes. There was a particular focus on the importance, and…

Note: This post is cross-listed from the Energy Circle PRO blog.

Local Search guru David Mihm provides an extraordinary service to all of us by annually compiling the most important Local Search Ranking Factors as assessed by a group of leading consultants and thinkers in the local field. Since no one really knows what the search engine…

The US has grown an energy conscience.  Just look around in stores that sell appliances, computers, televisions, light bulbs or any kind of electric equipment. You’ll see the words ‘energy saving’ or ‘energy efficient’ on a lot of the packaging.

This trend didn’t just happen, but is the result of some careful nurturing by government, most of it relatively invisible to the average consumer and certainly painless and free of sacrifice.

Of these policies, one of the most ingenious…

Whew, as of yesterday (April 22nd) and taking the ENERGY STAR V3 test (long story short – the test was not available when I took the original class), that is it for the test taking (Since posting this, I had to take another 2 tests & classes for another program I am working with - will the madness ever stop?). As I was sitting there taking the test, I was amazed at how many people were flipping…

     Once a month or so Marie and I have dinner with a group of old friends, all of whom happen to be particularly interested in theater and other creative arts. The subject of architecture in general and Frank Lloyd Wright in particular popped up during one such recent gathering over Indian food.  Our friends burbled enthusiastically about their past visits to various Wright buildings and how beautiful they are. 

     I got into trouble when…

Below is an article I wrote on the Mapawatt Blog.  I thought I would share it here on Home Energy Pros as well.  Are you preparing your home for an electric car?

As my electric Porsche…

The title of this blog might strike you as kind of weird, especially this week. After all, the Electric Power Research Institute made the news with a study showing that smart grid is going to be far bigger than we first thought.

Smart grid in simplest terms brings to the electrical grid the digital intelligence of computers and the Internet. Just seven years ago EPRI expected smartening the grid to cost $165 billion.  But its new…

I am always looking for good information and resources to share with customers about building science.  I really want to engage people to understand building science, and empower them to work on their own homes more.  Sometimes, the task of deconstructing misinformation is bigger than I realize...

Cruizing the internet this afternoon, seeking recources for some customers who intend to take on their own basment remodel.  I have found lots of good DIY guides on the DIY Network,…

First off, there is no law actually calling for the death of the incandescent.  The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 actually states…

At a job site meeting this past week, our newest design clients handed Abe a small pile of dog-eared, marked-up “inspiration” magazines. They contained pictures and ideas collected by the homeowners, and demonstrated their affection for clean lines, neutral colors, and a judicious use of space. …