Governor Terry McAuliffe unveiled his update to the 2014 Energy Plan at a ribbon cutting for a new solar installation at Monticello High School in Albemarle County. The update, titled “Energy in the New Virginia Economy,” highlights the significant progress the McAuliffe administration has made on his strategic energy priorities to build a new Virginia economy. The event showcased the installation of solar energy generating systems at six Albemarle County public schools, totaling more than 1 megawatt of solar energy.
“Today’s installation is the perfect venue to formally unveil an update on the progress we are making toward making Virginia a leader in the global energy economy,” said Governor McAuliffe, speaking at today’s announcement. “The clean energy sector has been a central part of our efforts to build a new Virginia economy and that effort has paid off as revenue in the sector has grown four-fold to $2 billion. The Albemarle County Public Schools project embodies the countless benefits of growing the clean industry such as lower energy bills and carbon emissions, more education for our students, and economic activity for our local businesses.”
“To grow the new Virginia economy, we must take an all of the above approach to energy policy,” said Secretary of Commerce and Trade Todd Haymore. “While we have attracted $500 million in capital investment in the clean energy industry, we must also ensure that Virginia consumers and businesses have access to affordable, reliable and diverse energy resources. The Governor’s energy plan update lays out how the administration’s success is driving Virginia’s energy economy forward.”
Read More (Augusta Free Press)
Gov. Terry McAuliffe attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday morning for a new solar panel installation at Monticello High School, taking the time to announce updates to his energy plan.
In Albemarle County, there are now six public schools, including Monticello High, that will receive a portion of its energy from solar-panel installations on their rooftops as part of a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Energy for America Program, according to a news release from the USDA. These systems are expected to generate enough electricity to power 125 homes.
The other five schools are Albemarle High, Greer Elementary, Brownsville Elementary, Baker-Butler Elementary and Sutherland Middle schools.
Read More (The Daily Progress)
SEAFORD, VA. — It looks like a mad scientist’s lab, something straight out of a sci-fi novel. Valves turn in every direction. Tubes are stacked halfway to the ceiling. Tiny bubbles dance in large vats of water.
But what’s happening in a hangar of the York River Treatment Plant is real, part of a grand experiment that could help keep this coastal region from continuing to subside and eventually being claimed by the rising sea. Over the next 15 months, tests will determine whether millions of gallons of wastewater can be purified to drinking water quality and injected into the ground.
If successful, the project of the Hampton Roads Sanitation District could start to replenish a giant aquifer that thousands of industries and half a million households in the area are sucking dry. Over the past five decades, they have collectively pumped out so much water that land here is falling 4 millimeters a year — or more than 1½ inches by 2026.
Read More (Washington Post)
The Energy Department’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory recently examined the carbon abatement potential of city actions in six policy areas as part of the DOE’s Cities Leading through Energy Analysis and Planning (Cities-LEAP) project. The analysis uses new data on energy use in more than 23,400 U.S. cities and estimates the aggregate impact of city actions related to: building energy codes, public transit, building energy incentives, rooftop photovoltaics, smart growth, and municipal actions. The results indicate that by 2035, these six common city-level policy approaches could reduce nationwide carbon emissions by 210-480 million metric tons of carbon emissions per year. That is a 7-19 percent reduction in carbon emissions for the average city relative to current city-level emissions.
The report, Estimating the National Carbon Abatement Potential of City Policies: A Data-Driven Approach, illustrates the comparative impacts of city-level energy actions and helps cities better understand how their particular climate and characteristics influence these impacts. For example, by enacting more stringent building energy codes, cities could reduce building energy use by about 10 percent on average. Due to higher natural gas use in colder climates, the carbon reduction potential of building energy code policies is almost double for cities in the Midwest. Comparatively, smart growth policies are about twice as effective for carbon abatement in eastern coastal cities than in other cities due to larger urban areas and more vehicle miles traveled.
Read More (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)
In the energy efficiency world, programs that reduce energy use by targeting human behavior are relatively few, but proliferating quickly. In 2013, some US states claimed as much as 28% of their energy efficiency savings from behavior change programs. Like Pokémon Go characters in the wild, some behavior change programs are common, well-known, and seen everywhere. Others are rare and largely unknown. Still others are rarely seen but hold great potential. Utility program administrators may be familiar with a few of these programs, but an expert guide can help identify others and explain the best methods for capturing, collecting and using all of them. A new ACEEE report provides a thorough guide for understanding the world of energy efficiency behavior change programs, and why they work.
Home Energy Reports, the Diglett of behavior change programs
By far, the most common behavior change program implemented by utility program administrators are home energy reports (HERs) that feature social comparison information. These programs reduce energy consumption by giving residents reports on their energy use every one to four months (in addition to their monthly energy bills). The reports tell residents how much energy they used in comparison to similar homes in their region and include tips on how to reduce energy consumption. HERs have been implemented by utilities since 2008 and consistently reduce electricity use by about 1-2% (and gas by roughly 0.5-1%) by the end of their second year. The ACEEE report summarizes 30 such programs that were evaluated since 2013, and examines questions such as: How long do savings persist? Should HERs be delivered by paper or email? Should participants be automatically enrolled? How frequently should HERs be delivered? Like Diglett, these programs are common and well known. They play a significant role in shaping the landscape of behavior programs.
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Behavior change programs are becoming a common method for reducing energy consumption and increasing energy efficiency. But what types of programs are out there, why do they work (or fail to work), and how effective are they? This report updates the 2013 ACEEE Field Guide to Utility-Run Behavior Change Programs, with new program evaluations, an analysis of major behavior change strategies, and a focus on programs with evaluated energy savings. We surveyed 296 recent reports, academic studies, and program evaluations, and had more than 60 personal communications with program administrators, energy program managers, and other experts. The report will help program administrators understand the variety of behavior program options that are available to them, and the degree to which they successfully change behavior and save energy.
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U.S. chemical companies including Honeywell and Chemours Co are ramping up efforts to produce alternative coolants used in air-conditioners and refrigerators, following a global pact to reduce planet-warming greenhouse house gas emissions.
On Saturday, some 150 nations struck a global agreement in Kigali, Rwanda, on ways to phase down hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) gases, which are currently used in air-cooling systems and refrigerators, and help curb the release of climate-warming emissions.
The accord is an amendment to the 1987 Montreal Protocol, which was aimed at stopping the depletion of the ozone layer. As part of a larger goal to globally reduce HFCs by 80 percent by 2047, signatories such as U.S., India and China have agreed to phase out the pollutants from cooling appliances starting 2019.
Read More (Reuters)
TreeHugger has been looking at the issues of solar power vs energy efficiency for years, how people pile solar panels on the roof to offset energy consumption instead of insulating, increasing supply instead of reducing demand. But since I first complained about this back in 2012 the price of rooftop solar has dropped in half. Under those circumstances, does it still make sense to tout efficiency over solar?
Read More (Tree Hugger)
The downward shift in global energy intensity has quickened its pace in recent years. But that still may not be enough to limit Earth’s temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency.
The IEA has turned its focus to energy efficiency as the cornerstone of sustainable energy policy in the face climate change. “We call energy efficiency the first fuel,” said Brian Motherway, head of energy efficiency for IEA. “Some countries have sun, some have oil, some have wind, but all countries have energy-efficiency resources.”
Investment in energy efficiency topped more than $220 billion in 2015, but that figure needs to be much larger. Last year the gains in energy efficiency, as measured by the drop in energy intensity, were three times what they were in 2013. Energy intensity is measured as the energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product.
Read the full story. (Greentech Media)
The hospitality industry in general, and big hotels in particular, can add a tremendous amount to the bottom line by focusing on energy efficiency. It isn’t that there are unique opportunities in the hospitality area that are seen nowhere else. It’s that just about every energy saving technology — from LEDs to efficient washing machines — can have great impact in hotels.
A typical large hotel is a 24×7 operation in which energy is poured into administrative offices, guest rooms, conference facilities, dining facilities and other areas.
Last week, Caribbean News Now reported that that The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Caribbean Clean Energy Program (CARCEP) and the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) signed an agreement aimed at creating beneficial energy policy reform, research and capability development, according to the story.
Read More (Energy Manager Today)
