The Portland City Council voted 6-3 to become the first community in Maine to require large businesses and residential buildings to report their energy usage to the city.
The vote comes after South Portland rejected a similar measure, citing privacy concerns.
City Councilor Jon Hinck, who chairs the Energy and Sustainability Committee, said the proposal is consistent with previous environmental initiatives the city has signed onto, some of which date to 2005.
“It’s 2016 – we haven’t made that much progress,” Hinck said.
Councilors Nicholas Mavodones, David Brenerman and Edward Suslovic voted against the measure. They supported the goal of tracking energy usage for buildings, but they were concerned that the city had not done enough outreach to affected property owners.
Read More (The Portland Press Herald)
For forty years, the Energy Department’s Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) has advanced greater energy efficiency in low-income households for the elderly, disabled, and families through grants to states, territories, and Native American tribes. It is estimated that more than 50 million homes are eligible for weatherization improvements. To date, the federal program has helped weatherize more than 7 million homes, helping to improve the health and safety of occupants while reducing energy bills. Home energy costs can be especially high during cold winter months.
WAP services every political subdivision in the country through a strong network of 59 grantees: 50 states, the District of Columbia, five U.S. territories, and three select Native American tribes. These grantees contract with a network of almost 800 community action agencies, nonprofits, and local governments to install cost-effective energy conservation measures in homes.
Weatherization upgrades typically enhance insulation, air sealing, heating and cooling systems. Recently solar PV installations were also added to the program. These improvements reduce carbon pollution, save families money, and prevent low-income Americans from having to choose between food, medicine, and heat for their home.
Read more (Energy.gov)
Smart meters are now the rule, rather than the exception, for U.S. electric utilities. According to a new report from the Edison Foundation, a utility-funded think tank, the country had installed 65 million smart meters as of 2015, and that figure is projected to rise to 70 million by the end of 2016, making up more than half of all households in the country.
Edison’s latest data on the blooming U.S. advanced metering infrastructure market only includes meters that can “measure and record electricity usage data hourly, or more frequently, and allow for two-way communication between the electric companies and their customers.” That excludes so-called “drive-by” meters, or automated meter reading (AMR) systems, which account for tens of millions more customers across the country.
Since they now outnumber their AMR or electromechanical ancestors, “smart meters are the new business as usual” for utilities, the report declares. “Electric companies across the U.S. are leveraging smart meter data to better monitor the health of the energy grid, more quickly restore electric service when outages occur, integrate distributed energy resources, deliver energy information to customers, and provide smart pricing options to customers.”
Read More (Greentech Media)
On Sept. 22, our two organizations participated in an event with significant implications for families and businesses throughout the region. The Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce, which recognizes that clean energy delivers real economic benefits to the businesses and communities of Southwest Virginia, hosted Governor McAuliffe and business leaders, including Trane, at a Clean Energy Business Roundtable. The discussion highlighted how clean energy businesses can bring economic development and job growth to communities in Southwest Virginia. Governor McAuliffe’s presence demonstrated his strong commitment to building a robust clean energy sector as part of the New Virginia Economy.
At the roundtable, the chamber, Trane and other attendees talked about how growth in renewable energy and energy efficiency services is a win-win for the region and the state, bringing economic development and a bright future for workers today and for future generations. Renewable energy and energy efficiency companies, including both producers and consumers on a residential and industrial scale, had the opportunity to show the governor and other elected leaders the considerable economic impact we are having on the region.
We discussed ways to grow the clean energy sector, by expanding existing clean energy programs and establishing new policies to create more opportunities for energy efficiency and renewable energy. The goal we all share is to attract more businesses to every region of the commonwealth and make us a national leader in clean energy.
Read More (The Roanoke Times)
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.
Read More (ACEEE)
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.
Read More (ACEEE)
