The phrase “energy efficiency” pops up all the time. Why? Because it’s a big deal. Energy efficiency is now the nation’s third-largest “electricity resource.” The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) believes this is a significant story, and we do too. Consider this: energy efficiency saves American households about $840 a year, on average.
ACEEE continues: “This paper quantifies the energy savings and other benefits from a set of energy efficiency programs and policies. We examine the combined savings from appliance and equipment efficiency standards, utility-sector energy efficiency programs, and building energy codes.”
The planet is desperate due to a lack of conservation and the overall exhaustion that has resulted from inefficient means of producing and using energy. Personal choices and technologies that improve efficiency have grown in competitiveness and adoption, though.
The ACEEE report shows that efficiency lowers pollution, and it reduces energy burdens for those most in need. It is a core strategy to halt climate change worldwide.
Read the full story. (Clean Technica)
Nest’s smart thermostats are a device for the upscale and energy-aware consumer. But they’re also a resource for grid stability — when there are enough of them out there to make a difference.
In Southern California, where the Aliso Canyon emergency is threatening to cause blackouts next summer, Nest believes it can get 50,000 of them together to help keep the lights on.
Nest’s new deal with partner Southern California Edison was announced last month as part of the utility’s rushed response to the shutdown of the Aliso Canyon natural-gas storage facility. It calls for Nest to deliver about 50 megawatts, or 1 kilowatt per home, in reliable load reduction across a stretch of Southern California grid that may run short of power during hot afternoons next summer.
This is Nest’s biggest demand response contract so far, but it’s not being built from scratch. “We’ll be tapping our existing installed base to provide immediate relief,” said Ben Bixby, energy businesses director for the Alphabet (Google)-owned company, said in an interview last week.
Read the full story. (Greentech Media)
More than three years after getting into the consumer-priced LED bulb business, Durham LED firm Cree has unveiled what it’s calling a “completely new portfolio” of bulb products.
“Cree has zigged when the industry has zagged,” Al Safarikas, Cree vice president of marketing for consumer products, said Tuesday in an interview following the product launch. He points to what he calls both “better light” and a “better warranty” associated with the new bulbs, which were developed, engineered and marketed out of Cree’s Durham headquarters.
Read the full story. (Triangle Business Journal)
Companies usually don’t allow managers from other businesses to poke around their facilities, with television cameras no less, and criticize how they do things.
But that is just what happens in “Better Buildings Challenge Swap,” a reality-video series produced by the Energy Department in which two companies give each other an up-close look at their in-house energy uses and practices. The first season, with three episodes, stars Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. and Whole Foods Market Inc., and has more than 400,000 hits on YouTube.
Each episode is produced in the faux-dramatic style typical of competition-based reality television series. The two evaluating teams, comprising three members from each company, are free to roam about the other’s operation, take notes and issue judgments. Afterward, both sides join around a table to discuss what it thinks the other is doing right—and where it could improve.
The results can be revealing, sometimes embarrassingly so. But, the Energy Department hopes, productive as well.
Read the full story and watch the videos. (Wall Street Journal)
SANTA CLARITA, Calif.—The KB Home development here looks like any other middle-class subdivision in Southern California—rows of stucco houses with tiled roofs and two-car garages—except for the sticker on the entryway of one of its showcase units.
The sticker displays the average monthly cost to heat and cool the home and run the appliances: $119, compared with $252 for a standard-built home of similar size. If an owner adds solar panels, the monthly bill would drop to near zero.
Buried inside the extra-thick walls of these homes are layers of high-density fiberglass insulation flanked by rigid foam boards taped together at the seams to forge a thermal barrier. Every crevice, duct and electrical outlet is coated with a special sealant to prevent leakage.
“We’ve turned the home into an airtight fortress,” says Jacob Atalla, KB Home’s vice president for sustainability. All of the nearly 2,300 houses the company built in California last year were equipped with similar energy-saving features. Some had even more. The company presold all of them, at premiums of 1.5% to 3.8% above the price of similar homes without those features.
Read the full story. (Wall Street Journal)
Companies usually don’t allow managers from other businesses to poke around their facilities, with television cameras no less, and criticize how they do things.
But that is just what happens in “Better Buildings Challenge Swap,” a reality-video series produced by the Energy Department in which two companies give each other an up-close look at their in-house energy uses and practices. The first season, with three episodes, stars Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. and Whole Foods Market Inc., and has more than 400,000 hits on YouTube.
Each episode is produced in the faux-dramatic style typical of competition-based reality television series. The two evaluating teams, comprising three members from each company, are free to roam about the other’s operation, take notes and issue judgments. Afterward, both sides join around a table to discuss what it thinks the other is doing right—and where it could improve.
The results can be revealing, sometimes embarrassingly so. But, the Energy Department hopes, productive as well.
Read the full story and watch the videos (Wall Street Journal).
Charley Juris, recently retired as a custom home builder, thought his career was behind him when took a phone call from a neighbor who thought her furnace was on fire. Fortunately, it wasn’t – but he enjoyed helping her find the most energy- and cost-efficient solution to replace it.
That experience launched him toward what is now a one-stop shop in Alexandria, Virginia designed to help owners of existing homes who want to cut their energy bills way back – to near-zero where possible – without sacrificing comfort.
Juris’ success in a state with relatively low electricity rates and virtually no government or utility incentives for conserving energy or renewable energy systems signals how a market for integrated and holistic energy solutions may be underserved in Virginia and perhaps elsewhere. Juris calls his answer to this market need the Energy House Solutions Center.
After fielding, and turning down, requests from potential clients for one-off installations of more efficient energy systems, “that’s where my idea of a solutions center hit me,” said Juris, who recently turned 62. Rather than take on one-off jobs, he embarked on recasting customers’ entire energy systems and supporting materials such as the latest insulation.
Charley Juris
Charley Juris
“The only way to make it work is to be part of the overall design and construction process. We help people design energy efficiency into the remodels and work with contractors we’ve vetted who have proven to us they’ll do it right and for a fair price.
Read the full story. (Southeast Energy News)
During a day-long tour of three locations receiving energy efficiency improvements, Governor McAuliffe challenged Dominion Virginia Power to accelerate outreach efforts by attending 400 events in the next 12 months, reaching as many as 240,000 people. This would double the number of events held and people reached by Dominion compared to last year. The outreach is intended to educate Virginians about the value of energy efficiency in reducing energy consumption and lowering their power bills.
“The progress we have made over the past year demonstrates the impact simple, low-cost energy efficiency measures can have on lowering energy bills,” said Governor McAuliffe, speaking at the first of three stops today. “In addition to working directly with consumers to use energy more efficiently, I am challenging Dominion to expand its efforts to educate people on the value of energy conservation and how reducing energy consumption can save them money. Our electric utilities are in the perfect position to drive this education and outreach, which is what this challenge is all about.”
“We accept Gov. McAuliffe’s challenge to reach even more low-income customers with solutions to reduce energy consumption,” said Robert M. Blue, president of Dominion Virginia Power. “We will continue to place strong emphasis on the energy efficiency measures that any consumers can take to reduce energy usage and save on their bills.”
Read the full story. (Governor’s press release)
Recognizing that energy efficiency remains the cleanest, cheapest energy resource, SELC recently filed comments in the North Carolina Utilities Commission in support of changes sought by Duke Energy to its Helping Home Fund—a $20 million, low-income ratepayer assistance program. SELC represents the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, the North Carolina Housing Coalition, the North Carolina Council of Churches, and North Carolina Interfaith Power & Light in this docket.
Duke Energy’s efficiency program has the potential to make a significant impact on the bottom line for low-income households, where energy bills require a disproportionate amount of monthly expenses. Energy efficiency improvements such as appliance upgrades, heating/cooling system replacements, wall, floor and ceiling insulation, and duct sealing and repair can greatly improve energy usage in a home, saving families hundreds of dollars every year. These upgrades help to lower customer bills, improve the health and comfort of homes, reduce emissions of carbon and other harmful air pollutants, and create jobs. Low-income families in North Carolina have the most to gain from these efficiency upgrades, but face the biggest obstacles to paying for those investments.
Duke Energy’s proposal includes several commendable improvements to the Helping Home Fund, such as increasing spending limits for home health and safety repairs or appliance replacements and expanding the program to include the facilities of shelters and other nonprofit agencies that serve low-income individuals.
Read the full story. (Southern Environmental Law Center)
In 2002, Stu Rose and Trina Duncan moved into the first home in a tiny Virginia neighborhood focused on achieving net zero energy use and sustainable living. Fourteen years later, the Garden Atriums community near the Chesapeake Bay is complete and nearly independent of the energy grid.
Six of the seven homes are occupied. Husband and wife developers Rose and Duncan have downsized into the final home and have placed the original nearly 5,000 square foot prototype house on the market.
More than 12,000 people have visited the community. Rose has spoken at events ranging from local Sierra Club to a NASA sustainability conference as well as to groups in Ireland, Finland and Canada. He’s also working with a screenwriter on a movie.
Monthly energy bills are zero most of the year and under $100 even during peak times, compared to $200-$400 and more for homes of similar size, Rose says. PV panels and geothermal systems power the homes. Rooftop water heaters provide hot water. Garden Atrium homes build credit with Dominion Virginia Power during the fall, winter and spring and then use those credits when running air conditioning during the summer. Each homeowner pays $8.40 a month for being hooked up to the grid.
Passive energy storage is via stones, fountains and other features that soak up sunlight from the atriums and release heat at night. “The design intent is to be sure there’s enough thermal mass to keep the house comfortable until the sun comes up the next morning,” Rose says.
Read the full story. (Southeast Energy News)
