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In “Money Well Spent: Industrial Energy Efficiency Program Spending in 2010“, the ACEEE details, for apparently the first time ever, the total U.S. industrial energy efficiency deployment and technical assistance at the federal, state and utility levels.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released its newly updated framework (Release 2.0) for the Smart Grid.

 

  The second version of the NIST Framework and Roadmap for Smart Grid Interoperability Standards (SGIP) adds 22 standards, specifications, and guidelines to the 75 standards NIST recommended in the 1.0 version released in January 2010.

PG&E provides funding, typically of up to a million dollars, to local government customers, including associations and quasi-government groups, to help them demonstrate and measure innovative ways to deliver energy savings.

On March 1, Senator Bingaman introduced a national Clean Energy Standard (CES)* to boost the amount of clean, safe, reliable renewable energy and energy efficiency produced in America, creating jobs, cutting pollution and reducing our dependence on foreign energy.  NRDC’s President discussed it here, while other Inside Climate News and CAP have written good breakdowns, and the CEO of utility NextEra issued a statement in support.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration projects energy consumption only through 2035. This is probably intelligent–crystal balls start to get a little hazy once you get past 25 years out.

This dissertation provides three independent research inquiries. The first examines how inter-governmental policy, site-specific, and social factors lead to the success, prolonged delay, or failure of inland wind power projects in New England. The three case studies examined include the 48 megawatt Glebe Mountain Wind Farm proposal in southern Vermont, the 30 megawatt Hoosac Wind Farm in western Massachusetts, and the 24 megawatt Lempster Wind Farm in southern New Hampshire. To ascertain why the project outcomes varied, 45 semi-structured interviews were conducted with a range of stakeholders, including wind development firms, utility companies, state regulatory agencies, regional planning commissions, town officials, land conservation organizations, and opposition groups.  The second study establishes a comprehensive set of thirty-seven explanatory variables to determine the amount of suitable land and the corresponding electricity generation potential within the prime wind resource areas of Western Massachusetts. The explanatory variables are incorporated into Boolean GIS suitability models which represent the two divergent positions towards wind power development in Massachusetts, and a third, balanced model. The third study determines that exurban residential development is not the only land use factor that reduces wind power development potential in Western Massachusetts. A set of Boolean GIS models for 1985 and 2009 find the onset of conservation easements on private lands having the largest impact. During this 25 year period a combination of land use conversion and land conservation has reduced the access to prime wind resource areas by 18% (11,601 hectares), an equivalent loss of 5,800-8,700 GWh/year of zero carbon electricity generation.  The six main findings from this research are: (1) Visual aesthetics remain the main factor of opposition to specific projects; (2) The Not-in-my Backyard debate for wind power remains unsettled; (3) Widespread support exists for regional land use energy plans; (4) The wind resources of Western Massachusetts can significantly contribute to the state’s current renewable portfolio standard while balancing conservation and renewable energy development objectives; However, (5) a combination of exurban residential development and conservation easements significantly reduces wind power development potential over time; and (6) a need exists to legally define wind as a publicly beneficial resource.

Part of what makes the military’s renewable energy projects so attractive to would-be investors is that the service owns so much land that lends itself to such projects.

The Arkansas Energy Office (AEO), a division of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, today announced 'Track and Save',  a new program that will allow library patrons the opportunity to check out kilowatt meters from public libraries throughout Arkansas to measure energy use at home.

The report says that officials continue to drag their feet on energy-saving renovations, only using a little over half of the nearly $186 million granted California for efficiency projects by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009.

AK Steel (NYSE: AKS) said today that revised energy efficiency standards proposed by the U.S. Department of Energy ("DOE") on February 1, 2012 are not expected to significantly impact the overall competitiveness of the company's grain-oriented electrical steels ("GOES") used in the manufacture of electrical distribution transformers.  In fact, AK Steel said that with respect to some types of distribution transformers the new standards have the potential for increasing the market for GOES.

In partnership with EEFG, Hawaii Energy is sponsoring a new Hawaii Energy Series.  This series offers classes to help sell energy efficiency retrofits.

This project will examine how people make decisions about appliance purchases and the effect that these choices have on energy demand. Currently, approximately half of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions are attributable to residential appliance use. However, consumers can reduce their long-run energy needs by replacing old appliances with ones that are more energy efficient. It is not surprising, then, that efficiency standards have been the cornerstone of U.S. energy conservation efforts to date. Unfortunately, the effect of these standards on appliance purchase behavior is not well understood. There are two primary reasons why. Current datasets lack crucial information, and even with appropriate data it is difficult to accurately model the dynamic aspect of appliance purchase behavior. This project addresses both of these issues.

What does that mean? It means that a large number of solar PV project developers believe they can deliver solar electricity at a very competitive price. And these aren't mega-projects either. All of the installations will be between 4.7 MW and 20 MW – a sweet spot for PV projects.

They come in many forms, but for the most part they are called solar leasing programs. You may also hear them called solar financing, solar power purchase agreements, or solar rental programs.

The cost of living in America has gone up about fifteen fold since the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776. Of course, not all prices have risen at the same rate.