(Please note that all blog entries and comments are subject to review prior to posting.)
While we will do our best to monitor all comments and blog posts for accuracy and relevancy, Home Energy is not responsible for content posted by our readers or third parties. Home Energy reserves the right to edit or remove comments or blog posts that do not meet our community guidelines.
Building America Retrofit Alliance (BARA) offers an easy-to-follow video perspective on home performance and why it matters. It's fun, simple, and will hopefully be the beginning of a wider dialogue about home performance. What do you think? [continue reading]
My electricity bill looks like it was designed to confuse customers. I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in feeling this way. Fees with seven decimal places, a "multiplier," distribution, transmission, generation charges, a single "kwh" usage amount. My home address is listed in four seperate places. There are TEN different phone numbers listed (yes, 10). The only aspect of my electricity usage that is clear is the amount I owe ... [continue reading]
For a long time, "clean" and "green" marked the forward trend in the energy industry. Then came the quest for "smart" energy. And now "innovation" is the buzzword. [continue reading]
On Friday, The New York Times published an article titled "In Fuel Oil Country, Cold That Cuts to the Heart." The article, about the Hartford's, an elderly couple in Maine who can't afford to pay for the oil needed to heat their (rather leaky) home, is both heart-wrenching and inspiring. [continue reading]
It was during a Double Jeopardy round a couple of weeks ago that I actually realized how much I’ve learned in my Assistant Editor role here at Home Energy. As one (actual) contestant asked for the $1,600 clue under the Architecture category, I waited at home, on my couch, to shout the answer. [continue reading]
A recent report produced by the Preservation Green Lab of the National Trust for Historic Preservation provides the most comprehensive analysis to date of the potential environmental benefit of building reuse. This study, The Greenest Building: Quantifying the Environmental Value of Building Reuse, concludes that, "when comparing buildings of equivalent size and function, building reuse almost always offers environmental savings over demolition and new construction." [continue reading]
As mandated under the Clean Air Act, a suite of upcoming air regulations will soon impose limits on the emissions of multiple air pollutants. A new report done by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) reveals how energy efficiency can be used by states, policymakers, and utilities developing compliance strategies to meet the goals of federal air regulations. The report, “Energy Efficiency: The Slip Switch to a New Track Toward Compliance with ... [continue reading]
A recent report by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) suggests the possibility. Re-invented with today’s smart energy technologies, energy efficiency could displace 40 to 60 percent of our total energy needs by the year 2050, according to The Long-Term Energy Efficiency Potential: What the Evidence Suggests. [continue reading]
Last week, the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) released a proposal by Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) that, if adopted, would create the nation’s first statewide on-bill repayment (OBR) program for energy efficiency and renewable energy upgrades to be financed entirely by third parties. [continue reading]
By a 3-0 vote at the end of last week, the California Energy Commission adopted a minimum energy efficiency standard for battery chargers, making California the first state in the nation to do so. [continue reading]
