March 18th, 2010 () Energy Efficiency, Nuclear, Utilities › John D. Wilson › 4 Comments
“Energy efficiency can create 38,000 new jobs for North Carolinians while saving consumers $3.6 billion in energy bills, and meet one quarter of NC’s energy needs,” according to a new report released today by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE). More jobs, lower energy bills … and hundreds of million dollars in stronger [...]
January 25th, 2010 () Energy Efficiency, Green Economy › John D. Wilson › 3 Comments
Well, Gil, solar isn’t the only clean energy industry that shows promising growth. According to Elisha Wood, investors and the public are backing energy efficiency with their cash.
“VCs and angels—have targeted the energy efficiency as the next frontier in green tech investing,” the report said, noting that “a slew of money” was channeled into software [...]
January 7th, 2010 () Climate Action › John D. Wilson › 1 Comment
Here’s a question: Who do you trust more to explain climate change science, a dead scientist or a TV weathercaster?
Real Climate writes about the 1950s-era scientist who attempted to forecast the impact of global warming pollution on climate. Gavin Schmidt concludes that Gilbert Plass was “was correct about all of the big issues,” but “lucky” [...]
January 6th, 2010 () Clean Energy › John D. Wilson › 2 Comments
Across the southeast and beyond, we’ve been “enjoying” a pretty crisp cold snap. For my family, it started with a lovely, deep and playful snowfall the weekend before Christmas. That brought the kids outdoors - but the recent colder temperatures made outdoor activities planned for New Year’s a hurried affair.
We’ve also been using our fireplace. [...]
December 14th, 2009 () Climate Action, Copenhagen '09 › John D. Wilson › No Comments
While our colleagues Stephen Smith and Jennifer Rennicks are in Copenhagen, this handy widget helps remind us that we have a long way to go. Keep up the pressure!
November 4th, 2009 () Energy Efficiency, Media Roundup, Utilities › John D. Wilson › 2 Comments
Next week, a former editorial board editor is one of five Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) members who will direct Florida’s major utilities to pursue energy efficiency efforts over the next five years. Will we get more of the same, as the utilities and the Commission staff suggest, or will Florida take a step towards [...]
October 26th, 2009 () Climate Action › John D. Wilson › 6 Comments
Some polls suggest the public seems to be cooling a bit to concern about global warming. For some reason, this graph comes to mind, and reminds me how remarkable it is that scientists alerted us to global warming as soon as they did.
I did two college class projects in the late 1980s on global [...]
October 21st, 2009 () Energy Efficiency, Utilities › John D. Wilson › 1 Comment
This post is co-authored by Brandi Colander, NRDC, and John D. Wilson, SACE.
Florida is the dim bulb in the otherwise efficiency-dark Southeast, and the 2009 Energy Efficiency Scorecard from ACEEE shows how badly its electric utilities are dragging Florida’s ranking down. Slipping from 19th to 23rd in the country in a much-improved study, the impact [...]
October 19th, 2009 () Clean Energy › John D. Wilson › 2 Comments
“The sun was not shining, it was too wet too play . . .” but the ZEROW House was still generating away!
With apologies to Dr. Seuss, I have to put in a big plug for the students of Rice University (my alma mater) and the other Solar Decathlon teams that braved a “stunning streak of [...]
October 15th, 2009 () Energy Efficiency, Utilities › John D. Wilson › 5 Comments
The Florida Public Service Commission staff have just issued their recommendation for the next decade of energy efficiency programs in Florida. Their recommendation, see document 10584-09, is to stick with the status quo, burdening Florida with billions of dollars in unnecessary energy costs and the construction of unnecessary power plants costing tens of billions of [...]