You know that experience, when you buy a new car, and suddenly you see the model everywhere? Since Superstorm Sandy I’ve had the equivalent experience with the term ‘microgrid.’

Policymakers and thought leaders in the US Northeast started talking microgrid in earnest shortly (more…)

The Court of Appeals of the State of New Mexico handed down a limited win for energy code advocates, holding that adopting changes to building codes that removed energy conservation provisions without any justification violated administrative procedure. The decision is available here.

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The fifty billion dollar (yes, that’s $50,000,000,000) Hurricane Sandy Relief Bill (the "Relief Bill") is headed to President Obama’s desk for his signature. The Full Text of the bill is available here  

The Relief Bill provides several different opportunities for the Federal government to encourage states to adopt up-to-date building codes by tying distribution (more…)

On June 26, 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decided the BIA v. State of Washington case. The opinion can be downloaded here.

 In its decision, the Ninth Circuit held that the Washington State energy efficient building code was not preempted by Federal law.  This ruling was (more…)

PennEnvironment released the "Building A Better America" study yesterday quantifying the benefits of strong building codes and other policies promoting energy efficiency.  A press release summarizing the findings is available here, and the study can be downloaded here. 

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Building energy codes that require increased energy efficiency are one of the most effective mechanisms for reducing energy consumption of our building stock. It has been stated that building energy codes are the “quickest, cheapest and cleanest way to improve energy efficiency in the building sector.”  (more…)

It’s a commonly held perception that Europe leads the Western world with respect to energy efficiency. In many ways, it’s true. Europeans tend to live in smaller homes than Americans and are less fond of air conditioning and other energy-intensive equipment and appliances. The Passivhaus standard, which has (more…)

A lot of attention has been paid to creating a greener building stock by incorporating green building practices into building codes.  The development of the International Green Construction Code is just one example.

However, there are two primary components to every regulation–policy and process.  Both components (more…)

California’s energy-efficiency policies will create over 200,000 jobs by 2020, but the state could be creating more and better-quality jobs.

The Don Vial Center on Employment in the Green Economy, part of the University of California-Berkeley’s Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, released a (more…)

Last week, the President visited manufacturers in Wisconsin who are focused on creating the clean energy products of the future. Today, he continues taking his agenda for innovation and a new energy economy on the road, visiting an Energy Innovation Hub in State College, Pennsylvania.

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