A vast gap exists between the detailed information financial institutions need to support energy efficiency financing and the limited data they currently have. Several examples suggest these loan programs can succeed, but there are no large datasets supporting investment in energy efficiency.

Providing energy efficiency loans could give financial (more…)

How do you consume electricity in your home? For many households, this isn’t a question often considered. The question “How much do you spend on electricity?” resonates more with households and bill payers. Most people need an easy and actionable plan for managing costs, which at the same time will reduce overall energy consumption. Understanding (more…)

The Department of Energy and several interesting partners (both BOMA and NRDC, for example) have launched a website consolidating green lease resources.  It is available here.  A number of public agency versions of leases, as well as some guidance documents are included.

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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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IBM is teaming up with the Sonoma County Water Agency (SCWA), which supplies water to more than 600,000 people in Northern California’s wine country, to provide innovative “smart water analytics” solutions for water conservation. IBM’s research center in Haifa Israel has developed a water pressure management solution which enables water pressure adjustments (more…)

The US economy is three times larger than China’s, yet when it comes to developing a clean energy industry, China keeps besting us. The US came in second – again – to China this quarter in Ernst & Young’s much-watched renewable energy ranking released February 28. (more…)

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is not going to solve the world’s problems. If it were that easy, the problems would have been solved by now. Rather, CSR is a way for companies to benefit themselves while also benefitting society. When I define CSR to the uninitiated, I typically get three reactions. To a few, it evokes a response that asks, “Isn’t that a bunch of (more…)

Balancing the big picture with the details can be tricky. However, finding this balance can be very powerful when addressing a building’s energy needs and energy costs.

One way of achieving good balance is to take an integrated approach that looks at the synergistic (more…)

This is the era of Big Oil. Could the next be the era of Big Efficiency?

A new report by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy 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 (more…)

In theory, automation is supposed to be helpful. Then I read an article the other day about the most embarrassing cell phone auto-corrections. Most are a little too racy to share, but the examples illustrate the challenges that can come with automated functions (like a cell phone’s auto-correct). (more…)