Energy efficiency

Berkeley Lab has taken a long, hard look at California and come up with a simple, step-by-step recipe for reducing the state's emissions of carbon and other greenhouse gases to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. The recipe is pretty simple, and relies on three primary components: energy efficiency; carbon-free electricity generation; and electrifying vehicles and processes that use oil, gasoline or natural gas.

Here are the three steps:

Step One: Energy efficiency

The Environment Protection Agency and the Department of Energy have just released their new, piping hot automotive fuel economy guide for consumers. The purpose of the guide is to help you find a car that won't force you to sell one of your children into indentured servitude every time you fill up your SUV.

Also, spewing a little less toxic smog into the air when you drive around is apparently good for various public health, geopolitical, economical and environmental reasons, but don't let that stop you. Even totally unenlightened self-interest should be enough to do the job in this case.

Washington, D.C. -- As interest in high-speed rail (HSR) surges around the world, the number of countries running these trains is expected to nearly double over the next few years, according to new research by the Worldwatch Institute for Vital Signs Online. By 2014, high-speed trains will be operating in nearly 24 countries, including China, France, Italy, Japan, Spain, and the United States, up from only 14 countries today. The increase in HSR is due largely to its reliability and ability to cover vast geographic distances in a short time, to investments aimed at connecting once-isolated regions, and to the diminishing appeal of air travel, which is becoming more cumbersome because of security concerns.

Improving the energy efficiency of America’s hospitals by 10 percent would save $740 million annually in energy bills

11/07/2011 -- WASHINGTON – Healthcare organizations spend $7.4 billion in energy costs each year. To improve energy efficiency, thousands of hospitals rely on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Energy Star tools to help track consumption and prioritize facilities for energy upgrades. Today, EPA released an important update to Energy Star's national energy performance scale methodology for hospitals. The updated performance scale will help hospitals better assess their energy performance and make more informed financial and investment decisions in order to cut costs and improve their energy efficiency.

Purchase ‘Energy Star’ Items Tax-Free This Weekend

11/3/2011 -- North Carolina consumers will be able to find significant savings on the purchase of energy efficient appliances during the state’s annual tax-free ENERGY STAR weekend, which runs Friday, Nov. 4 through Sunday, Nov. 6. The tax-free weekend gives consumers a break from state and local taxes on big-ticket items such as clothes washers, freezers, refrigerators and other appliances that carry the “Energy Star” label.

November 3, 2011 - WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Energy today announced the winners of the 2011 Department of Energy (DOE) Sustainability Awards. These awards recognize the achievements of DOE employees whose leadership and cost-reducing initiatives have saved taxpayer money by reducing the Department’s use of energy, water, and paper, while improving the energy efficiency of Federal buildings and vehicles. DOE’s sustainability initiatives saved more than $4 million in FY 2010 alone. Awards were presented to individuals, teams, and organizations for improving energy, water and fleet efficiency, as well as reducing pollution and waste across the agency’s facilities, including its National Laboratories.

‘Founding Circle’ schools and organizations have already committed $65 million in advance of official launch

At a time when many colleges are struggling with budget cuts and rising energy costs, return-oriented “green revolving funds” are growing in popularity partly for their potential in financing energy efficiency upgrades.

The Billion Dollar Green Challenge, a higher education initiative to help create green jobs and lower campus operating costs, aims to encourage that trend.

World Economic Forum report on the retrofit market outlines practical recommendations for policy-makers to stimulate energy efficiency investments in existing commercial buildings.

Key finding: Establishment of a national standardized energy consumption and efficiency rating system.
Recommendations from six in-depth country case studies: China, Japan, US, UK, Germany and Australia, with Australia highlighted as having the most mature market to date.

Michigan and Illinois Among the Most Improved

2011 Energy Scorecard Top 10 Also Includes NY, OR, VT, WA, RI, MN, CT, MD; States Most in Need of Improvement Are: ND, WY, MS, KS, OK, SC, WV, MO, AL, and SD … While MI, IL, NE, TN, AL and MD Are Six Most Improved States.

October 20, 2011 -- Washington, D.C.—A sour U.S. economy, tight state budgets, and a failure by Congress to adopt a comprehensive energy strategy have not slowed the growing momentum among U.S. states toward increased energy efficiency, according to the fifth edition of the annual ACEEE State Energy Efficiency Scorecard released today by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) during a National Press Club news conference.

October 20, 2011 -- WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. General Services Administrator Martha Johnson announced GSA’s Net Zero Renovation Challenge. The new initiative challenges the private sector to improve the energy performance of federal buildings through the use of Energy Service Performance Contracts (ESPCs), aiming for net-zero energy use. ESPCs are a way to leverage private funding for building retrofits.