FEATURES AND NEWS
A compromise between the astronomical community and city officials in Las Cruces, NM on LED street lighting has been reached, according to the Las Cruces Sun. The city is in the process of retrofitting 7,563 streetlights with LEDs. The new fixtures are bright. Indeed, the story says that they could ... Read more »
According to research results released recently by the Boulder, Colorado-based Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), more than 20 U.S. corporations of all sizes announced renewable energy deals last year – and 15 of them were first-time buyers, accounting for 67 percent of the 2015 market. Among the most active buyers were ... Read more »
Emera Maine – an investor-owned electric transmission and distribution utility serving 159,000 customers in the northern, central and eastern parts of the Pine Tree State – has asked the Maine Public Utilities (PUC) for an increase in distribution rates of $6.6 million (Case No. 2015-00360), to become effective in 2017. ... Read more »
Over the past two decades, sustainability has become more than a fad or just a buzz word. Research shows that sustainability has real business benefits when conscientiously integrated into business operations. Six major advantages for practicing sustainability are: 1. Improved brand image and competitive advantage. Surveying more than 53,000 U.S. ... Read more »
Facilities managers must get “on board” with building information modeling (BIM) and realize its benefits or else they risk “falling into a ‘death valley of know-how’ in terms of the loss of valuable information and realizing BIMs potential added value,” according to a facilities management event speaker. FM World reports ... Read more »
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Carbon pricing, in the form of a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade system, is used by businesses and governments all over the world to cut greenhouse gas emissions and, according to proponents, grow the economy. Critics say the opposite is true, but more on that later. Carbon pricing pushes companies ... Read more »
The staff of the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) issued a formal request (Project Number 45730) for comments on March 16 regarding the shopping function of the Power to Choose website (www.powertochoose.com). At its open meeting on February 11, the commission reviewed and discussed the website’s shopping function – ... Read more »
Reliant Energy Retail Services – a subsidiary of NRG that claims to provide 23 million megawatt hours (mWh) of power annually to customers nationwide – announced on March 21 that Texas residential customers who sign up for the new fixed-rate Power on the Go plan also will receive a free ... Read more »
The commercial and industrial (C&I) energy storage market in the United States, led by California, is growing, according to Navigant Research. The firm predicts that the sector will grow from $968.4 million this year to $10.8 billion in 2025. Capacity will expand from 499.4 MW this year to 9.1 GW by ... Read more »
Legislators in Orlando, Florida, are considering requiring owners of large buildings to report their energy and water use publicly. The story at The Orlando Sentinel says that the city is one of 15 nationwide considering such measures. The rules, which would include fines for buildings that don’t comply, could reach the city ... Read more »
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A report from the U.S. Department of Energy says that 1.9 million people were employed last year in energy efficiency-related businesses. This year, that number is expected to grow by 257,000. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story on the study – entitled “United States Energy and Employment Report” – said that researchers found ... Read more »
Industrial manufacturing firm Sulzer has introduced a submersible recirculation pump for water and wastewater applications. The new pump series, ABS XRCP 800 PA, was developed for the pumping and recirculation of activated sludge in wastewater treatment plants during the nitrification and denitrification process, as well as for the pumping of ... Read more »
For those that may have missed it, the $50 billion-plus professional cleaning industry has become one of the “greenest” industries in the U.S.
Sustainability and energy management company Ecova is expanding its operations to Europe — the company’s first expansion outside North America — by taking over management of Power Efficiency Limited. Power Efficiency is a European energy procurement and carbon reduction consultancy. Like Ecova, Power Efficiency provides energy procurement services, invoice validation, portfolio ... Read more »
“Nissan leads the charge on battery electric vehicles with its Leaf model a global best seller, Renault’s battery electric vehicle the Zoe received the top technical score from CDP, while Volkswagen — who have the serious challenge of restoring trust and brand credibility ahead of them — launched five new ... Read more »
Atlantic City Electric (ACE) – now a subsidiary of Exelon that serves about 547,000 electric customers in southern New Jersey – asked the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) on March 22 to authorize (Docket No. ER16030252) a base rate adjustment of $78.9 million to help pay for reliability ... Read more »
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has dismissed a potential $50 million class action suit (Case 2:15-cv-00773-CDJ/Civil Action No. 15-773) brought on behalf of plaintiff John D. Orange and all others similarly situated against retailer Starion Energy. Starion Energy currently operates in ten deregulated markets ... Read more »
The advocacy group, Industrial Energy Consumers of America (IECA), sent a letter on March 15 to the chairmen and ranking members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance and the U.S. Committee on Ways and Means, urging them to extend the combined heat and power (CHP) business energy investment tax ... Read more »
WaterSmart Software has launched a suite of communication and segmentation tools to help water utilities better communicate drinking water quality to their customers. WaterSmart eQuality is designed to make drinking water quality easily understandable to all residents, with a focus on building trust with disadvantaged communities that are often most ... Read more »
Energy aggregator Good Energy says that the concept is growing and will roll out across more states during 2016 and beyond. Aggregation is an approach to energy procurement in which customers in a given community band together to get better deals than they would individually. This approach to date has mostly ... Read more »
Governor Andrew Cuomo said this week that 112,000 homes, hospitals, schools and commercial buildings in New York have started or completed energy efficiency initiatives through state programs. Most of the startups, naturally, are homes. About 90,000 of the projects involve homes. The projects are estimated to save $341 million in annual ... Read more »
The Pitkin (CO) County commissioners have approved a $500,000 allocation that will enable the Renewable Energy Mitigation Program (REMP) to outfit affordable housing rental units with energy efficiency features. The county, which includes Aspen, approved the steps for Truscott I and II, Marolt Ranch and Burlingame seasonable affordable housing rental units. The ... Read more »
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Environmental Defense Fund, however, says the decision could set a precedent as investors increasingly demand disclosure about climate-related risks to business. “As investors better understand the significant risks they face from both carbon and methane emissions, they’re realizing the oil and gas sector isn’t providing this kind of information. Recent ... Read more »
How the Green Datacenter Revolution Affects Your Website What increasingly energy efficient datacenter design can mean for you When you hire a company to host your website, you’re basically paying that company to arrange for the code to your website to made available to computers around the world, 24/7/365. That ... Read more »