FEATURES AND NEWS
A study by Harvard researchers suggests that renewable energy and energy efficiency initiatives contribute hundreds of millions of dollars by improving public health. These benefits are in addition to primary savings on energy. “Health and Climate Benefits of Different Energy-Efficiency and Renewable Energy Choices” was written by researchers from the ... Read more »
El Paso Electric is trying to eliminate a discounted rate under which schools, city and county facilities benefit. If the move is approved by the Public Utility Commission of Texas, entities in Rate 41 would move to regular commercial rates, according to the El Paso Times. That would result in ... Read more »
Enphase Energy has launched Envoy-S, a gateway that controls the Enphase Energy Management System. The company describes the system as an integrated scale platform for solar generation, control, energy management and storage. The new gateway provides usage data, remote updating and load management functions. Envoy S – which works with ... Read more »
Advanced lighting control (ALC) strategies have demonstrated the ability to curb electricity use in US buildings by more than 30 percent, according to a report released by the General Services Administration. Buildings.com provides a number of things to consider when evaluating ALCs to find the one that will best meet ... Read more »
The solar industry in the United States surpassed 20 GW of operational solar photovoltaic capacity during the second quarter of 2015, according to the quarterly report from GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association. The report says that 1,393 megawatts of photovoltaics were added last quarter. The residential sector ... Read more »
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The City Council of South Portland, ME has begun construction of a solid waste transfer station, which is part of long term $15.7 million energy efficient project. The project also includes a municipal services facility, which is slated to begin in March and be complete in June, 2017. The city this ... Read more »
Whether we drive a BMW or a rickshaw, there are issues that none of us can afford to ignore. That is why I’m optimistic about the forthcoming United Nation Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which will be adopted this month in New York. The 17 SDGs replace the Millennial Development Goals ... Read more »
The California EPA plans to label the main ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup a chemical “known to cause cancer.” According to a notice of intent published by the California EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, glyphosate, a widely used herbicide, will soon likely be required to carry a warning under ... Read more »
Unilever and the EPA are developing new scientific approaches to assess the safety of chemicals in consumer products without using animal data. The organizations say the new tools developed as part of the collaboration will quantify human health risks for thousands of chemicals. The EPA and Unilever will develop a ... Read more »
Short-Term Price Benchmark* Trends As we move out of August and into the shoulder months, ERC’s average power price benchmark reversed a three-week decline last week, moving up by a third of a percent (.32 percent), to a national average of $0.0790 per kilowatt-hour. The biggest increase was in Ohio ... Read more »
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It’s a real-life “Caddyshack” scenario but without Bill Murray’s humor and with major environment, health and safety violations. A Yakima, Washington orchard with a gopher problem has been fined $105,000 for violating laws that require employers to provide respirators and train workers using a toxic pesticide, EHS Today reports. The ... Read more »
California apartment buildings need better water management to reduce usage during the state’s ongoing drought, according to a study by WegoWise, a building efficiency software provider. The two-year study of water efficiency in multifamily buildings found that, on average, California apartment buildings used 6 percent less water in the first half ... Read more »
H2O Innovation will design and build a water reuse system for another dry California city — Carlsbad — during the state’s ongoing drought, the water treatment company says. The ultrafiltration system will have a 3 MGD (11,356 m3/d) capacity and will treat the effluent of the Encina Water Pollution Control Facility. ... Read more »
The New York City metro area’s first large-scale waste-to-energy project will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 40,000 tons annually, according to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who recently announced the launch of the anaerobic digester. The project is located at Long Island Compost’s 62-acre facility in Yaphank, New York. ... Read more »
Diageo yesterday became the newest member of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, joining the ranks of WBCSD’s almost 200 member companies. The alcoholic beverage company, which makes Guinness, Smirnoff and Johnnie Walker, among other major brands, has committed to reducing its water use and carbon emissions by 2020, ... Read more »
The Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated Roanoke plant has reduced its carbon emissions by 12 percent since 2004, completing a challenge by the Coca-Cola Company and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The Energy Challenge was launched in January, 2011 as an effort to improve plant performance at Coca-Cola’s 850 plants worldwide. It became ... Read more »
A multi-family housing project in Duluth is the first multifamily housing project to receive an EPA award for energy efficiency in Minnesota. The Steve O’Neil Apartment, which is used to shelter homeless people, won the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Certification. That means, according to Minnesota Public Radio News, ... Read more »
The global market for LED lamps and modules will total $216 billion from this year to 2024, according to Navigant Research. The researchers found that prices have dropped to the point that they are an economical choice and that the category is benefitting from the attention paid to LEDs’ energy ... Read more »
PPL Electric Utilities, which serves central and eastern Pennsylvania, got approval from state regulators last week to revise its smart meter program, according to citizensvoice.com. The okay came more than a year after a $450 million proposal to update kilowatt-hour reading devices to 1.4 customers was announced. The original plan ... Read more »
Computer manufacturers could save enormous amounts of power by redesigning gaming computers, according to research released last week by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The lab found that gaming computers represent 2.5 percent of the global base of PCs, but consumer 20 percent of the energy. The typical gaming device, ... Read more »
California manufacturers produce more gross domestic product (GDP) for every dollar spent on electricity than manufacturers in any other state except Connecticut, according to Next 10’s California’s Manufacturing and Benefits of Energy Efficiency, a new issue brief prepared by Collaborative Economics. Using data released this year from the 2012 US ... Read more »
The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) began hearing arguments on August 31 about a rate request from FirstEnergy (Docket 14-1297-EL-SSO) that would shift the financial risks of operating two of its generating plants away from the company’s subsidiaries – Ohio Edison, Cleveland Electric Illuminating, and Toledo Edison – and ... Read more »
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has ruled that an owner of photovoltaic panels in an offsite, community-shared solar array is eligible to take advantage of one of the primary incentives offered to homeowners adopting solar—the 30 percent federal residential income tax credit available under Section 25D of the Internal Revenue ... Read more »
PPL Electric Utilities (PPL) announced on September 3 that the Pennsylvania-based power company had reached a settlement with the advocates and interest groups who intervened in the company’s latest rate proceeding. Under the terms of the agreement, PPL would receive an overall increase in annual revenues of $124 million. The delivery ... Read more »
Spokane-based Avista Utilities filed (Dockets UG-151758 and UE-151760) on August 27 for an annual overall 15 percent decrease in natural gas rates and a 1.4 percent increase in electric rates, respectively, in Washington State, if approved by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC). A Nov. 1, 2015 effective date was requested for ... Read more »