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December 2013

State-Run Programs: The Potemkins

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant 2 Comments
This week, I was handed a layup via this opinion piece from a Montanan.  He describes “verification and measurement” as a “cottage industry of consultants  running around figuring out what light bulbs end up in what rooms and what their average hours of use will be. They compile this info, run it through a bunch of formulas and computer programs.”  The evaluation of Northwestern Energy’s programs resulted in them being ordered by the PSC to refund ratepayers $3 million of cost recovery.  My first point is he should be grateful that someone pointed this out.  However, his solution, state-run programs,…
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Showrooming – Not for Energy Efficiency

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant No Comments
A few weeks ago, a reader of this post commented that she often doled out free advice regarding energy efficiency at parties – er, at parties she doled out free advice re energy efficiency. Which reminds me, if I’m in a room of non-geeks, you know, normal people, and describe what I do, suddenly they need another drink or a trip to the lady’s room. For this objective, being a veterinarian would be far more beneficial. But back to the comment of free advice, my response was, “Don’t be showroomed.” I would bet that the word showroom, as a verb,…
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Home Heating – Blofeld Bald Head Would Blush

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant No Comments
There are certain energy efficiency claims that, for an energy nerd, would appear as a spaceship flying onto the radar screen a la James Bond, You Only Live Twice. The hair on the back of the neck starts to twitch – know what I’m sayin’? When I saw this headline – 6 Energy-Saving Portable Electric Space Heaters - cue the SPECTRE spaceship eating spaceships coming on the screen and closing fast.  But first, the author of this article talks about wasteful fireplaces. I guess, yes, if it’s a big 1950s walk-in fireplace, but these are fighting words. I have never…
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Energy Efficiency Potential and the Low Hanging Disease

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant 4 Comments
When I first started working at Michaels, still in my 20s, my workdays usually ended around 5:15, and since I was allergic to rolling out of bed before 6:00 AM, I would run after work in La Crosse.  I started running the trails of Hixon Forest, a very nice park on the edge of town with steep traverses and varying terrain that was sometimes easy on joints and in other places treacherous.  One night I tripped on a tree root that protruded from the surface of the trail.  I did a face plant and got something between a scratch and…
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The Ultimate Consumer Behavioral Program?

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant No Comments
With a long weekend to prepare this rant, I'm taking a bit of a house cleaning approach and it's fitting because this week I'm talking about residential energy efficiency programs. Residential programs are certainly not something Michaels plans to get into but we do occasionally get involved with some residential program evaluation. If you know anything about residential programs you've heard of Opower. Their flagship product is the home energy report, which includes mailed reports to virtually all residential customers. The report compares participants to neighbors and against themselves last year or the month before. The mailers include energy saving…
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