New construction energy efficiency programs are unique and beneficial, but they don’t come without challenges. New construction programs involve decisions that must be made early in the design process.
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Last week, I mentioned that having a diversified fleet of power generating plants is a smart strategy for any utility; specifically, diversity by fuel source. The recent natural gas bonanza cut loose with the perfection of hydraulic fracturing and mind-blowing drilling capability (vertical a few thousand feet, then horizontal a few thousand feet) has unleashed a fury of kneejerk policy and utility strategy changes. As is common with the Energy Rant, Jeff says, not so fast. It isn’t that easy. There are consequences and major challenges with racing down this road without thinking.First we have the federal government (the EPA)…
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The utility business is fascinating and bizarre to me, and this can only mean I’m a hapless, pathetically boring person. But that is what it may look like to the uninformed. It’s like soccer, baseball, or Indy car racing. If you don’t like these games/sports, you just don’t get it. First off, from business and investor perspectives, utilities are not growth stocks, and they haven’t been for decades. Essentially, they are like US treasuries. I learned this in a 1989 personal finance class. Geezers invest in utilities for the steady dividend. Clearly, I wasn’t interested in a paltry 7% yield…
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When properly designed, LED lighting systems can be 80% to 90% more efficient than incandescent or high-output lighting. It is also 15% to 40% more efficient than fluorescent lighting.
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Readers of this blog may think I’m a cynical, frumpy coot because I’m frequently noting the negative aspects of approaches, programs, technologies, and evaluation. I feel obligated to do it because I’m a licensed professional engineer in half a dozen, or so, states. Professional engineers, like doctors, are sworn to go about their profession in the best interest for the general well-being, health, and welfare of the public and those they serve (e.g. clients). Well-being and welfare include not getting screwed over or caught by surprise – by revealing the whole story; the whole truth. Recently, E Source published a…
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Because everyone reading this blog is in some way reliant on money from electric and/or gas utilities, I pay a lot of attention to the utility business and things like technological disruption and the utility death spiral. I wrote about the utility death spiral back in April. As a result of this fine article in greentechgrid, I’d like to bloviate about ballyhooed disruption. Disruption is an updated buzzword for “game changer”. Prime example: Netflix to Blockbuster Video, Au Revoir. Greentechgrid notes a bunch of examples, and I have taken liberty to enhance the list by tabulating them into disrupted (Blockbuster)…
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Have you ever dreamt that you were tied down or in some way stuck and couldn’t move? Couldn’t get traction on foot or in a car? Extremely tired? Hordes of clueless people in your way? Have you ever plowed through a marsh in waders or snow up to your waste? If so, welcome to the sensation of getting to the bottom of EPA’s Clean Air Act 111(d) rule – the one in which it has declared jurisdiction over states carbon dioxide emissions. An investigator needs a machete, a bulldozer, snowplow, or explosives to get to the bottom of the muck.Before…
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Data servers are like ice cubes on a hot day. When you treat them right, they provide wonderful, life enhancing services – like a margarita, or in the case of a server, Facebook! But they require a gentle hand.
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