I wrote last week about the joint proposal on efficiency in the economic recovery package from NRDC, the Alliance to Save Energy, Edison Electric Institute, and the Energy Future Coalition. I tried to link to some of the recent news items describing how individual pieces of this proposal are needed, but apparently I posted way too soon. Some incredible editorials and recent happenings continue to show just how much of a no-brainer economic recovery through energy efficiency is.

First, Michael Grunwald penned this excellent piece in Time about energy efficiency in this country, quoting both Ralph Cavanagh and David Goldstein from NRDC. Grunwald talks about the unique market barriers and disincentives that have brought us to our current state as the most inefficient country in the world. He concludes with the following recommendations,
• Set tough standards
• Let utilities make money saving energy
• Stimulate the market

Sound familiar? The policies that would address each of these bullets are in the joint proposal.

In another news item that you can file under the "Set tough standards" bullet, the District of Columbia makes me proud to be a resident by updating their building codes to the current model of ASHRAE 90.1 for commercial buildings (2007 version), and going above and beyond for residential buildings by adopting the "30% Solution." The 30% solution was created by the Energy Efficient Codes Coalition (EECC) of which NRDC was a member, to advocate for a set of measures that totaled to a 30% improvement of the IECC code from its previous version. The full slate of measures did not pass (largely because the vote took place in the wee hours of the morning after many proponents had left), but measures accounting for about a 15% improvement were incorporated. What DC has done is to adopt the proposed solution in its entirety, going above and beyond the IECC code and demonstrating the wisdom of energy efficiency. It is too bad that the forces of stagnation in the building industry have kept the code from being relevant and forcing DC and likeminded states to shoulder the burden of creating a more robust residential energy code.

As for utilities making money saving energy, NRDC's Brandi Colander blogged about a victory in Virginia of which she was a key part, as VA has decided to decouple sales from profits for natural gas. Soon, a cubic foot of gas saved in a home or factory will be worth the same to the utility as a cubic foot drilled. She has updated the NRDC decoupling map, and it is clear that the blank spots on the map are losing ground.

Getting the incentives at the national level in place to encourage those remaining blank states to make the switch would be a huge boost to efficiency, allowing utility customers to stop wasting money on energy they do not need or want.

And lastly, I think almost every recent news article on economic recovery has covered the "stimulate the market" bullet.  What better way to do that than to put folks to work making homes, offices, and other buildings more efficient and investing in more efficient equipment?  Not to sound like a broken record or anything, but its here.  Now lets see if Congress agrees.