Posted by Lane Burt in Solving Global Warming
Today, the US Green Building Council, NRDC, and a collection of commercial and multifamily real estate groups rolled out our “Executive Authorities” report that thoroughly documents all the existing legal authorities that federal agencies have to put the petal to...
Posted by Lane Burt in Solving Global Warming
Vice President Joe Biden kicked off five days of Earth Day events today with the announcement that 25 communities have been selected for up to $452 million in Recovery Act funding to “ramp-up” energy efficiency building retrofits as part of...
Posted by Lane Burt in Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy
Home Star will reach another mile stone today when Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Chairman Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Rep. Vern Ehlers (R-Mich.) and Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-Calif.) introduce legislation creating the program in the House of Representatives. It’s important to note...
Posted by Lane Burt in Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy
Remember when I asked you to take action and tell the Department of Energy to set a better standard for residential water heaters? Well, just shy of 10,000 of you responded and it made a difference. DOE heard all of...
Posted by Lane Burt in Solving Global Warming
Energy Star has been a popular target lately, most recently as a result of an undercover Congressional audit reported in the New York Times. I’ve blogged on Energy Star’s issues several times and generally think that both EPA and DOE...
Posted by Lane Burt in Solving Global Warming
Have you ever stopped to think about the energy efficiency of a doublewide? DOE is about to do just that, having initiated a rulemaking to develop mandatory standards for manufactured homes (basically a building code) under order from Congress to...
Posted by Lane Burt in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming , The Media and the Environment
Ah, Home Star – the legislative proposal that has eaten all my time over the last six months. What more is there to say? Creates jobs!…Slashes energy use!…Saves money! All of that was said today and more, during a hearing...
Posted by Lane Burt in Green Enterprise , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy
My fellow efficiency advocates and I have spent countless hours over the last year negotiating with manufacturers of every appliance and piece of equipment imaginable, trying to reach agreements on what the next energy standards will look like. These standards...
Posted by Lane Burt in Solving Global Warming
The Department of Energy has made a couple of unprecedented moves on efficiency in the last few months that have gone unnoticed by all but the most die-hard efficiency advocates. First, as my colleague Noah Long explained, DOE has begun...
Posted by Lane Burt in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee will hold a hearing today to discuss how Recovery Act funds are being spent, with an emphasis on the weatherization assistance program (WAP). The hearing is in response to a report from...
Posted by Lane Burt in Green Enterprise , Solving Global Warming
At Savannah Technical College today, President Obama gave us more information about the proposed Home Star program, also known as Cash for Caulkers. The idea behind this program defines the Washington cliché win-win because it will put contractors and other...
Posted by Lane Burt in Solving Global Warming
The State of the Union is in a few hours, and folks are abuzz about what the President will say. Count me among those who are expecting a strong push for clean energy to create jobs and jumpstart our economy,...
Posted by Lane Burt in Green Enterprise , Solving Global Warming
Today the New York Times highlighted the growing consensus around a national focus on retrofitting American homes to save money and create jobs, all tagged as "Cash for Caulkers". This is a great idea, and certainly not new (but the...
Posted by Lane Burt in Solving Global Warming
The Natural Resources Defense Council, along with our fellow efficiency advocates, announced the results of successful negotiations with the lighting industry on standards for street lights and parking lot lights. Standards on outdoor lights are such a no-brainer because these...
Posted by Lane Burt in Solving Global Warming
The media has been taking the Department of Energy (DOE) to task over a recently released audit by the Inspector General (IG) which highlighted some well known shortcomings in the Energy Star program. The conclusions were not surprising - there...
