• Appliance and equipment standards matter. Period.

    The Northwest Power and Conservation Council says federal appliance and equipment standards will account for between 40 and 45 percent of the 6,000 average megawatts of cost-effective efficiency identified in its Sixth Power and Conservation Plan, the planning Bible for Northwest electric utilities. That’s enough saved energy to keep Seattle humming more than two years, without consumers or business owners having to make a single decision.

  • BIAW suit to kill energy code a cynical attack on consumers

    A lawsuit to stop improvements to the state energy code filed by the lobbyist for the state’s building contractors will increase the cost of home ownership at a time when record numbers of Washingtonians are struggling to pay their bills.

  • Fun PowerPoint gives clear view of conservation’s big role

    Northwest Power and Conservation Council efficiency expert Tom Eckman makes use of Forrest Gump, the 1970s era SNL Coneheads, the Muppets, the Blues Brothers and Bob the Builder to explain the conservation goals of the 6th Power and Conservation Plan.

  • LEDs to own half of lighting market by 2020, report says

    A new study by clean-tech market-researcher Pike Research predicts LEDs will occupy 46 percent of the $4.4 billion U.S. market for lamps in the commercial, industrial and outdoor stationary sectors in 10 years. That’s a big jump, considering that LEDs now capture only two percent of the lighting market, according to estimates.

  • Montana hears NW Energy Coalition’s efficiency message

    The NW Energy Coalition Spring 2010 conference in Missoula provided a forum for the message that energy efficiency is cheaper, faster to acquire and cleaner than any other resource that might meet new electricity demand in the coming decades. Fortunately the Missoulian and other media outlets heard the message and delivered it to their readers/listeners/viewers.

  • Fun with numbers: Lots of WA cash left for appliance rebates

    Two months in, the state’s Cash for Appliances program has lined the pockets of 5,280 folks–total payout: $468,750–who now have refrigerators and clothes washers that use less energy. That leaves a little more than $5 million to give away before the program’s planned end date of December 2011.

  • 2009 IECC hearings changed code debates forever

    Not long ago, the building and real estate lobby could routinely turn back improvements to the International Energy Conservation Code with the argument that requiring greater energy efficiency would add to the cost of housing and drive would-be homeowners from the market. According to a recent story in The Washington Post, the Energy Efficient Code Coalition’s presence in the 2009 debate over the 2009 IECC changed that.

  • Videos make musical pitch for WA appliance rebate program

    We’ll be the first to concede it’s hard to make great art around the themes of energy efficiency and appliance rebates. So, the effort by the Washington Department of Commerce to create videos on behalf of the federal stimulus-package-funded Cash for Appliances program deserves kudos. They are actually pretty good. Take a look.

  • New Oregon code aims to cut energy use 15% in commercial buildings

    Oregon has adopted a new energy code that aims to reduce energy usage in new commercial buildings by 15 percent, according to officials in the Department of Consumer and Business Services.

  • Feds offer clean energy grants for rural business

    If you happen to run a small business in a rural area and need cash to do an energy efficiency project, you should read this post. That’s because the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Energy for America Program is willing to pay for up to 25 percent of the cost of qualifying projects, up to $250,000. If you need to borrow the rest, the good people at REAP will guarantee a loan from a private lender for the remaining 75 percent of the project cost.

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