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Before jumping at the next sale on refrigerators, you should be aware that fridge energy costs range from $277 to as high as $2,898 over the lifetime of the product. Yes, you read that right. You may find, based on energy costs, it is cheaper to buy a state of the art new fridge than keep your old one. Just as MPG (miles per gallon) measures the fuel efficiency of cars, the Enervee Score ranks the energy ... [continue reading]
The insurance industry, the world's largest business with $4.6 trillion in revenues, is making larger efforts to manage climate change-related risks, according to a new study published today in the journal Science. [continue reading]
As I recently reviewed in my “Storytelling from BECC” blog, media provides a huge opportunity for the home performance industry to make it into the mainstream. That’s why I was pleased to see recently that HGTV’s show “Property Brothers” was dolling out advice that I’ve heard more than once at industry conferences. [continue reading]
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has approved an increase in rebates offered through the California Solar Initiative (CSI)-Thermal Program of up to 45%. The CPUC authorized the higher rebates to help boost early adoption of solar water heating technology and encourage involvement in the statewide program. The increased incentive structure applies to the early steps of the CSI-Thermal Program, with cash rebates rising 45% for qualifying systems installed on single-family homes and by 13.33% for those ... [continue reading]
Measured Home Performance, by Rick Chitwood and Lew Harriman, is subtitled a “Guide to Best Practices for Home Energy Retrofits in California.” The market for this book is even smaller than the subtitle implies—it focuses on middle income housing with forced air systems. Even more specifically, it features homes with air conditioning. The audience for this book is California-based home performance contractors, almost guaranteeing that it will never be found on ... [continue reading]
The California Council of Science and Technology has released the next in its series of studies documenting the technology required to meet radical greenhouse gas (GHG) emission cuts by 2050 (80% below 1990 levels). This report focuses on strategies for reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions through energy-efficient technologies and retrofits of the residential and industrial sectors. The report's authors are Jeffery Greenblatt, Max Wei and James McMahon of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). [continue reading]
Energy Saver Blog readers interested in saving energy in their homes and starting to take back some of the hard cash they're spending on power should check out this website called Home Energy Saver. [continue reading]
According to figures from clean energy authority Clean Technica, Australia is ranked 6 in the world for new solar power connections per capita to the end of 2011. This is great news for anyone with an interest in creating a greener future for our country. Sitting in front of Australia is Italy, Germany, Belgium, Slovakia, and Greece. Interestingly, the UK is ranked 14 and the USA is in position 31. [continue reading]
California- and Massachusetts-based green precision home builder Blu Homes announced that it has partnered with nonprofit Homeward Bound of Marin on a critically needed permanent, supportive housing project for homeless families in Marin County, California. [continue reading]
The installed price of solar photovoltaic (PV) power systems in the United States fell substantially in 2011 and through the first half of 2012, according to the latest edition of Tracking the Sun, an annual PV cost-tracking report produced by the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). [continue reading]
