Legislation Archive
Smart Meter, Smart Grid
Home-area networks have always seemed like a solution looking for a problem. Did I really need to adjust the thermostat from my iPhone?...
Now there's a wiki for energy subsidies
An online wiki catalogs sections of the tax code that benefit various energy sectors....
You need a permit for that !??
Industry organizations that include NEMA have commented on new building code proposals in California that, in the name of energy efficiency, would require permits for something as simple as changing the ballast in a fluorescent light fixture. ...
Occupy the holidays!
I've been by the Occupy encampment in Oakland, Calif. a number of times the last few months. I was curious to see what was going on down there. Far from...
The right way to nurture start-ups
The recent Chapter 11 collapse of a solar energy company called Solyndra, which received a $535 million loan guarantee from the U.S. DoE, unfortunately,...
First, the good news
At the Center for the Built Environment, at the University of California at Berkeley, researchers have been working out ways to make people comfortable...
Next focus for energy regs: coffee makers
European regulators are taking a close look at energy consumed by consumer coffee makers....
Here comes a new energy act
Proponents say S. 1000, the Energy Savings and Industrial Competiveness Act of 2011, is a major step forward for energy efficiency and job creation....
New Energy Star specs for dishwashers, furnaces
New Energy Star requirements will limit use of water and electricity in dishwashers....
Energy Star for the cloud
The move toward cloud computing has brought data centers into the headlines. Pundits claim the primary rationale for companies to go into the cloud is...
A Breath of Fresh Air
As I write this, I'm about to embark on a week-long walk through the alpine country of Yosemite. The most exhilarating early moments of these trips come...
HVAC energy efficiency standards go regional
DOE establishes the first-ever regional standards for central air conditioners and furnaces, as well as strengthened national standards for heat pumps. ...
Free Choices
The concept of legally-enforced performance standards for buildings and equipment makes a lot of economists uneasy. ...
Passing the stress test for energy efficiency
Promoters of the Energy Star efficiency standard got egg on their faces last year when the Government Accountability Office submitted fake products and...
An Evolutionary Water Heater
The legendary biologist E.O. Wilson coined the phrase “punctuated equilibrium” to describe evolutionary development of living organisms. It seems that most of the time, evolution is a slow process, leaving some organisms unchanged for eons (witness the cockroach, or more appealingly, the ginkgo tree) Dramatic evolution, when it happens, progresses quickly as a result of some significant change in the environment or a completely new type of creature showing up there....
