by Jeff Ihnen | May 5, 2014 | Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant
If energy efficiency programs are considered and measured to be a good thing in some states, why are they not good for all, or nearly all, states? Even the utilities we work with in Minnesota and Iowa with programs since the mid 1980s believe in energy efficiency for...
by Jeff Ihnen | Apr 28, 2014 | Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant
There is weekly, if not daily, chatter about the end of the monopolistic electric utility systems we have today. They call it the utility death spiral, and it goes like this: Distributed generation, also known as DG, which includes rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV)...
by Jeff Ihnen | Apr 7, 2014 | Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant
Last week I attended the ACEEE National Symposium on Market Transformation in Baltimore. Learning and information gathering from conference sessions are typically down the list of reasons I attend conferences. This conference however turned out to be very beneficial...
by Jeff Ihnen | Mar 3, 2014 | Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant
Perhaps I am naïve, but to be more effective it seems interveners would do well to understand motives of profit-driven enterprises and their customers. You may recall a post I made eons ago where I described the perverse impact of decoupling on prices for consumers. ...
by Jeff Ihnen | Jan 27, 2014 | Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant
Six or seven years ago, without knowing more about the Nest thermostat, I would have commented something to the effect that, “It’s a stupid thermostat. How brilliant could it possibly be?” Once I got my hands on an iPhone, I could see what the deserved hype was...
