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Energy Rant

This is a satirical and at times humorous but critical commentary on energy efficiency issues of the day.

“Keep up the good work! I like the variety of topics; never boring. It's like a Box of Energy Chocolates.... you never know what you're gonna get!”

Mike MernickSenior Vice President, ICF
Jeff Ihnen
By In Energy Rant

Are You Serious About the Climate Apocalypse?

Washington Post headline last week: “World is on brink of catastrophic warming, U.N. climate change report says.” Wolf! Wolf! People…
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Jul 01
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Wind Power Wind Bags

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant No Comments
Politics exert major forces on energy policies and fortunately, few oppose energy efficiency.  Therefore, I strongly suggest our industry build high walls around energy efficiency and not let controversial things like climate change and even in some cases, renewable energy, into our sandbox.  Case in point: this recent opinion piece by a guy from the Heartland Institute regarding wind power and corresponding rebuttal letters published in The Wall Street Journal. You may recall that about a year ago, I wrote about a scandal contrived by Peter Gleick, outspoken global warming PhD guy, where he impersonated insiders from the Heartland Institute,…
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Jun 24
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Communication – Nuggets of Ponderation

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant No Comments
Communication in our business of delivering energy efficiency services, reports, and projects, and in any organization for that matter, is almost always an issue. One thing never heard is, “I don’t want to know all that.  Stop it.”  Why?  Because the receiver can hit the ignore button or the delete button, but more often because there is hardly ever too much information transfer. Here are some gold nuggets regarding communication. The documentation rule:  If it isn’t written down and shared with stakeholders in near real time – like after a meeting, phone call, event, milestone, on the same day, or…
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Jun 17
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Alternative Fuels – ET Says, “What’s the Matter with You?”

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant No Comments
I was reading this opinion piece by the Rolling Stones keyboardist and forestry nut, and it didn’t take long for an age-old rant topic to emerge.  This one is about misguided allocation of resources, particularly for alternative fuels, to achieve desired ends.  If an alien (say, ET, although I’ve never watched the movie) landed in the US and evaluated our alternative fuel feed stocks and end use fuels (e.g. ethanol), it would say, “What are you doing man?  This is insane!”But first, let me begin with how the pursuit of wealth, which happens to be the force behind a growing economy…
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Jun 10
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Duct Leakage Chaff

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant 3 Comments
Due to duct leakage, only 57% of heat generated in a home furnace is delivered to conditioned spaces.  OMG!  Run for your lives.  Big deal. I have overheard conversations at conferences and other networking gigs that include statements like, “We are so focused on envelope tightness, insulation, energy-saving windows, and efficient appliances, but meanwhile we are wasting almost half the heat produced in an energy efficient furnace.”  Not so fast. In mechanical engineering, we have the first and second laws of thermodynamics.  The first law is like a change machine – conservation of money.  Put a piece of cotton-infused paper…
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Jun 03
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Energy Efficient Technologies that Suck [Energy]

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant One Comment
Sometimes I wonder. No, sometimes I’m amazed how certain energy efficient technologies have fooled the industry and the public for years, possibly even decades, into a false sense and blind acceptance for energy savings.  Want to see two technologies that are flexible, cheap, easy to use, and effective at saving energy?  That’s it – the first two wonder technologies shown. Instead, there are universally accepted incentives and “savings” that would make a charlatan blush.  Exhibit A: the occupancy sensor for lighting control.As I ranted in Oh Behave, I have found that this technology wastes energy by training occupants to leave…
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May 28
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Politics and Energy Efficiency

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant No Comments
I recently read an article from a management consulting firm regarding what not to do when using social media for marketing.  First on the list: don’t talk about politics.  So what does Jeff do?  Fly right into the storm.  Politics and energy efficiency are directly linked in regulated utility markets in which we live, so this is an obvious critical subject. Recently, the National Academy of Sciences released a report, “Political Ideology Affects Energy-Efficiency Attitudes and Choices”.  One of the main points talks about environmental benefits and CO2 reductions as a benefit to buying energy efficient products, and it is…
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May 20
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Impact Evaluation – Or Your Money Back

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant No Comments
Without fail, it seems that every custom efficiency or self-directed impact evaluation we do has a controversial, giant project accounting for 25% (or more) of the program’s savings.  It turns out it shouldn’t even have been allowed into the program because it doesn’t qualify – and in many cases, aside from that, the savings calculation is demonstrably and by the laws of thermodynamics and utility meter readings, wrong. An analogy to the message today might be a home energy assessment.  Our house was built to our liking thirteen years ago.  I laid out the floor plan in about fifteen minutes…
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May 13
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STEM & Energy Efficiency – Begin with the End in Mind

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant No Comments
It is awfully unfortunate that “begin with the end in mind” has been beaten to a cliché, because it is SO applicable to everything.  In recent years, I have seen about 5,200 articles, blogs, emails, newscasts, gum wrappers, and fortune cookie messages that promote STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math).  Perhaps I was a complete dork when I was a high school senior deciding what major to pursue in college, but it came down to three factors: what am I good at, what is the demand for the profession, and what is the pay for the gig? Begin: Amusing, Worthwhile,…
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May 06
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Energy Rant: A Survey

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant No Comments
Alright Rant fans.  You may want to don one of these to hold your skull together as your brain fills with more information than it can contain.  This week we will cover the results of the Energy Rant survey.  Thank you all (y’all) for participating. The first question: How often do you read the energy rant (see Figure 1)?  Essentially half the survey takers read it every week and the other half usually read it.  A few cheesers must have been looking for prizes for taking surveys - as if we would have given them the prize.Most are good with…
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Apr 29
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Cost Recovery for Energy Efficiency Programs – An Ignorant Idea

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant One Comment
If you haven’t seen Michaels’ recent self-indulgent video, you might want to do that now.  It is many hours of video shooting reduced to a fine sauce, just under four minutes.  My interview, for example, lasted maybe 45 minutes and maybe 30 seconds of it are included in the video.  One line I’m pleased to have been captured and included was the statement that there is a limitless supply (and immense variety) of learning available in our industry.  One thing I know little about is the guts of the utility business and cost recovery for energy efficiency programs.  So why…
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All things energy. That’s our jam.

We talk a lot about energy – from the serious to the satirical.

All things energy. That’s our jam.

We talk a lot about energy – from the serious to the satirical.

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