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
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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I was recently pushed over the edge again by multiple opinion pieces declaring that energy efficiency is a waste of time and money because of rebound effect. Rebound basically means that if consumers buy an efficient appliance, car, or light bulb, they will simply use it more and therefore save less, or even use more energy at the proverbial “end of the day”. First in this series was an opinion piece from a Cal State Fullerton professor published in The Wall Street Journal. Below is my response to the journal: Robert J. Michaels’ commentary on August 20th suggests energy efficiency…
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A couple weeks ago, I wrote about nationalizing pieces of energy efficiency programs, namely technical resource manuals from which energy impacts (savings) and measure costs are derived. The post explained why this is a bad idea for a number of reasons. This week features chaos at the state level. It seems states with their energy efficiency policies are parallel to people who go to Washington DC and operate in the alternate universe inside the beltway. The longer they exist, the more schizophrenic and/or demented and/or dysfunctional they become. Utilities are forced, for lack of a better term, by regulators to meet…
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A year and a half ago, I ranted about the media’s nuclear ignorance and hype while covering the Fukushima tsunami and damage to the Daiichi reactor cores. I always like to follow up on my rants with new news on the fallout, pun intended. Dr. Richard Muller of the UC Berzerkeley does a nice job of putting things in perspective in his recent article published in The Wall Street Journal. He also saves me the pain of reeducating myself on radiation energy and cell damage. The REM (Roentgen Equivalent Man – go ahead, dazzle your coworkers) is the unit of…
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Jeff Erickson of Navigant Consulting presented an interesting paper at last week’s American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) Summer Study for Buildings. The title was, “Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party Battle over Energy Efficiency.” I thought it was just clever (aka bait and switch) advertising, but the presentation featured, almost exclusively, how the free market, small government tea party and the profit-bad, regulation-good occupiers might view energy efficiency. The tea party would favor consumer choice for incandescent light bulbs and gas guzzlers over government regulation of these common, and other uncommon for that matter, consumer goods. …
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E Source reported last week that green house gas (GHG) emissions are falling fast in this country, as shown in the chart nearby. Emissions tanked with the economy in 2009, and as I recall, the summer of 2009 was also cool, resulting in lower electricity sales. Even so, when adjusted for economic output, GHGs are falling fast. The reason for this is rather obvious if one follows the electricity market. It is much easier to get a natural gas power plant approved for construction as compared to a coal-fired plant. I have not done the analysis myself, but it is reported…
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The widget world of energy efficiency is governed by the Technical Resource Manual, or TRM. A technical resource manual includes energy calculations requiring baselines and efficient equipment specifications, hours of use, and duty cycles. It also includes cost differences for baseline and efficient equipment. Costs and savings from TRMs are used across the board for mass market, and even in some cases large, far too large in my opinion, equipment. Technical resource manuals may be held at the state level, which may apply to all programs/utilities in the state, or at the utility level. Some in our industry are advocating…
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Rant fans are getting a break this week. This post exemplifies a smashing success in energy efficiency and is a bit of a spinoff on capitalizing energy efficiency as I discussed in Facility Management, Taliban Style and Better than Doritos. The story begins with a board meeting for the Iowa Association for Energy Efficiency. BTW, this is the least expensive, far and away, greatest-benefit-per-dollar-invested energy efficiency organization in the country. The board meeting was at an apartment complex, Sun Prairie, in West Des Moines or thereabouts. As I pulled in with 134F heat at 9:30 AM, I was thinking, “Is…
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It has been a while since I’ve written anything about programs, so here it goes. Program evaluation provides about half our business, and much of that is verifying gross savings estimates, which are simply the original program-claimed savings. Verifying custom projects, those that don’t fall into mass categories like light bulbs and air conditioners, are generally more interesting, at least from an energy analysis perspective. Findings from the field can be follical (new word derived from folly) for any type of measure. Implementers of custom efficiency programs, especially implementers not accustomed to the evaluation process, can be especially entertaining. In…
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Last week Wisconsin’s Governor Walker pronounced drought emergencies for 40-plus counties in the land of cheese. I’m not sure what that means other than the obvious fact that it is dry and it’s been hotter than bejeezus for quite some time, with the peak being the week of Independence Day. A “blocking” high pressure system was parked in the middle of the country. High pressure systems result in sinking air, the opposite of low pressure systems where surface air rises to cold altitudes causing clouds and rain. Sinking air results in no clouds and heat of compression. Heat of compression…
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Warning: Reader shall defend and hold harmless the author, company, shareholders, allies, certain family members and relatives, pets, social, medical, behavioral counselors, and anyone else the author chooses against any and all losses including, but not limited to, attorney fees, fame, surname, lock changing, key making, therapy, alternate travel and lodging costs, doghouse rental, and any costs or damages of any and every natural, supernatural, paranormal nature and kind whatsoever, which may result due to poor judgment, dumb luck, brilliance, negligence, ignorance, knowledge, visions, memories, premonitions, and dreams by reader and retaliation by spouse, partner, significant other, family (up, down…
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