Climate Policies That Work or Not

Climate Policies That Work or Not

I had already selected my topic for this week (most climate policies don’t work) when I had the good fortune to cross paths with a Wall Street Journal article, 7 Years, $700 Million Wasted: The Stunning Collapse of New York’s Traffic Moonshot. The policy...
Insights from Market Characterization Studies

Insights from Market Characterization Studies

As savings from lighting and other low cost/high benefit opportunities become more difficult to achieve, program administrators need to look closely at different markets to understand where potential savings exist. Baseline or appliance saturation studies are great...
Electricity’s Decoupling From Fuel Costs

Electricity’s Decoupling From Fuel Costs

Two years after natural gas prices spiked, resulting in a jump in coal consumption for electricity (see Figure 1), natural gas prices have plunged to inflation-adjusted record lows. The Wall Street Journal reports drillers and producers are curtailing activity as...
The Energy Transition Grind

The Energy Transition Grind

Longtime Rant readers know I keep both feet on planet Earth, capturing all sides (typically two) and explaining, yes, but (fill in the blank). For the next case study, I was recently presented with a slide deck from the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), The Cleantech...
Fishing for Savants Who Understand Attribution

Fishing for Savants Who Understand Attribution

This week, I’m reporting on themes presented at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) summer camp, also known as the Summer Study for Buildings, from Pacific Grove, California. Here are the themes: Heat pumps (~ 80 papers) Decarbonization...
Counting Heat Pumps

Counting Heat Pumps

Heat pumps present one of the best tools for decarbonization. They are very efficient compared to other heating technologies, are similar in price to air conditioning systems, and rely on an electric grid that is getting cleaner over time. Because of this,...
Inc 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies – 2024

dotCOMM Gold Award – 2024

Energy Rant, a blog written weekly by our CEO Jeff Ihnen, was awarded the dotCOMM Gold award in 2024. DotCOMM is an international competition honoring excellence in web creativity and digital communication. The competition is unique in that it reflects the role of...