by Jeff Ihnen | Jul 20, 2021 | Energy Rant
“We need some ideas for saving energy. Whaddya got?” Have you ever heard those lines? They are about as common as “Are we there yet? How much further?” Last week I was on a working group call on the subject of emerging technology. They didn’t call it that, but that’s...
by Jeff Ihnen | Jul 13, 2021 | Energy Rant
We are carrying the ball forward from last week’s post that delivered hoards of historical climate data. If you didn’t see it, check it out because I guaran dam T you will find things you didn’t know – like the fact that the Earth has almost the lowest concentration...
by Michaels Energy | Jul 7, 2021 | The Big Why
As global average temperatures continue to rise due to climate change caused by humans, the amount of energy used (and potentially saved) cooling buildings will also increase. But if savings are calculated using outdated weather data that do not incorporate recent...
by Jeff Ihnen | Jul 6, 2021 | Energy Rant
The super heatwave of a couple of weeks ago in the northwest got me thinking about weather anomalies and climate change. What is really happening, as if anyone knows. This fits nicely with a paper that was published a month ago by the Institute for Energy Research...
by Jeff Ihnen | Jun 29, 2021 | Energy Rant
Last week we explored the mélange of combinations of energy efficiency portfolio administration, delivery, and evaluation among stakeholders, including public utilities’ commissions, utilities, for-profit and non-profit administrators, and program implementers. No two...
by Jeff Ihnen | Jun 22, 2021 | Energy Rant
What are the key ingredients to high-performing energy efficiency programs? That is the question that came to mind as I randomly grabbed an old edition of Public Utilities Fortnightly out of my six-inch stack of unread stuff. The article is entitled Top-Performing...
by Jeff Ihnen | Jun 15, 2021 | Energy Rant
The electric grid is the most complex beast on the planet, ever. Let’s set the table. Electricity has been inexpensive and very reliable in the US for the better part of 100 years. At first, electric utilities were hub and spoke systems that sent power from the hub...
by Michaels Energy | Jun 9, 2021 | The Big Why
Last month’s post focused on how to best treat future energy or carbon savings and how this decision can affect whether short-term or long-term investments are more favorable. But even more crucial to the calculation is the persistence of the savings – that is, what...
by Jeff Ihnen | Jun 9, 2021 | Energy Rant
Did you know that running and energy efficiency have a lot in common? In this week’s Rant, I run you through (pun intended) 12 ways they are alike. Be sure to watch until the end, where we have bloopers from the making of the video. Warning: A sense of humor and...
by Jeff Ihnen | Jun 1, 2021 | Energy Rant
I’m just a mechanical systems[1] engineer but assume for a moment that I was a structural or civil engineer, and you asked me what it would take to build a bridge from Los Angeles to Honolulu. We can build anything, including that bridge. If the Golden Gate Bridge...
