by Jeff Ihnen | Dec 10, 2012 | Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant
Believe it or not, I did not have a rant topic in mind going into Saturday morning – my rant writing time. But the fog burned off quickly as a topic came into view – one that arose during the prior week. Incidentally, I once heard a “meteorologist” instructor say he...
by Jeff Ihnen | Dec 3, 2012 | Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant
Taking a suggestion from an anonymous rant reader [doesn’t want to get fired], I purchased and have been reading a book called Predictably Irrational. Figuring out peoples’ decision-making process is my job – to win proposals, design programs that people want, and...
by Jeff Ihnen | Aug 20, 2012 | Energy Rant
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...
by Jeff Ihnen | Jul 30, 2012 | Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant
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...
by Jeff Ihnen | Jul 23, 2012 | Energy Rant
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...
by Jeff Ihnen | Jun 4, 2012 | Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant
This week’s feature presentation is one of my favorites for saving energy: automobiles. Let’s take this recent post from Fuel Fix and dive right in. The first one I read is “make sure your gas cap is broken or missing.” That’s right. You can save 3 cents per gallon...
by Jeff Ihnen | May 7, 2012 | Energy Rant
Widgetitis: Obsessive compulsion to build canals with teaspoons – or meet program goals with showerheads. A short story about economist Milton Friedman from The Wall Street Journal sort of sets the stage for effectively meeting program/portfolio goals in big chunks:...
by Jeff Ihnen | Apr 30, 2012 | Energy Rant
Last week we looked at the financial benefits of energy efficiency as compared to the stock market. I’m going to take this a few steps further, as forewarned last week. In both cases we start with the $39,000 investment and the stock market simply grows at its...
by Jeff Ihnen | Apr 16, 2012 | Energy Rant
The New Scientist published an article by an economist saying that now is the perfect time to implement “long-overdue environmental regulations requiring US power plants to reduce emissions of mercury, arsenic and other toxic metals”. And the added cost will be a...
by Jeff Ihnen | Mar 19, 2012 | Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant
One of the most rewarding aspects of our business is ensuring people get it right and customers get the legitimate energy and monetary savings they should be receiving. My answer to “why should we pick you?” is: we are passionate about what we do; we get things...
