by Jeff Ihnen | Apr 27, 2010 | Energy Rant
Back in the day when I was in the nuclear Navy, Greenpeace was not so infrequently pulling stunts like running their zodiacs up on the top of submarine hulls to make their unfounded statements of radiation releases to the environment. Since 9/11, you can bet they...
by Jeff Ihnen | Apr 20, 2010 | Energy Rant
The masses want power on demand without interruption or failure. They want it at a practically negligible cost and more so every year, they want it without emissions or other unpleasant byproducts. In the upper Midwest, energy without emissions means wind energy. ...
by Jeff Ihnen | Feb 3, 2010 | Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant
There is a running joke in our business that electrical engineers don’t know anything about energy efficiency. It is only a joke. One of the sharpest energy guys I have interviewed was a physics major who started on the ground floor of an energy efficiency...
by Jeff Ihnen | Nov 3, 2009 | Energy Rant
Talk about an oxymoron. Years ago this was a favorite saying of my roommate and I as we lambasted dopey ads on TV, on paper, or over the airwaves. Fewer years ago, once I got into this energy efficiency profession, I was speaking with a utility energy-efficiency...
by Jeff Ihnen | Oct 27, 2009 | Energy Rant
Studies have shown that LEED buildings are no more efficient and have no less of a “carbon footprint” than the average building of its peers. I remember reading an old guy’s rant in one of the 20 building engineering and architecture magazines I get. He was grousing...
by Jeff Ihnen | Oct 21, 2009 | Energy Rant
Recently, we received our umpteenth “request for proposal” (RFP) to provide the engineering required to capture the elusive $1.80 tax deduction on new or remodeled buildings. We spend a lot of time, money and effort to drive business through our doors but I’m not...
by Jeff Ihnen | Oct 13, 2009 | Energy Rant
There should be a place for these — someplace that isn’t going to impact families quite so much.” This was a quote regarding wind turbines from a woman in the Wall Street Journal article Renewable Energy, Meet the New Nimby. I laughed out loud for a...
by Jeff Ihnen | Oct 6, 2009 | Energy Rant
My mother used to tell me I ought to be a lawyer because I would argue and/or complain about everything. I think I still get under her skin sometimes, even as she has passed her 75th birthday. She SAYS she still likes me to visit anyway. The thing is, my brain is...
