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RFPs

Byrds, Dogs, Burning Hair, and Restless Anticipation

By Energy Rant No Comments
Distributed, independent, economical, efficient, reliable, resilient, flexible, adaptable, technical, clean, redundant, modern, profitable, renewable ready, and doh, smart! What is this? A microgrid? No, it’s Michaels Energy. We’re back. The Rant is back, and we’re ready to rock and roll! Let us take a look back a year and briefly review what has progressed in our company. As our clients know, before the microbe, which shall not be identified, forced the closure of bars and hair salons nationwide, we reorganized the company and modernized our team to possess microgrid characteristics. The reorganization required my first-ever sabbatical from the Rant in…
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RFPs, Wind & Participants from Hell; Tales from AESP Spring 2015

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant 2 Comments
Last week’s AESP Spring Conference was the best that I can recall, in terms of the content delivered, in my opinion.  Perhaps I got lucky and went to the right presentations.  Perhaps it’s because I went to more presentations than usual.  Most likely it is for another reason, and readers will have to call me for that because it’s an advantage I want to hold among die-hard rant fans. I attended an Espresso Learning Shots discussion led by Laura Orfanedes from Fiveworx.  The topic was requests for proposals (RFPs) from both sides of the fence – from the buyer (utility)…
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2011 YIR

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant No Comments
There’s only one thing worse than listening to the Beach Boys.  Give up?  Listening to the Beach Boys doing Christmas songs.  Scarface, which I just watched recently, better puts me in the holiday spirit than listing to a Beach Boys ditty. “Greedy little cockroaches.  Goodbye.  You wanna play games?  Ok.  I play with you.  You wanna play rough?  Ok.  Say hello to my LITTLE FRIEND!” – Tony Montana.  Deck the halls with boughs of holly falalalalala la la la la.  Ratatatatatat. If you hate year in review reports just quit right here because that’s what this is.  Our industry is…
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Protest, Loser

By Energy Efficiency, Government, Utility Stuff No Comments
It has been quite a year for protests.  From Glenn Beck (although he swears it wasn’t a protest) and Jon Stewart (ditto) taking up the entire National Mall in Washington, to the months long battle royale in the 85 square miles surrounded by reality – also known as Madison, WI.  For what it’s worth, you can check out the spin in both directions regarding the recent jobs report and Wisconsin.  More time is needed to draw any conclusions. The primary problem of course in all these cases, including the greased pig wrasslin match in Washington in recent weeks, is governments…
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Green Jacket, Cigar, Gold Rings, and Disneyland

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant, Government, LEED, Renewable Energy, Stimulus, Sustainability One Comment
I attended the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance last week and it was an interesting environment, to say the least.  This was the 4th or 5th MEEA conference I have attended. Behavioral stuff is an up and coming topic/issue in the EE industry.  I am planning to do a rant that to save energy, people have to give a crap.  I just need something to push me over the edge.  After all, just about all lasting energy efficiency requires behavioral changes.  Only inanimate, stationary, non-energy consuming stuff, e.g., insulation, doesn’t require behavior change.  Everything else has a behavioral component for maintenance,…
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