power lines and wind turbines over a solar field at sunset

Electricity

My Response to WSJ’s “The Problem With Going Green”

David Owen continues to blame energy efficiency for the ills he ascribes to growth and wealth. His misunderstandings of “rebound” in energy use were devastatingly rebutted when he published them in The New Yorker, and now he’s expanded them to book length. But his post here…

RMI Solar Program Live Chat: Questions and Answers

If solar equipment, installation and other costs continue to drop, solar energy will be increasingly competitive in more markets after the scheduled end of solar tax credits in 2016, RMI experts told participants in a live web chat last week.

U.S. Can’t Drill its Way to a Better Energy Future

During his State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Obama outlined goals to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil. A commitment to efficiency and advancing renewable energy are indeed promising, but any solution to our country’s energy problems—and economic problems, for that matter—that proposes we can drill our way out misses an incredible opportunity.

GSA Challenges ESCOs to Retrofit to Net Zero

Energy service companies (ESCOs) have provided billions of dollars worth of energy savings through building retrofits — and inspired even the most reluctant clients to seek out energy efficiency. Yet certain building owners can achieve far greater energy and cost savings through the adoption of deep energy retrofits

The UCSD Microgrid – Showing the Future of Electricity … Today

Rocky Mountain Institute visited the University of California, San Diego to study and document the “microgrid” that controls and integrates electricity supply and demand on the campus. UCSD’s microgrid is one of the best examples of an electricity network that provides local control yet is interconnected with the larger electricity grid.