Energy + Environment

The U.S. Department of Energy is seeking your feedback on a proposed voluntary national Asset Rating Program for Commercial Buildings (AR Program). DOE has issued a Request for Information (RFI) to gather public feedback by September 22, 2011 on key issues associated with the development of an AR Program. Through the AR Program, DOE intends [...]

The United States District Court in New York City has dismissed in its entirety the lawsuit brought against the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) by Henry Gifford and others, holding that none of the plaintiffs in the action had alleged or could allege any legal interest to be protected by their lawsuit, according to an [...]

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) recently unveiled a new Lighting Action Plan, which outlines four policy goals for lighting: market transformation, best practices, end user demand, and research, development and demonstration. Lighting is responsible for almost 25% of California’s electric energy use, but the California Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan says that number can be [...]

Recently, LightNOW reported that the Department of Energy botched the 2007 Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey, and then postponed work on the 2011 CBECS due to budget cuts. Our take is that you cannot set policy if you cannot measure, and you cannot maximize your building’s savings without benchmarks. The data this survey yields is [...]

Not lighting related, but very cool! Meet the Chevy Volt. The engine design relies on electric power from its battery until it reaches its maximum range, at which point it seamlessly transitions to gasoline combustion. Why is this important for a green car? The experience of driving it meshes with the way we think about [...]

The average retail price of electricity for March 2011 was 9.66 cents per kWh, 0.4 percent lower than February 2011 when the average retail price of electricity was 9.70 cents per kWh, and 0.9 percent higher than March 2010, when the price was 9.57 cents per kWh, according to the Department of Energy. The average [...]

In 2009, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) introduced the 2030 Commitment Program, a voluntary initiative for AIA member firms and other entities in the built environment that asks these organizations to make a pledge, develop multi-year action plans, and implement steps that can advance AIA’s goal of carbon neutral buildings by the year 2030. [...]

In this SALON article by Michael Lind, “Everything You’ve Heard About Fossil Fuels May Be Wrong,” he argues that humans still enjoy access to abundant fossil fuel-based energy resources, particularly with discovery of new natural gas reserves, and advancing energy recovery technology. Andrew Leonard quickly penned a response published in SALON the next day, titled [...]

The Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey, produced by the Energy Information Administration at the Department of Energy (DOE), provides incredibly valuable information about how commercial buildings use energy and energy-using systems such as lighting and HVAC. If you wanted to know things like, “How many office buildings are in the Northeast?” or “What is the [...]