Why Does Energy Efficiency’s Promise Remain Unfulfilled?

Jon R. Luoma, a contributing editor at Audubon, tries to explain why the promises of energy efficiency haven't been fulfilled in latest Yale Environment 360:

Among the many measures the world can take to wean itself off fossil fuels, few match the benefits of making homes, business, and cars more energy-efficient. But financial and psychological barriers have kept individuals, businesses, and governments from realizing efficiency’s great potential.

Read the full post here: Energy Efficiency

President Obama Speaks at Penn State About Clean Energy

Last Thursday, President Obama spoke at Penn State about "encouraging and investing in innovation and clean energy technologies to create new jobs, grow the economy, and win the future."

Here is a video of the speech:




And here is a link to a transcript of the speech: Obama at Penn State

Green Skeptic Friday LinkFest - 02/04/11

NOAA/NASA GOES Project

Going to extremes this week -- from Florida, where it was in the 70s-80s to Philly and ice, ice baby...

The storm that rocked the Central Midwestern US and Northeast missed us, but would you look at that satellite image (at right)?

Here are some links for this week:

Katie Fehrenbacher of Earth2Tech asks, Are Consumers Ready for Home Energy Management in 2011?

John Thackara, writing in Design Observer, suggests WWF's Energy Report takes "global energy needs" as a given, but ignores the true costs of deploying renewable energy infrastructure: Renewable Energy: Salvation or Snake Oil?

The BBC's environment reporter Richard Black has a look at a Nature Conservancy report published in the journal BioScience and finds "one of the starkest conclusions I've seen about humanity's relationship with the oceans"..."Globally, 85% of oyster beds have basically disappeared.": Oysters clear seas for local remedies.

Teryn Norris of Americans for Energy Leadership catalogs The Rise of Innovation Hawks.

FrumForum's David Frum takes on Obama's 'China Envy.'

And, finally, you must read Umair Haque's "Ten Things You're Not Allowed to Say at Davos."

Have a great weekend!

Tendril, UISOL, PJM Partnership Could Benefit Residential Consumers

Managing residential electricity demand and controlling load balances is an increasing problem for PJM Interconnection, North America's largest power grid, especially during extreme weather events and peak demand times.

Now Tendril, an energy platform company we've been tracking here at The Green Skeptic, is partnering with Utility Integration Solutions, Inc. (UISOL), a provider of demand response management and automation systems, on what they call a "Price Response Demand" demo project for PJM.

"This real-world demonstration will show the feasibility and ease with which residential customers can reduce their energy consumption in response to wholesale price signals that reflect grid conditions," according to Tendril CEO Adrian Tuck. "It will also enable utilities to aggregate Demand Response in consumers' homes for better load control, increased efficiency and additional savings."

The project combines Tendril's Connect platform with UISOL’s Open Automated Demand Response (OpenADR) price server to allow PJM to test a near real-time program for price response and better manage electricity demand.

If it works, residential consumers will be able to have a better handle on the cost of energy used in their homes and utilities will be able to better manage load balances that can lead to brown-outs or even black-outs during peak usage events.

This latest announcement comes on the heals of Tendril's partnerships with ThinkEco, creators of the "modlet" plug-load management device, and Whirlpool on smart home appliances.

The company also launched Tendril Energize, which they call "the first ever application suite based on proven behavioral science techniques" to provide "persistent consumer engagement in home energy performance."

Tendril and UISOL are demonstrating their PJM project at DistribuTECH 2011 this week in San Diego.

Related articles

• ThinkEco and Tendril Collaborate to Smarten the Smart Grid (prnewswire.com)
• Tendril's IDEO-Designed Home-Energy Monitoring Device Fails, Utilitarianism Wins (fastcompany.com)
• Whirlpool, Tendril to Collaborate on Smart Appliances (matternetwork.com)
• Are Consumers Ready For Home Energy Management in 2011? (gigaom.com)
• Tendril app tries to Energize consumer efficiency (news.cnet.com)

US Venture Capital in Cleantech Grows to Nearly $4B in 2010

US venture capital (VC) investment in cleantech companies increased by 8 percent to $3.98 billion in 2010 from $3.7 billion in 2009 and deal total increased by 7 percent to 278, according to an Ernst & Young LLP (E&Y) analysis based on data from Dow Jones VentureSource.

According to the analysis released today, VC investment in cleantech in Q4 2010 reached $979 million with 72 financing rounds, flat in terms of deals and down 14 percent in terms of capital invested compared to Q4 2009.

Solar, consumer products and building materials, and electric vehicles and charging stations led the way in 2010.

Two trends that E&Y spotted are worthy of note because they contradict some of what we've heard on the street concerning energy efficiency and seed investing.

• VC investment in the energy efficiency segment dropped 9 percent from 2009 to 2010, to $688.99 million through 68 deals.  In Q4 2010, 17 deals were completed in the segment, attracting $196.63 million, a 41 percent decrease from Q4 2009. 
• Seed rounds accounted for a large number of deals, 18, for 2010, a 125 percent increase in comparison to eight seed round deals in 2009. The share of investment dollars going to second rounds increased from 18 percent in 2009 to 26 percent in 2010. Later stage deals received $2.37 billion or 62 percent of the money invested in this period.

Ernst & Young considers "cleantech" to encompass "a diverse range of innovative products and services that optimize the use of natural resources or reduce the negative environmental impact of their use while creating value by lowering costs, improving efficiency, or providing superior performance."

SOURCE: Ernst & Young



 

The Nature Conservancy : Vote for your favorite nature photo

Cherie Palmer
Nelson, New Zealand

Jewelled Gecko, Otaga, New Zealand

"People who care conserve; people who don't know don't care," wrote biologist Robert Michael Pyle.

One of the best ways to connect to and learn about nature is through photography.  Great nature photography inspires people to go out and appreciate wild places or to just take a closer look at what's right in their own backyards.

From now until noon on Monday, February 7th, you have a great opportunity to choose the winner of The Nature Conservancy's 5th Annual Digital Photo Contest.

Which photograph inspires you?

The Nature Conservancy : You Be the Judge
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