Blog

Large Opportunity in U.S. Energy Efficiency Retrofits

Posted by Margaret on Jul 11, 2012 in Industry News, Real Estate, Retrofitting | 1,978 comments

Upgrading and replacing energy-consuming equipment in buildings offers an important capital investment opportunity, with the potential for significant economic, climate, and employment impacts. In the United States alone, more than $279 billion could be invested across the residential, commercial, and institutional market segments.

Power Shortage Vexes Texas

Posted by Margaret on Jul 2, 2012 in Energy Efficiency, Energy cost savings, Industry News, Utilities | 2,452 comments

Texas, which is facing an electricity shortage, should let power prices rise sharply to give companies more incentive to build badly needed generating plants, experts said in a new report to state grid officials. But consumer groups and a coalition of the state’s cities said higher energy costs would hurt customers while the U.S. economy [...]

Electronics Recycling and E-Waste Will Double in the Next 15 Years

Posted by Margaret on Jun 28, 2012 in Recycling and Waste, Sustainability | 7 comments

Reuse, Recycling, Storage, and Waste Management for Consumer Electronics,
Computer Equipment, and Mobile Phones: Market Analysis and Forecasts

GreenPoint Helps Certify LEED Silver Building In Milwaukee

Posted by Margaret on Jun 27, 2012 in Industry News, LEED | 5 comments

GreenPoint’s most recent LEED certification project has just been approved LEED Silver for Existing Buildings. The project, which took only 10 months from kickoff to final certification, was a join effort of 2 of GreenPoint Partners’ LEED APs and 2 energy engineers with the Tishman Speyer management team in Chicago and Milwaukee. The building achieved [...]

Schneider Electric launches an e-learning website under the name Energy University

Posted by Margaret on Jun 21, 2012 in Energy Management Systems, Industry News | 29 comments

Through Energy University, Schneider Electric offers online training courses for professionals from all organizational levels and from several backgrounds in all areas of energy efficiency management in new and renewable energy. The content of these training courses helps to provide appropriate information giving professionals the proper assistance to better manage energy needs in their environments and understand the basis of energy consumption and its applications, and calculate the return on investment, as well as identify solutions that support changing from traditional ways to using clean energy.

Poll: Americans know how to save energy, but balk

Posted by Margaret on Jun 19, 2012 in Energy Efficiency, Energy cost savings | 1,791 comments

When it comes to saving energy, people in the United States know that driving a fuel-efficient car accomplishes more than turning off the lights at home.

But that doesn’t mean they’ll do it.

Sustainable Solutions: Syska Hennessy’s Co-Presidents Evaluate Green Efficiency Measures

Posted by Margaret on Jun 18, 2012 in Real Estate, Sustainability | 1 comment

Syska Hennessy Group co-presidents Gary Brennen and Cyrus Izzo spoke with CPE editorial director Suzann D. Silverman about high-efficiency building design and development solutions. The first part of the discussion,“Building Evolution,” appeared in the February issue of Commercial Property Executive. What follows is additional discussion about effective sustainability, or “high-performance,” methods. CPE: How effective do [...]

Microsoft Taxes Itself on Carbon Emission

Posted by Margaret on Jun 14, 2012 in Climate Change | 89 comments

Beginning on July 1, 2012 (the start of the company’s fiscal year 2013), Microsoft business units will be held financially responsible for the cost to offset the carbon (CO2) emissions that they produce. In other words, each group will be charged a fee for every ton of carbon it generates, specifically from electricity consumption and company flights. Administered by the corporate finance department, the money collected will be used to purchase renewable energy certificates (RECs) and carbon offsets to make it possible for Microsoft to become “carbon neutral.”

Can an apples-to-apples comparison drive sustainability?

Posted by Margaret on Jun 13, 2012 in Energy Efficiency, Industry News, Property Solutions, Sustainability | 2 comments

From GTM: Energy Points Launches Universal Metric for Sustainability When Ory Zik was the CEO of HelioFocus, he had trouble finding a simple metric to use to tell people about the efficiency of the company’s solar system taking into account the entire resource chain compared to other sources of energy. To fill what he saw as [...]

As Governments Exit, Private Investors Return to Cleantech

Posted by Margaret on Jun 12, 2012 in Uncategorized | 1 comment

Predictions pointed to 2012 as the return of private equity markets to the fuel cell and hydrogen industry. So far the year has been huge with Goldman Sachs plan to invest $40B fund in clean eneryg.