Once upon a time when a big power plant retired, it was replaced by one as big or bigger. But not anymore. Energy efficiency is increasingly reducing the need for more power. And when it is needed, distributed generation may be enough. That’s how utilities increasingly view the market, according to this year’s Strategic Directions:…

Ok, no surprise to see Washington, D.C. or San Francisco ranked high in a list of the cities with America’s greenest buildings. But Atlanta? Georgia’s capital was the only southern state to make the top ten in the 2014 U.S. Clean Tech Leadership Index, released July 15 by Clean Edge. The cleantech research firm tracks…

If there were an equivalent in the energy industry to Time Magazine’s Person of the Year, natural gas would be this year’s winner. The dramatic rise in natural gas supply, and fall in price, has reconfigured the energy scene in the United States, suddenly creating a bounty of domestic energy, driving down wholesale power prices…

John Lennon wrote that life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans. Apparently, the same is true of energy efficiency. Energy savings happen when we’re busy doing other things – Internet-based things specifically.

Exhilaration swept through the energy efficiency industry as city after city, state after state and nation after nation set aggressive energy saving goals over the last several years. But with target dates nearing in certain jurisdictions, a more sober attitude now permeates. Some governments are asking: Are we reaching too high? A global report issued…

Americans tend to beat themselves up over their imperfections. We eat too much, watch too much TV and owe China too much money. Despite all of our sloth, we can feel good about one area: our progress saving energy.

We have seen a marriage of the energy efficiency and solar energy industries as the US has worked to green its buildings. In fact, some financing programs require that all cost-effective efficiency be pursued before solar panels are installed. Here Elisa Wood interviews Liz Merry, owner of Verve Solar Consulting, about how the solar industry…