WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced the release of a new proposed energy efficiency standard for residential refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, and freezers....

My wife and I recently took a trip to Virginia Beach. I wanted to visit a research center there. I spent a lot of time at the center, including attending a 3-hour conference session. So really—a main reason for the trip was not leisure. I do admit, however, that my wife and I couldn't go there over a long weekend without squeezing in some time for the ocean.

Travel and tourism is one of America's largest industries, responsible for more than $1 trillion in the U.S. economy. According to the U.S. Travel Association, one out of every nine jobs in the United States depends on travel and tourism. The U.S. travel and tourism industry is made up of airlines, bus and rental car companies, cruise lines, hotels and other lodging facilities, attractions, and a myriad of other diverse travel and tourism-related businesses. As you can imagine, this industry consumes enormous amounts of energy. Consequently, I do have twinges of guilt when I travel, knowing that my trips are consuming large a...

is a significant expense for many of us, and it also affects how we work, play, and feel. The good news is that new advances in technology are providing more comfort, flexibility and efficiency, as we learned in our new book .

The standard incandescent bulb -- what we typically think of as a "basic light bulb" -- is a pretty inefficient piece of technology, wasting 90% to 98% of its electrical use as heat rather than useful light.

Much better are fluorescents, including the now-ubiquitous compact fluorescent lights (CFLs), which are roughly 75% more efficient for the same light output.

Try these .

By now, many people are aware of this fact, but few have taken a moment to actually calculate how much money they could save if they switched out their high-use bulbs to CFLs, as the commercials instruct us. In his book , Ian Woofenden calculates that a family using a 75-watt incandescent for six hours per day would spen...

On Monday, Chris told you about and how it's changed the way he cools his home. In warm weather, ceiling fans cool people (not rooms) by producing a wind-chill effect—which is why you should turn off fans when you leave the room. A ceiling fan allows you to raise the thermostat setting about 4°F with no reduction in comfort.

Ceiling fans don't just cool in the summer; you can also reverse the direction in the winter to provide an updraft and force warm air down into the room.

How has a ceiling fan affected the way you heat and cool your home?

Each Thursday, you have the chance to share your thoughts on a question about energy efficiency or renewable energy for consumers. Please comment with your answers, and also feel free to respond to other comments.

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ONTILITY, the solar industries’ fastest growing distribution, training and support services firm, has added new strategic partnerships with leaders in the renewable energy community. ONTILITY adds Solyndra, Zep Solar, SoloPower, Lumeta, Canadian Solar, Solectria, Scheuten and Schneider to its complete list, consisting of the best names in solar. In keeping with other current manufacturer partnerships, ONTILITY will offer sales, end-to-end project support and training with each new manufacturer relationship. “We work closely with our Certified Partners™ and Dealer Installers to identify key solar manufacturers that we should offer and support,” says Thomas Pash, ONTILITY’s President and CEO. “One of the competitive advantages of having over 500 Certified Partners™ and Dealer Installers is that we have hundreds of integrators continuously providing us feedback, which enables us to strategically select only the leading manufacturers for distributio...

is partnering with home comfort company, , to offer the residents of Central Virginia a free visual home energy inspection in exchange for helping someone in need stay warm this winter. When you make a $50 donation through the to between September 20 and October 30th you will receive a FREE visual home energy review from Woodfin - a $200 value! (also known as an Energy Audit) are a great way to learn where your house isn’t the most energy efficient, and the experts at Woodfin can help guide you in the direction of saving money by lowering your bills and increasing the comfort in your home. Woodfin will look at various home systems and appliances and identify areas where energy efficiency, comfort, health and safety improvements can be made. Financial incentives, such as tax credits and rebates, may be available to help pay for these energy-efficient home improvements.EnergyShare is Dominion's energy assistance program of last resort for anyone who faces a financial hardship from u...

A lot of people wait until the first of year to set goals and make life changes, but I think the change of seasons is a good time to think about these things, especially when it comes to energy use and saving strategies. Heating and cooling account for roughly 43% of an , so as the weather changes, how you use and save much of the energy for your home will obviously change as well.

It's for these reasons that we created the seasonal Energy Savers Web site, which teaches you to stay cool and save money in the spring and summer, and in the fall and winter.

Since tomorrow is , it's time to think about how you'll stay warm and comfortable without spending a lot of money. Even if it still feels like summer where you live, cold weather is on the way for many of us, and it's important to be prepared.

In addition to the first day of fall, the start of Energy Awareness Month in October makes this a great time to really focus on saving energy. DOE's Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) has ...

On Monday, Shannon told you about , a renewable fuel that can power a vehicle using less fuel and producing fewer greenhouse gas emissions. DOE has an that can help drivers find the nearest fueling station to fill up their vehicles.

Would you consider driving a vehicle that can run on biodiesel? Why or why not?

Each Thursday, you have the chance to share your thoughts on a question about energy efficiency or renewable energy for consumers. Please comment with your answers, and also feel free to respond to other comments.

SunRun Inc. is a San Francisco, California based supplier of residential solar electricity. SunRun was co-founded by Nat Kreamer, Ed Fenster and Lynn Jurich. The company provides a way for consumers to take the hassle of researching and buying solar equipment by offering . Fenster and Jurich both graduated from Stanford University and established SunRun shortly thereafter. Increasing level of global pollution became one of the inspirations that lead to the creation of SunRun. SunRun is the first company in the United States that offers residential Power Purchase Agreements (PPA, discussed in a later section).

Investment HistoryIn 2008 SunRun raised $12 million in funding from a set of private investors. In the same year U.S. Bancorp invested $105 million to install 2,000 residential solar systems. In June 2010, SunRun successfully established a deal worth $100 million with PG&E.

Financing ModelsSunRun offers two financing options for the residential power systems; Power Purchase Agreem...

To come to grips with their massive use of energy, major companies have brought on professional consultants, joined green organizations, even hired on-staff .

But this summer, firms such as eBay Inc., McDonald's Corp., PepsiCo, Target Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc. turned to a group of graduate students in hopes of becoming more eco-friendly.

Through the Climate Corps program, run by the Environmental Defense Fund, 51 business students were placed at 47 companies to find ways to save energy. When the program launched in 2008, just seven students participated.

The students uncovered potential energy reductions that, if implemented, could mean a $350-million reduction in utility bills each year and 400,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions averted annually. Lighting and computer equipment could be more efficient, the students found, and heating and cooling systems could be tweaked.

AT&T Inc., for example, could cut up to 80% of its electricity costs across more than 100 mill...

In the past, when I thought of solar power I would automatically think solar panels or more specifically, . However, within the last couple of months I've gained a better understanding of the variety of ways we can harness the sun's abundant energy to help meet our power needs.

Step outside on a hot and sunny summer day, and you'll feel the power of solar heat and light. There are to take advantage of this natural resource. One option I find particularly interesting is .

Your home's windows, walls, and floors can be designed to collect, store, and distribute solar energy in the form of heat in the winter, and reject solar heat in the summer. Passive solar design can be applicable to all climates.

There are several elements to passive solar design. The south side of a building almost always receives the most sunlight. Therefore, homes designed for passive solar heating usually have large, south-facing windows.

Materials that absorb and store the sun's heat can be built into the sunlit ...

October 24, 20101:00 pmto4:00 pm

106 East 86th Street; New York, NY 10028 RSVP Required: 732-565-7740 ext 303

Presenters: The Rev. Fletcher Harper, Executive Director, GreenFaith Max Joel, NYSERDA Energy $mart Communities Coordinator, Solar One Sarah Pidgeon, Education Coordinator, Solar One

For the average religious institution, energy expenses are the second highest fixed cost—second only to personnel costs. Our energy use causes air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, and toxic waste from nuclear power plants. GreenFaith’s research shows that the average religious institution can cut energy use by close to 20% with investments that pay for themselves in less than 18 months – a large environmental and economic benefit. At this workshop, GreenFaith staff will review 12 priority steps for energy conservation, based on data gathered through energy audits conducted at diverse houses of worship. Many of these steps are no cost, and can be implem...

Hard to believe, but summer is almost officially over! Cooler weather is just around the corner, and it's always best to be prepared. As Andrea , one of the best things you can do to get ready for cool weather is have a to find out where you are losing energy and how to make your home more efficient. The steps you take after a home energy assessment will help ensure that you are comfortable and efficient when the cold weather finally hits.

How are you preparing to save energy this fall and winter?

Each Thursday, you have the chance to share your thoughts on a question about energy efficiency or renewable energy for consumers. Please comment with your answers, and also feel free to respond to other comments.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) it will contribute $8.5 million to the completion of four utility grid infrastructure projects in three different states. The funding is coming specifically from the DOE’s Solar Energy Grid Integration Systems (SEGIS) program. Combined with private funds, the total $20 million in funding will aid utility companies incorporating solar energy into utility grids.

Two of the funded projects are in New Jersey, a state that has the second most installed solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity in the country (California is number one). The newly announced funding will help PSE&G, a New Jersey Utility, complete atop 200,000 utility poles across the state.

Another project is in Florida, where the Florida Solar Energy Center at the University of Central Florida and SunEdison, a solar power project developer, will use the funding to install inverters and smart-grid power controls for commercial and residential PV systems within the state.

Final...

As I walked outside this morning, I noticed something— a chill in the air! I live in Colorado, where the nights get cooler long before the days do. This is the time where it's common to see people walking around with shorts and sweaters in the morning (gotta be prepared).

The sight of my breath was a reminder that soon I'll be running my heater again and will want to run it as little as possible while staying comfortable. If that sounds like your plan, consider scheduling a . Also known as an energy audit, an energy assessment shows you where your home is losing energy and how to make it as efficient as possible.

You can , or to provide a more thorough assessment.

A professional auditor uses a variety of techniques and equipment to determine the energy efficiency of your home, using equipment such as , which measure the extent of leaks in the building, and , which reveal hard-to-detect areas of air infiltration and missing insulation. At the end of the assessment, you'll know ex...

September 2, 2010

This is the first guest blog post from Wako Takayama, sustainability consultant and author of . Wako is committed to living and working sustainably and helps companies develop sustainable products and services.

When people find out that I have a passion for energy efficiency and have been conducting basic residential energy efficiency audits (as a volunteer with ,) they often ask what they can do to be more efficient at home.

Talking about CFLs is easy because you can see them and you can tell when they are on and using electricity. Not so with so many of the other electronics products plugged into our homes.

A shows that “Home electronics is a growing portion of each household's electricity usage, close to 20 percent.” In 1980, the average home had three electronic devices. We might guess a TV, stereo/radio and how about a blender?

These days, think about all the gadgets plugged in around a typical house. And we keep bringing new ones home, eager to try out the ...