We all have beliefs about energy, the economy, and growth. Mostly, we hold the beliefs of the people who influenced us growing up—our family, friends, and teachers—and the media voices we pay attention to. A lot of people don't see…
Hey, Californians, look out. You're not number 1 anymore. Nope. You're number 2 now. In their annual assessment of how the states are doing with energy efficiency, the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) has pronounced Massachusetts the…
At the 2010 RESNET conference, I heard David Goldstein speak on some of the issues he'd written about in his newly published book, Invisible Energy. Goldstein is the Energy Program Co-Director at the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and president of…
A couple of months ago, I was reading a discussion in one of the many LinkedIn groups that I belong to and came acros a comment arguing that energy efficiency requirements drive builders out of business. Here's part of what…
A lot of people have difficulty understanding the real meaning of 'peak oil,' the idea that oil production rises, peaks, and declines. It's easy to get confused because we understand quantities better than we understand rates. A lot of people…
"US military warns oil output may dip causing massive shortages by 2015." That's the headline in an article I read the other day. Politicians and the media may not take energy security seriously, but the leaders of our armed forces…
As I sit here on Memorial Day thinking of my cousin Daniel, who was killed in the first Iraq war in 1991, and all the many others who gave their lives in support of the United States, my mind is…
Nuclear energy is like religion or politics. Almost no one, it seems, can separate their biases and emotional attachments from an objective assessment of the worth of this energy source. And yes, I count myself among the non-objective. Nuclear energy…
2005 was an important year for me. Not only was I learning how to do Manual J load calculations, crawl space encapsulation, and home performance contracting, but I also drank peak oil kool-aid by the bucketful. I read everything I…