In a world where we increasingly consume all kinds of information on various screens and need separate carry-on luggage for all our chargers, this graphic gives you an idea of how much juice each each device consumes. The recent Google acquisition of Nest underscores the growing importance and value consumers assign to energy efficiency. Energy… Keep reading →
In October of this year, Jordan announced it had chosen Russia to build its first two nuclear-power reactors. Historically, Jordan has lacked access to energy resources. It depends on imports for more than 96 percent of power consumption. This means that a whopping 20 to 25 percent of Jordan’s national expenditures go to importing energy.… Keep reading →
ExxonMobil is the one of the world’s largest energy companies. But while the firm identifies its two primary priorities as producing energy and “reducing our emissions profile while we do it” – according to vice-president of government affairs Ken Cohen – energy, in this case, refers almost exclusively to oil and gas. ExxonMobil does have… Keep reading →
The data explosion racing around the internet as people do more online banking, shopping and thousands of other things requires energy-hungry data centers to process and store the growing volumes of information. These data centers need lots of electricity to power and cool servers, but IBM researchers have developed technology that can redistribute workloads to… Keep reading →
The US made significant energy efficiency inroads following the 1973 oil embargo, but fresh supplies of cheap energy hit markets in the mid-1980’s, bringing renewed complacency that caused lawmakers to backslide on efficiency measures. Famed innovator and energy researcher Amory Lovins sets the stage for a new energy efficiency surge in his latest blog post:… Keep reading →
By: John W. Schoen | CNBC.com Economics Reporter Corporate leaders give themselves a lousy grade on their efforts to develop sustainable supplies of natural resources strained by a growing global population and a rapidly expanding middle class of consumers. With demand for everything from food and water to rare earth minerals expected to continue to… Keep reading →
The City of Chicago passed an ordinance September 11 requiring buildings with more than 50,000 square feet to report their energy use to a benchmarking tool and eventually to the public. The law, passed in a 32-to-17 vote, is part of the city’s overall efforts to reduce energy use in half of Chicago’s buildings 30… Keep reading →
The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy just released a report ranking the 34 largest US cities on energy efficiency. “By considering both policies and energy performance, the City Scorecard reflects the current activities and historical legacies in each city, and as a result provides actionable information to policymakers and residents,” the group writes in… Keep reading →
Energy fields such as light, heat and sound all around us every day, but can we develop a process by which energy can be derived from these external sources and used to power things? The answer is energy harvesting; a process by which ambient energy can be collected and stored for on-demand, off-grid use, with… Keep reading →
Buildings account more than 40% of energy consumption in the United States, and 30%-50% of that usage is routinely wasted. Despite this significant economic and environmental opportunity, building energy efficiency is vastly underfunded today. Government, utilities, technology vendors, energy service providers, software providers, and a host of other organizations are working to change this dynamic.… Keep reading →
