The caution displayed by the Maryland Public Service Commission over BG&E’s smart meter proposal can be explained, in part, by the debate over Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) installation in California. Some Californians are even taking to the streets: Thursday morning, about a dozen people launched a demonstration against the SmartMeters at a Pleasure Point vehicle [...]
Posts Tagged as ‘energy efficiency’
August 20, 2010
Economist Howley Challenges National Security Agency’s Environmental Impact Statement
AKA “No Such Agency,” the super-secret NSA cultivates carefully its image as the “smartest guys in the room” — code-breakers, linguists, computer programmers, Internet snoopers and so on. But the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the NSA expansion at its campus in Fort Meade, Maryland, contradicts this image. The greatest environmental challenge facing our [...]
July 2, 2010
New Research Can Help EmPOWER Maryland
Governor O’Malley’s EmPOWER Maryland initiative aims to cut energy consumption fifteen percent by 2015. Most of the reductions will come by way of energy efficiency programs implemented by our state’s utilities. Energy efficiency is quicker, cheaper, cleaner and more secure than other options like new interstate transmission lines or new nuclear power plants. The Maryland [...]
June 28, 2010
Behavior-Change Energy Efficiency Coming to Maryland?
Maryland’s utilities are under pressure from the Public Service Commission to implement more effective energy efficiency programs. One of our major utilities, BGE, may hire OPower to help out (as discussed at the June 17 EmPower Maryland hearings). OPower’s approach relies on re-formatting electricity bills so that consumers can compare their monthly usage to others [...]
March 26, 2010
The U.S. Military Goes Green
The Department of Defense is placing a new emphasis on improving energy efficiency. The goals are to improve national energy security, enhance battlefield capability, and control costs. On that last point, anyone would be excused for being skeptical about DoD’s sincerity when it comes to saving money, but the real concern is price risk. The [...]
February 25, 2010
Maryland Joins the Race for LED Lighting
The Maryland Energy Administration has awarded $600,000 to a company developing energy-efficient, solid-state lighting. “This award will not only benefit TDI and Maryland, but also better position the USA to compete in the global solid-state lighting market,” believes TDI’s president Bernard Scanlan. “Governor O’Malley and his team are working to create jobs by putting Maryland [...]
February 18, 2010
Maryland – Get Ready for the L-Prize!
The L-Prize will be awarded to LED lamps that replace the standard 60W lightbulb — if they can pass the U.S. Department of Energy’s rigorous tests. What’s at stake? The solid-state lighting LED bulb will use only 10 watts. If all 971 million 60W bulbs currently use were replaced, the DOE estimates that: the country [...]
October 4, 2009
Maryland: Vote for OGZEB!
OGZEB? WTF? OGZEB stands for “off-grid zero-emissions building.” And it’s already here. OGZEB is a project of Florida State University’s Energy and Sustainability Center and uses the LEED system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. Along with passive solar design features, OGZEB uses solar PV to generate electricity which is stored using a hydrogen system: [...]
August 29, 2009
Pepco Empowers Customers
Hallelujah! Pepco has returned to the business of helping homeowners cut their energy bills (not without a bit of prodding from the Maryland Public Service Commission). Under Pepco’s Energy Wise Rewards program, customers can choose either of the following FREE installations: A programmable thermostat that you can control via Internet OR a digital control unit [...]
July 22, 2009
A Fresh Wind Blows from FERC
A new perspective seems to be taking hold at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). FERC regulates key parts of the nation’s energy infrastructure, including most of the interstate power transmission system, natural gas pipelines and hydropower. In the past, FERC has been challenged for being too friendly to fossil-fuel industries. A new report from [...]
