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Last year, New York City required its commercial buildings to disclose their energy consumption. The benchmarking plan saw many surprises including finding newer LEED buildings ranked behind much older buildings when it came to energy efficiency. Take for instance the New York Times building, which is seeing more impressive gains in efficiency. Constructed in 2007, the […]

Kansas is poised to become one of several states to benefit from wind energy. "Kansas is among the windiest states, and in 2012, it more than doubled its wind energy capacity to more than 2,000 megawatts." But Kansas needs more transmission lines to carry the wind-generated electricity out of western Kansas, and to power businesses […]

A recent study found that simple behavior changes can drastically lower energy use in commercial buildings. So does this mean the end of retrofits? FirstFuel, a Massachusetts-based company that analyzes energy consumption in buildings, says that behavioral changes are a primary driver to efficiency problems in commercial buildings. The company examined utility data for 60 […]

It may not feel like it here in Kansas City, but summer is right around the corner. For businesses looking to save on utility costs, that means implementing strategies for cooling commercial buildings. It seems that commercial buildings are more susceptible to higher energy use. This is because offices and commercial buildings have high indoor […]

What's the future look like for global renewable energy? The REN21 Renewable Global Future Report is a yearly assessment of the global market for renewable energy. The recently released report is a compilation of scenarios of what the global renewables industry would look like in 2050. Currently, renewables make up 17 percent of total energy. […]

While still in its beginning stage, companies and investors are beginning to meld together sustainability reporting with traditional financial reporting for their companies. Most sustainability reports contain information about the impacts and risks of sustainability strategies. But a growing movement is shaping up to push companies toward integrated reporting that combines conventional financial information along […]

The emerging green technology sector may be delivering the economic benefits its advocates have long said it would. According to a year-end report from Environmental Entrepreneurs, more than 300 new renewable energy or clean transportation projects, facilities projects, and facilities were announced in 2012, promising an estimated 110,000 new jobs. Sectors covered in the report include […]

As data increases and businesses are taking a proactive approach to energy savings, there's a growing opportunity to capture it with application software. Apps are a great way to monitor and make use of this data for consumers and professionals. The growth of apps in sustainability is all about data. "Energy, water, waste, toxics, carbon – […]

An analysis released by GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) found that 3,313 megawatts (MW) of solar photovoltaics was installed in the U.S. in 2012. The Solar Market Insight: Year in Review 2012 reported that the U.S. solar industry grew from $8.6 billion in 2011 to $11.5 billion in 2012. When broken down […]