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The U.S. Department of Energy Technical Assistance Program (TAP) recently released an 11-step outline for public sector organizations to use in developing an energy benchmarking plan. Benchmarking is comparing a metered building's current energy performance with its energy baseline. It can help building managers compare performance over time or between similar types of buildings or to […]

The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is getting ready to open the doors to the world's most energy efficient high-performance computing (HPC) data center. The Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF) will require as much as one megawatt of electrical power to run, and is the first data center "dedicated solely to […]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a list of U.S. cities with the most Energy Star certified buildings in 2012. The news highlights how owners and managers of commercial buildings across the country are taking action on climate change while delivering real financial savings to their business bottom line. Last year, there were more […]

The World Green Building Council recently released “The Business Case for Green Building” a report that reviews the costs and benefits for developers, investors, and occupants. The report highlights the “large number of compelling benefits from green buildings received by different stakeholders throughout the life cycle of the building.” Attaching a financial value to the cost and […]

The dramatic increase in spending on energy efficiency programs is likely to reach $9.5 billion. A recent study from the Institute of the Edison Foundation analyzes the impact of efficiency program spending on the electricity sector. From 2006 to 2010, spending on efficiency programs doubled in the U.S. as more states developed policies promoting efficiency. […]

USA Today recently published a column calling for more research in energy efficiency to "identify where consumers are systematically making mistakes and how large these mistakes are." Following the State of the Union, the president set a goal of cutting half the energy wasted by homes and businesses over the next 20 years. In 2011, […]

The construction of green buildings is growing according to a recent survey by McGraw-Hill Construction. The research found that respondents expect more than 60 percent of their work to be green by 2015, an increase from the 28 percent that said the same for their work in 2013. The survey measures several countries, but the […]

Philadelphia is sure to become one of the nation's leaders in fostering a more energy efficient building stock. The city has joined together to contribute scalable solutions and provide leadership to mitigate climate change. The city's first Office of Sustainability was created in 2008 in an effort to make Philadelphia the "Greenest City in America." […]

Falling costs and improvements in efficiency are driving the increased sales of LED street lighting lamps. According to a new report from Pike Research, "LEDs will become the second-leading type of lamp for streets in terms of sales by 2020." The costs of LED street lighting have fallen as much as 50 percent over the […]