Energy Efficiency

Photo: Dave Dugdale/Creative Commons
Ruling allows PV owners and other small energy generators to continue to be paid wholesale rates...
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Photo Credit: JSquish, Wikimedia/Creative Commons
The calculator breaks down the cost-effectiveness of energy codes on a state-by-state basis.

An open-air plaza inside AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami has been converted into a solar pavilion that makes the space more usable for revenue-generating functions. Courtesy NRG Energy and The Heat Group.
NRG Energy teams with Miami Heat to transform an underused open-air plaza and reinforce the facil...
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Nearly half of energy-modeled projects met or came close to meeting 2014 carbon reduction targets. Photo: York Region/Creative Commons
Energy modeling allows architects to be more ambitious with energy-saving in their design project...

The SEED Collaborative will partner with a select group of cities, like Philadelphia, and states to help them better collect and manage building energy data. Photo: Peter Miller/Creative Commons
The SEED Standard will help manage, standardize, share performance data.

Amazon's Denny Triangle campus in Seattle. Rendering courtesy NBBJ
Up to 4 million kilowatt-hours of energy will be saved each year.

The Asset Score's software was developed in part by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Photo: Ian Roberts/Creative Commons
The tool is used to assess energy efficiency of commercial and multifamily buildings.

Solar panels on a roof. Photo: Jon Callas/Creative Commons.
Draft Multi-Year Program Plan available for review.
Photo: Adavyd/Wikimedia Commons.
First year of reporting tracks 45% of commercial building space.

Commercial properties in San Francisco have been more energy-efficient since 2011. Photo: Kitchen from San Francisco/Wikimedia Commons
Efficiency has improved since 2011 law initiated.

Power County Wind Farm in Idaho. From 2000 to 2014, wind power production grew 33 fold. Photo: Energy.gov/Creative Commons
‘Tectonic Shift’ as coal use plummets; wind and solar rise.

Apartments in Jackson Heights, Queens. A new program's goal is to retrofit 1,000 buildings a year and retrofit all city-owned buildings by 2025. Photo: Jleon/Wikimedia Commons.
Goal is 1,000 buildings a year.

Reynobond composite panels were used for the soffit
The building, a Walgreens made with metal and composite material from Petersen Aluminum Corp., in...
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Photovoltaic array on top of the Forrestal Building in Washington, D.C.
Agencies must get 30% of electricity from renewables by 2025

University of South Carolina’s Darla School of Business. Image courtesy Firewater Photography; other images courtesy Bruce Damonte
The project is part of a large DOE initiative to develop more buildings that can generate as much...
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Courtland Place Passive House in Washington. Photo: Rob Harrison/Creative Commons
Free guide includes spotlight on individual projects

Users can see an estimate of how much a rooftop receives sunlight year-round. Photo: screenshot via Google/YouTube.
The tool offers high-resolution aerial maps, like the one used in Google Earth, to estimate the t...
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To make the assessment, the resources used and the wastes generated are calculated, mass-balanced, and normalized relative to a specific quantity called a functional unit.
LCA is a way of quantifying the environmental impact generated by the manufacture and delivery of...
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Photo: The Forest Home Garage in Ithaca, N.Y. All images courtesy of Green Parking Council.
The new program rates parking structures based on 48 elements of operation, from water reuse to b...
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By nature, wood has nearly four times the thermal resistance of steel or masonry

Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center
The Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center (ARTIC) is the Grand Central Station of the...
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A 1.4-MW fuel cell power plant, installed on the campus of Central Connecticut State University in 2014, generates clean, round-the-clock baseload power. The fuel cell is part of a configuration, in which high-quality heat produces steam for campus heating and absorption cooling. Photo courtesy FuelCell Energy
Demand for fuel cells, while modest, is growing, and cost savings are getting noticed.

Restrictions on park land mean the building's enclosed space cannot be larger than 2,500 sf. Rendering courtesy Kubala Washatko Architects
The plans also include a built-in wastewater treatment system and rainwater collection.

The new Apple headquarters designed by Norman Foster. Image: Apple, Inc.
The world’s top-performing companies are prioritizing sustainability as part of their corporate s...
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MIT's Media Laboratory and expansion under construction. Photo: Madcoverboy via Wikimedia Commons
The guidelines are aimed at strengthening and streamlining commercial building workforce training...
read moreCities around the world are enacting policies to create more sustainable environments. Image: Morgue File/iceman0
The U.S. Green Building Council and C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group with the World Green Buil...
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Navigant projects a curtailment in the growth of annual new installations through 2019. Image: Morgue File/AcrylicArtist
After a 20% falloff in 2013, the global wind power industry made a strong comeback in 2014, with...
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