Efficiency First

Efficiency First founding member Dan Thomsen blogs the recent lobbying trip to Washington, D.C. By Dan Thomsen, President, The Building Doctors Earlier this month I joined Efficiency First members and another group called the National Save Energy Coalition to lobby Congress on behalf of the proposed REEP legislation. I spent the first day and the [...]

By Laura Reedy-Stukel – Realtor, Elmhurst, IL REEP Learning Points from a Conservative House District While in DC, my groups met with supporters and skeptics.  We met with the educated and the confused.  From a really engaged staffer from Maine I learned about some of the political challenges of a grant-based bill.    Then I literally watched [...]

Lindsey Graham joins John Kerry in a bipartisan call for Senate action on climate change Last Sunday’s New York Times featured an extraordinary op-ed piece co-written by Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts. These two legislators from opposite sides of the aisle have  joined forces to propose a realistic [...]

National news segment profiles Efficiency First member and GreenHomes America partner Princeton Air The message really seems to be sinking in nationally that home energy retrofitting is an effective way to put unemployed Americans back to work. Take a look at this report aired on CNN, featuring interviews with Scott Needham of New Jersey-based Princeton [...]

Efficiency First president Matt Golden weighs in on scalable business models in Home Energy magazine The current issue of Home Energy magazine features a thought-provoking series of articles focused on business development, including a piece by Efficiency First president Matt Golden that addresses the thorny problem of scaling our industry over the next decade to [...]

California PUC Proposes $3.1 Billion Investment in Energy Efficiency A budget proposal submitted recently by the California Public Utilities Commission calls for a statewide energy efficiency initiative designed to cut electricity and natural gas consumption over the next three years. If approved, the plan would allocate $3.1 billion of utility ratepayer funding to a dozen [...]

Three “Blue Dog” districts defy conventional wisdom on attitudes toward energy reform Back on Sept. 18, Washington Post blogger Greg Sargent reported in The Plum Line about some encouraging poll results from three Congressional districts dominated by moderate or conservative Democrats. The poll was commissioned by the Environmental Defense Fund and conducted in August and [...]

Sacramento leverages ARRA funding to jump-start nation’s largest state-sponsored green workforce development program Last week California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced details of phase one grant awards for the new California Clean Energy Workforce Training Program, a public-private partnership that leverages $20 million in federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds along with state, local and private [...]

Recovery Act raises roof on weatherization Over the past 33 years, the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) administered by DOE has gained a solid reputation as the nation’s core program for delivering energy efficiency services to low-income households. On average, weatherization reduces a recipient’s annual heating bills by 32 percent and decreases their overall utility bills by [...]

Pass a Clean Energy & Security Act in the US Senate Now! For Immediate Release Media Contacts:  Fatima Khan / fatimazk@gmail.com / 617-216-7089 Donnie Fowler / dfowler@gmail.com / 415-902-4720 U.S. Clean Tech Business Leaders Call for an American Clean Energy and Security Act Washington, DC, September 23, 2009 — On the heels of President Obama’s [...]