Programs to Electrify Buildings Are Heating Up, Nationwide Report Shows

Cold winters are common in Minnesota, where temperatures stay well below freezing for many months of the year. That’s one reason it’s surprising that Minnesota has recently become one of the latest states to pass a law encouraging residents to install efficient electric heat pumps, a technology that until recently was believed to be incompatible with cold climates. Now organizations such as the Minnesota Air Source Heat Pump Collaborative are working to expand the use of this technology to replace fossil fuels in buildings—and they’re not the only ones.

White House Forms $1.8B Coalition on Sustainable Building Performance

Last week, President Joe Biden launched a Building Performance Standards Coalition, a first-of-its kind partnership between 33 city, county and state governments.  

As part of the coalition, $1.8 billion will be made available to state and local governments through the U.S. Department of Energy to expand building retrofits and policy implementation throughout the nation.

California's Rooftop Solar Net Metering Program

Long a pioneer in the adoption and acceleration of solar power, California is in the midst of seeking input from stakeholders, through a California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) process, to evolve its approach to its net metering rooftop solar program in a manner that accounts for emerging needs and market trends. There’s work to be done to ensure that, as we move forward, people of every income level share in the benefits of solar power and that rooftop solar continues to thrive. That’s how California continues to lead in creating the clean energy jobs of the future, confronting the existential environmental challenge of our time, and helping to build a more just and equitable society.

2021 was a Landmark Year for Energy Efficiency Legislation in US States

Last year was rocky – to say the least. But as the coronavirus pandemic maintained its grasp on American society, the U.S. managed to continue charging on its path of energy efficiency, according to a new report by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, or ACEEE.

Recycling and Rehoming at Scale

With buildings, the concept of “recycling” usually means “tear it down and put something new on the lot.” However, demolition creates more than 90% of the waste generated by new building construction, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The debris might be recycled but there are other choices. For example, some see a future in turning dormant office buildings and similar structures into apartments through “adaptive reuse.”

Remembering Climate Change...A Message from the Year 2071

Coming to us from 50 years in the future, legendary sci-fi writer Kim Stanley Robinson tells the "history" of how humanity ended the climate crisis and restored the damage done to Earth's biosphere. A rousing vision of how we might unite to overcome the greatest challenge of our time.