On Monday, July 31, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) held a press conference announcing its National Energy Action Plan for Energy Efficiency.  The plan seeks to address the nation’s growing demand for energy in U.S. homes, buildings and industries through efficiency.  I’m all for it!

The plan was developed by a leadership group that includes 23 electric and gas utilities, 7 state utility regulators and more than 30 other organizations.  More than 50 other organizations pledged commitments, including my firm, Johnson Controls.

It's a gallant effort.  But as one respondent so eloquently stated via this forum: ”yes, many corporations have seen the need and reduced energy use, replaced capital investments with greener stuff, all while their employees are driving huge SUVs back to their 3500 Sq ft houses. Until this energy conservation makes its way to the individual user, it is not going to be effective.”
 

OK, let's pick up right there and all take a look in the mirror. We all know what to do and it's not one singular solution.  Solving the energy crisis is like the “diet and exercise” combination my doctor drills into my head.  You know, diet alone won’t help you lose those pounds, and a healthier eating habit without exercise won’t get you there either.

Comments

Your point is well taken, we should see how Europe is coping with energy issue. The price of gasoline is high in other countries including Europe. The people there have gotten use to having good public transport. Here we have been used to good highways and wide roads. The US citizens like driving bigger cars to feel comfortable. I can see if we make public transport more attractive we can wean off of SUVs, also we can impose higher gasoline taxes like in Europe.

Companies and states should offer tax benefits for using public transport, not give incentives only on the save the air days.

Paul, I just discovered YourEnergyForum.com blog and what a great idea. Congratulations on getting it started. Your analogy about healthy energy choices was most appropriate and thanks for including the edgy remarks about SUV's and oversized homes. My small firm is just starting a campaign for energy efficiency and clean energy production here in California with a particular focus on County governments.
We believe that county government can be more effective in bridging the gap between federal/state government programs and municipal, neigborhood implementation. We would be interested in partnering with Johnson Controls in this effort or at minimum including a link to your blog on the many websites we're initiating. Keep up the good work.

All this energy efficiency talk seems to be directed at electricity. How about natural gas energy efficiency?Space heating for large buildings and facilities. Steam generation and warm water used for industry and say hospitals.
Natural gas can only be used once. We can't make more, so it has to be used as efficiently as possible.
What are your thoughts?

I wanted continue on the comment by the last post and perhaps expand upon it. We should in fact concentrate on how we utilize fossil fuels like natural gas in the production of steam for process or heating. If we burn these fuels in the most efficient manner, generally by minimizing the excess air levels, we gain in the two most talked about areas. Those areas would be efficiency as already is being discussed and total emmissions from these types of fuel burning equipment. It seems to me that all too often we focus on just one or the other rather than looking at how they can impact each other in a positive manner by applying the same technology or methods.

Post a comment

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)

Name:
Email Address:
URL:

Remember personal info?

Comments: (you may use HTML tags for style)