Clean Energy Solutions

Improvements in energy efficiency are the most economical way to provide for our future power needs. We have the technical potential to reduce electricity demand by 33% by 2020 in a cost-effective manner (1). Such action could, by itself, erase the demand for new coal-fired power plants.

Commercial and residential buildings account for more than 65% of U.S. electricity use (2). The design and construction of buildings will play a huge role in determining our future energy use. The U.S. Conference of Mayors and the American Institute of Architects have called for the “immediate energy reduction of all new and renovated buildings to one-half the national average for that building type, with increased reductions of ten percent every five years so that all buildings designed by the year 2030 will be carbon neutral – meaning that they will use no fossil fuel energy.” (3)

By another standard, consider the compact fluorescent bulb. According to Fast Company, if every American household (110 million households) replaced just one incandescent bulb with a compact fluorescent it would save enough electricity to turn off two power plants, or skip building the next two. "Sitting humbly on shelves in stores everywhere is a product, priced at less than $3, that will change the world. Soon. It is a fairly ordinary item that nonetheless cuts to the heart of a half-dozen of the most profound, most urgent problems we face. Energy consumption. Rising gasoline costs and electric bills. Greenhouse-gas emissions. Dependence on coal and foreign oil. Global warming." (4)

1)       American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy. http://www.aceee.org/energy/eeassess.htm
2)       Pew Center on Global Climate Change. http://www.pewclimate.org/docUploads/10%2D50%5FLoftness%2Epdf
3)       The American Institute of Architects. http://www.aia.org/release_060806_mayors_2030
4) Fast Company. http://www.fastcompany.com/subscr/108/open_lightbulbs.html

Community Energy Solutions