After Mitt Romney’s humiliating defeat in 2012, many pundits explicitly or implicitly agreed with bloger Ted Frier who wrote that the GOP had deteriorated into a party of ” elderly conservative whites who year by year are a shrinking share of the national electorate.” And it’s true. How do I know? The last-ditch war over light bulbs.

As a result of legislation passed during he Bush administration, The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, incandescent light bulbs that fail to meet higher energy efficiency standards are on the way out. The new standards were phased in, first 100- and 75-watt bulbs bit the dust, and starting this month the popular 60- and 40-Watt bulbs will not be replaced on store shelves after they are sold out. Republicans have been fighting this event tooth and nail. There’s been efforts at legislation such as Rep. Jeff Duncan’s (R-S.C.) bill, H.R. 3818 which attempts to repeal the ban. And now victory of a sort – the new omnibus appropriations bill contains a rider that will defund efforts to enforce the new standards. Of course, American manufacturers have, in anticipation of the new rules, almost completely ceased manufacture of the less efficient bulbs, but, with no prospect of enforcement, such bulbs could conceivably be purchased from foreign suppliers and sold in the U.S. to the folks who just can’t let go.

Stopping the new rules, believe it or not, has been one of the GOP’s leading priorities. When it first came to my attention in 2011, I wrote:

Did you scratch your head when the GOP House, faced with a deteriorating economy, decided to concentrate their energies on light bulb standards a few weeks ago? Did this suggest nothing so much as the crankiness of some of your elderly family members who curse as they try to figure out how to circumvent car seat belts, wax furious when they can’t smoke in restaurants, and carry on about the fools who buy “five-dollar” cups of coffee? …

Yup. You know just who it is who can’t let go. Geezers. I hate to say it because I think – technically at least – I qualify as one, but most of the carpers are undoubtedly geezers. Represented by the GOP, a.k.a. Geezers Only Party.

I noted back in 2011 that there’s more to the great light bulb war than how we get our light. What’s in play is the same impulse Charles Blow was talking about when he wrote that “Republicans are trying to hold back a storm surge of demographic change with a white picket fence.” The GOP plays to a constituency filled with nostalgia for a past that is changing, desperate to hold back a future they don’t understand and fear. Is it any wonder that the future of a GOP so constrained is itself imperiled?

2nd and 3rd paragraph slightly edited for clarity, link added to 3rd paragraph.

( – promoted by Clark)

On June 29th, the St. Louis County Council gave the green light to updated residential building codes that will save homeowners hundreds in energy costs through new energy efficiency standards. St. Louis County is home to approximately one million residents, part of the Greater Metropolitan St. Louis area.

The savings are particularly beneficial for Missourians in the long term due to projected coal-generated energy costs rising faster than in other states.

Some facts to consider:

* 82.4% of Missouri’s power is coal-generated, while its only 50% nationwide

* US Residential Electricity prices have gone up 50% in last decade

The adoption of the new codes means that updated energy efficiency building standards will be in effect everywhere in St. Louis County that is unincorporated or in municipalities that look to the County for code enforcement. St. Louis County is home to over 90 municipalities, many of which enforce their own building codes. There is still work to do among those municipalities that perform their own code enforcement and have yet to adopt the updated energy conservation codes.

Although eventually near-zero energy buildings and ultra-low energy homes may be the ultimate sustainable solution, the 2009 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) establishes a set of minimum energy efficiency standards that will save homeowners on average between 12-15% energy usage.

The Energy & Cost Savings Analysis of 2009 IECC Efficiency Improvements from the Energy Efficiency Codes Coalition concludes,

“ICF International’s analysis estimates that homes built to the 2009 IECC standards will save 12.2% under the simple “prescriptive” method and could save 14.7% or more using the more complicated “performance-based” method.”

The City of St. Louis is not within St. Louis County, so this code adoption does not affect the city. There is, however, hope that the City of St. Louis will follow the lead of St. Louis County soon, as well as St. Charles County, which lies to the West of St. Louis County. St. Charles County has a population of approximately 350,000, and is one of the fastest growing counties in the country, which makes the adoption of energy efficient building codes extremely important.

Ultimately, “sustainability” means behaving in such a way as to preserve and protect the existing ecosystem for future generations to enjoy-leaving things just how you’ve found them.

On sustainability,

“There is abundant scientific evidence that humanity is living unsustainably, and returning human use of natural resources to within sustainable limits will require a major collective effort. Ways of living more sustainably can take many forms from reorganizing living conditions (e.g., ecovillages, eco-municipalities and sustainable cities), reappraising economic sectors (permaculture, green building, sustainable agriculture), or work practices (sustainable architecture), using science to develop new technologies (green technologies, renewable energy), to adjustments in individual lifestyles that conserve natural resources.”

Energy Efficiency is the fastest and cheapest way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote a cleaner and more sustainable environment. National groups like the Sierra Club, US Green Building Council and local ones, the Missouri Association of Accredited Energy Professionals (MAAEP) and the Home Builders Association of St. Louis and Eastern Missouri all support the new codes. Through the adoption of the 2009 Energy Conservation Code, energy efficient homes and businesses will make a substantive contribution creating a cleaner environment tomorrow.

( – promoted by Clark)

All over America, the news is spreading that long-term investment in our national infrastructure, is — amazingly — a good idea. I guess people start to wake up when bridges start to fail, schools fall apart, etc; the writing’s on the crumbling wall, so-to-speak. Rebuilding America is a trillion dollar plus project. Levees, roads, bridges.  

But while we’re in the infrastructure inventory mood, why not look at some upgrades? God knows, whenever my computer takes a dive and I’m forced to replace it, I always look to moving my specs up a notch or two, don’t you?

Current infrastructure upgrades include:

* the high-speed rail initiative catching up to technology already in wide use in other countries,

* replacing our automotive fleets and buildings with cleaner and greener options that make a real contribution toward our nation’s sustainability portfolio.

But another infrastructure upgrade, possibly the most obvious, is simply making our homes and offices more energy efficient. And this is a project that will stimulate the economy and create 2,000,000 jobs over 10-15 years. Like health care reform, infrastructure repair, energy efficiency upgrades are a trillion dollar project.

Yesterday, in Missouri, 150 concerned citizens lobbied state legislators with the common sense idea behind improving our homes to higher levels of efficiency. Politically practical approaches were laid out featuring game-changing economic initiatives to make all this improvement work and job-creation possible.

Renew Missouri and Missouri Coalition for the Environment brought together small business owners, activists, green energy experts and other stakeholders to sound these sensible arguments and deliver important information about the latest developments in energy efficiency:

Missourians Tell Legislators: Energy Efficiency Now!

New “Game-Changing” policies will save home owners money on utility bills and create thousands of in-state jobs…

Jefferson City, MO – Citizens from across Missouri convened at the State Capitol on Wednesday to urge legislators to update the state’s outdated energy efficiency policies. Participants carried signs calling for Energy Efficiency Now! while listening to state energy efficiency policy experts and Missouri home energy auditors speak of the benefits of efficiency and of legislative solutions for efficiency improvement.

PJ Wilson of Renew Missouri explained that Missouri currently ranks 41st in the country for energy efficiency, which costs Missourians millions of dollars on their electric bills each year. Missouri also has one of the nation’s fastest rising energy rates, only made worse in the struggling economy. “Energy efficiency addresses high electric bills and creates in-state jobs,” says Wilson.

PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) is one of four proposed solutions. PACE is proving to be successful in 14 states and is often consider a “game-changer” for energy efficiency and renewable energy.   PACE is state-enabling legislation that allows cities to pursue bonds to pay for a revolving loan program that lends money to both commercial and residential property owners for energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements. It alleviates the upfront cost of efficiency and renewable upgrades by allowing home or business owners to pay for over time through an additional charge on property tax.

PACE’s revenue neutral characteristics make it an easy win for legislators and municipalities; it is already receiving bipartisan support in Jefferson City. “PACE provides a longer-term financing scheme for energy efficiency upgrades, so home-owners will make improvements with very low up-front costs. By spreading out the payments over the course of 15-20 years, the energy savings gained each month on electric bills often make the upgrades net positive from day one,” says Marc Bluestone, of Missouri Association of Accredited Energy Professionals (MAAEP).

Beyond lower electric bills, pursuing energy efficiency also increases a home’s overall value. “Homes with efficiency sell faster, spend fewer days on the market, and sell for a higher percentage of the listing price. People are starting to figure out that efficiency pays while you live in a home — and when it’s time to sell a home,” said Bluestone.

Damien Flaherty, of EnergyAudits.com and MAAEP, described the overlap of economic and security benefits of efficiency. “Currently, Missouri imports 95% of its energy resources — coal, natural gas, oil — we can’t change that geological reality. But what we can improve are the 2 million homes already built in Missouri. We can make these buildings more efficient and therefore use less imported fuels. And updating our housing stock will undoubtedly create tens of thousands of in-state jobs that can’t be outsourced or sent overseas.”

After, the citizens met with legislators throughout the day encouraging action on efficiency. The Energy Efficiency Now! rally on the Capitol steps was a part of Conservation Lobby Day, an annual event sponsored by the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, Missouri Votes Conservation, and the Missouri Sierra Club.

Renew Missouri recommends a suite of four “best practice” priorities, and more information can be found at http://www.RenewMo.org. Renew Missouri is a project of the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, has successfully transformed renewable energy policy in Missouri with its work on the Easy Connection Act in 2007 and on Proposition C, a renewable electricity standard, in 2008.

The news of energy efficiency is spreading, and as I’ve said before, I predict that not only will every building in our country be audited and analyzed to diagnose what improvements can be made, but eventually, the idea of an energy efficiency audit and retrofit will be as commonplace as the safety and emissions test for your car — you heard it here first!  

Here’s a great new project with good ideas to help popularize energy efficiency in Missouri!

President Obama said today,”The simple act of retrofitting these buildings to make them more energy efficient – installing new windows and doors, insulation, roofing, sealing leaks, modernizing heating and cooling equipment – is one of the fastest, easiest and cheapest things we can do to put Americans back to work while saving families money and reducing harmful emissions.”

Economic stimulus promoted through energy efficiency organization

St. Louis, MO – December 15, 2009 – The Missouri Association of Accredited Energy Professionals (MAAEP), a newly formed trade group, held its inaugural organizational meeting for membership and affiliates last Thursday.

Local energy professionals representing private enterprise, non-profits and government participated including Mo. Dept. of Natural Resources, Botanical Garden’s Earthways Center, Mosby Building Arts and other industry leaders.

“The business of making Missouri more energy efficient and saving folks on energy costs is set to grow tremendously in the near future as game-changing Federal and State initiatives come online,” explained Marc Bluestone of Home Green Home, a local energy efficiency contractor and consultant. “Pilots such as the Property Assessed Clean Energy program (PACE) and economic stimulus efforts will soon make energy audits and retrofits on homes as commonplace as the safety and emissions test for your car.”

In October, the Department of Energy announced $2.7 billion under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for energy efficiency efforts nationwide, with tens of millions earmarked locally in programs such as the Mo. Department of Natural Resources’ “Energize Missouri Communities” which include block grants to fund efficiency and weatherization projects in public buildings, private business and residential structures.

“The Missouri Association of Accredited Energy Professionals (MAAEP) is advancing a program to distinguish high-efficiency, high-performance homes for home buyers and their Realtors,” said attorney Tom Appelbaum. “Studies show these homes retain their value and sell faster than the non-efficient, non-retrofitted homes, and with programs like PACE the cost of these green upgrades can be amortized over the life of a home, making the cost-benefit savings positive from day one.”

MAAEP is working with green consultant James Trout and MyGreenToolkit.com to raise awareness of energy efficiency benefits to REALTORS and their customers, “With MAAEP and MyGreenToolkit.com we empower Realtors and home owners with information and statistics clearly showing the value in improving their homes and making them more energy efficient.”

At Thursday’s meeting, Damien Flaherty of EnergyAudits.com emphasized the role that MAAEP fills in helping industry professionals contend with the quickly changing landscape of energy efficiency. Flaherty maintains a national database of certified Energy Auditors, Energy Raters and Home Performance Contractors and has conducted several surveys to identify issues particular to the efficiency business, “Our professionals are setting standards for best practices and MAAEP will politically advocate on behalf of this emerging industry to promote home value, economic recovery and consumer interests.”

MAAEP board member Harvey Ferdman spoke about a convergence of issues making clean energy and energy conservation an idea whose time has come. “Buildings account for nearly 40% of our nation’s carbon emissions, but their energy efficiency can be improved by 30% or more. These savings will have a very real impact on reducing our carbon footprint and lessening pollution. Every single home improved puts our community on a more sustainable tract.”

“Every building constructed by the end of 2009, conservatively, will make up 85% of all buildings in 2030; consequently, remediating existing homes and offices is where most of the efficiency benefits will be gained,” explained board member Byron DeLear. “Because construction styles vary so greatly, the energy efficiency analysis, consultation and upgrade must be uniquely tailored for each property. This process is directed and carried out by accredited energy auditors and home performance contractors; a new “green job” workforce that can’t be outsourced.”

In addition to St. Louis, MAAEP will be conducting a series of organizational meetings throughout the State of Missouri in early 2010 in Kansas City, Columbia and Springfield. The Missouri Association of Accredited Energy Professionals is a public benefit non-profit corporation registered with the State of Missouri on July 6th, 2009.

Thursday’s MAAEP meeting was sponsored by Fiberlite Technologies, Inc., an insulation manufacturer, Matt Pidgeon of Soar Advertising & Design, Home Green Home and special thanks to Mattingly Brewery for use of their conference room.

###

For more information regarding MAAEP please contact Matt Pidgeon at (314) 322-1077 Matt@MAAEP.org or Harvey Ferdman at Harvey@MAAEP.org or visit their website at http://www.MAAEP.org

Some comments cross-posted:

Green change! says:

Let’s all board the train to Green change! Republicans need to get a clue and stop being science deniers — we need to get off of our addiction to fossil fuels before it kills us, its already killing off thousands of species around the world. Humanity has a moral responsibility to end this genocide taking place as we surf

bout time says:

how long will it take for US politcal leaders to finally embrace the fact that Green energy solutions are the way to define the US economy for the 21st century? Instead of nuclear, oil and coal? we are in Iraq and the Middel East because of oil, think how much that really makes a gallon of gas, $20?

There’s a movement going on. It’s a movement made of people who care and people who see and people who concern themselves with the affairs of more than just their own.

What they see – what we see – is that the issue of environmental stewardship is an issue that concerns us all. Everyone. It’s global, local and personal.

The simple fact is the exponential growth of the human enterprise now impacts and dictates to the future of every living being we share this planet with.

How will America, the leader of industrial might, metabolize this responsibility?

We need to make a choice – and do what’s right.

Our nation, has been at the crossroads of choice before, and it hasn’t always been easy: abolishing slavery, getting women the right to vote – but we have yet to establish a sane energy policy as this goal has been thwarted time and again.

All the way back to the 1930s – hybrid fuels and cars built to run on ethanol were blocked by Big Oil.

Those same forces bought up and systematically dismantled more than 100 electric mass transit systems in 45 cities across America – including our city of St. Louis.

After World War II, there was desire to reduce our dependency on foreign sources of energy, so alternative and synthetic fuels were developed right here in Louisiana Missouri. But in the 50s an Oil Glut stopped that and blocked the diversification of our energy portfolio.

In the 70s, following the Middle East oil embargo and energy crisis we knew the way. Jimmy Carter over 30 years ago signed into law comprehensive energy reform including renewable and alternative energy sources. He put solar panels on the White House.

Well, in the 80s, an Oil Glut stopped that – and the next President took those panels down. Reagan tore down that symbol of American energy independence.

Now that we’re facing the irrefutable science of global climate change and global warming, all of a sudden we are struck with an economic crisis not seen since the likes of the Great Depression – and accusations of any economic recovery that we’ve entertained so far as being “jobless”…

A “jobless-recovery” ? What’s that?

The way I see it, it’s an opportunity. And it all centers on how we power our society.

There is an emerging industry before us – an industry that hasn’t existed before.

Green energy – renewable energy – energy efficiency.

The benefits are legion. And many of these new jobs can’t be outsourced because they happen right here at home. Its win, win, win.

Take energy efficiency for example, 95% of all existing homes and construction can be audited and assessed and fixed to a higher standard of efficiency, saving folks on energy costs, creating new jobs, avoiding the construction of polluting power plants.

Residential buildings generate over 20 percent of carbon dioxide emissions from non-renewable fuel consumption in the United States.

One solution is the Missouri Association of Accredited Energy Professionals, or “MAAEP”, representing certified energy assessors – a new profession – greening the American economic landscape one home at a time – bringing our carbon levels back down to what leading scientists say is sustainable: 350! 350 parts per million.

In this climate of economic recession, any project that promises great job creating prospects should be our number one focus. We stand at the Gateway to a New Economy and thousands of Missourians and millions of Americans are leading the way. Organizations, non-profits, businesses are coming together to capitalize on this Copernican shift for not just America, but the world. Join us and cross over this threshold to a cleaner and safer future for all.

Thank you!

END

(Speech prepared for 350.org International Day of Climate Action Oct. 24th, Action at the Arch, St. Louis)

T. Boone Pickens, who made his “first billion” in oil, knows that the future lies now in alternative energy. And water. He’s buying up water rights in the West because, as temperatures rise, trans-evaporation rates will also rise. Even if we get wetter, we’ll have less water because of evaporation. Water is the new oil.

That’s what Nancy Jackson told the audience at a meeting of the Coalition for the Environment. Jackson, who hails from Kansas, came clear across our own state to explain the Biggest Losers (in energy usage) competition that the Land Institute in Salina sponsored for six communities last year. But before she explained the contest, she described what most people consider to be sexier than efficiency, and that’s wind power.

Wind is–pardon the pun–pretty cool. Even if you don’t give a rat’s patoot about climate change, wind power makes sense. It hedges against the instability of the oil market.  And even though, as the turbines are built, it’s more expensive to begin with, it eventually stabilizes and lowers rates, as well as providing substantial economic development.

If Kansas, for example, were to build enough turbines for 7,000 megawatts of power, that would provide twenty million dollars to the landowners, another twenty million to the counties that host those turbines, and close to 2,000 operations and maintenance jobs.

Despite the glamor of wind power, though, Jackson said, energy efficiency is where the game is. Seventy percent of the electricity we use is in buildings. “So if we can imagine a future of buildings that generate as much as or more than they use, then there’s a substantially decreased need for centralized power plants of any kind.” Of course, efficiency wouldn’t create that future; it would only help. I assume she meant that you’d need solar panels in most homes.

But consider that energy efficiency is THE cheapest way to get more power–like 3 cents per kilowatt hour–as opposed to the most expensive way to get more power: 9-12 cents per kilowatt hour if you build a nuclear plant. Jackson called energy efficiency a “smokin’ good deal.”

Energy efficiency is the big win. Having entirely new standards for the buildings that we build, for the retrofitting of the buildings that we already have, is the way we can get to the energy future we want.

The first step in that direction is to get public utility commissions to align a utility’s profits with how much energy it saves, not how much it sells. What we need in Missouri is for the PSC to tell AmerenUE and KCPL that the less energy they sell, the more the state will pay their shareholders. Saying that to utility companies would imply that our rates would have to go higher, but that wouldn’t mean our bills would go up, because, as ratepayers are enabled to use less energy even as rates go up, they would actually pay less on their yearly bill.

All this information sounds good, but how do you get the policy makers interested in it? That was the question for Jackson and her colleagues. They knew that when homeowners are asked if they would cut energy usage to save money, they say, “Sure.” And when asked if they’d cut usage to save the environment, they reply, “Yes, yes.” But they don’t do it. On the other hand, when homeowners are shown that their own energy usage is substantially higher than that of neighbors in similar homes, THEN they cut usage. It’s peer pressure. And the Land Institute decided to put that insight to use.

They offered valuable rewards, such as solar panels for one civic building, to the community that took part in the contest and won it. The six participating communities included both rural and suburban and varied in size. The variations were not a problem, since winning was based on the percentage by which a community reduced its energy use.

Jackson said the enthusiasm and creativity in those communities was inspiring. They … No wait. I’ll let her tell it:

And if you think Kat Logan Smith, the executive director at the Coalition, wouldn’t want to try a similar competition in Missouri, just see how she reacts if you tell her your community is interested.