RMI Outlet
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Texas Grocer Slashes Energy Use
Which commercial building sector uses more energy per square foot than all but one other and is more than twice as energy-intensive as office buildings and schools? Grocery stores, second only to food service.
How Military SPIDERS Project Aids Grid Cyber-Security
In 2007, directors at the Idaho National Laboratory had their researchers play the role of computer hackers for an afternoon. Using the Internet to access an on-site electrical generator’s computer code, the “hackers” were able to reprogram the machine to destroy itself, demonstrating a key vulnerability of the U.S. electricity system.
Oil Companies’ Skepticism on EVs: A Costly Gamble?
So word is that two oil giants are among the skeptics about widespread adoption of electric vehicles. Oil executives might do well to ponder Kodak’s fate in an age when technological advances can wipe out even the most profitable, entrenched business within a generation.
My Response to WSJ’s “The Problem With Going Green”
David Owen continues to blame energy efficiency for the ills he ascribes to growth and wealth. His misunderstandings of “rebound” in energy use were devastatingly…
My Response to WSJ’s "The Problem With Going Green"
The economic growth Owen decries is boosted not just by energy efficiency but also, and far more, by many other things he doesn't choose to criticize, such as education, public health, capital markets, and technological innovation. He is right that consumption has impact, and that one way to reduce impact is to consume less or differently. But he is dead wrong that using energy more productively has the perverse effect of increasing its use, eliminating or reversing the benefits sought: this has never been observed, and a vast literature shows that actual "rebound" effects, when observable, are small and unimportant.