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Air conditioning is like a globally addictive drug: the more we use it, the more we need it. Its voracious energy demands contribute to the climate disruption that is heating up the planet. That’s only one of several reasons NOT to turn down your thermostat, if your house isn’t getting as cool as you would Read More »

I always find myself somewhat repelled by the word consumption. My reaction comes from reading novels set in earlier times, when it was used to mean “a wasting disease” (usually tuberculosis). Earlier today I watched two short videos that produced the same reaction. Appropriately enough, they were about consumption as we more currently define it, Read More »

PLAYING: I love spring — especially this spring, which has finally arrived, seemingly overnight, after a long, wet, cold winter. I was lucky enough to celebrate it this past weekend with my favorite 6-year-old, teaching him to dye eggs. WORKING: My favorite climate work is developing education and teaching about energy, emissions, and electrification. I Read More »

California’s spate of public safety power shutoffs (PSPSs) last year has inspired a surge of battery sales this year, as the peak fire season approaches. Scientific American reports, “the share of [Sunrun’s] solar customers who are also installing energy storage was more than 60% in the San Francisco Bay Area this spring.” Sheltering in place Read More »

Image via Pexels   It’s been a bit more than a year since I posted, and what a year it’s been! Besides all the global madness, I moved last July from Pacifica to Petaluma, California. I love it here and feel a bit like that girl on the swing. Life is good. Notwithstanding — you Read More »

Here’s a sampling of some of the great happenings out there in the big wide (and ever-expanding) world of energy efficiency, zero carbon, and green. DOE Launches Home Improvement Expert DOE’s Building America program has a new resource called Home Improvement Expert, developed to help homeowners with energy-related home improvements by using 21 individual home improvement checklists. These can be attached Read More »

I have a kind of strange admission to make, for an eco-freak. I am eagerly awaiting the death of an appliance. Admittedly, this has happened before, but then it was an aesthetic issue. This time it’s about climate change. I want to ‘decarbonize’ my home — eliminate all sources of fossil fuel combustion so that Read More »