Looking
At How We’ve Changed
The
Environment: Public Attitudes and Individual Behavior – A Twenty-Year Evolution is a new report from S.C.
Johnson. A GreenBiz.com article asked: What’s changed?
- Knowledge grows,
belief in power of personal action sags.
- Finger-pointing
turns inward.
- Nearly half
of the respondents said “a financial reward or penalty is a major influence” on
behavior.
Unexpected
Combinations
Energy
efficiency “married” to demand response: According to EnergyBiz.com, “Over the next two decades,
EPRI [Electric Power Research Institute] estimates that the integration of
demand response and energy efficiency programs has the potential to reduce
demand for electricity by 14 to 20 percent below projected levels during peak
periods, when demand is highest.
“Despite
the positive forecast, out of 2,016 U.S. and Canadian energy efficiency, demand
response and load management programs identified in a 2009 report by the U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), only
56 served both energy efficiency and demand response purposes.”
Microsoft
embraces intelligent buildings: According to Realcomm.com,
“In the last 24 months we have seen major corporations, like
Microsoft make a serious commitment to better understanding how technology,
automation and innovation can significantly change how they manage, maintain
and use their corporate real estate.
“We
believe that examples from companies like Microsoft, such as the case study
featured below that was authored in collaboration between Microsoft, Accenture
and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, will lead the way for a
transformational change in the corporate real estate industry.”
Microsoft
on retrofits: Rob
Bernard, chief environmental strategist for Microsoft, contributed an article on
how to “Make Your Building Smarter with an IT Retrofit”—posted to SustainableFacility.com.
Private
funding of energy efficient retrofits: An article on EnvironmentalLeader.com claims the PACE Commercial Consortium operates “without any government loans,
subsidies, tax credits or other governmental assistance, other than legislative
support from state and local government.”