Treena Colby

How does your state rank in energy efficiency?

(from the 2010 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard from American Council for an Energy-Efficienct Economy: http://www.aceee.org/sector/state-policy/scorecard)

Link National Solar Tour on October 2nd

If you are interested in green building materials and design, solar and energy efficient appliances, check out the National Solar Tour! (Another blog post of mine on Microsoft Hohm’s website.)

Link Prince Charles is the King of Green

I always knew that Prince Charles was environmentally conscious, but I had no idea how much he has done…

Link How does your state rank in energy efficiency?

My latest blog post on Microsoft Hohm.

Link Think all electric vehicles are golf carts? Think again.

Just love how a student designed and built EV just blew them away on the Bonneville Salt flats… 320 mph!

Link How to Get Kids to Save Energy

These tips are good for kids at any age. I remember being in college, where one of my first professors at Colorado College had us do an exercise on where we got our basic needs: food, water, electricity, etc. That exercise changed me forever.

Link Save Energy with These Back-to-School Gadgets

I recently started writing blog posts for Microsoft Hohm on energy efficiency, alternative energy, EVs, and all things green and sustainable. It has been so much fun. I’ll post my articles and posts here as well.

Text What a summer!

I was hanging out with friends last night, lamenting on the end of summer. However, when I really thought about it, I saw summer from my office window. Working in energy efficiency, it has never been busier, and I am not complaining at all. There has been a flurry of activity from the federal government and local utilities to weatherize homes, increase energy efficiency and incorporate new energy saving technologies. It really is an exciting time to be in the space.

We also laughed at the fact that I said I was going to focus and get more productive with my time. “You say that every time I see you,” joked my friend. While I am working hard, volunteering and writing a bunch, there always seems to be more out there to do.

Quote

"The sappy, emotional, alternative greenie just turns me off. And embracing these whack-jobs does a disservice to the cause. I’m pretty darn passionate about changing the world to be more environmentally and economically sustainable, but give me practical approaches and solutions."

Text It’s time for a practical approach to energy policy.

The U.S. needs to have a conversation with itself. A comprehensive, no-nonsense, “soul-searching” conversation about energy. The U.S. seems to take this immensely complicated conversation and boil it down into sound-bites, one-off topics and ultimatums.

At least with the latest energy-realted news items - the massive oil rig disaster in the Gulf, the horrific accident at the West Virginia coal mine, and the approval of Cape Wind project - we are starting the discussion. However, once again there are many misunderstandings and maybe bold-faced lies that are steering the conversation in the wrong direction. We are scrambling for solutions before we really understand our problems - over consumption, poor development planning, horrible efficiency standards/practices, crazy legal roadblocks and the lack of true costs in our energy pricing.

The discussion is more complicated than a few paragraphs could address, so come back for more in-depth analysis and opinion on practical approaches to getting us out of this mess that we are in - and getting deeper into.