Energy Efficiency: What Are The Laggards Thinking

by Elisa Wood, via Renewable Energy World

Why do some states avoid creating policies that encourage consumers and businesses to save energy? What?s the psychology of the laggards?

A new report by the American Council for an Energy Efficiency Economy sheds some insight as it examines the states that consistently fall behind in the organization?s annual energy efficiency ranking.

The bottom states are: Alabama, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming. The good news is that even these laggards are beginning to adopt policies to save energy, according to the report, ?Opportunity Knocks: Examining Low-Ranking States in the State Energy Efficiency Scorecard.?

But they still have a lot of catching up to do. And why did they fall behind in the first place?

The report authors, who interviewed 55 stakeholders, found one reason is a general lack of awareness about energy efficiency?s benefits. Another is an aversion to government mandates. But one of the most fascinating barriers is a misperception about energy costs.

Industry folklore says that consumers in states with low electric rates have no motivation to save energy. This folklore discourages policymakers from putting time and money into energy efficiency programs. In truth, these states have good economic reasons to  encourage consumers to insulate, install better lighting, and undertake other energy savings measures.  It turns out that even though electric rates are low in these states, consumers are paying high monthly bills.

This may sound counterintuitive. But consider these numbers. In Alabama electric utilities charge 10.67 cents/kWh and households pay an average $147.69/month for electricity. Similarly, in South Carolina rates are 10.5 cents/kWh and monthly bills are $137.59/month. Compare Alabama and South Carolina to Massachusetts and California, two states with aggressive energy efficiency efforts. Massachusetts? electric rates are high, averaging $14.59 cents/kWh, but monthly bills are low, only $97.34. California, too, has high rates of 14.75 cents/kWh and low monthly bills of $82.85.

So electric rates are higher in Massachusetts and California, yet households in those two states pay less per month for power than households in Alabama and South Carolina. This is because they consume less power. Households in the efficient states have an edge; they need less electricity each month to secure the same level of comfort and service in their homes as those in Alabama and South Carolina. So there should be plenty of good motivation for households in the low-rate states to pursue efficiency measures.

Another point of confusion involves the cost to society of investing in energy efficiency.  Because it?s generally categorized with other ?green? initiatives, energy efficiency is perceived as boutique and expensive.  To the contrary, it is cheaper to avoid energy use than to make new electricity, according to ACEEE.  Energy efficiency measures cost an average 2.5 cents/kWh while building a new power plant cost 6 to 15 cents/kWh. Because of this cost differential several states now mandate that utilities institute cost-effective energy efficiency before building new generation.

These are arguments, unfortunately, that might get lost in the din of an election year, one in which energy is shaping up to be a major issue. However, as is often the case, the states are leading the way and not relying on federal policy. Even the laggard states are picking up their pace when it comes to energy efficiency, as the ACEEE report describes. More here.

Elisa Wood is a long-time energy writer whose work appears in many top industry publications. See her articles at RealEnergyWriters.com. This piece was originally published at Renewable Energy World and was reprinted with permission.

Read The Full Article:
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/05/20/487152/energy-efficiency-what-are-the
-laggards-thinking/

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The NDAA Passes the House with Indefinite
Detention Intact

Cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette  The National Defense Authorization Act passed the House  a vote of 299 - 110. It passed without the bipartisan amendment that was proposed by Reps. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) and Justin Amash (R-Mich.)[...]

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http://www.docudharma.com/diary/29921/the-ndaa-passes-the-house-with-indefinite-d
etention-intact

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Austerity

Cross posted from The Stars Hollow GazetteWhich European leader is serious about economic recovery? Merkel gives self and ministers pay riseMerkel, her ministers and their parliamentary secretaries of state will see their wages rise in three stages[...]

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http://www.docudharma.com/diary/29920/austerity-by-TheMomCat

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M20 NATO Summit Live Blog #NoNATO

Good Morning and welcome to our live coverage of the NATO Summit in Chicago, today looks to be action packed with a full agenda for attendees and activists. So far we have seen the full force of the police state with preemptive arrest, terrorism charges[...]

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Pres. Obama, please come to Milwaukee for the
late Spring time

Glory days - February 2008President Obama won a huge victory in Wisconsin in February 2008, capping a string of 10 straight wins launching Obama's path to victory in the Democratic presidential primary.

Today, as Wisconsin families campaign after successfully demanding a historic recall election, Clancy Sigal writes:

Obama is afraid or unwilling to come to Wisconsin to back up his most fervent supporters. With only a little more time to go, in a finely balanced contest, with the Republicans outspending progressives 20-to-one, Obama?s Democratic National Committee stubbornly refuses to invest a penny in the battle to unseat Walker.

This is kamikaze politics. A Walker victory would be a disaster for Democrats nationally. If a grass-roots movement like the citizen Recallers manages to dump Walker it could be the start of a liberal-progressive rollback all across the country.

Many variables exist in the race, indisputably among them is Milwaukee County turn-out.

I did some heavy field work in Milwaukee's South side in 2008. I have never seen such intensity and in a word, joy in wards where many people almost never vote.

I'll remember a black woman walking up to me and saying, "nice shirt!" commenting on my Obama t-shirt soaked in sweat in the August heat. After I told her, "we're going to win this year, count on it;" she replied: "Oh, I know we will."

I checked the voting histories on my walking list, and these people?black, brown, Polish, disenchanted veteran, young and old?did vote in February and November 2008 and in massive numbers.

That's why Republicans, from civil rights pretender Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Corporatism) all the way down to the various idiots Scott Walker has installed as election inspectors, are desperate to obstruct Wisconsin voters from getting to the polls.

President Obama, absent a nuclear crisis: Get to Milwaukee fast, and while you're at it, give Beaver Dam, Wausau, Eau Claire and Racine a quick drop-in to let us know you're still fighting whom FDR called "economic royalists" with a major GOTV effort.

There are four state Senate recall elections on June 5 as well:

• District 13 - Lori Compas v. Sen. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau)
•  District 21: John Lehman v. Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine)
•  District 23 -  Kristen Dexter v. Sen. Terry Moulton (R-Chippewa Falls)
•  District 29: Rep. Donna Seidel (D-Wausau) v. Rep. Jerry Petrowski (R-Stettin)

Very often doing the right thing is good politics. This is one of those times.

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MalContends/~3/SQ3wcHN-iGQ/pres-obama-please-come-
to-milwaukee-for.html

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Obama tells EU leaders to focus on growth

He's right, but our own soft economy could have been doing better had he been more aggressive about this from the beginning. Unfortunately he listened too much to conservative economists such as Larry Summers, who scaled back the stimulus, thus limiting the recovery.At least Obama is seeing the light now and Europe is finally waking up to the failed concept of austerity. Will Europe cut the...

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When You Hear GOP Call To 'Repeal and Replace'
the ACA, Remember The Hermosillo Sisters

enlargeThis story came to me Saturday night, via Love Infinitely, on Twitter.

These two sisters, age 24 and 27, are victims. Keep that in mind. Love Infinitely has the details:

At the neighborhood park where the girls had just come from their walk, two groups of men had gotten into an argument on the basketball court. One group decided to leave the argument and headed toward their car. Once in their car, the other group went after them on foot and drew a gun. The men tried to drive away when shots were fired.

While trying to get away, the driver of that vehicle was shot in the head and his car skidded out of control and created a chain reaction of events. The vehicle hit 2 parked cars, one of them belonging to the Hermosillo?s cousin who had her 3 year old baby in the car seat . The car also hit an elderly gentleman who was out for an evening walk and then hit a fire hydrant before the car with the baby in it, slammed into a tree. The fire hydrant, as it went flying, hit Vanessa and Yoanna.

Yoanna suffered several broken limbs but it was pregnant Vanessa who was the most severely injured as the fire hydrant actually landed on her. She was revived by paramedics at the scene as her heart had stopped beating. Her pelvis was broken, ribs crushed, sternum cracked and broken limbs. And most unfortunate, the loss of her baby. The two girls were rushed to the hospital as was the elderly man and the young man who was shot in the head.

Here's what the scene looked like just after the accident:
enlarge

These girls have no health insurance. I don't know why. I suspect they might be students, or hourly workers, or whatever. They are also innocent bystanders, and if what I'm about to tell you doesn't make you sick, I'm not sure anything could.

The Hermosillos have had to deal with another blow however. Despite the severity of the girl?s injuries, because the girls don?t have health insurance, the hospital hasn?t been able to do very much after their initial treatment. They sent Yoanna home with broken limbs to recover just a day after the accident. They didn?t even wrap or split her broken bones. They also didn?t giver her any medication and only recommended that she get a hospital bed, wheelchair, crutches and a walker. Luckily they found a kindhearted soul who donated these items to the family.

The hospital also wanted to send Vanessa home almost immediately after the accident even though she was barely holding on. The family pleaded with the hospital and she was allowed to stay for nearly a week but they told the Hermosillos that they won?t be able to give her medication. They are desperately trying to get the girls approved for some kind of charity care/medicare. The family has been going to desperate measures to take care of their girls, now both at home. They had to move Yoanna out of the donated hospital bed and move Vanessa into it since her injuries are much more severe. Not to mention taking care of all of the foster pups. One of them keeps vigil at Vanessa?s bedside.

Vanessa and Yoanna are the neighborhood dog rescuers, and it was their compassion for animals that had them out on the sidewalk at exactly that moment in time. Now, as the result of a freak accident that took the life of Vanessa's unborn child, they are broken, hurt, and denied medical care.

Because we are in that transition period where the Affordable Care Act is not yet effective and the federal government is not yet subsidizing health costs, these girls are simply liabilities on hospitals' balance sheets that aren't eligible for even the most basic treatment. Nothing. No medication for the pain, no set bones, no cast, nothing.

And because there isn't anyone who can, at this stage, be considered liable, there is no insurer (auto or otherwise) to pick up their medical costs.

In any other civilized society, this wouldn't even be an issue. Where are those charities Ron Paul talked up so highly during the debates? Why won't they help these girls? Yes, this one charity is trying to help, but they are only able to be a conduit to donations and not a provider. Where is the Catholic church? Where is someone -- anyone -- who will stand up and help innocent victims.

On Saturday it was revealed that the Koch machine spent a previously undisclosed $55 million to turn this nation against health care reform in 2010, and they funneled it via various nonprofits to pay for all those insidious ads that ran during the midterms. They got the Congress they paid for, and those bought-and-paid-for politicians are now wasting our time passing crappy bills banning abortion, defunding Planned Parenthood, and repealing the Affordable Care Act. Even more millions have gone into legal challenges to the Affordable Care Act.

Here's a fact. If the ACA had been in effect, these two young women who give so much to their community would never have been turned away at the hospital after suffering such grievous injuries. Never. They would have had access to health insurance, they would have had help with the costs, and it would have been there for them when that fire hydrant went flying across the street. The elderly man who was injured had Medicare, and remains hospitalized. The young women who happened to be in the path of a flying fire hydrant are sharing a hospital bed in their living room, with unset broken bones, no medication, in pain, and with no hospital to take them in.

This is wrong. It shouldn't happen in this country. If the repealers have their way, it will happen over and over and over again. The ACA isn't perfect, but it's a darn sight better than what these girls have right now.

Being an innocent bystander should not be cause for bankruptcy and ruined health. Yet, that is what is happening here and it's just flat wrong.

If anyone has suggestions for how these girls can get some treatment and some help, please reach out to Love Infinitely. If you'd like to donate to the fund to help the family, Love Infinitely is covering all of the PayPal charges and sending the full donations to the family.

These girls are the face every one of the corrupt Congressmen who think repealing even the most rudimentary health care reform is a good idea should see. They should gaze into their eyes and explain to these girls why they do not deserve even what dogs receive. Every. single. last. one. of. them. And then they should sit down and beg their God for forgiveness for their acts of human cruelty.

Read The Full Article:
http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/when-you-hear-gop-call-repeal-and-replace-a

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Updated: When You Hear GOP Call To 'Repeal and
Replace' the ACA, Remember The Hermosillo Sisters

enlargeThis story came to me Saturday night, via Love Infinitely, on Twitter.

These two sisters, age 24 and 27, are victims. Keep that in mind. Love Infinitely has the details:

At the neighborhood park where the girls had just come from their walk, two groups of men had gotten into an argument on the basketball court. One group decided to leave the argument and headed toward their car. Once in their car, the other group went after them on foot and drew a gun. The men tried to drive away when shots were fired.

While trying to get away, the driver of that vehicle was shot in the head and his car skidded out of control and created a chain reaction of events. The vehicle hit 2 parked cars, one of them belonging to the Hermosillo?s cousin who had her 3 year old baby in the car seat . The car also hit an elderly gentleman who was out for an evening walk and then hit a fire hydrant before the car with the baby in it, slammed into a tree. The fire hydrant, as it went flying, hit Vanessa and Yoanna.

Yoanna suffered several broken limbs but it was pregnant Vanessa who was the most severely injured as the fire hydrant actually landed on her. She was revived by paramedics at the scene as her heart had stopped beating. Her pelvis was broken, ribs crushed, sternum cracked and broken limbs. And most unfortunate, the loss of her baby. The two girls were rushed to the hospital as was the elderly man and the young man who was shot in the head.

Here's what the scene looked like just after the accident:
enlarge

These girls have no health insurance. I don't know why. I suspect they might be students, or hourly workers, or whatever. They are also innocent bystanders, and if what I'm about to tell you doesn't make you sick, I'm not sure anything could.

The Hermosillos have had to deal with another blow however. Despite the severity of the girl?s injuries, because the girls don?t have health insurance, the hospital hasn?t been able to do very much after their initial treatment. They sent Yoanna home with broken limbs to recover just a day after the accident. They didn?t even wrap or split her broken bones. They also didn?t giver her any medication and only recommended that she get a hospital bed, wheelchair, crutches and a walker. Luckily they found a kindhearted soul who donated these items to the family.

The hospital also wanted to send Vanessa home almost immediately after the accident even though she was barely holding on. The family pleaded with the hospital and she was allowed to stay for nearly a week but they told the Hermosillos that they won?t be able to give her medication. They are desperately trying to get the girls approved for some kind of charity care/medicare. The family has been going to desperate measures to take care of their girls, now both at home. They had to move Yoanna out of the donated hospital bed and move Vanessa into it since her injuries are much more severe. Not to mention taking care of all of the foster pups. One of them keeps vigil at Vanessa?s bedside.

Vanessa and Yoanna are the neighborhood dog rescuers, and it was their compassion for animals that had them out on the sidewalk at exactly that moment in time. Now, as the result of a freak accident that took the life of Vanessa's unborn child, they are broken, hurt, and denied medical care.

Because we are in that transition period where the Affordable Care Act is not yet effective and the federal government is not yet subsidizing health costs, these girls are simply liabilities on hospitals' balance sheets that aren't eligible for even the most basic treatment. Nothing. No medication for the pain, no set bones, no cast, nothing.

And because there isn't anyone who can, at this stage, be considered liable, there is no insurer (auto or otherwise) to pick up their medical costs.

In any other civilized society, this wouldn't even be an issue. Where are those charities Ron Paul talked up so highly during the debates? Why won't they help these girls? Yes, this one charity is trying to help, but they are only able to be a conduit to donations and not a provider. Where is the Catholic church? Where is someone -- anyone -- who will stand up and help innocent victims.

On Saturday it was revealed that the Koch machine spent a previously undisclosed $55 million to turn this nation against health care reform in 2010, and they funneled it via various nonprofits to pay for all those insidious ads that ran during the midterms. They got the Congress they paid for, and those bought-and-paid-for politicians are now wasting our time passing crappy bills banning abortion, defunding Planned Parenthood, and repealing the Affordable Care Act. Even more millions have gone into legal challenges to the Affordable Care Act.

Here's a fact. If the ACA had been in effect, these two young women who give so much to their community would never have been turned away at the hospital after suffering such grievous injuries. Never. They would have had access to health insurance, they would have had help with the costs, and it would have been there for them when that fire hydrant went flying across the street. The elderly man who was injured had Medicare, and remains hospitalized. The young women who happened to be in the path of a flying fire hydrant are sharing a hospital bed in their living room, with unset broken bones, no medication, in pain, and with no hospital to take them in.

This is wrong. It shouldn't happen in this country. If the repealers have their way, it will happen over and over and over again. The ACA isn't perfect, but it's a darn sight better than what these girls have right now.

Being an innocent bystander should not be cause for bankruptcy and ruined health. Yet, that is what is happening here and it's just flat wrong.

If anyone has suggestions for how these girls can get some treatment and some help, please reach out to Love Infinitely. If you'd like to donate to the fund to help the family, Love Infinitely is covering all of the PayPal charges and sending the full donations to the family.

These girls are the face every one of the corrupt Congressmen who think repealing even the most rudimentary health care reform is a good idea should see. They should gaze into their eyes and explain to these girls why they do not deserve even what dogs receive. Every. single. last. one. of. them. And then they should sit down and beg their God for forgiveness for their acts of human cruelty.

Update: Here is the local CBS news report of the accident which is at least mostly accurate with regard to the details of the crash, unlike the Modesto Bee, which reported only 'minor' pedestrian injuries.

Update 2: Many commenters have been skeptical of Love Infinitely. Brenda Rodriguez, founder of the project and the one organizing some help for this family has responded to those concerns in the comments. She left her email address for any of you with additional questions.

Read The Full Article:
http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/when-you-hear-gop-call-repeal-and-replace-a

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Free Excerpt: The Dead War Series Book 1

Hi this is George Cook author of The Dead War Series Book 1. I am thrilled to share with you a short excerpt from the book. Hope you like it and I hope it encourages you to purchase the book. Have fun reading. The other door slowly slid upward. The sounds of the moaning became [...]

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http://glciii.wordpress.com/2012/05/20/free-excerpt-the-dead-war-series-book-1/

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Ending the Mindset That Gets Us Into War

Next month in Baltimore they're going to celebrate the War of 1812. That's what we do with wars. We say they're the last resort. We say they're hell. We say they're for the purpose of eliminating themselves: we fight wars for peace. Although we[...]

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