Source: Fedral Times
By TIM KAUFFMAN
August 06, 2008

When it came to building the first — and so far only — net zero electric building in the U.S., designers deployed state-of-the-art energy-efficiency systems.

The prefab, two-story building in northern New Jersey, home to a local road construction firm, uses solar panels to generate all of its required electricity and heat its tap water. A highly efficient gas boiler warms water that is then dispersed through nine miles of tubing under the floors to heat the building. The building even has a smart heating and air conditioning unit that can draw cold air from outside the building to cool the inside, without turning on the compressor.

But perhaps the most critical piece of technology is a metering system, built by the project developers, for monitoring and tracking the performance of those systems. The tracking system, complete with easy-to-understand graphics, allows the building owners to document and verify how much energy they are using and saving in real time. It even detected a critical flaw in the air conditioning unit that was causing excess energy use.

NORRISTOWN — The four public witnesses testifying Wednesday afternoon against a proposed 11.2 percent PECO Energy rate hike for natural gas distribution were largely outnumbered by the attorneys, public relations managers and an administrative law judge running the public input hearing at municipal hall.

The regional utility filed several supporting statements from financial experts arguing the $98.3 million rate hike was needed to offset a large decrease in operating income and numerous jumps in employee pay, pensions and health insurance.

Natural gas revenues have declined about 13 percent since 1992 as customers purchased more efficient gas appliances and heaters while heavily insulating their homes to further cut heating costs.

August 4, 2008

It's counter-intuitive. But utilities must be rewarded for selling less electricity. It's all in the name of encouraging energy efficiency and reducing air pollution.

The idea is to separate utility rates from their sales volume. Such "decoupling" allows utilities to promote energy efficiency while still recouping their allowable expenses. Under traditional regulatory structures, utility earnings are tied to the volume of electricity and natural gas that customers use. So, even a small reduction in consumption can make a large cut into a utility's profitability. This presents a strong financial disincentive for those companies to push energy efficiency.

Source: New York Times
By ERIC A. TAUB
Published: July 28, 2008

When the Sentry Equipment Corporation in Oconomowoc, Wis., was considering how to light its new factory last year, the company’s president, Michael Farrell, decided to try something new: light emitting diodes, or L.E.D.’s.

"I knew L.E.D.’s were used in stoplights. I wondered why they can’t be used in buildings," Mr. Farrell said. "So I went on a mission."

What Mr. Farrell found was a light source that many of the biggest bulb manufacturers are now convinced will supplant incandescent bulbs and compact fluorescent bulbs.

July 30, 2008

Skyrocketing compensation is now under scrutiny. Utility execs have been rewarded handsomely in the past but tough times may change all that.

In 2008, utility CEOs are facing two contradictory trends in compensation. An SNL Energy survey reveals that CEO compensation at most utilities has been rising. At the same time that pay packages are expanding, many boards are linking compensation to performance and not just rubberstamping bonuses and stock options. Nonetheless, many boards seem reluctant to crack down on rising CEO bonuses, continue to offer more stock options and sometimes yield to CEO demands even when the stock price is lagging.