Energy Upgrade California is a statewide program to help make California buildings more energy efficient, comfortable, healthy, and durable while protecting the environment and conserving natural resources. It is a collaboration between the Public Utilities Commission, California Energy Commission, and investor owned utilities across the state, like San Diego Gas and Electric. The program offers incentives of up to $6,500 for property owners to perform energy upgrades on their buildings. These upgrades can then result in lower utility bills, increased comfort, healthier buildings, reduced impact on the environment, and possibly increased property values. It also offers help in finding low interest financing options, and specially trained …show more content…
One of those benefits is the savings on your monthly utility bills; the advantage of completing these upgrades right now is the rebate money that is available, up to $6,500. Another benefit of Energy Upgrade California program is that there are pre-approved, reliable contractors that are specially trained to find money saving improvements. You have to work with participating home performance contractors to do the upgrades for the rebates; but this is a benefit because of their specialized knowledge and the peace of mind that a homeowner gets by using a contractor that’s going to do a good job, and achieve what is expected of them. It is often difficult to find contractors that a homeowner can trust; and this is a good way to find some of the best contractors that are out …show more content…
The energy used in homes account for approximately 35% of all greenhouse gas emissions. California has aggressive goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and reduce the state energy consumption. There are many buildings in existence that are operating inefficiently; and making the improvements through the Energy Upgrade California program is helping address this and helping to improve the environment.
A summary of the benefits of the Energy Upgrade California are: lower utility bills, financial incentives (rebates), excellent participating contractors with specialized training, increased comfort, improved indoor air quality, increase in the durability and potential home value, and reduction of our carbon footprint on the environment.
The whole-house approach is used to energy upgrading a home. Some of the potential improvements which can be completed are as follows: seal leaks on the structure and insulate it, seal leaks on ducting for the heater and or air conditioner, insulate the hot water heater, install low-flow shower heads, install better insulating windows, and install a energy-efficient heating and cooling system. Essentially any improvements that are permanent and long lasting can be included in your house's specific improvement
While DST’s conserves energy used to power businesses and industries, it is offset by an increased use of electricity from residential areas.
The power plant is expected to bring more jobs to San Jose during the construction phase. “This project also promises to save customers in California up to $1.8 billion dollars by 2010” (Levey 1) . There certainly is a very high demand in power with the growing technology industry. The state of California fears that if the power plant is not built there will be a shortage of power in the state. “If the San Jose City Council decides not to rezone land for the project, the state could take the unprecedented step of overriding a community's opposition to a new power plant. California has faced persistent power shortages this year. And state analysts already have recommended approving the project” (Levey 1) . If Calpine get approval to begin constructing the power plant, San Jose will have several problems in the future.
My fellow senators I stand in the firmest negation to this resolution in regards to funding the california water transport tunnels for the following three contentions.
Internal Revenue Service, (2011). Energy incentives for individuals in the american recovery and reinvestment act Retrieved from http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=206875,00.html
MR: First of all, to get a new energy system, new jobs have to be created; so, economy grows up. Secondly, it is estimated that energy can get cheaper in a 20-year term. Lastly, having clean energy means having a cleaner world, which is positive to ourselves because it makes us healthier (“The Solutions Project”, 2011).
Lynn J. Good, the chief executive officer, or CEO, of Duke Energy has already made a name for herself in the Utilities industry. On July 1st, 2013, Good took over as the new CEO of Duke. Quickly enough, Good was forced into scandal. Hereafter, Good had to demonstrate her strategic leadership.
Two people who believe this are reporters at the Breit Bart News Network. Julian Morris and Victor Nava believe that, “‘Green’ energy subsidies benefit the politically connected while harming future generations as hundreds of millions of dollars are added to the country’s debt burden with each green failure.” In a way Morris and Nava are correct. According to Mathias Aarre Maehlum, “Residential solar systems are typically sized from 3 to 8kW and end up costing between $15,000 and $40,000.” This can add up to become very expensive when implementing solar energy throughout the country. However, with the advancements in technology growing every year the cost will decrease over time. The cost of implementation can in fact go down as well through the use of community solar gardens. This helps the homes that are shaded and cannot absorbs the Sun’s energy. The energy from the community solar gardens are shared through out those homes. Switching to solar energy can also save money over time. Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association confirms this. Resch says, “Today, the solar industry employs nearly 175,000 Americans and pumps more than $15 billion a year into the U.S. economy – and we’re just scratching the surface of our enormous potential” (qtd. in
Climate change mitigation can mean something as simple as green improvements to household appliances like stoves and refrigerators or more complicated plans like making older machines more efficient, using renewable energy, or even planning and building a new city (UNEP, n.d). One would notice that there are no immediate effects of climate change mitigation. This is correct. But there are long-term effects of switching to greener home appliances, using renewable energies, and overall moving towards a low carbon footprint society.
United States policy and legislature developments regarding solar energy include the SunShot Initiative, the American Recovery and Rehabilitation Act (ARRA) of 2009, and the Energy Improvement and Extension Act (EIA) of 2008. The SunShot Initiative was enacted in February 2011 and aims to “make the total cost of solar energy fully economically-viable for everyday use, so that all Americans can benefit from this clean renewable energy source.”1 The ARRA invested $114 million into the solar energy industry for the research and development of photovoltaic systems, solar power concentration and high penetration solar deployment.2 The ARRA and EIA created tax credits for homeowners and businesses for their investment in solar power.3 The implementation of these policy and legislature initiatives promote the growth and development of the solar energy industry and therefore positively impact Sun Edison.
Alternative energy sources are renewable, and is most commonly referred to as free energy sources. There are many alternative energy sources such as hydro power, solar power, wind, biomass, and geothermal. Using alternative sources is more expensive in the long run, but it is the much safer option for our environment compared to fossil fuels. Although everything used is completely free, such as water and wind, the equipment used to generate these things are expensive. There are several pros and cons that come with the utilization of alternative energy sources.
Kats, G., Alevantis, L., Berman A., Perlman J., & Mills, E. (2003, October). The Costs and Financial Benefits of Green Buildings: A Report to California’s Sustainable Building Task Force. Retrieved from http://www.usgbc.org/Docs/News/News477.pdf
Energy Efficiency refers to the use of energy on the same level, performance, comfort, suitability. As the world progress through technologies, more energy is required to power the world through various sources. Society has reached a point of our civilization when electricity is used for all purposes and therefore our presence will be impossible without it. However increasing amount of energy used will lead to numerous social and economic problems. Electricity demand is increasing twice as fast as overall energy use and is likely to rise by more than two-thirds 2011 to 2035. In 2012, 42% of primary energy used was converted into electricity. In the near future, cities will need to become increasingly energy efficient to deal with them. There are three strategies to attain energy efficiency which have their benefits.
US DOE Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. (2006, July 26). Retrieved July 26, 2006, from http://www.eere.energy.gov/
The world that we live into today affords us the expectation that the flip a switch will turn the lights on. As populations increase and developing nations undergo dramatic economic growth, this energy demand will only continue to grow. The International Energy Agency (IEA) believes that “the world’s energy needs could be 50% higher in 2030 than they are today” (ElBaradei). Given this projected growth, it is necessary for world leaders must take action to secure the energy supply. Meaning that world leaders need to start seriously considering an alternative to non-renewable energy sources. “In 2012, the United States generated about 4,054 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity. About 68% of the electricity generated was from fossil fuel (coal, natural gas, and petroleum), with 37% attributed from coal” (U.S. Energy Information Administration). The fossil fuels that are used to supply over half of our country’s energy are in finite supply and are increasing in price to astronomical heights.