Posts Tagged ‘Energy Efficiency’
South Fork Sharestead
In six years, Jonathan Towers has transformed his average American home into an energy-efficient, food-abundant powerhouse. By retrofitting the house to be energy efficient and maintaining a strong commitment to energy conservation, their utility bill has dropped 75 percent.
Read MoreTwo historic homes get some TLC energy
Meet two families in the High Country of North Carolina who paid extraordinarily high electric bills and still suffered from drafty homes—until they won energy efficiency home improvemetns in Appalachian Voices’ contest.
TVA 20-year Plan Heavy on Natural Gas, Nuclear
The Tennessee Valley Authority announced in March that it will not need to build a new power plant for at least 20 years. The utility, which covers all of Tennessee and parts of neighboring states, plans to address future power demand by increasing nuclear power output, retrofitting coal-fired power plants to burn natural gas, and…
Read MoreCampaign to Bring Energy Savings to the High Country Gaining Momentum
The High Country Home Energy Contest has come to a close, but the winners are already seeing tangible results from the upgrades they won.
Read MorePJM Analysis Makes Economic Case for Clean Power Plan
By Eliza Laubach A region-wide electric grid operating company, PJM, released a report in March analyzing how states could comply with a proposed U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule requiring that power plants cut carbon dioxide emissions. The company, which extends into 14 states across the Northeast and Midwest, described lessened costs if states work together…
Read MoreYes, Virginia, there was a silver lining to the General Assembly
For Appalachian Voices and our partners, it was a mostly defensive game this year in the Virginia legislature as we fought a slew of bad bills by industry-backed and climate-denying politicians. We succeeded in squelching the worst of them, but a lot of policy that could have moved the commonwealth toward cleaner energy and a stronger economy fell by the wayside. There’s always next year….
In praise of the High Country Energy Contest’s community and business partners
The Energy Savings for Appalachia team would like to thank our community and business partners for making the High Country Home Energy Contest possible. Without their dedication and service, we would not have been able to offer three households the extensive energy efficiency home improvements that we have in the past month.
Many roads lead to clean energy
Utilities are cranking more and more electricity onto the grid on extremely cold or hot days — but too much of that ends up leaking out windows and doors in lower-income housing. As the NAACP points out, energy efficiency and other distributed energy sources are safer, healthier, and more equitable ways of providing electricity, and they have the added bonus of bringing much needed economic opportunity to communities of color.
Families Win Energy Savings
A plastic tube winds through the Dunlaps’ front room to a door covered in red plastic sheeting. It’s the first step in a process to make this drafty home warmer and more efficient through smart investments in air-sealing and insulation.
Read MoreMeet Zack Dixon, grand prize winner of the home energy makeover contest
Zach Dixon, a resident of Boone, N.C., and the grand prize winner of Appalachian Voices’ High Country Home Energy Makeover Contest heats his house with space heaters, and chronically struggles to pay his electricity bills. With help from many partners around the High Country, we’re working to change that.