Policy
Executive Director Sara Patton on BPA's next 75 years
For 75 years, the Bonneville Power Administration has been intrinsic to the growth and prosperity of the Northwest. BPA has been a boon to the Northwest’s economy and a clean energy leader. To meet the challenges – many unforeseeable — of the next 75 years, BPA must deepen its commitment to the long-term health of the region while becoming more open to all of its stakeholders. And it must be agile enough to respond to big changes…
Washington's SHB 1017 – Equipment Efficiency Standards
Good for the Consumer, Good for the Environment, Good for the Economy
Already, refrigerators, furnaces, exit signs, commercial hot-food holding cabinets and many more products are meeting federal or state efficiency standards. HB 1017 would add the next generation of low-cost, high benefit measures to Washington’s existing efficiency standards, saving energy, reducing water waste and saving millions of dollars on consumer utility bills..
Celebrating Washington's Clean Energy Success
Voters passed Initiative 937 in 2006 to build on Washington’s clean energy heritage. At the time, new renewable energy made up less than 1% of the region’s electricity mix, even though new renewables would reduce risks and boost our economy. Six years after its passage, I-937 is doing exactly what Washington voters wanted. Official utility…
WA environmental community announces its 2013 legislative priorities
Clean energy, toxic-free couches and kids’ products, and more funding for projects that protect the environment will be on legislators’ agendas for the 2013 legislative session in Olympia as Washington State’s Environmental Priorities Coalition announced its 2013 Priorities. These three Priorities are critical in protecting the state’s quality of life, creating Washington grown jobs, and preserving a better future for our children.
Comments of the NW Energy Coalition on the Sixth Power Plan Mid-Term Assessment – Situation Scan
The NW Energy Coalition appreciates the opportunity to provide comments on the draft Situation Scan related to the Mid-Term Assessment of the Sixth Power and Conservation Plan. We appreciate all of the hard work that staff and Council members put into providing the region with an updated look at the assumptions, information and analysis of…
Idaho Statesman: Energy-efficiency success stories
J.R. Simplot Co. has embraced energy efficiency as a core business value. The Idaho food, fertilizer and chemical company has dramatically reduced its use of electricity and natural gas, saving millions of dollars annually.
The company says energy-efficiency improvements since 2009 have yielded natural gas savings of 1.3 trillion British thermal units and 390,821,028 kilowatt-hours of electricity. The electricity reduction is equivalent to taking 35,400 homes off the grid. The reduction also saved 95,056 tons of greenhouse-gas emissions, like taking 29,929 cars of the road.
Here are three other successes…Read more at the Idaho Statesman
PSE, Mason, Lewis and Grays Harbor reach clean energy benchmarks
Regional electricity providers from Puget Sound Energy to Grays Harbor County Public Utility District recorded impressive accomplishments over the first reporting period for Washington’s clean energy law, Initiative 937. “These utilities should be commended for their energy efficiency achievements, which will save money for their customers,” said Nancy Hirsh, policy director for the Coalition.
ID Energy Update: A Win for Wind, A Loss for Efficiency
Read this and previous reports on Snake River Alliance’s website. Idaho Energy Update October 4, 2012 The Snake River Alliance has a new home in Boise! The Alliance recently relocated from our former digs at 9th & Jefferson in downtown Boise to 6th & Idaho. We’ll have an office warming celebration from 5:30-7:30…
Feds Maintain Status Quo as Salmon Numbers Struggle
Late last Friday, the federal “Action Agencies” (Bonneville Power Administration, Army Corps of Engineers, and Bureau of Reclamation) that run the federal dams on the Snake and Columbia Rivers, submitted their 2011 Annual Progress report to the U.S. district court in Portland, Oregon, that’s overseeing the ongoing litigation over the federal salmon plan (also known as a biological opinion). This annual self-assessment presents the agencies’ view of how well they are implementing a biological opinion (in this case, one that has already been ruled illegal in court). This morning, the main findings were presented to interested parties at NOAA’s offices in Portland….
Avista, Inland far surpass clean energy goals
Regional electricity providers Avista Utilities and Inland Power and Light recorded impressive accomplishments over the first reporting period for Washington’s clean energy law, Initiative 937.
Read and hear the exciting news about clean energy progress in the Spokane area ….