Policy

New Coalition study looks at commercial EE financing in Northwest

The up-front costs of energy efficiency improvements may just be the king of barriers to energy waste reduction at the scale that will allow us to stop building costly and polluting new electric generating plants.

The Coalition’s Efficiency Works! project has commissioned a study of Northwest lending for energy efficiency projects in small and mid-sized commercial enterprises. The goal is to examine the current landscape, including the barriers encountered by existing programs, and offer a menu of solutions…

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Idaho Public Utility Commission taking comments on rate adjustments and green tags

The Idaho PUC has opened public comment periods on a number of proposed rate changes by Idaho Power and a proposed plan to manage the “green tags” it can obtain from renewable energy projects from which it buys power…

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Wash. State Legislature ends with no changes to Clean Energy Initiative

The 2010 legislative session has ended and although the legislature delivered mixed results for the environment overall, supporters of Clean Energy Initiative 937 were pleased that no changes were made to the law. Because of your help, we were able to protect the integrity and strength of Initiative 937 again this year…

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How did Clean and Affordable Energy do this session in Washington State?

The 2010 legislative session has finally come to a close and it’s time to take inventory on how clean and affordable energy policies fared in Olympia. Read on to see where we stand…

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Greenest building in Seattle planned

The Seattle Times is running a story on how the Bullit Foundation, a Coalition funder, is preparing to build a new headquarters that would also serve as a showplace for cutting-edge green engineering and architecture.

Read the full article online.

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Wash. Leg Review: Some Enviro Bills Live, Others Die

KPLU’s Liam Moriarty has a short report on the Washington state legislative session and the fate of several environmental bills, including some authored or supported by the NW Energy Coalition. Listen online.

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IDACORP Shareholder Activists Receive Climate Advocacy Award

The investor activist group that spearheaded a stunning Idaho Power shareholder resolution on climate change last year was awarded the 2009 NGO Activist award by the Climate Change Business Journal last week.

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Wash. Legislature passes landmark bill on recycling fluorescent lights

The State Legislature has passed a bill to create a convenient residential recycling program for compact fluorescent lights and other lights that contain mercury. The bill, ESSB 5543, now awaits only the governor’s signature to become law.

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More Idaho Cities Riding the Clean Energy Wave

They’re not the first and they certainly won’t be the last, but three more Idaho cities are showing how they truly “get” how energy efficiency and renewable energy programs can chop away at their utility bills and help their communities stake a claim to the sustainable energy movement at the local level…

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