From the Director: Two days make the Coalition stronger, wiser and better prepared

When we’re all calculating our carbon footprints and fretting over budgets, why is it important for us to come to Portland Nov. 12-13 for the Coalition’s NW Clean & Affordable Energy Conference and membership meeting? Short answer: these two days make the Coalition stronger, wiser and better prepared to deliver the clean and affordable energy future we all work for.

Read More

Solving the Energy Efficiency Puzzle: Achieving Bigger Savings in the Pacific Northwest

You have a stake in making our region even more energy efficient than it is. Energy efficiency is the cleanest and cheapest way to meet most of our region’s new energy needs and our goals to reduce greenhouse gas pollution. Many organizations throughout the Northwest are already hard at work saving energy. But more can be done. That’s what this paper is about: getting over the hurdles to increased energy efficiency and getting to solutions. We have a lot to lose if we wait and a lot to gain if we act.

Read More

Plugging People Into Power

This document was published in 1993 by the Northwest Conservation Act Coalition, now known as the NW Energy Coalition. While dated, the vast majority of the content remains relevant for consumer and environmental participants in the utility regulatory process. Read online or download as a PDF

Read More

The Transformer – August 18, 2010

How green is my electron? Overcoming the smart grid’s color blindness
Energy journals and, increasingly, the popular media now teem with updates and predictions on developing “smart grid” technologies … how they will help smooth power demand, greatly improve efficiency and outage/service response, and reward consumers with lower bills.

This issue of The Transformer tackles the question of why the smart grid isn’t necessarily a green grid and, in fact, could actually foster greater demand for power from coal-fueled or nuclear baseload plants. It also presents one proposed means of dealing with the problem: buying green electrons…

Read More

Portland getting solarized

Several companies have been working with the Energy Trust of Oregon and the city of Portland to solarize the city. The project goes from neighborhood to neighborhood, with hundreds of customers signing for installation of photovoltaic cells. So Portland is experiencing a huge penetration of solar power at very reasonable costs thanks to economies of scale…

Read More

Avista reaches settlement with stakeholders in latest rate case

Spokane-based Avista Corp., which provides electric and natural gas service to much of northern Idaho, has joined the staff of the Idaho Public Utilities Commission (PUC) in asking the Commission to approve a rate case settlement agreement that could mean higher rates – though not as high as the utility first sought.

Read More