I do not see this as impatience, I understand people are upset. It is difficult to see decades of work (many of these programs first started in the 70’s) on something I am very passionate about disregarded as inaction. That is the source of my comment. Slow? Yes. Underfunded? Historically yes. Inaction? No.
Believe me, if we could get carbon pricing started tomorrow, I would be exhilarated. Let’s kick up nuclear again.
Thanks for your well researched and thoughtful response, I really do appreciate it.
Of course :)
they simply can’t afford the up front cost of replacing their HVAC or gas stove.
I’m not as knowledgeable about residential, but there is some work here as well. There are some recent programs focused on weatherization, for example programs to reinsulate homes at no cost or to install new doors, but these are smaller and I believe means tested. Residential is hard because there just isn’t that much work to do that makes sense financially. For carbon, it is probably easier to enroll in a local utility’s green power programs and reduce/eliminate beef consumption than replace windows that aren’t broken. This is one of the biggest reasons why industrial energy is the focus because a home’s energy use (say, 200 kWh based on some of my apartment bills) is negligible compared to modestly sized businesses that consume millions of kWh annually. This is part of where progress in energy efficiency disappears.
I do have a colleague working on getting combined heat and power systems into homes, but we haven’t talked enough for me to comment much on it other than there is interest.
democrats have to think bigger than tax breaks and loans.
This is where alternative energy systems and investments in energy infrastructure come into play. Investments in research, feasibility, implementation.
People won’t care about industrial energy efficiency when they don’t have a place to live because a wildfire destroyed their house.
To be fair, in my experience most people don’t care already :). I have family members who call my job a joke, unfortunately. But yes, the inescapable results of our actions or lack thereof over the last two centuries of industrialization will continue to catch up. Every year another community burns up in my state and every year someone is ready to blame it on anything but climate change.
I’m pretty deep on energy so I can speak to some of this.
There’s record investments going on right now in research on energy efficiency, thermal energy storage (duck curve), and renewable energy sources. Heat pumps are almost too trendy. It’s been nuts seeing the number of projects getting funded for research that never had a chance in the last administration. This research isn’t just theoretical, there is heavy interest in feasibility studies and impacts on implementation. This is especially true in engagement with smaller and medium sized businesses. We’re talking discounts of 50-70% (sometimes free).
There’s actually quite a few programs that exist federally for decreasing energy use and/or energy intensity (which in most cases means less carbon emissions) for industrial energy users. With the Biden admin, the outreach game has fundamentally changed and there has quite possibly never been this level of excitement before in the space. There is so much money in play here for businesses (we’re talking hundreds of thousands of dollars per qualifying business per year) that professionals will recommend free federal programs before doing their own professional energy audits. Even with professional services, the government is still putting out major incentives.
The feds are even focused on giving experience in energy efficiency work that it could be done with an associate’s degree with job experience included instead of a traditional four year college. In some states, this is a free education.
There are tax incentives for buying electric cars, government fleets are moving to electric, revisions to CAFE standards and attempts to mitigate the loopholes that SUVs thrive in within it.
For larger businesses, tax incentives are not slow. They can be the deal breaker on whether the project happens at all. Discussing tax incentives, incredibly good loan programs, and grants can fundamentally change the tone of conversations. All of these topics are not theoretical, I am speaking from experience in conversations I have personally led. Shifts from “this is way too expensive” to “ok, we would be stupid not do this project.”
If you want further reading, concentrated solar power, combined heat and power, and hydrogen based energy are all popular and growing fields right now due to government investment in research and implementation. And again, I’m not talking pure theory here, these projects are actively being implemented in real scenarios right now. Heall, filtering biogas to produce methane is ridiculously profitable and reduces overall greenhouse gas emissions. Natural gas companies will literally pay waste water treatment plants to hook into their lines.
Drives me nuts when people talk about lack of climate progress. Sure, we haven’t become carbon neutral in two years, and there hasn’t been a fancy international agreement lately, but saying progress is slow or not getting done is a hot take. There is a lot happening right now and it isn’t always advertised. The energy efficiency industry, as far as I am aware and experienced, has never been this excited. We used to make arguments to businesses that energy efficiency was important, would save money, increase resiliency and so on. Now, they actively reach out.
Here is one example: https://medium.com/@bobbyrsec/the-dangers-of-googles-zip-tld-5e1e675e59a5
There are situations where a url with .zip at the end could download a zip file with the newest edition of some popular free game. A very similar looking url could also end with .zip, download a similarly looking zip file, with very different actions when the software is launched.