The new year brings more political news than just the specter of the President Donald J. Trump administration, as both Washington and Oregon will convene new legislatures in tandem with two newly … [Read more...]
Inslee Proposes Carbon Tax to Fund Education
On the heels of an unsuccessful statewide initiative to create a revenue neutral carbon tax, recently re-elected Governor Jay Inslee has proposed a carbon tax as a revenue source to fund the … [Read more...]
BPA Releases Draft EE Action Plan for Public Review and Comment
In February 2016, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council released the Seventh Power Plan. This plan identifies the energy efficiency savings potential in the Northwest and establishes a regional … [Read more...]
Energy Performance Transparency Coming to Seattle Soon
Following positive action by the Seattle City Council earlier this year, Seattle's Office of Sustainability and Environment (OSE) has held a series of input meetings over the summer with a wide array … [Read more...]
City of Seattle Moves Forward on Building Tune Up
Seattle has adopted one of the country's most innovative add-on features to energy benchmarking and disclosure - a periodic building tune up policy (click here for more background on the … [Read more...]
BPA 2016 IRP Conservation Budgets
The BPA Integrated Program Review (IPR) for 2016 is underway. From BPA’s web site description of the IPR; “The combined Integrated Program Review (IPR) and Capital Investment Review (CIR) … [Read more...]
City of Seattle and Building Performance Transparency
Recently, the Seattle City Council took action to revise that city’s energy performance disclosure requirement adding full public information transparency as a feature. Following the City … [Read more...]
US Senate Passes Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2016
With leadership from Washington State Senator Maria Cantwell, the Senate passed the first comprehensive energy legislation in many years. After a more shortsighted energy bill earlier passed the US … [Read more...]
Oregon PUC Kicks Off Implementation of SB 1547
On April 20th, the Oregon Public Utility Commission held its first meeting concerning implementation features of Oregon’s recent legislation (SB 1547) that increased the state’s renewable … [Read more...]
Susan Ackerman, Oregon PUC Commissioner Resigns
The Oregonian reported a few days ago that the lead regulator at the Oregon Public Utility Commission resigned and will be leaving the OPUC in May. No specific reasons were provided. The newspaper … [Read more...]