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Town of Oakville - Oakville, ON
Closes Jan. 20
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Dunsky Energy Consulting - Montreal, QC
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  January 16, 2014

Jesse Row, executive director of the Alberta Energy Efficiency Alliance, released a seminal report on Tuesday. Energy Efficiency Potential in Alberta highlights the opportunities AEEA sees in the province, including how energy efficiency could help it meet half of its 2020 climate change target and create $1.5 billion a year in energy savings for Albertans. In our Efficiency Matters blog Row also discusses the Oil Sands and how Alberta can become a leader in energy efficiency. MORE

Do you know what a lumen is? You will soon. It's a new year and the first phase of Canada's transition to energy efficient light bulbs. We will begin saying goodbye to 100 W and 75 W traditional incandescent bulbs which will no longer be available. Canada is finally catching up to the US and BC (and at least 37 other countries) which started their phase-ins in 2012 and 2011. This all means we have to start choosing some bulbs based on lumens not watts - more on that later.

Why make the switch to energy efficient light bulbs?
Governments worldwide have wanted to increase performance standards for lighting as one way to tackle reducing greenhouse gas emissions. There's also our proximity to the US and our trading relationship which makes regulatory cooperation essential. Canada announced it would improve lighting efficiency in 2008 in an amendment to regulations in the Energy Efficiency Act. Now we're poised to save energy since the new bulbs last significantly longer, which also explains their higher price tag. MORE

Union Gas incentives help cut energy use in London public housing
This great program supported energy efficiency upgrades to 110 townhouse units and five apartment buildings and included new windows and doors.

NAIMA Canada on insulating against the cold & higher energy costs
First tip: If icicles are hanging from the eaves of your home your attic is not properly insulated!

Housing project in US to compare two different energy code standards
The US$12-million experiment will track energy costs for 15 years in two separate apartment buildings, one built with passive energy design, the other meeting current energy code standards.

 Cost savings aren't the only benefit to energy efficiency
This Environmental Defense Fund blog takes a look at the effectiveness of various energy efficiency cost tests including the Total Resource Cost, the Societal Cost Test and the Utility Cost Test.

Why investors are wary of energy efficiency & what will boost confidence
This great piece looks at the Environmental Defense Fund's Investor Confidence Project which developed protocols for commercial energy efficiency projects, a recipe book of sorts.

Four reasons why cities ignore energy saving opportunities
Climatec'sThomas Jack discusses how energy efficiency hurdles can be overcome, including it's not sexy, and it's hard to measure savings.

Can a better taxonomy help behavioral energy efficiency?
An ACEEE report finds it's difficult to gauge success of almost 300 US programs -- it could only calculate the cost of saved energy from 10. ACEEE offers a new taxonomy of utility-run behavior programs and breaks them into three major categories.

Thermal Energy sells heat recovery system to global mining company
The new application will reduce fuel costs by about $350,000 a year and is expected to have a minimum lifetime of 20 years.

 If energy efficiency is a no-brainer, why doesn't it happen faster without government intervention?
A Bloomberg opinion piece that gets it! How governments can help to remedy shortcomings of the market - strong energy codes, on-bill financing, intelligent fuel-economy standards, and more.

Sign up for Part 9 Ontario Building Code Half-Day Workshop BILD
Held by EnerQuality on Feb. 18 in North York