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The federal government is warning residents in a small Wyoming town with extensive natural gas development not to drink their water, and to use fans and ventilation when showering or washing clothes in order to avoid the risk of an explosion, according to a report Thursday from ProPublica, a nonprofit organization made up of journalists.

The announcement accompanied results from a second round of testing and analysis in the town of Pavillion by Superfund investigators for the Environmental Protection Agency. Researchers found benzene, metals, naphthalene, phenols and methane in wells and in groundwater. They also confirmed the presence of other compounds that they had tentatively identified last summer and that may be linked to drilling activities.

The U.S. Department of Labor this week reported a rise in unemployment claims for the third week in a row, bringing the nation’s jobless rate to a whopping 9 percent: the highest level in 9 months.

At the same time, green industry employers are lamenting the freeze of Property Assessed Clean Energy funding caused when mortgage lenders challenged the popular program. PACE has been heralded by the California Energy Commission, Vice President Joe Biden and states across the nation as a solution to promoting green jobs that will boost our ailing economy and build our nation’s energy independence.

A number of efforts to reinstate PACE are in the works at the judicial, legislative and administrative levels. There are a lot of folks behind it, and many expect to see a resolution soon.

We’ll keep you posted.

How much does every little bit count?

A lot.

If every household in the U.S. swapped-out a 60-watt incandescent light bulb to a compact flourescent bulb (CFL), the energy saved would be equal to the energy generated by two 500 megawatt coal-fired power plants.

The typical CFL requires one-fourth the electricity of an old-fashioned incandescent bulb, and it lasts ten times longer, too. The bulbs pay for themselves in 6 months, and end up saving $30 in energy over their lifetime.

Swap out a bulb and save $30. Swap out two and save $60. Swap out three…

You get the point.

Wasted energy in our homes is not something we can usually see, but we can certainly feel it. The frugal-minded among us may take pride in bundling up in the winter and sweating it out in summer. It saves money, right?

The reality is that in most cases, home energy efficiency retrofits can reduce heating and cooling costs to as low as 10-12 cents per square foot per year. That’s as low as $200 annually for total comfort in your home. 

Take a look at the winter photo above, taken with an infrared camera. You can see where heat is escaping from the attic, roof and walls of the house. That’s the result of poorly installed insulation, perhaps even no insulation at all.

A home energy audit will determine the most cost-effective measures you can take to seal your home and keep it warm in the winter, and cool in the summer – with energy bills that can be paid with pocket change.

Don’t be fooled by flashy marketing and fancy technology. 

You wouldn’t run your car’s air-conditioner with the windows open, would you?

Want to learn more about Home Energy Performance (HEP)?
Visit the San Gabriel Valley Energy Wise Partnership’s Home Energy Performance Workshop from 9 a.m. to noon this Saturday, July 17 at the Western University Lecture Hall, 450 E. 2nd Street, Pomona, Calif.

Members of our team of HEP experts will be on hand to provide advice and to explain the principles of Building Science. Financial incentives, tax credits and utility rebates are either available now, or will be very soon.

Devon Hartman, a principal at Hartman Baldwin Design, who has partnered with Every Watt Matters in some of our Claremont projects, will present an overview of the role of energy efficiency in the sustainability movement. Representatives of Southern California Edison and the County of Los Angeles will also be on hand to discuss a new statewide program called, “Energy Upgrade California.”

Saturday’s event is just one in a series of workshops planned in the San Gabriel Valley. Please call 626-564-9702 or visit www.sgvenergywise.org to register or attend.

California voters will decide in November whether to suspend the state’s landmark greenhouse gas reduction law, called AB32, until unemployment falls to an average of 4.8 percent over a year’s time — something that’s only happened four times in the past 34 years.

The measure, launched and funded by oil giants Valero Energy Inc. and Tesoro Corp., is being called “The California Jobs Initiative,” the Los Angeles Times reported. Those who support it claim that regulations put into place in 2006 by AB32 will have a negative impact on business and the economy.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger disagreed, telling the Times, “This initiative sponsored by greedy Texas oil companies would cripple California’s fastest-growing economic sector, reverse our renewable energy policy and decimate our environmental process for the benefit of these oil companies’ profit margins.”

AB32 has been hailed throughout the nation as a model policy for controlling greenhouse gas emissions and creating jobs that encourage independence from fossil fuels. Suspending it would have devastating impacts on the future of California and of the rest of the nation as a whole.

Many pundits expect the November ballot measure to be one of the most heavily funded in the history of the state: backed by oil companies on one side, environmental groups and green industry businesses on the other.

For the sake of our future: Keep AB32 intact. Let’s stay the course and create jobs that promote energy efficiency and independence from foreign oil.

Every Watt Matters will take part in the second annual Solar Energy & Efficiency Fair this Saturday at the Finley Center & Park in Santa Rosa, Calif. The event is free to the public and features speakers and exhibits to help inform people about the need for energy efficiency and the benefits of solar power. Our partner, teen activist Alec Loorz, will be a guest speaker at the event, addressing the problems of global warming and the urgency to take action now to stop it.

Panels and workshops will address the latest in legislation and technology to support the industry. Live music and a fun zone for kids will make it a day for the entire family. Visit www.solarsonomacounty.org for information.

President Barack Obama this week urged Americans to end the county’s century-long addiction to fossil fuels. “The consequences of our inaction are now in plain sight,” he said, referring to the BP oil spill and the decades of debate that have left the nation still woefully dependent on fossil fuel and foreign nations to get it.

It can be frightening to think about the consequences, no matter what route we take. But studies show that the most effective and cost-efficient means of addressing the situation is through conservation.

More than 75 percent of the nation’s electricity use goes to building operations, according to the Energy Information Administration. As much as 60 to 80 percent of that energy is wasted through the exchange of heat and cold through the building shell, inefficient duct systems and equipment.

The Natural Resources Defense Council estimates that building retrofits could save up to $33 billion a year in energy costs, and triple the U.S. marketplace in energy efficiency from $236 billion to $756 billion by 2030.

Having your home audited and retrofitted for better efficiency saves that 60 to 80 percent wasted energy. It reduces our dependence on fossil fuels, our carbon footprint and makes our nation more energy independent.

U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana this week introduced an energy bill that calls for billions of dollars in federal loan guantees for the construction new nuclear power plants.

The idea is to close some of the nation’s most heavily polluting coal power plants in favor of something that emits fewer greenhouse gases.

The fact is, that current federal legislation will do much more. And, it will cost billions of dollars less than what Lugar has proposed.

By retrofitting just 25 percent of all buildings in the United States in the next 10 years, (our nation’s current retrofit goal), the U.S. will save six times the greenhouse gas emissions that 100 nuclear power plants would, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Words of wisdom: Reduce First, Then Produce.

Every Watt Matters just completed energy assessments on 200 homes in the cities of Claremont and Monrovia in California. What we found there surprised even us.

Out of those 200 homes, not one had attic seals. One home had a new, high-efficiency heater, but its delivered efficiency was only 20 percent because it had been connected to an existing duct system that was inefficient.

Most startling of all, was that this sample of homes tested at an average of just 37 percent for heating efficiency. That means that 63 percent of the energy used to heat the homes was wasted: 63 cents for every dollar spent on energy bills.