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With bills growing and school budgets tightening, school districts are finding interesting new ways to save money. They’re saving energy.

Owatonna school district in Minnesota partnered with Texas-based Cenergistic (formerly Energy Education Inc) in 2011 to do just that. According to its company website, Cenergistic “builds customized, comprehensive, people-driven energy conservation programs that help organizations reduce their consumption of electricity, natural gas, fuel oil and water, allowing financial savings which can be invested in the lives of the people its clients serve, not utility companies.”

The district then hired Steve Stansberry, a former elementary school principal to get involved in the energy saving project and act as a part-time overseer. Stansberry meets with district officials once a week to brainstorm and discuss ideas, and works a few other half days during the week and on weekends. An important part of his role is to work on the weekends when he can observe school energy use at a time when it should be “shut down.”

“Our goal is to save the district a lot of money, and we are saving a lot of money,” he said.

Launched in May of 2011, the program run by Cenergistic has saved the district $264,096 in utility costs. The contract with Cenergistic spans over four years, and even with the expenses of the program and Stansberry’s payment, the school district has saved over $120,000.

Cenergistic will continue to provide services to the school district at no charge after the end of the four year contract. The company expects that over the next ten years, Owatonna school district will save about $2.7 million.

“It’s all behavioral change,” Stansberry said. “The program takes into account the differences in the climate, so if it’s a milder winter, they expect us to use less gas. This is a behavior-based program. It really looks at how you get teachers, custodians and cooks to think a little bit differently about their job.”

Riverstone Holdings, LLC committed $600 million to Fieldwood Energy LLC, a Houston based company in the acquisition and development of oil and gas. The funds are expected to be used in the pursuit of assets in domestic basins.

This agreement is the second to be made between Riverstone and Fieldwood. A previous partnership between Riverstone and Fieldwood produced Dynamic Offshore Resources LLC in Houston, a subsidiary of SandRidge Energy Inc. which is based in Oklahoma City.

In a statement, Matt McCarroll, President and CEO of Fieldwood said that members of this former partnership will join Fieldwood’s new venture.

“We are confident that our focus on the acquisition and development of under-worked assets and under-capitalized companies will provide for an equally successful experience as our previous efforts,” he said.

To date, Riverstone has been active in the energy industry in Houston; the firm invested $200 million in Kerogen Energy Holdings LLC in September 2012.

Riverstone is a private equity firm focused in the energy and power sectors. Since the firm was co-founded in 2000 by Pierre Lapeyre and David Leuschen, Riverstone has committed around $20 billion worldwide with investments across North America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Source: bizjournals.com

Many New York City developers are embracing environmental standards by building or retrofitting buildings to become LEED certified.

“Any developer planning to put a new building up today in New York—starting with office buildings—in order to be competitive in the marketplace, needs to build a sustainable building,” said Guy Geier, managing partner at FXFOWLE Architects.

According to City & State, since April 2012, 324 buildings have obtained LEED certification, including 178 for certified commercial interiors, 76 for new construction projects, 51 for existing buildings, 16 for new construction projects leaving out interiors (or “core and shell”) and three neighborhood development projects led by the Columbia University expansion in Harlem.

“Owners don’t want to have an asset that’s outdated,” said Russell Unger, Urban Green Council director. “Many large tenants have policies for environmental impacts, and they’re asking for this. And if you miss out on one significant tenant, you would have lost out on more money than the incremental cost of getting certified.”

“Greening” existing buildings, such as the Empire State Building can be more difficult and more expensive. Anthony E. Malkin, responsible for the retrofitting project, received accolades for completing the $20 million project two years ago. The project reduced the Empire State Building’s energy use by an estimated 38 percent and energy costs by $4.4 million annually. The building will emit an estimated 105,000 fewer metric tons of carbon emissions over the next 15 years.

“The trick is to do it in a way that doesn’t necessarily affect existing tenants,” said Geier. “[Malkin] was impressive because he was able to renovate the entire building over a relatively quick period of time, but he was also rolling a lot of rents, changing the tenant mix from small tenants … to getting tenants into full floors or half floors. That strategy appears to be working.”

Source: City and State NY

Not only could building an offshore wind farm produce thousands of jobs in South Carolina and billions in wages and government revenue, it will also produce massive amounts of clean, renewable power to use at local and regional levels. Good for the environment and for the economy. Over the years, South Carolina has attracted some of the most influential manufacturing companies pioneering the use of alternative energy and innovation all around. It should come to no surprise that South Carolina would become the home for alternative energy development.

According to a recent report, the offshore wind farm would create an average of more than 3,900 jobs per year during its 10-year construction period and over $2 billion in wages from 2016 to 2030. The development could also add about $630 million to state and local government revenues during the construction period. South Carolina officials agree, green power means jobs, government revenue and long-term growth.

The Director of S.C. Energy Office Ashlie Lancaster believes the development will boost the state economy, create green jobs, reduce fossil fuel dependency, and greenhouse gas emissions. Lancaster said, “Not only would an offshore wind industry help diversify South Carolina’s energy sources, it also would have the potential to generate thousands of long-term jobs and create a sustainable industry that could become the envy of the nation.”

Wind energy-related jobs make-up about 14% of the jobs in South Carolina with an average salary of $78,308. According to a survey at Clemson University, about 33 wind-related businesses call South Carolina home.

South Carolina, S.C. Secretary of Commerce Bobby Hitt told Clemson News, “Commerce supports ongoing research and development that will help further our state’s portfolio of alternative and sustainable energy, including wind…These industries can help fill the pipeline with high-skilled, high-paying jobs.”

The US is at a turning point – One study suggests that the US could harness more than 1,300 gigawatts (GW) of energy from coastal waters. That much energy could power 14 million homes, create over 300,000 new jobs and $200 billion in new economic activity.

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Cutting energy isn’t always as easy as it sounds. What are you suppose to do you do on those chilly winter nights or those dreadfully hot summer days? Freeze? Melt? Relevant to where you live the temperature starts to drop between the months of September through November. The first thing you do when the temperature starts to drop is pull out the winter clothes, sweaters, long sleeves, jackets, scarves and hats. That’s exactly what Melanie Cadenhead, living her 90-year-old house in Rye, N.Y., did. Cadenhead spent an extra $1,000 a month to heat her home, she said, not this year.

“I’ll just sleep in one of those Daniel Boone hats with the ear flaps,” she says. “Winter is not my friend.”

According to energy efficiency experts, you don’t have to sacrifice comfort of lifestyle to cut energy costs. All you need to do is follow a few simple tricks and you can cut energy cost without sleeping in a parka. From sealing air leaks to unplugging cell-phone chargers, you can cut energy costs drastically without making “big-ticket” purchases like new windows or a new air and heating system.

First step, seal the air leaks and upgrade your insulation. Air leaks are often found around the foundation, pipes, recessed lights and chimneys. Air leaks are easy to identify and relatively inexpensive to fix.

After you seal all the leaky air, it might be time to upgrade your insulation. Even if you seal all the leaky air holes, if your insulation is dated, the warm air in your house could be moving right through it.

“We all recognize that we have to replace our cars and computers, and people love to do that,” said Scott Stefan, a home energy auditor for Elmsford, N.Y. “But most people have really old insulation — and it’s really beaten down and it’s not doing them any good.”

You can also cut energy by unplugging what Ken Collier, editor-in-chief at The Family Handyman calls, “energy vampires,” such as TVs, cell-phone chargers and computers. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. households spend approximately $100 per year to power such devices while not in use. Collier says the expense could be closer to $70 a month.

Source: Washington Post

Private Equity Firm Carlyle Group LP has agreed to buy U.S. power-plant developer Cogentrix Energy LLC. The company hopes to pursue energy investments independent of its long times partner Riverstone Holdings LLC. Carlyle, a Washington D.C.-based company, has made many of its own energy deals, however most of the company’s exposure to the energy industry has been a result of the its partnership with Riverstone.

Carlyle will gain five Cogentrix plants: two coal-fired plants in Virginia and Florida, and three solar facilities in Colorado and California.

“We like the idea that it brings our [investors] a yield-based solution, and a sustainable solution, that also provides ballast for our energy infrastructure activities long-term,” said Dan D’Aniello, Carlyle’s co-founder and chairman overseeing energy investments.

Riverstone was founded by former Goldman Sachs banker David Leuschen. Riverstone is a New York-based buyout shop that specializes in oil-and-gas and electric-power investments and is responsible for much of Carlyle’s exposure to the energy industry.

Riverstone and Carlyle continue to partner on several investments; however, Carlyle has pushed many energy investments on its own. Two years ago Carlyle launched a fund that lends to energy companies ranging from oil producers to a facility that turns demolition debris into power.

Today the energy industry is as complicated as it gets. Buffeting stock prices make it tough to know where to put your money. In the past, investing in the energy business was simple, “buy a stock and stick with it.” Just two years ago, soaring oil and natural-gas prices made any energy bet “pay off.” Investing in energy is much more complicated than it used to be, often requiring experts to analyze growing markets.

Riverstone and Carlyle are two companies that are dedicated to understanding the energy sector and the its growing markets.

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Saving $2.8 billion and reducing energy consumption by 20-30% represent a tremendous success. Energy Education clients celebrate success like this everyday – Totally more than $2.8 billion in utility costs over the last 26 years and significantly reducing their carbon footprint.

“We help our clients manage more than $1 billion in annual utility costs. Most of that money is from public funds and every penny is essential. Our engineers and consultants help clients identify ways to cut 20, 30, 40 percent and more from previous energy use — that saves those public funds. It saves natural resources by reducing CO2 emissions. It has a ripple effect. Because our clients can do more with the funds they have, they can better serve their communities.” said Dr. Randy Hoff, Energy Education’s Chief Executive Officer.

Utility cost is one of the biggest expenses for many organization. The price of electricity, natural gas, heating oil and water have steadily increased over the past few years. Energy Education help’s organization not only rind green solutions, but saves organizations money. Energy Education implements comprehensive organizational-based energy conservation programs in schools, colleges, and universities. Recently, one of Energy Education’s clients, a school district in Sioux Falls, SD, not only saved money, but was also able to give teachers a small raise. The school district is expecting to be give an even bigger raise at the end of next year.

Energy from shale is produced by a method of drilling called hydraulic fracturing. What is hydraulic fracturing, often referred to as “fracking,” is a process the released thousands of gallons of mostly water and sand deep beneath the earth’s surface in order to fracture shale rock formations, which then releases natural gas.

One of the biggest misconceptions is that  global warming climate changes will happen over night, creating an urgency to omit carbon emissions completely and as quickly as possible. However, cutting oil completely and quickly, would not only have a substantial impact on the economy, cutting oil quickly is considered completely unnecessary.  Over time, we can start to transition from oil to natural gas while using more alternative energy sources such as wind, solar, or nuclear to cut use of methane emissions. Until then, we can focus on current transitions and learn best practices when managing oil and gas reserves.

Gas and goal effectively compete in the electricity generation market. The comparison of the two fuels comes down to how efficient each fuel is in making electricity. The superior efficiency of gas in electricity generation doubles the heat content advantage of gas over coal. Therefore, natural gas is more efficient when used for heating. Methane emissions much be five times larger than they currently are before gas substitutes (whether gas from shale or conventional gas) becomes vital from a global warming perspective.

Climate change is evident. The environment is changing and evolving just like it has in the past and will continue to change as long as man lives on Earth. But you don’t have to believe in global warming to start taking energy initiatives.  Learning to conserve energy is important to the economy and the future of our environment.  If you don’t believe in climate change, then just focus of saving money.

Energy Education tweeted, “You don’t have to believe in climate change to solve it,” says Lovins. “Everything we do to raise energy efficiency will make money, improve security and health, and stabilize climate.” “will make money, improve security & health & stabilize climate” – Amory Lovins.

By 2050 two billion additional people will live on Earth. Those two billion people will want to live and drive just like us.  Can you imagine the world with two billion more people? The pollution? The energy usage? The climate change? Imagine the traffic jams. Energy policies are needed to regulate energy usage because, with so many more people, we won’t be able to control the climate change unless we start now.

Think about it this way, just last August,  a traffic jam (you might be familiar), on the main north-side highway from Beijing to Inner Mongolia, stretched 60 miles and moved at the speed of 2 miles per day.  It took 10 days to recover from the jam.You don’t have to believe in global warming to believe in taking energy initiatives that will ultimately save you money.

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BMW announced last month that a $900 million investment is expected to generate 300 new jobs in South Carolina by expanding its X-model family. The production of the new BMWX4 will occur at the Spartanburg, South Caronlia plant.   The production requires, not only a significant investment, but a number a new jobs to help prepare the facility for the new model.

“I am delighted to announce today, over the next three years, we plan to invest nearly $900 million. With this investment, we will be able to produce 350,000 units here in the mid-term,” said Frank Peter Arndt, BMW Group Board Member. “This is one reaction to the rising global demand for our BMW X Models.”

The plant plans to raise production capacities up to 300,000 units, and by the end of the year,  the plant will have nearly 7,500 employees.

BMW is seeing a great economic success despite all economic odds.  The partnership between the company and the state of South Carolina is an example of how the South Carolina plans to retain and grow business and stimulate job creation.

The total investment to the state is nearly $6 billion since 1992 with the development of over 2 million vehicles.