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New solar and wind electric generators are being installed at increasing rates because their costs are declining and utilities are getting better at integrating intermittent generation into their...

About a month ago, I had to take my gasoline car into the dealer for routine maintenance. That cost about $2,000, and it needs more work. My car has been driven about 100,000 miles. It probably has...

Given national and international news, you may be thinking that it would be great to build a self-sufficient cabin in remote northeastern Washington. My grandfather did that, about 120 years ago....

Just 20 years ago, a kilowatt of new photovoltaic solar panel electric generation capacity cost more than a hundred times as much as a new kilowatt of natural gas capacity (although the difference...

First, a clarification: Last week’s headline said we can expect 100% solar and wind energy on the grid in the future. Although that’s likely to become feasible within the next 20-30 years, I don...

When I talk with groups about solar and wind energy, people ask: “The sun isn’t up all the time and the wind doesn’t blow all the time. How can solar and wind energy power a reliable electric grid?...

An earlier column emphasized understanding the numbers on your electric bill. Understanding what the bill means, however, doesn’t help much in understanding why you’ve used that much energy, nor does...

A few days ago, one of the people I was talking with at the coffee shop asked me whether a possible ban on gas stoves is real, or just another straw-man argument designed to rile up the public in...

The Skagit Valley Clean Energy Cooperative is a nonprofit cooperative. It was founded in La Conner about a year ago. Like any co-op (say, REI or the Skagit Valley Food Co-op), SVCEC helps people to...

One of the most common complaints electric utility customers have about utilities is that utility bills are hard to understand. I looked at PSE’s website page, “How to read your bill.” Having done...

Well-built houses last for centuries. Today’s decisions during construction of a new home can affect your grandchildren’s grandchildrens’ energy bills. If you were building a new house for maxim...

Ongoing work towards both energy independence and the transition to energy sources that don’t use fossil fuels are going to create choices for energy consumers that we haven’t had in decades, or ever....

Recycling three typical 12 ounce aluminum beverage cans, to create an aluminum sheet for making a new can, saves about a kilowatt-hour of electricity compared to the electricity it would take to make...

One of the biggest expenses of new home construction in locations more than a few hundred yards away from existing energy infrastructure is the cost of connecting electricity and gas. Electric power...

Over half of the energy used in residential and commercial buildings goes to heating and cooling the air to keep occupants comfortable. Most of the time, cooling is achieved by using electricity to...

Power outages are rare and usually short here, but grid-provided electricity isn’t completely consistent and reliable under all circumstances. Here’s a quick guide to the world of power quality pro...

Could solar energy power the entire electric grid even though the sun is only up, in any given place, an average of 12 hours a day? Yes. It would be expensive to build solar power plants across every...

A few weeks ago I mentioned that lights based on light-emitting diodes (LEDs) use less energy than tungsten filament lights or fluorescent lights. LEDs also longer lasting. And, the cost of LEDs has...

Just about everyone in the U.S. has heard the words: “Close the refrigerator door.” Stereotypically, this is associated with an indecisive teenager. How important is that closed door, really? Is it st...

Most residential energy consumers spend about 10-20% of their home electric budget on lighting. Significant changes in lighting technologies have made it possible to cut your lighting energy use by...

The most important thing most people can do to cut their electric and natural gas bills is reduce the amount of energy they use for heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC). This is because...

Suppose you were filling your car with gas, and the pump behind you suddenly changed the price from $4 a gallon to $400 a gallon. You’d get an unpleasant surprise when you put the nozzle back on t...

What can Washington state do to avoid problems similar to those Texas experienced with its energy supply during February 2021? How should our grid and utility regulations be designed to maintain...

A letter responding to one of my columns recently suggested that this column is trying to force green energy down people’s throats. Typically, I wouldn’t reply, but I think it’s important to reass...

The Skagit Valley Clean Energy Cooperative is a member-owned, non-profit organization founded by Terry Nelson, Mary Wohleb, John Leaver, Marylee Chamberlain and Bob Raymond to speed up the energy tran...