On March 15, the Media Center at Fresh Energy launched a new information service: Midwest Energy News. Each day, we search feeds from more than 300 news and commentary sites to find energy-related stories important to our region. Those stories are linked directly on the Midwest Energy News homepage, as well as through our Twitter and Facebook feeds. We hope this will be a valuable service not just for energy insiders, but for anyone interested in the dramatic changes going on in the Midwest.

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Another supporter of climate change legislation has now stepped forward - the autoworkers. According to the Union of Auto Workers (UAW), cleaner cars and strong climate policy means more jobs for American autoworkers. The UAW recently released a report prepared in conjunction with the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Center for American Progress called Driving Growth: How Clean Cars and Climate Policy Can Create Jobs. "This study shows that increasing automotive fuel efficiency will create jobs," said UAW President Ron Gettelfinger. According to the study, cleaner cars and strong policy could create as many as 150,000 American jobs.

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Stanford University communications researcher Dr. Jon Krosnick has released an analysis of his latest public opinion survey on American's perceptions of global warming. Dr. Krosnick, a Senior Fellow at Stanford's Woods Institute, presented his research findings on March 12 at a climate briefing hosted by the American Meteorological Society. The survey was funded by Stanford and the Associated Press (AP). Visit http://woods.stanford.edu/research/majority-believe-global-warming.html for more information and a YouTube video with Dr. Krosnick.

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Because the built environment accounts for 40 percent of global carbon emissions, green building is an important part of the global warming solution. On Thursday, our very own Minnesota chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) held its first Day at the Capitol.

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Ameriprise, IBM, Fresh Energy. Not exactly three Minnesota organizations that most folks would expect to read together, but the three of us were recently named for the same award--Bronze Status as a "Bicycle Friendly Business" by the League of American Bicyclists (LAB).  We beat out companies the likes of Union Pacific Railroad, Assurant Health, and (ironically) Live Green Apartments to become one of 51 organizations nationwide to be recognized. 

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So far in 2010, some big things have happened in the area of energy efficiency. It bears repeating time and again: the cheapest and cleanest energy is the energy we don't use. Improving energy efficiency in our daily lives--meaning doing lots more with less energy--is 70 percent cheaper than generating new energy. The efficiency highlights so far in 2010...

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Did you know that even though your appliances and electronics are technically turned off, they're still using power and wasting your money? It's called phantom load and it costs you more than you think. According to Cornell University and thedailygreen.com, your TV probably uses more electricity during the 20+ hours per day you're NOT watching it than when you actually have it on.
 
Nowadays, turning your electronics "off" doesn't really mean they're off. It actually means they're on standby and they're still sucking up electricity. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, phantom load might be adding an extra $100 to $200 to your electricity bill each year. Add that up for all Americans and that's $10 billion in wasted energy each year, enough to require at least seven power plants! And that's for appliances we're not even using.

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