SubscribeMany readers recognize that I put a high value on the disclosure of building performance data. For all the benefits of information sharing, there are also downside risks. This is also true of innovative system designs and building research in general. For the industry as a whole, the benefits outweigh the risks. Publishing system failures [...]
DemandSideSolutions
energy issues in the built environment
Tag: risk management
Business Decisions on Legislative Speculation
On the issue of “sustainable” investment from a former VP (and Goldman partner):
The Blood and Gore manifesto also wants firms to have to account for assets that might become “stranded” —worth much less—in the event of policy changes such as the imposition of a price on carbon emissions or higher charges for [...]
Insured Savings
Interesting comments from Tony. Good to see this level of sophistication in the commercial upgrade market:
A few weeks ago a business consortium including Lockheed Martin and Barclays Capital announced the largest single private-sector investment to-date for commercial property energy efficiency retrofits. The business consortium, referred to as the PACE Commercial Consortium, [...]
Remember this is a business…..
from Chris Cheatham:
d5R: In the residential realm, a lot of builders and remodelers make green claims about their projects — e.g., energy-efficiency, sustainable materials, waste-management, etc. — but their projects do not necessarily have green certifications. Are they thus exempt from green building litigation?
CC: Absolutely not. If anything residential [...]
Why doesn’t this surprise me?
From Free Exchange:
Among OECD members, America does the worst at raising revenue through taxes designed to discourage pollution. I suspect that a big part of this is due to America’s remarkably low petrol tax, but that in itself is worth noting. Ideally, one would like to tax bad things rather than [...]
Take Out a Home Equity Loan to Fix Your Ice Damming Problem
Via the WSJ Real Estate News comes two stories that beg for a connection:
1) Home equity lending is beginning to rebound
2) With the recent storm cycles, ice dams are common
Have an ice dam? Consider fixing it and taking out a home equity loan to finance the work. You’ll reduce the risks associated with this all-too-common [...]
Disclosure as Total Cost of Ownership
From Laura Stukel via GreenHomes America:
For years, mortgage lenders have trained us to focus on PITI. We figure out how much home you should buy based on Principal, Interest, Taxes and Insurance. But that is only part of the picture. For example, the Institute for Market Transformation notes that energy costs are a significantly larger [...]
Risk Management in EE Projects
Via EETD, this from Technology Review:
Project developers typically guarantee certain savings, some or all of which are used to pay the cost of installing and maintaining the equipment; on the assumption that customers will use less energy, the developer charges them less than they would pay the utilities. If the money [...]
Shifting Approach to Climate Policy?
From Free Exchange, worth a full read:
THE typical baseline economist response to the problem of global warming is a very simple and straightforward one. Climate change is a negative externality, and the carbon emissions that generate it are easily targetable. The clear thing to do, then, is to place a tax on [...]
Risk Rant
I like the Remodeling blog by Ed Voytovich, he often brings some good real world rants to the internets. His latest one is about perception in the new home buying world. He closes with a valid criticism in response to the recommendations made by a local newspaper regarding the energy efficiency upgrade potential for attic [...]