Energy Efficiency (it's not dead yet) on Spotify
National Energy Awareness Month—October--began in 1991. It was instituted by President George Bush as an encouragement for governments, organizations, and agencies to raise awareness for the importance of managing the nation's energy resources to increase sustainability. We’re 32 years (older than half the SJVCEO) into this celebration and October is now so much more than something to elevate the conversation amongst federal employees—it’s a month dedicated to all things energy and for the SJVCEO that means all things energy efficiency!
Which is convenient because in Energy Awareness Month we also celebrate Energy Efficiency Day—the first Wednesday of October. The goal of EE Day is not just to raise awareness broadly, but to make specific calls to action across all sectors and customer types. It’s the opportunity to for local governments to publicly commit themselves to energy efficiency through proclamations, for stakeholders to get media toolkits and social posts, and for customers to learn more about how they can save money, cut pollution, and create jobs. In 2023 more than 1100 local governments, universities, organizations, corporations, and utilities participated in EE Day—and it only continues to grow.
We’re seeing this momentum first hand, not just through our work implementing energy efficiency programs, but through conversations we’re having with all sorts of energy efficiency practitioners. This past year we’ve been working on banking recordings for “Stakeholder Spotlight”, a new series coming soon from SJVCEO’s PODEE Network. We often joke that energy efficiency in California is run by 200 people moving around from place to place. Some have had huge impacts over a career, while others made small choices that rippled across the course of time. Who are these people and how do they view their role in our industry, and what does the future of energy efficiency look like? With nearly 20 hours of recording time logged I can confidently say, energy efficiency is not dead. I’d even remove the qualifier “yet” because it’s unlikely that energy efficiency will ever truly die.
What I think is happening is after 30+ year of something, it starts to seem a bit stale, perhaps a bit boring. And lord knows there’s plenty of things more exciting than energy efficiency. But the truth is, energy efficiency is fundamental to all clean energy. Whether it’s reducing load prior to installing generation, reducing your costs through conservation, or recognizing that electrification is just energy efficiency--all of it returns to energy efficiency.
Courtney’s Picks:
In the spirit of the season, does anything ever really die? Can energy efficiency actually die? No. Grow? Yes. Evolve? Sure. As implementers can we better learn how to do business in the evolved form of energy efficiency? Yes, we absolutely must. But it’s not dead. Whether we look at the most recent CPUC approval of business plan application approving over $8.9B for eight years, or the emphasis on efficiency in the Inflation Reduction Act, or even our own success with the PG&E and Willdan GK12 program to install over 10M kWh in energy savings in public agency facilities energy efficiency is still here and frankly, I can’t wait to see what we get to do next with it!
We Trying to Stay Alive, Wyclef Jean, John Forte, Pras
I’m Still Standing, Elton John
Forgot About Dre, Dr. Dre, Eminem
ONE MORE TIME, blink-182
Samantha’s Picks:
Even though people keep saying that energy efficiency is dead we here at SJVCEO say otherwise. We see day in and day out how our more underserved communities still need energy efficiency resources for their communities. How we start saying energy efficiency needs to evolve but will never die!
Without Me, Eminem
Hill I Will Die On, Alec Benjamin
Still Here, Drake
Time after Time, Lennon Stella
Kelsey’s Picks
When people state things like “EE is dead,” I simply laugh to myself knowing that is of course not true. Energy Efficiency is at the heart of everything we do here at the SJVCEO. Whether that is through educating our communities at outreach events or creating content to share with our colleagues, EE is at the foundation of our message and how we aim to improve our communities! How does that connect to my song choices? Good question, these are the first few songs that popped into my head when EE comes to mind.
Anything Can Happen, Ellie Goulding
Titanium, David Guetta and Sia
Keep Going Up, Nelly Furtado, Justin Timberlake, and Timbaland
Electric Touch, Taylor Swift and Fall Out Boy
Rochelle’s Picks:
Of course, energy efficiency is not dead yet. In fact, like many things, it will never die. Instead, it will continue to change and evolve as we change and evolve. No matter the basis of any conversation in this industry, it will always come back around to energy efficiency. Much like my song selections, which include themes such as celebrating someone before they are gone, reincarnation, simply making the best of the life we’re given, or a love song about the possibility of losing someone. These are all selections very close to my heart and through their collective messages, I hope you too can hear my love song to energy efficiency.
Gold Roses, Rick Ross (feat. Drake)
Next Lifetime, Erykah Badu
Alive, Khalid
I'd Die Without You, P.M. Dawn