Energy Efficiency

Peco Energy Co., seeking to develop markets beyond slow-growth power generation and sales, has established a unit so that it can expand into the energy-services field. The utility announced that it had bought Energy Performance Services Inc., of Houston, and was merging it with an obscure Peco subsidiary called Heatac Energy Group, whose primary work was selling geothermal heat pumps. The new company, called Heatac Energy Performance Services Inc., will perform energy-efficiency consulting services, said William L. Bardeen, Peco's chief financial officer.

A New Jersey grant program that funds energy-efficiency upgrades at no cost to local governments closes next week, and nearly a third of the 512 eligible municipalities and counties - including dozens of South Jersey towns - have not enrolled. The program provides up to $50,000 for upgrades to lighting, heating, and cooling systems in municipal and county buildings with no matching funds required. A ratepayer-funded clean-energy program pays 60 percent. The remainder is federal stimulus money that must be allocated by March 31. In order to meet that deadline, the Board of Public Utilities has set a Dec. 31 end to enrollment, spokesman Greg Reinert said.

To the casual observer, the Arcelor Mittal steel plant in Conshohocken hardly seems like it's in the vanguard of the effort to slow down global warming. In a process that evokes images of industrial-age smokestack technology, glowing slabs of steel are flattened, cooled, and reheated to improve their strength as they move through the mill, occasionally enveloped in dramatic gusts of steam. But this specialty rolling mill, where the world's largest steel company produces hardened plates for military armor and other applications, is among the operations the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recognized this month for their long-term commitment to fighting climate change through greater energy efficiency.

With energy costs soaring, you'd think an efficient house would be tops on every homeowner's list. Yet it just doesn't seem to register with a lot of folks. "People tend to be interested if it will make their houses more comfortable," said Hap Haven of Germantown, president of SunHaven Solar & Home Performance Testing, an energy-auditing company, and a proponent of solar energy. "The next group is made up of those who are willing to do something about the environment. But the rest.

With gas prices at record lows in the 1990s, automakers concentrated on increasing their products' speed, heft and performance. Little care was given to fuel efficiency. What did it matter with buck-a-gallon gas? In fact, if it weren't for the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards enacted during the 1970s energy crisis, gas mileage might have plunged, and consumption skyrocketed. Without CAFE standards, Americans would be using 2.8 million more barrels of oil each day, exacerbating today's concerns about higher prices and dependence on imports.

One of the nation's largest sources of mortgage money is preparing a hot summer offer for lenders, consumers and home builders across the country: Lower the energy bills on the houses you finance, buy, fix up or build, and we'll give you cold cash. Show us your monthly savings on electricity, gas or other energy consumption, and we'll cut you a more generous mortgage deal when you apply. We'll stretch your buying power, qualify you for a bigger loan, and help push energy conservation to boot.

Recently, the lights went out. Modern life ground to a sudden halt. Transportation was interrupted, communications failed, water systems shut down, manufacturing was disrupted and businesses lost money. Just as important, 50 million people had to get by without the convenience of electricity. Merely flipping the switch no longer worked. Now, the search for a culprit continues. Though some may try to find the employee who fell asleep at the switch, or point to electric companies cutting corners or to electric deregulation, the debate must not overlook this question: Are our everyday appliances, such as dishwashers, refrigerators and lamps, as efficient as they should be?

Facing the loss of its electric monopoly, Peco Energy Co. is opening a kind of 7-Eleven for commercial and industrial customers, offering everything from energy consulting to sign-making and laboratory analysis. Peco's "Customized Energy Solutions," will be a "one-stop shop" to help clients improve their energy efficiency and subcontract functions outside their main businesses, Damian A. Thomas, vice president for marketing and sales, said yesterday.. CES will offer financing and performance guarantees for energy-saving improvements, along with a network of subcontractors to provide maintenance, installation and other services.

The challenge for low- and moderate-income families is to find housing that is affordable to buy and affordable to live in. It's becoming easier for such families to buy houses, thanks to a variety of programs specially designed to make it happen. But the question, which often goes unanswered, is how people on limited incomes can afford the monthly maintenance and utility costs as well as the mortgage. Surveys by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development show that low-income families spend 20 percent to 30 percent of their income on utility bills.

If you like the ambience of a fireplace but dislike carrying in logs and cleaning up after a wood fire, gas is probably the answer. Gas fireplaces, which can be installed with or without chimneys or vents, offer decorative versatility, convenience, and energy efficiency that puts wood-burning fireplaces to shame. "You can put them anywhere, at any time," said Scott Canter, president of Dreifuss & Co. Inc. in the Northeast, one of the nation's oldest and largest fireplace and stove dealers.