In my final days with San Joaquin Valley Clean Energy
Organization, I look back at the last 8 months with heartfelt gratitude. It was
here where I finally found a workplace in Fresno that I could call home. I experienced
the lowest amount of work-related stress in 3 years as well as low employee
turnover. Work stress and employee turnover are some of the workplace
observations that are supremely important to me. I learned here tons of
information about solar energy, Home Energy Tune-Up, and investor owned utility
relations.
I wanted to take a moment to discuss solar energy because ever
since my boss informed me about EEMs: Energy Efficiency Measures, I now stare
at roofs of houses that have solar panels on them. In case you hadn’t heard, EEMs
are any kind of projects that reduces energy usage in any given building. For
example, investing in double paned windows or an energy star washer/dryer would
qualify as an EEM. When I pass by homes that have panels, I do a panel count
and just by that alone, I think I can decipher whether the owners to these houses
have in fact done their EEMs. For example, go to google maps and view the northeast corner of Friant and Audubon; click on earth view and do the count. Did they do their
EEMs? I’ll let you decide.
I also wanted to share that my energy efficiency and
renewable energy knowledge won’t end here with SJVCEO. Google has been working
on driverless technology for several years. If you were to google “driverless
car” you would discover innovation at its finest. These vehicles are operated
completely by computers. As CBS news reported, these vehicles “can be programmed to not break traffic laws.
They do not drink and drive. Their reaction times are quicker and they can be
optimized to smooth traffic flows, improve fuel economy, and reduce emissions.”[1]
Along with demonstrating innovation, Google is contributing to energy
efficiency. Having computers doing the work on operating a car will clean up
the freeways. Interstates 99 and 5, two freeways that cross the state of
California will never look better. Better and safer driving practices will
improve everything from emissions to traffic pattern. Can you picture what the
Los Angeles’s 405 and 101 freeways would look like during rush hour?
What I’ve learned from my experiences with solar energy and with
driverless technology that energy efficiency needs to be approached responsibly
(i.e. EEMs) and needs to be done now. Back to the Future’s Marty McFly traveled
30 years into the future: 2015 to be exact. The future is now. I believe that Google’s innovations are exemplary
of forward progress and I’d like to think that Kings and Tulare counties have
an opportunity to be exemplary in energy efficiency. We have the data and the
sources, so let’s get on it.
It has been a pleasure.
P.S. You have the power to conserve!
[1] “Could
driverless cars do wonders for the economy?”, CBS News, accessed February 5,
2015, http://www.cbsnews.com/news/could-driverless-cars-do-wonders-for-the-economy/
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