The Department of Energy has decided that certain light bulbs won’t have to show improved energy efficiency after all. The department last week announced it intends to scrap plans for tougher efficiency rules that would have kicked in next year for a variety of bulb types, including reflector, globe-shaped, and candelabra lamps, according to a statement from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. The new efficiency standards were to be the second stage of a process approved  by Congress in 2007. The announcement won’t affect tougher standards for A-type lamps — the familiar pear-shaped bulbs used in many lamps…

Traditional paper documents that record real estate transactions are giving way to blockchain technology, an electronic peer-to-peer record. (Image credit: Marco Verch / CC / Flickr) Late last year, a precedent-setting property sale in Vermont became the first real estate transaction in the United States to use blockchain, portending a new era in the sale of land and improvements. Blockchain technology is an industry disrupter on the cusp of improving transactions across all sectors and borders. It is suggested that blockchain may do for the $217 trillion U.S. real estate market what the portable phone did for communications,  and that…

This post was co-authored by Mike Schade. In 2018, the Natural Resources Defense Council won a wave of commitments from 11 of North America’s largest retailers to ban the sale of paint strippers containing the toxic chemicals methylene chloride and N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP). To see how these retailer policy commitments have been implemented, campaign staff, partner organizations and volunteers are visiting stores across the country to see whether retailers are following through to “mind the store.” Over the last few weeks, we and our partners visited 42 locations of five major retailers’ stores, all of which had pledged to ban the…

Mandalay Homes in Arizona has developed a strategy with Arizona Public Service that helps correct imbalances on the grid — a problem known as the 'duck curve' — with a combination of high-performance building features and a solar-plus-storage energy system. (Image credit: Robin Sullivan) Mandalay Homes, based in Arizona, recently introduced the iON Series, a set of smart energy features that includes an extremely tight, well-insulated building shell, high-efficiency heating and cooling system, and on-site solar with battery storage. “In the past, we have guaranteed four things in our energy-efficiency package,” says Geoff Ferrell, Mandalay’s chief technology officer. “Our homes…