In this 6-minute clip from the film, Rolling Stone reporter Jeff Goodell talks about the need to not only find new forms of renewable energy, like wind or solar power, but to change how we use energy to be more efficient. We meet Tom and Sean Casten, the father/son team that runs Recycled Energy Development, who are retrofitting a silicon plant in West Virginia to recycle its waste heat to provide 40% of the factory’s power, thus cutting back the plant’s greenhouse emissions, saving the company money and potentially drawing manufacturing jobs back from China. The Castens argue that through energy efficiency, we could eliminate 20% of U.S. CO2 emissions and save about a hundred billion dollars a year.
Video extras
Green Power Network: Can I Buy Green Power in My State?
By the U.S. Dept. of Energy | November, 24 2008
This interactive map shows users which organizations in their states offer green power.
Scenarios for a Clean Energy Future
Presented by the Interlaboratory Working Group on Energy-Efficient and Clean Energy Technologies for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. Dept. of Energy | 2000
Following a 1997 study, Scenarios of U.S. Carbon Reductions, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) commissioned an Interlaboratory Working Group to examine the potential for public policies and programs to foster efficient and clean energy technology solutions to current energy-related challenges.
An Introduction to the Core Climate Solutions
By Joseph Romm | climateprogress.org | October 22, 2008
Dr. Joseph Romm, interviewed in Dirty Business, is the editor of Climate Progress and a Senior Fellow at American Progress. Climate Progress is dedicated to providing the progressive perspective on climate science, climate solutions, and climate politics. It is a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization. “This post will serve as an introduction to climate solutions as well as a gateway to my ongoing series on the core solutions…”
Coal is no longer cheap—so what comes next?
By Sean Casten | recycled-energy.com | May, 2008
Casten and his father, Thomas Casten, both appear in Dirty Business. Recycled Energy Development develops, owns and operates power projects that harness waste energy and dramatically reduce manufacturers’ greenhouse gas emissions and power costs. With more than 30 years experience undertaking environmentally responsible energy development projects, RED’s team works closely with industrial companies to optimize energy efficiency and maximize profits.
Why Energy Efficiency is the Key to CO2 Reduction
By David Roberts | Grist.org | August 15, 2007
Grist reporter David Roberts interviews Thomas Casten, founder of Renewable Energy Development. Part 3 of the interview.
Conservation and Efficiency
THIS LINK WILL TAKE YOU TO AN ADVOCACY ORGANIZATION. Conservation and efficiency have a large potential to reduce our electricity needs. Government, industry and independent analyses have shown that cost-effective energy efficiency improvements could reduce electricity use by 27% to 75% of total national use within 10-20 years—without impacting quality of life or manufacturing output. Cutting energy use by 50% would make the U.S. as energy efficient at Japan and Europe already are. This analysis by the Energy Justice Network looks at various projections that have been made for maximum technical potential of efficiency savings.
Tackling Climate Change in the U.S./Potential Carbon Emissions Reductions from Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy by 2030
By Charles F. Kutscher | American Solar Energy Society | January 2007
THIS LINK WILL TAKE YOU TO AN ADVOCACY ORGANIZATION. A PDF report that estimates the carbon emission reductions that are possible from energy efficiency and renewable energy by 2030.
Reducing U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions: How Much at What Cost?
McKinsey & Co. report | 2008
THIS LINK WILL TAKE YOU TO AN ADVOCACY ORGANIZATION. Consensus is growing among scientists, policy makers, and business leaders that concerted action will be needed to address rising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the United States. The discussion is now turning to the practical challenges of where and how emissions reductions can best be achieved, at what costs, and over what periods of time.
Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free: A Roadmap for U.S. Energy Policy
By Arjun Makhijani, Ph.D. | Nuclear Policy Research Institute and the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research | 2007 \
THIS LINK WILL TAKE YOU TO AN ADVOCACY ORGANIZATION. A report that examines the technical and economic feasibility of achieving a U.S. economy with zero-CO2 emissions without nuclear power.
