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Articles by Lane Burt

Lane Burt is the Manager of Building Energy Policy with the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington, DC. He is an engineer and works on federal efficiency policies and green building issues. Lane writes about energy policy on NRDC's Switchboard blog.

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  • New Agreement on Standards for Outdoor Lights Announced

    The Natural Resources Defense Council, along with our fellow efficiency advocates, announced the results of successful negotiations with the lighting industry on standards for street lights and parking lot lights. Standards on outdoor lights are such a no-brainer because these lights stay on through the entire night. Daylight Saving Time brings an early end to […]

  • New reports show successes and failures of Energy Star

    The media has been taking the Department of Energy (DOE) to task over a recently released audit by the Inspector General (IG) which highlighted some well known shortcomings in the Energy Star program. The conclusions were not surprising — there needs to be more testing of products to ensure compliance with Energy Star requirements and […]

  • DOE and EPA Agree to Make a Brighter Energy Star

    Last week the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the Energy Star program. Who runs Energy Star, the extremely successful program for promoting efficient appliances, equipment, and buildings, and how they run it has been a point of tension between the agencies that are […]

  • New air conditioning and furnace standards mean big savings

    The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and other efficiency groups released a negotiated agreement with manufacturers of residential air conditioners and furnaces yesterday, marking the end of a journey to come to consensus that lasted many months.  I negotiated on NRDC’s behalf and we will now take this agreement to both Congress and the Department […]