Energy

Energy efficiency has been a major focus for Rocky Mountain Institute since its inception, and most of its present activities grew out of a strategy of targeting sectors with the biggest energy-saving opportunities.

RMI's early energy work was aimed mainly at electric utilities and oil companies, advocating the advantages of reducing demand through efficiency rather than simply increasing supply. In recent years we've shown many other types of companies and organizations how they can boost profits by using energy more productively.

The Institute's unique Approach to Energy offers fundamental insights into many other resource issues. There are close parallels between our energy work and our advocacy of profitable climate protection, efficient vehicles, green buildings, and Natural Capitalism.

Our latest contribution to the field of advanced resource productivity has been showing how to "tunnel through the cost barrier" — employing integrated design to make efficiency yield expanding rather than diminishing returns, so that very large savings cost less than small ones. Additionally, we're playing a key role in efforts to speed the transition to a clean, safe, and competitive energy system based on distributed resources (decentralized, appropriately sized power plants, including renewables and efficiency) and hydrogen.

Our staff and our network of affiliated professionals research and publish reports on energy policy and technologies, consult for companies, utilities, and government agencies, and provide information to the public and professionals.

RMI works in the following energy-related areas:

• Commercial/Industrial Energy Efficiency
• Community Energy Efficiency
• Household Energy Efficiency
• Electric-Industry Innovations (including distributed resources)
• Fuel Cells and Hydrogen
• Renewable Energy: Solar, Wind, Micro-Hydro
• Nuclear Power
• General Energy Policy