State action may threaten about 40,000 jobs in Arizona’s energy industry, but those jobs aren’t ones that immediately come to mind. Instead, the 40,000 jobs – more than coal, wind, solar, oil and gas combined – are in energy efficiency.

Though we’ve now proven that energy efficiency works, we’ve only just begun to tap its potential. Arizonans can continue to save as we cut energy waste by upgrading buildings, improving manufacturing production lines, and installing new sensors and controls. Doing so creates local, family-wage jobs that can’t be outsourced, and such efforts end up paying for themselves.

The Department of Transportation says it has finished distributing 1,800 license plates that became available in May 2014 as previous owners turned in plates due to reasons that included moving out of state and selling qualifying vehicles.

Too often we hear or read about programs and policies that are not working in Arizona. Or we learn about polarized factions lining up on one end or the other of an issue.

WASHINGTON – Arizona is the 12th-most energy-efficient state in the nation this year, the same position the state held last year, according to rankings released Wednesday by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.

Committing to preserving the environment, including supporting the use of electric vehicles, is no longer an “optional nicety” for cities, Mayor Greg Stanton said Friday.

We know when our opponents do not have a strong argument, they resort to personal attacks and don’t really address the key issue, in this case, clean air. In its hit piece “Sierra Club 'Clearing the Haze' comments undermine its credibility” published March 15 in the Arizona Capitol Times, Arizona Electric Power Cooperative (AEPCO) leaves out key factors regarding the cleanup of its coal-fired Apache Generating Station.

With the committee deadline to hear bills in their chamber of origin passed, the major work of weeding out bills is done. But like weeds, bills are never really dead, and can sprout back up at any time before the session ends.

Architects, as any artists, create from their imagination. But architects’ creations are bound by structure, budgets and physics. Patricia Reiter says those limitations present an opportunity for creative solutions.

Arizona households and businesses can cut electricity use by 21 percent and save $7.3 billion by 2020 if utilities ramp up energy-efficiency incentives, a public policy group said Tuesday.