Environmental Justice and the Social Contract

By Mary English  On January 5th of this year, Kansas City’s largest utility, Evergy, announced plans to update the Hawthorn coal-burning power plant with a solar field1. This will be […]

April through October Houses: Observations after a Radio Interview

By Mary English One of the things I love about my profession is the fact that I learn new things regularly. My most recent new learning was inspired by the […]

When Buildings Do Not Offer the Protection We Think They Do, We Must Look at Energy Efficiency and Building Performance (by Mary English)

KKFI Radio – Metropolitan Energy Center Shares Thoughts on Building Energy Efficiency and Streetlight EV Charging Stations

On KKFI Radio’s show for 7/12/21, listeners had the opportunity to hear from Mary English, Energy Program Manager, Building Performance, and Miriam Bouallegue, Project Manager, Sustainable Transportation, both with Metropolitan […]

Energy Myths Series: Batteries (Increasingly) Included

Batteries are ancient, by today’s tech standards.  Benjamin Franklin is the first person we know of to use the term, and the first published science on the topic dates to 1791.  The days of metal disks stacked […]

Energy Myths Series: You Are Here

It’s easy enough to find information about energy—sometimes too much information to get a handle on. So, when thinking about energy in the United States, it’s not a bad idea to simplify things; there’ll be time for details later. For […]

Energy Myths Series: A World in Motion

You have power.    Your access to energy would have cracked human credulity for most of our species’ time on earth. For millennia, we elbowed away the margins of night with the smoking glow of wood, grass […]

Clean Energy: Employment and Economic Impact

So, when we talk about someone employed in “clean energy”, what does that cover?  Like “manufacturing”, many things. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) defines and tracks employment by sector, […]

Renewable Energy From 30,000 Feet

So where, as COVID redefines economies and politics, is the renewable energy sector?  What happens over the next few years – to technologies, investments, deployments and incentives – will determine […]

MEC’s Response to COVID-19

As we all shift our routines in an effort to stay safe and healthy in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Metropolitan Energy Center is exploring ways to adjust to the […]