In the latest issue of The Nation, Lisa Margonelli makes the case for increased use of “gray power” sources, especially waste heat, across the Midwest and South. Calling these regions “the Colossus of Carbon,” she cites a RED analysis revealing the immense amounts of electricity that could be generated from waste energy at manufacturing plants in places like Ohio. “All those smokestacks,” she says, “hold the potential for a lower-carbon renaissance.”

Ron Bailey gets it. He’s a libertarian journalist who has written an excellent piece on energy recycling for the latest issue of Chief Executive magazine. From the very first paragraph, he captures a fundamental reality that now eludes most participants in the current energy debate:

Two-thirds of the energy people produce is wasted. It goes up power plant chimneys or dissipates into rivers and lakes through heat exchangers. Capturing this wasted heat would greatly reduce fuel costs and dramatically cut the emissions of carbon dioxide.

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Our chairman Tom Casten has received another award, this time from the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (MEEA). The award, which honored Tom’s lifelong leadership on CHP and waste energy recovery, was given out at MEEA’s 6th annual Inspiring Efficiency Awards gala.

The U.S. Department of Energy has released a report stating, “Combined heat and power (CHP) technology holds enormous potential to improve the nation’s energy security and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.” It notes that CHP systems in 2006 represented 9 percent of the nation’s total electricity capacity and 12 percent of total power generation.

The National Research Council in October released an important report that calculates the “hidden” costs — such as health injuries from air pollution — from the production of electricity and gasoline. Since these costs don’t show up in the price of power, generators continue to pollute, and you and I get stuck with the medical bills.