Hey there, podcast listeners. We strive to bring you not just quality discussion each week, but quality sound as well.

This week we had a little trouble with our internet connection, so you'll notice that the audio quality starts to fade toward the middle of the

podcast. It's still very listenable, but I apologize if you notice it, and we'll be back to normal

next week. Thanks.

For the week of July 11th, 2013, this is the Energy Gang Podcast from Green Tech Media. I'm Stephen Lacy, a senior editor at Green Tech Media coming to you

from Washington DC.

As always I'm joined by my voracious co-hosts, Catherine Hamilton of 38 North Solutions,

and Jiggershaw of Jiggershaw Consulting. How's everybody doing after the 4th of July weekend?

Catherine, you're back in DC this week after a vacation where I understand you were doing a little space center

exploration with your family.

Yeah, we discovered while we were at Chikatig Island that Wallops has a NASA flight

facility there and it's just really fascinating. It's so cool to see that there's still great science going on out there.

Absolutely. And Jigger, no exploration for you there in New York, but I know you're doing a lot on New York State solar policy.

We were talking a little bit about that. Can you give us a taste of what you're working on?

Yeah, I mean, as you know, the cost of solar has come down so far that the state of New York is trying to

figure out what to do with its solar policy to to respond to make sure that the

money stretches farther so it's an interesting conversation to say the least.

Well, we have neither solar nor rocket ships on the agenda today, but we do have a good lineup of stories for discussion.

So let's get right into it.

First, we're going to talk about whether the U.S. is improving its energy efficiency.

The obvious answer is yes, but how much it's improving depends on how we look at it.

So we'll look at it from a variety of

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