Author Archives: EDF Blogs

Is Clean Energy Technology Booming? Five Reasons It Is.

By | Published: March 7, 2014

To see the full infographic, go to greentechmedia.com.

By: Benjamin Schneider

You may have heard about the recent 60 Minutes segment that inexplicably reported the cleantech sector was in steep decline. There are quite a few reports out there breaking down the many fallacies of that segment, with most correctly concluding the sector is not dead, it is in fact booming and evidence of that surging momentum is everywhere you look. Consider these five examples that show just how good things are for cleantech these days:

1.  The solar industry is booming.

The facts are unequivocal: the solar industry is alive and well. According to a new report and infographic released this week by Greentech Media Research and the Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA), 2013 was a banner year. Read More »

Posted in Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy, Smart Grid, Smart Power | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Final Order from NYPSC on Con Edison Rate Case Reveals Especially Encouraging Language on Climate Change Directives

By | Published: February 27, 2014

By: Elizabeth B. Stein, Attorney and Adam Peltz, Attorney

Source: Iwan Baan

Source: Iwan Baan

In Tuesday’s blog post, we discussed the recently concluded Con Edison rate case, its context, and its significance in advancing clean energy and grid resilience in New York. Today, we take a closer look at the final Order posted last Friday by the New York State Public Service Commission (the Commission) to uncover some of the more encouraging outcomes buried in this 300+ page document:

  • Con Edison agreed to various measures that allow for more distributed generation, i.e. on-site power generation, such as combined heat and power, rather than relying solely on power generation and distribution from the traditional, centralized grid. For example, Con Edison agreed to pay for some fault current mitigation, which enables distributed generation to be connected to portions of Con Edison’s grid where it would otherwise be prohibited, and agreed to develop an implementation plan for a microgrid pilot. Additionally, Con Edison agreed to treat customer-sited projects, including distributed generation, as integral parts of its system by considering them in its 24-month planning horizon. Because some distributed generation can operate in an ‘islanded’ mode, or separate from the main grid, and can thus continue operating in a power outage, distributed generation can play a critical role in improving resilience. Read More »

Posted in Air Quality, Dynamic Pricing, Electric Vehicles, Methane, Natural Gas, New York, Renewable Energy, Smart Grid, Smart Power, Utility Business Models | Leave a comment

NYCEEC, NY State Green Bank Clear the Way for Clean Energy Financing of Retrofits

By | Published: February 26, 2014

By: Susan Leeds, CEO of the New York City Energy Efficiency Corporation (NYCEEC)

Source: AtisSun

Source: AtisSun

As New York City gets repeatedly hammered by snow, ice and the evil “wintry mix,” one could almost forget the world is warming at an ever faster clip. But the experts in the room earlier this month at the roundtable discussion on ‘Economics of Energy Retrofits’ at Urban Green Council (New York’s chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council) know the debate is over. Climate change is real and the window for action is closing. That’s why it’s more important than ever to work toward removing barriers to clean energy financing now.

As the De Blasio administration strives to build a more affordable New York City it’s important to note that clean energy building upgrades are central to this mission. By reducing energy use, building owners and their tenants can realize millions of dollars in annual savings while slashing dangerous carbon pollution for cleaner air and water. Read More »

Posted in Energy Efficiency, Energy Financing, Investor Confidence Project, On-bill repayment, Smart Power, Utility Business Models | Leave a comment

New York’s Con Edison to Take New Measures Protecting Against the Effects of Climate Change

By | Published: February 25, 2014

By: Elizabeth B. Stein, Attorney and Adam Peltz, Attorney

Source: Iwan Baan

Source: Iwan Baan

The New York State Public Service Commission (Commission) took a historic step late last week, unanimously approving an Order that requires Con Edison to implement state-of-the-art measures to plan for and protect its electric, gas, and steam systems from the effects of climate change. This announcement regarding the future of New York State’s largest utility comes as a welcome coda to local storm recovery and resiliency efforts that have been in the works for some time now.

On October 29, 2012, Superstorm Sandy clobbered the coastline of New York City. Homes were swept away or badly damaged as corrosive salt water flooded basements, while millions lost power. In one of the enduring images of the storm, an exploding transformer at East 14th Street caused the “city that never sleeps” to go dark below 40th Street and stay that way for the better part of a week. Read More »

Posted in Climate, Demand Response, Dynamic Pricing, Energy Efficiency, Energy Financing, New York, Smart Grid, Smart Power, Utility Business Models | 1 Response

Meeting Retrofit Chicago’s Energy Goals: Three Key Constituencies

By | Published: February 11, 2014

By: Ellen Bell, Senior Specialist, Building Energy Initiative

This commentary originally appeared on the EDF Climate Corps Blog.

ellen_bell287x377Following the lead of mayors and governors across the country, last month the President announced energy as a priority for the year. By focusing on energy management, organizations are contributing to the transformation of energy use in the country, saving billions in energy costs and cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Retrofit Chicago initiative, aimed at reducing participating buildings energy use in the city by 20 percent within the next five years, is a compelling example of this. For this reason, EDF Climate Corps, an innovative summer fellowship program that places specially trained graduate students in organizations to save energy and related costs, is working to recruit organizations in Chicago this month.

To ramp up energy savings in the area, EDF Climate Corps has already signed on AT&T, McDonald’s Corporation, Shorenstein Properties and Jones Lang LaSalle. Each summer, EDF Climate Corps fellows evaluate organizations for energy savings opportunities with many of them uncovering stakeholder engagement as a key savings opportunity.

After 400 EDF Climate Corps engagements, the program has found that there are three key constituencies to tap into for energy management:

Read More »

Posted in Climate, Demand Response, EDF Climate Corps, Energy Efficiency, Energy Financing, Illinois, On-bill repayment, Renewable Energy, Smart Power | Comments closed

EDF’s Energy Efficiency Protocols Serve as a Model at ESCO Europe 2014

By | Published: February 6, 2014

By: Matt Golden, Senior Energy Finance Consultant 

1ICP LogoAs interest in and adoption of EDF’s Investor Confidence Project (ICP) protocols has continued to grow in the United States, so too has interest internationally. The Investor Confidence Project was invited to showcase our efforts at ESCO Europe, the continent’s largest conference for energy service providers. This year, the conference was held in Barcelona, Spain and drew an array of participants from across Europe and the public and private sectors, including representatives from finance companies, governments, and non-profits with interests in the energy industry.

I was privileged to serve as both a panelist in a roundtable discussion on barriers to ESCO financing, and a speaker on “Improving Access to Finance,” a well-attended session with representatives from the European Investment Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and European Energy Efficiency Fund.

EDF was invited to attend this conference based on a series of conversations over the last year with European stakeholders facing the same barriers to investing in energy efficiency as their American counterparts. With policymakers in Europe similarly counting on a vast expansion of the market in building retrofits and an expected influx of private and public capital, there is a focus on standardization and policies that can enable capital and investors to enter the market with fewer transaction costs. Read More »

Posted in Energy Efficiency, Energy Financing, Investor Confidence Project, Smart Power | 1 Response, comments now closed

$200 Million in Private Capital Financing Signals Investors’ Support for Clean Energy

By | Published: January 29, 2014

By: Victor Rojas, Senior Manager, Financial Policy

(Credit: www.poonamsagar.com)

(Source: www.poonamsagar.com)

While 2014 is only just getting underway, it is already shaping up to be a banner year for clean energy finance. Capital investments are being made, funds developed, and securitization tools crafted — all with remarkable speed. And private capital markets are aggressively rallying around these efforts, which will only increase the momentum of our collective efforts to drive investments into essential energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.

Funding for homeowner energy efficiency loans could lead to securitization

Early this year, clean energy consumer finance company, Kilowatt Financial, closed a $100 million deal with  Citi to finance 10-12 year unsecured loans of up to $30,000 for homeowners making energy efficiency improvements to their HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) systems, water heaters, windows, roofing, insulation, lighting, and appliances.

The transaction is designed to facilitate a securitization of loans (which promotes liquidity in the marketplace), help establish a secondary market, and spur energy efficiency investments. Kilowatt and Citi expect to create term asset-backed securities from the loans that will provide a sustainable source of capital for homeowners looking to make home energy upgrades. Read More »

Posted in Energy Efficiency, General, Investor Confidence Project, On-bill repayment, Renewable Energy | Tagged , | Comments closed

Scaling NYC Clean Heat’s Unique Public-Private Partnership for Energy Efficiency

By | Published: January 27, 2014

Abbey Brown PhotoBy: Abbey Brown

Recently, New Yorkers bid farewell to our Mayor of twelve years, Mike Bloomberg. Under Bloomberg’s prevue, EDF helped catalyze the NYC Clean Heat program – which led to the cleanest air the City has seen in the last fifty years. Through NYC Clean Heat’s efforts over the past few years to phase out the use of highly-polluting No. 6 heating oil in more than 3,000 buildings across NYC, sulfur pollution fell by more than two-thirds while soot pollution dropped by a quarter.

NYC Clean Heat has made great strides in helping buildings become cleaner and more efficient, but there is still much work to be done. EDF is wasting no time in capitalizing on the effective public-private partnership we helped assemble of community and union leaders, policymakers and leaders in the utility, real estate and finance sectors to bring more environmental and public health gains to the City. Our next target:  All that energy wasted by old and inefficient buildings.

Nearly 40% of U.S. energy is consumed by residential and commercial buildings, which are responsible for more than a third of our country’s greenhouse gases.  The building sector presents one of the greatest untapped opportunities for major gains in energy savings and pollution reductions over the next several years.  Read More »

Posted in Energy Efficiency, New York | Tagged , | Comments closed

Upcoming Webinar: How Commercial PACE and ICP are Raising Investor Confidence in Energy Efficiency

By | Published: January 16, 2014

By: Matt Golden, Senior Energy Finance Consultant

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The Investor Confidence Project (ICP) and Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs offer many opportunities for collaboration in the buildings and energy efficiency sector.  We will be exploring this potential for partnership in the upcoming webinar, Commercial PACE: Raising Confidence in Energy Savings to Ramp-Up Investment and Demand, held on January, 30th 2014, at 2pm ET/ 11am PT.

This one-hour, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) / PACEnow webinar is designed to help Commercial PACE administrators, investors, project developers and building owners understand how standardization can facilitate multiple stakeholder alignment, ensure underwriting needs are met and enable energy efficiency investment while lowering transaction costs.  It will include a brief presentation on EDF’s Investor Confidence Project, followed by panel discussion focusing on how Commercial PACE programs are using ICP to address the owner and investor projected savings-confidence challenge, which has been an impediment to energy retrofit financing nationwide.  Moreover, the panel will share how ICP is enabling energy efficiency financing to become a mainstream financial asset class with the high degree of standardization, predictability and scale that investors demand. Read More »

Posted in Energy Efficiency, Investor Confidence Project | Tagged | Comments closed

Public and Private Financing Drives Energy Efficiency in Rural America

By | Published: January 15, 2014

#mmrobinsonmugBy: Marilynn Marsh-Robinson, Project Manager

This commentary originally appeared on our EDF Voices Blog.

Those of us from rural areas know the special beauty of natural landscapes – and we know the challenges of living in sparsely-populated regions. Rural areas have higher rates of poverty and economic disparity, lower per capita income and disproportionate elderly and veteran  populations when compared to more urban areas.

Rural homes and commercial buildings tend to be older and less energy-efficient, and more than half of all manufactured homes are located in rural communities. Many homes lack adequate insulation, weather stripping around windows and other basic improvements that reduce energy use and add dollars to household budgets.

Additionally, rural communities account for over 70% of our country’s land mass, about 12% of total electric utility customers, and are crucial to advancing national energy and economic goals. These often overlooked and underserved rural areas are ready for innovative public and private partnerships that promote the transition to a clean, low-carbon economy and wise energy choices.  Read More »

Posted in Energy Efficiency | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Responses, comments now closed