Monthly Archives: April 2014

LA Better Building Challenge Partners with EDF’s Investor Confidence Project to Accelerate Citywide Energy Efficiency Goals

By: Matt Golden, Senior Energy Finance Consultant

 

Source: LA Better Buildings Challenge

Source: LA Better Buildings Challenge

Environmental Defense Fund’s Investor Confidence ProjectSM (ICP) is pleased to announce a partnership with the Los Angeles Better Buildings Challenge to help develop a more robust marketplace for energy efficiency retrofits in the city. Los Angeles has set a goal of achieving 20% energy savings across 30 million square feet of existing buildings by 2020 as part of the Better Buildings Challenge, a national leadership initiative sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. If achieved, it is estimated that this 20% reduction in energy costs will create over 7,000 high-quality local jobs, and avert annual carbon emissions equivalent to taking more than 18,000 cars off the road.

The LA Better Buildings Challenge will be promoting the ICP Protocols through its network of building owners and industry stakeholders to help bring even greater transparency and accountability to the energy efficiency market by introducing a system of standardization in the way commercial building retrofits are developed, funded, and managed. The ICP framework assembles best practices and existing technical standards into a set of protocols that define a clear roadmap for developing projects, determining savings estimates, and documenting and verifying results. Read More »

Posted in Clean Energy, Energy Efficiency, Investor Confidence Project / Comments are closed

Clean Energy Conferences Roundup: April 2014

Source: National Retail Federation Flickr

Source: National Retail Federation Flickr

Thousands of clean energy conferences are held every year across the United States. A quick Google search revealed over 1.5 million results for 2014 alone. That’s why, starting this month, in an effort to save our readers time, the Energy Exchange will be endeavoring to round up a monthly list of some of the top clean energy conferences around the country. Our list includes conferences at which experts from the EDF Clean Energy Program will be speaking, plus additional events that we think our readers may benefit from marking on their calendars.

Top clean energy conferences featuring EDF experts in April:

April 2-4: Wall St. Journal ECO:nomics, Santa Barbara, CA
Speaker: Fred Krupp, President

  • Each year, top CEOs and investors, pioneering entrepreneurs, environmental experts, and policy makers convene at ECO:nomics to discuss and debate the most critical issues facing leaders who are driving change at the intersection of business and the environment. Experts from a diverse range of industries will debunk myths and uncover new opportunities through dynamic interviews led by senior editors from The Wall Street Journal. Topics range from America’s game-changing natural gas boom to China’s globally significant energy appetite to the range of potential power sources of tomorrow.

Read More »

Posted in Clean Energy, Conference Roundup, General / Tagged | Read 1 Response

Demand Response Is the Best Cure for Texas’ Ailing Grid

Source: North America Power Partners

Source: North America Power Partners

The Texas Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has, yet again, kicked the can down the road on securing reliable energy to power the state’s growing population. The PUC, the state agency charged with managing electricity rates, meets to securely plan for the future, yet they continue to delay planning meetings. This will benefit no one in the short or long-run. To secure reliable power and safeguard against threats of blackouts, the PUC needs to keep pace with the times and leverage technologies that require little to no water, generate negligible carbon emissions, and can respond to the call for electricity.

Last week, the PUC decided to postpone indefinitely an important meeting, originally scheduled for May, to discuss Texas’ recent blackout scares. The PUC has been in a heated debate over Texas’ electricity market structure, and in the midst of backlash from stakeholders, they have decided to push the decision onto the Legislature in 2015. This is not necessarily in the best interest of the state. Texans were asked to conserve energy several times this winter after colder temperatures forced heating units to ramp up. This request to turn down thermostats for threat of rolling blackouts came at the same time the state power grid operator assured Texans that reliability is on the upswing. But it’s time Texas faces the facts. Read More »

Posted in Clean Energy, Demand Response, Grid Modernization, Texas / Tagged | Comments are closed