Energy Exchange

Investor Confidence Project Aims To Develop Multi-Billion Dollar Energy Efficiency Finance Market

By EDF Blogs / Published: July 17, 2013

This commentary, authored by James Lester, originally appeared on Cleantech Finance. 

Last month, we discussed an influential new report by Ceres and the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), Power Factor: Institutional Investors’ Policy Priorities Can Bring Energy Efficiency to Scale. The report detailed several policies that if put in place, could unlock broad-based financing from institutional investors for energy efficiency, a potential several hundred billion dollar investment opportunity.

Among the issues that prevent large scale energy efficiency financing, Ceres and others have found that there is no systematic method to measure the accuracy of the initial predicted energy and financial savings of each project. There is not a robust fundamental way to make sure the upgrades are performing after they have been completed. The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and a collection of expert partners are working to change that.

EDF has worked with a variety of industry experts to design a straightforward set of protocols that define a clear road-map from efficiency opportunity to an investment quality project with reliable returns and access to markets. The project, known as the Investor Confidence Project (ICP) hopes to enable a market for investment quality energy efficiency projects, by reducing transaction costs and engineering overhead, while increasing the reliability and consistency of savings. Read More »

Posted in Energy Efficiency, Investor Confidence Project, On-bill repayment / Comments are closed

One Way Or Another, We All Profit From Clean Energy

By EDF Blogs / Published: July 16, 2013

This commentary, authored by Dan Upham, originally appeared on EDF’s Voices blog.

When the folks at oilprice.com wanted to take a look at the clean energy landscape and see what opportunities might exist for energy investors, they turned to Jim Marston, the head of Environmental Defense Fund’s U.S. Climate and Energy program and regional director of our Texas office.

“As an environmental organization, EDF doesn’t offer investment advice,” Marston was quick to explain. “There are other, far more qualified people to recommend investment options.”

When it comes to market-based environmentalism and the economic benefits of clean energy, however, we’re in our comfort zone. And Marston is particularly comfortable talking about the “smart power” sector; the ideas, products and services that focus on clean, renewable energy and energy efficiency.

“Keep in mind that the U.S. will spend around $2 trillion over the next two decades to upgrade our outdated energy infrastructure,” Marston said, “And many companies realize that there’s a real market for products that make the existing electric grid better, greener and ‘smarter.’”

Read the full interview on oilprice.com for more.

Posted in General, Grid Modernization, Utility Business Models / Comments are closed

House Cuts Clean Energy Funding, Dragging Down An Entire Community Of American Innovators

By EDF Blogs / Published: July 15, 2013

This commentary, authored by Robert Fares, originally appeared on Scientific American’s “Plugged In” blog.

The U.S. Department of Energy recently partnered with Texas Tech University to commission a Scaled Wind Farm Technology (SwiFT) laboratory, which helps researchers understand how wind turbine placement affects performance. (Source: Texas Tech University)

In my last post, I discussed a House subcommittee’s shortsighted vote to slash funding for the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) innovative Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E). I’m sorry to report that the rest of the House has now followed suit, passing a $30 billion energy spending bill that cuts a huge chunk out of clean energy programs.

Not only does the bill contain the subcommittee’s 81 percent cut to ARPA-E, it also guts energy efficiency programs and even rolls back progress in energy efficient lighting. The House’s embargo on funding for clean energy doesn’t just hurt our footing in the international race towards a new energy economy, it also drags down an entire community of American innovators working to achieve a sustainable future.

We deserve more than political posturing and moves as antiquated as the incandescent bulb. Right now, a convergence of environmental, economic and technological forces is transforming the global energy landscape. Just last month, the International Energy Agency (IEA) projected that renewable energy sources would eclipse nuclear and gas generation by 2016, and provide a quarter of the world’s energy supply by 2018. Renewable energy is unequivocally a major component of the energy landscape. Read More »

Posted in Energy Efficiency, Grid Modernization, Renewable Energy / Read 2 Responses

Now Is Not The Time To Gut Funding For Innovative Energy Research

By EDF Blogs / Published: July 8, 2013

This commentary, authored by Robert Fares, originally appeared on Scientific American’s “Plugged In” blog.

Modeled after the successful Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) uses small grants to bring transformative energy technologies to commercialization. (Source: ARPA-E)

Last month, a subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives quietly voted to gut funding for the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) efforts to promote innovative energy research. The DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) was first on the chopping block. The subcommittee voted to slash its funding from the current level of $252 million to just $50 million—an 80% cut. On top of that, the subcommittee cut funding for the DOE’s work on renewable energy in half.

ARPA-E was created by the 2007 America COMPETES Act, signed into law by then President George W. Bush. The agency is modeled after the successful Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)—credited for transformative innovations like GPS and computer networking. ARPA-E is intended to facilitate small government grants for basic research into transformative energy technologies that are too risky for the private sector. Since its first funding allocation from the Obama administration in 2009, ARPA-E awardees have already doubled the world-record energy density for a rechargeable lithium-ion battery and pioneered a near-isothermal compressed air energy storage system. Read More »

Posted in General, Renewable Energy / Comments are closed

On The Road To Better Data

By EDF Blogs / Published: June 28, 2013

Source: Bulk Transporter

This blog post was written by Jason Mathers, Senior Manager of EDF’s Corporate Partnerships Program.

The International Energy Agency weighed in last week as bullish on the future of natural gas as a transportation fuel.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the IEA “expects natural gas use in road and maritime transportation to rise to 98 billion cubic meters by 2018, covering around 10 percent of incremental energy needs in the transport sector.”

Three factors are behind this increase in the use of natural gas for transportation, according to Maria van der Hoeven, the IEA’s executive director. These are the fuel’s “abundant supplies as well as concerns about oil dependency and air pollution.” The cost factor is particularly a driver for commercial fleet operators where current fuel prices have become more favorable for natural gas over diesel.

In the U.S., all new trucks fueled by diesel or natural gas must meet the same standards for emissions of particulate matter and nitrogen oxides. Natural gas engines for medium- and heavy-duty trucks have surpassed U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s stringent standards for particulate matter emissions by as much as 80 percent and for nitrogen oxides by up to 35 percent. Cummins Westport, the leading producer of natural gas engines, is investigating the feasibility of reducing NOx emissions from its spark-ignited natural gas engines to levels significantly below the current federal emissions standard.

Natural gas trucks have the potential to deliver tangible greenhouse gas emissions benefits over their petroleum-based counterparts. This certainty that natural gas vehicles are able to consistently deliver on their potential climate benefits in part depends on minimizing methane leaks caused by vehicle operations, refueling and maintenance. Read More »

Posted in Natural Gas / Comments are closed

“Heck Yes”– Millennials Respond to the President’s Call

By EDF Blogs / Published: June 27, 2013

 

This commentary originally appeared on the EDF Climate Corps Blog

By: Katie Ware, EDF Senior Marketing Communications Specialist

The environmental community is abuzz with reactions to President Obama’s wide-ranging Climate Action Plan. His speech introducing the plan Tuesday sparked immediate conversations about the Keystone XL Pipeline, the coal industry, the transportation sector and half a dozen other hot button environmental issues.

For me, his speech hit home in the first minute. Addressing the crowd at Georgetown University, he said he wanted to speak directly to my generation “because the decisions we make now and in the years ahead will have a profound impact on the world that all of you inherit.”

Confident, connected and open to change (says Pew), we Millennials are 95 million strong. We elected and then re-elected Obama looking for precisely this type of bold action on issues we feel passionately about.

“Someday our children and our children’s children will look us in the eye and ask did we do all that we could when we had the chance to deal with this problem and leave them a cleaner, safer, more sustainable world. I want to be able to say yes we did. Don’t you want that?” he asked.

My answer to the President is, heck yes, and my peers are with me. Read More »

Posted in Climate, EDF Climate Corps, Energy Efficiency, General / Comments are closed