Energy Exchange

Governor Christie Proposes New Energy Resilience Bank to Prevent Future Superstorm Blackouts

By Mary Barber / Published: February 20, 2014

New Jersey has proposed using federal Sandy relief funds to set up an Energy Resilience Bank that would fund projects to make the state’s energy infrastructure more resilient in the face of extreme weather events. The Bank is an innovative proposal that will help New Jersey prepare for the future in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, which destroyed thousands of homes and businesses, causing human loss and suffering that continues for many today.

Climate change increases the likelihood that New Jersey will continue to be buffeted by storms such as Sandy, which exposed and underscored the need to upgrade to a more resilient, low-carbon energy infrastructure when a third of the state lost power for nearly a week. The Energy Resilience Bank, which will be capitalized at $210 million, would help expedite this process, allowing the state to keep the lights on and residents safer during the next storm. Read More »

Secretary Moniz Deems Austin’s Pecan Street ‘Very Impressive’

By Marita Mirzatuny / Published: February 18, 2014

This commentary originally appeared on our Texas Clean Air Matters Blog.

EDF’s Marita Mirzatuny with Secretary Moniz at Pecan Street’s Pike Powers Labratory

Earlier this month, I had the privilege of presenting a short summary of EDF’s Smart Power Initiative to Dr. Ernest Moniz, the U.S. Secretary of Energy. As a group of over 30 people piled into the Pike Powers Laboratory (including the lab’s namesake), the Secretary made his way in, beelined for some coffee, and sat down to hear all about Austin’s innovative and collaborative energy “ecosystem.”

Present was the Mayor of Austin, Lee Leffingwell, various cleantech entrepreneurs sponsored by the Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), representatives from the State Energy Conservation Office (SECO), and the Governor’s office, among others.

Everyone had the opportunity to speak to the Secretary in a roundtable format about the work their particular company or group is doing to solve energy problems, and as EDF’s representative, I reported on our Smart Power work in Texas. Read More »

Also posted in Clean Energy, Demand Response, Grid Modernization, Renewable Energy / Tagged Pecan Street | Comments are closed

Meeting Retrofit Chicago’s Energy Goals: Three Key Constituencies

By Ellen Bell / Published: February 11, 2014

This commentary originally appeared on the EDF Climate Corps Blog.

Following 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:

Also posted in Clean Energy, Climate, Demand Response, EDF Climate Corps, Energy Financing, Illinois, On-bill repayment, Renewable Energy / Comments are closed

Record-Setting ‘PACE’ for Commercial Buildings in California

By EDF Blogs / Published: February 6, 2014

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Hilton Hotel executives were all smiles last week, and for good reason: they had just cut the ribbon on the completion of a $7 million energy efficiency upgrade to the Universal City Hilton – the largest project of its kind in the U.S.

LA’s record-setting project is the third in a string of major commercial building retrofits in California in just the past two years, all thanks to Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE), a program that allows customers to finance clean energy upgrades and pay them back, over time, on their property tax bills.

What’s made PACE so successful is that it allows customers to avoid the sizeable up-front costs of major building upgrades, while saving energy and money. Read More »

Also posted in California, Clean Energy, Energy Financing, State / Tagged PACE, PACE 2.0 | Comments are closed

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

By EDF Blogs / Published: February 6, 2014

By: Matt Golden, Senior Energy Finance Consultant

As 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 »

Also posted in Clean Energy, Energy Financing, Investor Confidence Project / Read 1 Response

Energy Efficiency Is Key to Achieving Carbon Pollution Standard

By Kate Zerrenner / Published: February 4, 2014

This commentary originally appeared on our Texas Clean Air Matters blog.

Right now, there are no limits on carbon pollution from power plants, even though these facilities were responsible for roughly 40 percent of all U.S. carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in 2012.

That’s why the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is crafting greenhouse gas (GHG) regulations for new fossil fuel-fired power plants by setting a limit on how much CO2 the plants can emit. Later this year, EPA will issue proposed CO2 “emission guidelines” for existing fossil fuel-fired power plants using various Clean Air Act tools to protect human health and to clean up our air.

To achieve significant and cost-effective emission reductions from existing power plants, EPA should look to leading states that are already implementing successful measures to reduce emissions. These measures include investing in renewable energy, harvesting energy efficiency, and utilizing more efficient and lower-emitting fossil fuel-fired units. Read More »

Also posted in Air Quality, Clean Energy, Climate, Texas / Tagged Carbon Pollution Standard, Clean Air Act | Read 3 Responses