Energy Exchange

EDF Supports The SAVE Act

By Kate Zerrenner / Published: December 1, 2011

The SAVE (Sensible Accounting to Value Energy) Act is a reasonable, cost-effective approach to improving mortgage lending and promoting energy efficiency. The act would instruct federal loan agencies to assess a borrower’s expected energy costs when financing a house, which will enable better, more transparent mortgage underwriting, reduce homeowners’ utility bills and hopefully prompt the creation of new jobs in the housing industry.

The Bill Explained

For too long, lack of information about a household’s energy use has resulted in many homeowners miscalculating the true cost of living. The cost of living in a house should be viewed not just as the mortgage or rent payment, but that specific payment plus the utility costs. When homeowners are given a true sense of what utility costs amount to for a particular home, and are armed with the knowledge of what energy actually costs, they will be better able to take control to reduce costs. Not only will homeowners be able to save money, but their actions will also result in environmental benefits such as reducing stress on the electric grid, and therefore harmful greenhouse gas emissions, and improving energy security.

EDF In Full Support

EDF is in full support of this legislation because the information available due to the passage of this bill would make mortgage lending more transparent and actually more accurate since it would depict the true cost of living. On top of these benefits, this bill would reduce America’s energy dependence and thus promote economic growth in the construction and manufacturing sectors.

For more information, please see the SAVE Act fact sheet.

Also posted in Washington, DC / Comments are closed

Energy Efficiency Investments – The Reality Behind The ‘Job Killing’ Sound Bite

By Jackie Roberts / Published: November 15, 2011

In letters to the President delivered yesterday, business groups as diverse as the Industrial Energy Consumers of America (representing major manufacturing sectors such as cement, paper, chemicals and steel), the Ohio Business Council for a Clean Economy, Ingersoll Rand and Recycled Energy Development all agree and are asking for the same  thing: EPA should make energy efficiency front and center as it adopts regulations to set greenhouse gas standards for power plants under the Clean Air Act. 

Given the existence of many positive return-on-investment energy efficiency options, including energy efficiency as a compliance strategy, is a no-brainer. In fact, McKinsey & Company’s Unlocking Energy Efficiency in the U.S. Economy shows the U.S. industrial sector alone can reduce annual energy consumption 18 percent by 2020 and save more than $442 billion in energy costs by investing in energy-efficiency opportunities that quickly pay for themselves (investments that have a positive NPV, or net present value). In the process, they also reduce greenhouse gases, which is what EPA wants. 

But energy efficiency goes beyond a cheap compliance strategy.  It pays returns in perpetuity:  Imagine if several years down the road when these investments have paid for themselves, this $442 billion savings is made available for investments in U.S. manufacturing. The job creation potential then takes off.  At conservative rates of four jobs per million dollars invested, that would create an estimated 1.75 million jobs.  

Typically, facilities can find 20-30 percent in energy efficiency opportunities that pay for themselves in less than two years. For example, EDF recently helped the IUE-CWA union conduct a three day “Treasure Hunt” to search for energy-saving opportunities at the Cobasys advanced battery manufacturing plant in Springboro, Ohio. Even at this state-of-the-art facility built in 2003, the team identified savings that would cut the plant’s energy bill by 18.5 percent and emissions of greenhouse gases (carbon) by 19 percent.

It’s hard to see how a regulation that asks facilities to implement these savings would “kill jobs” when the investments pay  back in less than two years, and provide the company with benefits from  cost savings in perpetuity.          

Once again, a careful look at how companies can comply with EPA regulations shows the “jobs killing” rhetoric to be simply scaremongering. Energy efficiency investments create 8.9 to 11.9 jobs for every $1 million in spending. (Spending on fossil fuels, by contrast, generates 3.7 jobs (oil and gas) to 4.9 (coal) jobs per $1 million in spending.)  So, compliance isn’t a burden and the path forward is job intensive. 

It’s a nice added benefit that energy efficiency jobs can be found across the U.S. and across industry sectors.  For example, the Industrial Energy Consumers of America asked EPA to place special emphasis on industrial cogeneration, an energy efficiency solution also known as ‘combined heat and power’ or ‘waste heat recovery’. A value chain assessment of this solution by Duke University shows that it will increase demand for large equipment such as generators and turbines, all made in the U.S., and lots of new steel piping, good news for the steelworkers.

In sum, a dollar spent on energy efficiency provides triple returns: industrial facilities and building owners quickly see their investments generating annual cost savings (just 2-3 years out), power plants don’t need to build new capacity and raise rates to pay for it, and all the firms across the U.S. that supply energy efficiency solutions see new customers.  And, in the process, CEOs can also check off that “compliance with EPA regulation” box because greenhouse gas emissions will drop significantly.  “Job killing EPA regulations” is a great sound-bite but the experience of firms in the real-world doesn’t support the rhetoric.

Also posted in EDF Climate Corps, Jobs / Read 4 Responses

Envision Charlotte is Making the Queen City a Green City

By Kristen Coracini / Published: November 1, 2011

Charlotte is North Carolina’s largest city, nicknamed the “Queen City” after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, queen-consort of King George III (okay, I’ll admit that I had to look that up).  I grew up nearby and over the years, I’ve watched in awe as the city has grown both upward, with high-rises housing the corporate headquarters of Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Duke Energy, and outward, as the suburbs expand to accommodate the ever-growing population. 

Today, efforts are underway to make the Queen City a green city, as part of a major sustainability initiative announced last year.  Envision Charlotte was launched in September 2010 as part of the Clinton Global Initiative; partners include Duke Energy, Charlotte Center City Partners, the City of Charlotte, and many other corporate citizens.  This unique public-private partnership comprises volunteers from 28 different organizations, including EDF, that have come together to make Charlotte the most sustainable urban core in the nation.  The program focuses on four pillars to achieve this goal:

  1. energy efficiency,
  2. air quality,
  3. water reduction, and
  4. waste reduction. 

Last week, my colleague Michael Regan and I attended a public event in Uptown Charlotte to celebrate the installation of interactive displays, provided by Cisco, in almost 70 buildings.  These displays show how much energy is being consumed at any given moment in the city’s center, and provide tips on how to reduce that load.  The idea is to provide information to building workers and visitors on what they as individuals and collectively can do to use energy more wisely, and at no cost. 

It’s estimated that simple behavior changes, like turning off lights and computer monitors when not in use, can reduce 5% of the energy being used in the participating buildings. 

That’s impressive, but the overall energy goal for Envision Charlotte is more ambitious: to reduce energy by 20% in five years.  And that will require investments in building energy management systems, smart grid technologies and aggressive education efforts.  Making these investments will ultimately allow companies to save money by reducing what they spend on energy. 

And making these energy-saving improvements will save money for taxpayers too, since several local government buildings are participating in Envision Charlotte. 

EDF has contributed to this effort, by providing two Climate Corps fellows to Mecklenburg County (where Charlotte is located) this summer to identify low- and no-cost energy savings in county-owned buildings.  In reviewing three buildings, they found measures that could save the county more than $500,000 in five years. Imagine the impact of identifying and implementing similar energy efficiency measures in all city and county owned buildings! 

EDF will continue working with Envision Charlotte to make the energy savings goal a reality.  I have served for the past year on the Envision Charlotte steering committee, which is now a board of directors for the newly created non-profit entity.  And we will document the actions taken so that they can be replicated in other communities around the country.  Stay tuned!

Also posted in Climate, EDF Climate Corps, North Carolina / Tagged | Comments are closed

MacArthur Energy Genius Wins Award For Innovation That Can “Change Our World”

By Lauren Navarro / Published: September 22, 2011

A 29-year old computer scientist, Shwetak Patel, was one of this year’s 22 individuals to receive a ‘genius award’ given out by the MacArthur Fellows Program. (He was also one of the youngest.)

Patel pioneered simple ways for households to monitor and manage how much water and energy they use from specific appliances and fixtures. His approach uses tiny, wireless sensors connected to: a home’s central utility hookups; existing infrastructure — such as gas lines and electrical wiring; and a smart machine that analyzes activity patterns of each appliance. When combined, the sensors help consumers measure how much energy and water they use and identify ways to be more efficient.  

Innovations like these that focus on managing and reducing energy use are desperately needed. A report just released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) predicts that global energy use will rise 53% by 2035, boosting energy-related carbon dioxide emissions by 43%.

Innovations like Patel’s can keep that growth in demand and emissions in check, while saving huge amounts of money for American families and businesses. For example, Since EDF launched our Climate Corps Program in 2008 – which places specially-trained MBA and MPA students in companies, cities and universities to build the business case for energy efficiency – our Climate Corps fellows have unearthed energy savings totaling more than $1 billion over their projects’ lifetimes.

Improving energy efficiency is in fact the easiest, least expensive and fastest way to reduce energy use and carbon emissions, according to Pulitzer-Prize winning author and oil expert Daniel Yergin. The New York Times called his new book about energy, The Quest, “necessary reading for C.E.O.’s, conservationists, lawmakers, generals, spies, tech geeks, thriller writers, ambitious terrorists and many others.” In it, he “focuses on the importance of thinking seriously about one energy source that ‘has the potential to have the biggest impact of all.’ That source is efficiency…More efficient buildings, cars, airplanes, computers and other products have the potential to change our world.”

Advances like Mr. Patel’s are part of a broader move to a “smart grid,” which uses information technology to make every part of the electric system more efficient.

So, to Mr. Patel, our Department of Energy, the utilities and clean tech companies that are inventing smart grid and other  technologies and services that let us do more with less electricity, and to the individuals and companies that are adopting those cleaner, cheaper alternatives, EDF congratulates and thanks you for your efforts. 

Your focus on industry-leading innovations is helping us change our world.

Also posted in Grid Modernization / Comments are closed

Innovations In Energy Efficiency Finance Conference

By Brad Copithorne / Published: September 22, 2011

By: Brad Copithorne, EDF’s Energy & Financial Policy Specialist

Earlier this week EDF and Citi co-hosted a successful conference on energy efficiency (EE) finance at Citi’s headquarters in Manhattan.  This is the third similar conference that Citi has hosted.  Four years ago, they had 10 people in a conference room.  Two years back, it was 40 participants.  This week, we were standing room only in a 200-seat venue.  More importantly, however, was the diverse makeup of the audience, including bankers, real estate owners, EE project developers, financial sponsors, government agencies, foundations and nonprofit organizations.  We are optimistic that this high level of interest indicates that we are close to a tipping point in toward the successful development of this market.

Some of the interesting transactions discussed included:

Public Buildings – Nobel Prize winner, John Byrne, explained an innovative structure that he developed and executed with Citi to aggregate, manage and finance $73mm of EE projects for public buildings in Delaware.  Citi is looking to expand this approach in other states.  (We hope to have a future blog post with many more details about this idea.)

Unsecured Loans – Cisco Devries of Renewable Funding discussed how he is working to aggregate a portfolio of unsecured consumer EE loans and how, to date, these loans seem to show much lower default rates than would be expected.  Several speakers at the conference discussed the importance of getting data on EE loan performance and we understand that there are several efforts in place to collect this data.

Energy Services Agreements – Green Campus, Serious Capital, Transcend, Metrus and Sustainable Development discussed their efforts to further develop this market.  We are hopeful for several favorable announcements in the near term.

Measuring and Managing EE Project Performance – Mary Barber of EDF described our project to create protocols to estimate future energy savings so that lenders and other investors can make informed investment decisions.  Angela Ferrante of Energi talked about an insurance contract that will guarantee the energy savings for a project.

On-Bill Repayment – Jeff Pitkin of NYSERDA described New York’s innovative plan to provide low-cost loans to consumers for EE projects.  The loans would be repaid through the customer’s utility bill.  Credit would be improved because nonpayment would eventually result in shut off of power.  Additionally, the obligation will stay with the meter if the customer moves.  I discussed a similar plan that we hope to implement in California.  We hope that the California strategy will work for commercial and multi-family in addition to single family homes.

Philanthropic Capital – Margot Brandenburg of Rockefeller Foundation, Jessica Boehland of Kresge Foundation and John Goldstein of Imprint Capital discussed how targeted investments for mission driven investors can help seed the market for EE finance. 

Lessons for Solar Project Finance – Michael Mittleman of SolarCity and Marshal Salant of Citi described the very long effort that was required to make solar projects viable for financing.  Currently, billions of dollars of solar projects are financed each year and the market is expanding rapidly.  They (and we) are hoping that we will have similar near term success in EE finance.

We want to express appreciation to Citi for co-sponsoring this week’s successful event.  Citi has committed significant resources to developing this market well before there is a likelihood of near term returns.  We recognize that this type of commitment is not easy to make in a difficult economic environment with shareholders primarily focused on quarterly earnings releases.

Also posted in New York / Read 2 Responses

Using Financial Innovation To Break Down Barriers to Energy Efficiency Upgrades – Part 2: Residential Buildings

By Brad Copithorne / Published: September 15, 2011

Energy Efficiency Financing Blog Series

By: Brad Copithorne, EDF’s Energy & Financial Policy Specialist

In Part 1 of this blog series, we examined how several innovative companies have developed a structure to finance energy efficiency projects in commercial buildings.  This structure, an Energy Services Agreement (ESA), provides building owners access to capital, solves the split incentive issue and eliminates exposure to performance risk on the project.  In Part 2, we examine another innovative financing solution that will provide capital to residential projects.

McKinsey recently estimated that there is over $225 billion of available cost effective energy efficiency investment opportunities available in the residential sector.  If these investments are made, energy consumption in the residential sector will decline by 28% by the end of this decade.  Unfortunately, most homeowners do not have access to low-cost sources of capital to pay for the upfront costs of the retrofits.

On-Bill Repayment

On-bill repayment (OBR) programs allow customers to repay third-party loans for energy efficiency and renewable energy investments through their utility bills.  Utility bills generally have very low default rates because nobody wants their power turned off.   Loans tied to the utility bills should also have low default rates which will allow lowered costs for borrowers and increased availability of credit.

During the past decade, various utilities have successfully piloted more than a dozen on-bill finance programs.  These programs have used utility, ratepayer, public or mission-driven capital which has greatly limited scalability.  An OBR program, on the other hand, uses entirely third party capital from profit motivated investors such as banks.  Since this is a much larger pool of capital, the supply of funds will increase to meet demand.

Based on extensive consultation with key stakeholders, including banks, the three California investor-owned utilities, project developers and others, EDF believes that an OBR program can be successfully launched statewide in California using entirely private capital, and provide building owners with low-cost funding for energy efficiency and renewable projects.   EDF is currently in discussions with California utilities and regulators on creating an OBR program for the state.

EDF estimates that a statewide OBR program that would generate $2.7 billion of annual investment in energy efficiency and renewable projects.  Over 20,000 installation jobs would be created and after 5 years, annual CO2 emissions would decline by 7 million tons.

On-Bill Repayment: Step By Step

  • Approved contractors and utilities identify projects, and then help building owners apply for a loan to pay for upgrades. 
  • The contractor provides the homeowner with an estimate of the expected monthly energy savings and up-front upgrade costs.  
  • If the loan is approved by a 3rd-party lender, the contractor will execute the project. 
  • Expert, objective inspectors (managed by either the utility or a government entity) validate the estimate of projected savings and that the upgrades are properly installed. 
  • Homeowners pay a combined monthly bill for both energy and loan repayment.  The program would require that savings exceed debt service, so the customer would see a reduction in their monthly utility bill.

Example: Homeowner

Current utility bill: $350 per month
Investments: Solar panels, duct sealing, controls and new refrigerator
Expected utility bill savings: $225 per month
Investment loan: $20,000
Loan terms: 
–          Interest rate on loan: 6.25%
–          15 years repayment schedule
–          Monthly payment: $170

Utility bill after retrofit:  $125
Utility bill + loan payment:  $295

Savings: $55 per month (savings will grow as utility energy rates increase)

Program Terms

  • Any building with a meter would be eligible including commercial, industrial, public, multifamily and single family residential buildings.
  • Eligible measures would include approved list of renewable and energy efficiency projects.
  • Contractors and lenders would be subject to pre-approval.
  • Projected first year savings would need to exceed debt service by a comfortable margin. 
  • Lender would have no ability to request a customer disconnection but partial bill payments would be allocated proportionally between lender and utility.  The utility would follow all standard disconnect procedures.

Innovations In Energy Efficiency Finance

Next week EDF and Citi are co-hosting a conference for institutional investors, real estate owners and project developers on energy efficiency finance.  Both ESAs and on-bill repayment will be discussed extensively.  Our next blog post will report on the outcomes of the conference.

Posted in Energy Efficiency / Tagged , | Read 2 Responses