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Energy Efficiency Market Players Can Choose from Growing List of Trained Project Developers

By EDF Blogs / Published: February 9, 2015

By: Matt Golden, Senior Energy Finance Consultant

The Investor Confidence Project (ICP), an EDF initiative designed to unlock investment in energy efficiency, is making progress toward completing a credentialing system that would provide third-party validation of an energy efficiency project. The latest development is the Project Developer Credential, the second of three in the ICP credentialing system.

ICP is accelerating the development of a global energy efficiency market by standardizing how projects are developed and energy savings are calculated. The ICP system includes a set of protocols for developing energy efficiency projects as well as a credentialing system.

The Project Developer Credential is given to those developers who are able to properly deploy the ICP protocols when undertaking an energy efficiency retrofit. This latest development is an important step forward for investors of all types, especially building owners, who can now select developers from a growing list of credentialed providers. Read More »

Also posted in Energy Efficiency, Energy Financing / Comments are closed

2014: A Positive Sign of What’s to come for Clean Energy

By Cheryl Roberto / Published: January 8, 2015

The New Year is a time for reflection, beginning with a look back on the previous 12 months and all that they brought. A quick scan of the U.S. climate and energy news in 2014 will tell you it was a very big year.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed the first-ever limits on carbon pollution from power plants, the U.S. and China struck a historic climate deal, and Tesla broke ground in Nevada on the largest advanced automotive-battery factory in the world – a move that’s expected to slash the cost of lithium ion batteries by a third. At the same time that these important national and international advancements were grabbing headlines, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and our partners were working together to incrementally transform the U.S. electricity system by rewriting outdated regulations, spurring energy services markets, and modernizing our century-old electric grid.

The U.S. is on the verge of a revolution in the way we make, move, and use energy. And, having spent years working on governmental and regulatory matters related to our power system and lessening its impact on the environment, I can honestly say there has never been a more exciting time to be in this field. Here are a few of the moments that were near and dear to our hearts over the past year, developments I see as a sure signal 2015 will be another epic year for clean energy. Read More »

Also posted in Clean Energy, Demand Response, Energy Efficiency, Energy Financing, Grid Modernization, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Renewable Energy, Texas, Utility Business Models / Tagged Energy Storage | Read 3 Responses

Investor Confidence Project Gains Momentum in 2014, Poised for Even More Success in 2015

By Victor A. Rojas / Published: January 5, 2015

The Investor Confidence Project (ICP), an EDF initiative designed to unlock investment in energy efficiency, experienced significant momentum in 2014. By gaining support in key states across the country as well as expanding to Europe, ICP laid the groundwork for even more successes in 2015.

Through ICP, EDF is accelerating the development of a global energy efficiency market by standardizing how energy efficiency projects are developed and energy savings are calculated.

In virtually all established markets, from car loans to home mortgages, standardization in how projects are structured and documented has helped to accelerate underwriting and create a vibrant secondary market, reducing long-term liability and spurring investment. The potential energy efficiency market is estimated at $1 trillion, but in order to realize a fraction of this market, the energy efficiency industry will need to leverage standardization to scale to this level. Read More »

Also posted in Clean Energy, Energy Efficiency, Energy Financing / Comments are closed

Why Falling Oil Prices Don’t Hurt Demand for Renewable Energy

By EDF Blogs / Published: January 5, 2015

By: Victor A. Rojas, Senior Manager, Financial Policy, and Paul Stinson, Program Coordinator

It’s understandable that many people would look at falling oil prices and wonder what it might mean for clean, renewable energy sources. Some recent headlines even suggest that cheaper crude might spell doom for the burgeoning clean energy economy.

Over the last six months, the price of crude oil has fallen by about 40 percent, currently trading below $60 a barrel, the lowest it’s been since 2009. Continuing global production and oversupply mean oil prices could remain low through the winter months and well into 2015.

While it’s true that stocks for some of the more trusted, clean energy investments are being dragged down by dipping oil prices, it doesn’t mean demand for clean energy is also suffering. In fact, as oil prices have tumbled, demand for energy efficiency and renewable energy only keeps growing.

Oil can mean energy, but energy doesn’t mean oil

The historic correlation between the price of oil and the demand for renewable energy has been increasingly weakened in today’s global markets. Like apples and oranges, we use oil and renewables to make completely different types of juice: oil primarily to produce transportation fuels, and renewables primarily to generate electricity. From an economics perspective, oil and renewables are not substitutes: when the price of one decreases, demand for the other does not decrease. Read More »

Also posted in Clean Energy, Energy Financing, Natural Gas, Renewable Energy / Read 1 Response

Investor Confidence Project San Francisco Event Fires Up Energy Efficiency Professionals

By EDF Blogs / Published: November 21, 2014

By: Matt Golden, Senior Energy Finance Consultant

Last week, EDF’s Investor Confidence Project (ICP) co-hosted an energy efficiency finance networking event in San Francisco, bringing together 70 local project developers, for the first-ever SF Inter-Connect. Held in collaboration with San Francisco Department of the Environment (SF Environment) and Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) on November 12 at the SF Environment offices, the event gave each investor, much like in ‘speed dating’, exactly five minutes to pitch the crowd on their products, describing how they worked and what kind of projects the investor was looking for.

The Investor Confidence Project is accelerating the development of a global energy efficiency market by standardizing how Investor Ready Energy Efficiency™ projects are developed and energy savings estimates are calculated. The ICP system offers a series of protocols that define industry best practices for energy efficiency project development and a credentialing system that provides third-party validation. This leads to increased confidence among building owners and investors in the reliability of projected savings. Read More »

Also posted in Clean Energy, Energy Efficiency / Read 1 Response

Two Years After Sandy, the Conversation Around Energy Resiliency Still Going Strong

By EDF Blogs / Published: November 17, 2014

By: Audrey Hornick-Becker

From left to right: Bruce Schlein, Director, Alternative Energy Finance, Citi; Vic Rojas, EDF senior manager, financial policy; Bryan Garcia, President, Connecticut Green Bank; Alfred Griffin, President, NY Green Bank. Source: Maria Jiang.

Last week, EDF co-hosted a successful first-of-its-kind Resilience Finance Symposium in New Jersey, attended by about 120 participants from a wide spectrum of public and private entities in the state, region, and country.

Held on November 12 with Governor Christie’s Administration and the New Jersey Institute of Technology’s College of Architecture + Design, the all-day Resilience Finance Symposium: Building Resilient and Sustainable Energy Solutions for New Jersey’s Key Infrastructure featured a series of panels on solutions that help keep the lights and heat on during critical times, like microgrids and energy storage, as well as innovative ways of financing resilient energy systems.

A main topic of discussion was the impressive progress New Jersey has made toward making the state’s energy infrastructure more resilient in the two years since Superstorm Sandy caused a massive weeks-long power outage. Panelists pointed to Sandy success stories – those instances when power stayed on even when the grid went down – and discussed the need to make these kinds of successes the norm rather than the exception. Read More »

Also posted in Clean Energy, Energy Efficiency, Energy Financing, Grid Modernization, New Jersey, Renewable Energy / Comments are closed