Energy Exchange

How Does the Investor Confidence Project Work? Check Out Our New Factsheet

By EDF Blogs / Published: July 13, 2015

By: Max Wycisk

The Investor Confidence Project (ICP), Environmental Defense Fund’s (EDF) signature buildings efficiency finance program, is sometimes hard to explain in a nutshell. Ultimately, the program aims to create confidence among investors financing energy efficiency projects by standardizing how projects are designed and implemented across the commercial buildings sector. But how do we get from the origination of a project to a successful return on investment?

Our new ICP factsheet aims to answer this question and more. We’ve even developed this helpful infographic depicting a step-by-step process for using the ICP system: Read More »

Also posted in Energy Efficiency, General, Investor Confidence Project / Comments are closed

FERC, Grid Operator, Others File Supreme Court Briefs in Demand Response Case

By Michael Panfil / Published: July 10, 2015

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), a grid operator, states, and other parties just filed briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court in a case that could decide whether Americans have access to low-cost, clean and reliable electricity.

The case, EPSA v. FERC, revolves around demand response, a resource that helps keep prices low and the lights on – and does so while also being environmentally friendly.

In 2013, for example, demand response saved customers in the mid-Atlantic region close to $12 billion. And during the polar vortex, which threatened the North-East with freezing cold in 2014, the same resource helped prevent black-outs.

The clean energy rule at issue in this case is called FERC Order 745. EDF has been writing about this demand response case throughout the past year. We’ve been fighting for low-cost demand response and we’ll keep fighting in the Supreme Court. Read More »

Also posted in Climate, Demand Response, Electricity Pricing / Comments are closed

FirstEnergy Clings to the Energy Past

By Dick Munson / Published: July 9, 2015

All around the country, we are seeing signs of innovation when it comes to the electricity industry. The state of New York is performing a comprehensive review of related technologies and business practices, Illinois is modernizing the electric grid and empowering customers to save energy by creating transparency around smart meter data, and the wind industry in Texas continues to set new records. The U.S. grid is truly beginning to evolve from the system Thomas Edison created 100 years ago, moving toward a more flexible grid that runs on clean, renewable resources.

Yet some players – with significant revenue and power – are not on board. FirstEnergy, the Akron-based utility giant, has been clinging to the past and waging war on clean energy in Ohio, as I explain in my op-ed published today in the Akron Beacon Journal. The Beacon Journal is the hometown newspaper of FirstEnergy’s headquarters. Read More »

Also posted in Energy Financing, FirstEnergy, Renewable Energy / Read 2 Responses

Clean Energy Conference Roundup: July 2015

By EDF Blogs / Published: July 1, 2015

Each month, the Energy Exchange rounds up a list of 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 July:

July 12-15: NARUC Summer Committee Meetings (New York, NY)

Speaker: N. Jonathan Peress, Air Policy Director – Natural Gas

The NARUC Summer Committee Meetings are an opportunity to meet with utility regulators from every State in the U.S., along with federal and international officials. Meetings topics include the latest in regulatory trends and best practices within utility sectors, including electricity, natural gas, telecommunications, and water.

Also posted in Conference Roundup / Comments are closed

Orange is the New Black, 40 is the New 30…and Energy Storage Could be the New California Power Plant

By Larissa Koehler / Published: June 26, 2015

If you follow pop culture, you’ve likely heard that Orange is the New Black, and 40 is the new 30. A perhaps lesser known – but equally important – new comparison that is turning heads in California is that energy storage might just be the new power plant.

This probably warrants a bit of explanation. On a power grid without storage, solar energy is generated during the day when the sun is shining its brightest, providing clean, renewable energy to homes and businesses – thus lessening the hold on the grid of dirty power plants. But what happens when this energy source goes offline? As people come home after work and turn on TVs, run dishwashers, and fire up other hungry appliances (also referred to as “peak” energy hours), the grid must rely on fossil fuel-powered electricity to ramp up production quickly.

However, when energy storage is added into this mix, a shift occurs. If there is enough renewable energy stockpiled during the sun’s most productive hours, between 11 AM and 3 PM, then the use of fossil fuels at peak times can be reduced. In this way, new fossil fuel power plants that might be necessary to meet increased population and demand can be avoided. And voila: energy storage is the new power plant. Read More »

Also posted in California, State / Tagged Energy Storage | Comments are closed

Don’t Write Off Energy Efficiency. It’s Just About to have its Day.

By EDF Blogs / Published: June 25, 2015

By: Matt Golden, Senior Energy Finance Consultant

A few days ago, economists from the University of Chicago and the University of California, Berkeley released a study that called into question the cost-effectiveness of energy efficiency. The study was based on the team’s analysis of energy savings shortfalls in the Michigan low income Weatherization Assistance Program. Since then, a host of articles have used the study’s results to call into question the value of utility-sponsored energy efficiency programs.

While this study did raise some thought-provoking points, it also contained biased assumptions and reached conclusions that far exceed its scope, lumping together market-based efficiency with low-income weatherization programs. Read More »

Also posted in California, Energy Efficiency, Energy Financing, Grid Modernization, Illinois, Investor Confidence Project / Read 14 Responses