Energy Exchange

2015 was a Record Year for PACE in Texas

By Guest Author / Published: December 16, 2015

By: Charlene Heydinger, Executive Director, Keeping PACE in Texas

As a bustling metropolis and the biggest city in Texas, Houston has a lot of buildings – and that equals a lot of opportunity to make these facilities more energy- and water-efficient.

Houston grabbed headlines last month when it became the first in Texas to adopt a citywide Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program. PACE will help Houston building owners undertake much-needed water and energy efficiency improvements through private financing – all without having to worry about steep upfront costs. This move means substantial economic development potential, in addition to environmental benefits, for the nation’s fourth largest city.

It’s also a sign this innovative clean energy finance tool is catching fire in Texas: Houston joins Austin’s Travis County, which embraced PACE in March, and a Dallas city ordinance is just on the horizon. Additionally, Cameron and Willacy Counties expect to bring PACE to the Rio Grande Valley in January.

2015 marks a record year for the PACE finance approach across Texas, and interest is growing in several other counties. Even better, all are following the stakeholder-designed PACE in a Box model toolkit – meaning PACE is uniform, user-friendly, and market-based throughout the state. Read More »

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

FirstEnergy’s Bailout Isn’t Just Bad Policy – It’s Illegal

By John Finnigan / Published: December 10, 2015

Last week, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) staff endorsed a four billion dollar bailout for FirstEnergy’s coal and nuclear plants. The new deal modifies FirstEnergy’s original proposal and, if approved, would prop up the Akron-based utility giant’s uneconomic power plants for the next eight years – making its customers foot the huge bill. Many parties oppose the deal, because it is unfair to customers and interferes with the state’s competitive energy market.

Importantly, FirstEnergy’s bailout is not only bad policy, it also violates federal law.

Ohio restructured its electricity market several years ago, so FirstEnergy’s plants have been operating in a competitive wholesale energy market. The market covers 13 states and power plants bid into an auction to supply electricity to the region, ensuring customers get the lowest electricity prices possible FirstEnergy’s power plants are losing money because they are old and inefficient, and can’t compete with newer, cleaner natural gas and renewable energy that deliver electricity at a lower cost. As a result, FirstEnergy has asked the PUCO for a bailout.

But electricity is sold across several states in the wholesale market, and so is subject to federal law. And federal law bars states from erecting protectionist barriers that harm competition. Read More »

Also posted in FirstEnergy, Ohio / Comments are closed

2 Ways Solar Energy’s Future in Illinois Just Got Brighter

By Dick Munson / Published: December 3, 2015

By: David Kolata, Citizens Utility Board executive director, and Dick Munson, EDF Midwest director, clean energy

If Illinois wants a cheaper, cleaner, and more stable power grid, then we have to put policies in place that make it easier for people to adopt solar in their neighborhoods.

Fortunately, solar energy’s future looks a little brighter in Illinois since two recent Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) rulings. The Citizens Utility Board (CUB) and Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) applaud the decisions after months of dogged work advocating the reforms.

On November 13, the ICC simplified solar interconnection standards, enabling Illinoisans to more easily connect their solar panels to the power grid. It’s now cheaper than ever to generate electricity using solar panels, and the costs keep coming down. But we need to cut administrative burdens to make it easier for people to enjoy cheaper, cleaner power – and the ICC’s decision is an important step in this direction. Read More »

Also posted in Energy Financing, Illinois, Solar Energy / Comments are closed

Energy Management Tools Boost Older Buildings’ Efficiency and Bottom Lines

By Ellen Bell / Published: December 2, 2015

Buildings use nearly 40 percent of all energy in the U.S. and account for a third of our greenhouse gases. Today, a growing number of commercial real estate leaders are looking for opportunities to upgrade what they’ve already got – rather than starting from scratch – to save money and lessen their environmental impact. These commercial real estate leaders know there is a great deal of potential in starting small, and in focusing on what best serves their bottom line.

Organizations that need a more tailored approach to making their real estate energy-efficient have a myriad of opportunities that are now being pioneered by property owners across the country. Leading companies are applying outside-the-box energy management solutions to buildings constructed before the green-building boom.

Here are two examples of companies that enlisted Environmental Defense Fund’s Climate Corps program to accelerate clean energy projects in their facilities and meet their corporate energy goals: Read More »

Also posted in California, Demand Response, EDF Climate Corps, Energy Efficiency, Illinois / Comments are closed

Oil and Gas Pollution Delivers a One-Two Punch to Our Public Health

By Felice Stadler / Published: December 2, 2015

One of the country’s largest leaks ever of natural gas, which is primarily made up of the potent greenhouse gas methane, has been going on in California’s Aliso Canyon for over a month. The volume that’s been leaking has been staggering—and the impacts to local residents severe enough to warrant relocating hundreds of families.

Major disasters like the one unfolding in Aliso Canyon have a tendency to grab our attention because the impacts are so acute and can be immediately documented—from the volume of methane that’s leaked (latest climate impacts estimate: equivalent to driving 160,000 cars/year) to the documented health impacts (bloody noses, headaches, breathing difficulties, nausea).

The Aliso Canyon leak, however, also provides us a good reminder of what communities across the U.S. who are close to oil and gas facilities have been increasingly concerned about—the ongoing environmental impact of air pollution that is being released into their neighborhoods, and the safety of those operations. Most of the pollution is invisible to the naked eye, but infrared cameras are bringing the problem into sharper focus, and with that a louder call for action and oversight by federal officials. EPA estimates that today, methane leaks from onshore oil and gas development is contributing climate impacts equivalent to driving nearly 130 million cars annually. And their emissions are contributing to unhealthy air for residents living next door and downwind of this development. Read More »

Also posted in Air Quality, California, General, Methane, Natural Gas / Read 1 Response

FirstEnergy Sought a Bailout. Ohio Regulators are Simply Selling Out.

By Dick Munson / Published: December 1, 2015

Remember when we commended the Public Utility Commission of Ohio (PUCO) staff for looking out for Ohioans’ best interests and taking a reasonable stance against FirstEnergy’s $3-billion bailout request?

We take it all back.

It looks like the staff has taken a big gulp of FirstEnergy’s flip-flopping Kool-Aid.

The Akron-based utility giant has been trying to convince the PUCO to prop up its uneconomic power plants for the next 15 years, essentially saddling Ohioans with the cost of FirstEnergy’s poor investments. The PUCO is comprised of the staff – policy and regulatory experts – and the Commission itself, five Commissioners appointed by the Governor who ultimately will make the decision on whether to approve the bailout. Initially, the PUCO staff appeared to see right through FirstEnergy’s cheap trick and recommended the Commission reject the deal.

But last week – despite the previous objection to the subsidy plea – the PUCO staff embraced a backroom deal with FirstEnergy that gives the company even more than it wanted, presenting the utility with an incredible gift just in time for the holidays. This is a disappointing and shocking move that represents a reversal on Ohio’s decade-long commitment to competition in electricity markets. Read More »

Also posted in Clean Energy, FirstEnergy, Ohio / Read 2 Responses