Energy Exchange

Three Technologies that will Keep Energy Costs in Check

By Jim Marston / Published: September 2, 2015

Many American households and businesses saw energy costs soar this summer with July being the hottest month in Earth’s hottest year on record.

Utilities rely on “peaker plants” during these record-setting heat waves to avoid blackouts. Such plants are more expensive and often more polluting to operate, and utilities pass the higher costs straight on to their customers.

Fortunately, this energy equation is changing. Innovative pricing and smart energy systems are gradually taking hold across the United States, already allowing homes and businesses to save energy and cut costs. It’s just the beginning of what I call our next energy revolution.

Here are three technologies on the market today that are fueling this trend: Read More »

Also posted in Clean Energy, Renewable Energy, Time of Use / Read 1 Response

How Energizing Renewables can Spur Carbon Pricing

By Jim Marston / Published: September 2, 2015

To avoid the worst effects of climate change, we must do more to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. Yet, we still do not have a price on carbon, one of the most prevalent greenhouse gases in the world and the biggest contributor to climate change. Despite knowing that a carbon price creates broad incentives to cut emissions, the current average price of carbon globally (which is below zero, once half a trillion dollars of fossil-fuel subsidies are factored in) is much too low relative to the hidden environmental, health, and societal costs of burning a ton of coal or a barrel of oil.

Policies that comprehensively reform the energy sector—a sector designed around fossil fuels—are necessary even as the price of renewable energy declines. The cost of solar photovoltaics, for example, has declined 80 percent since 2008. Prices will continue to fall, but not fast enough to make a dent in the climate problem.

Policymakers are more likely to price carbon appropriately if renewables are competitive with (or cheaper than) fossil fuels. But reducing the cost of renewable energy requires substantial investment, and thus a carbon price. The best hope of resolution is through controlled policy experiments designed to drive down the cost of renewable power sources even further and faster than in the past five years. Read More »

Also posted in Cap and Trade, Clean Energy, Climate, Electricity Pricing, Renewable Energy / Tagged Energy Storage, Nature | Comments are closed

Clean Energy Conference Roundup: September 2015

By EDF Blogs / Published: September 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 September:

September 20-22: ACEEE National Conference on Energy Efficiency as a Resource (Little Rock, AR)
Speaker: John Finnigan, Lead Attorney

The ACEEE National Conference on Energy Efficiency as a Resource is a biennial event first held in 2001. The conference is widely recognized as the premiere event for examining energy efficiency as a strategic and critical utility system resource. The program content will be specifically designed to focus on the issues related to utility-sector energy efficiency policies and programs. Industry leaders will gather to discuss the latest developments in the use of energy efficiency as a key resource for meeting customer and utility system needs and for addressing other critical economic and environmental objectives.

Also posted in Conference Roundup / Comments are closed

Finding a Balanced Solar Policy in Kansas

By John Finnigan / Published: August 31, 2015

How does a utility company structure charges for the electricity it sells? That depends on where you live, and across the country, utilities are filing for rate increases with state agencies and commissions. The utility’s charges may be some combination of a fixed monthly fee, a fee based on the volume of electricity used, and a fee connected to the customer’s peak energy use.

Westar Energy in Kansas is one example of a utility company filing for rate increases. The company recently asked the Kansas Corporation Commission for permission to increase the fixed monthly charge for residential customers. That’s not unusual in itself, but the amount of the fixed charge increase was shocking.

Westar also proposed a special rate structure squarely aimed at residential customers with solar panels, essentially penalizing them for using clean energy and discouraging more people from installing solar panels.

Environmental Defense Fund disagreed with Westar’s approach, and we filed expert testimony with Kansas regulators explaining why. Westar finally reached a settlement with the other stakeholders – and our recommendations were instrumental in eliminating the utility’s proposal to impose discriminatory rates on solar customers. Last week the Commission issued the order to approve the settlement. Read More »

Also posted in Electricity Pricing, Grid Modernization / Read 1 Response

What the newly proposed EPA methane rules mean for California

By Tim O'Connor / Published: August 27, 2015

Last week, the U.S. EPA released a historic proposal for new rules to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas industry, a step toward meeting the ambitious national goal of reducing these emissions 40 to 45 percent in the next decade. California is a step ahead, with new regulations already in development to cut methane from oil and gas operations within its borders.

Even as the rest of the nation begins to catch up, it’s critical that California continues to move forward with developing state standards that complement the federal rules, and go even further when necessary.

Methane emissions from the oil and gas industry are a massive problem – the industry emits more than 7 million tons of the potent greenhouse gas each year, equivalent to the 20-year climate impact of 160 coal-fired power plants. And the latest scientific research indicates the problem is even bigger than we think. For example, a study published just last week says previously unrecorded emissions from thousands of gathering facilities are eight times higher than estimates, and would increase the current inventory of methane emissions by almost 25 percent. Read More »

Posted in General / Comments are closed

How the Clean Power Plan Can Benefit Latino Communities

By Lucía Oliva Hennelly / Published: August 27, 2015

Earlier this month, the United States announced a major step forward in addressing air quality concerns and climate change threats to Latinos. I’m talking about the Clean Power Plan, which establishes the first-ever national limits on carbon pollution from powerplants and places us on a path to heed Pope Francis’s call to protect our planet.

Unfortunately, critics began attacking the plan even before it was final. Some of these attacks have targeted the Latino community in particular, arguing that the Clean Power Plan will disproportionately and negatively harm Latinos. These are baseless claims and arguments that have been debunked by experts.

When the Clean Power Plan takes full effect, Latinos will be among the many Americans who will share in the benefits of a cleaner, healthier future that also affords us good jobs and energy savings. Read More »

Also posted in Air Quality, Clean Power Plan, Energy Efficiency, Energy Financing, Renewable Energy / Tagged Community Solar, green jobs, Latinos, Net metering | Comments are closed