Energy Exchange

El Paso Electric should protect the city’s water and let solar power shine

By Kate Zerrenner / Published: July 26, 2017

Resiliency is a hot button word right now. Ten years ago, advocates focused on “adaptation,” or the idea of adapting to the coming effects of climate change. Now the focus is on “resiliency,” the ability to bounce forward – not backward – when something disastrous happens.

For El Paso, a city on the border between the U.S. and Mexico, resilience is critical. A huge city in the middle of the desert with an average rainfall around 8 inches per year, El Paso needs to be hardy, especially when it comes to water. Read More »

Posted in Energy-Water Nexus, General, Texas / Read 4 Responses

Electric vehicles enter the here and now

By EDF Blogs / Published: July 25, 2017

By Jason Mathers

The high level of confidence that automotive industry leaders have in the future of electric vehicles (EV’s) has been on full display recently.

In just the past few weeks:

Tesla’s Model 3 started to roll off the assembly line
Daimler announced a $740 million investment to produce EV batteries in China
Cummins noted it would have a fully electric truck platformavailable by the end of 2019
Lyft pledged to provide a billion rides a year powered by electricity by 2025
Porsche set a 2023 target for having 50 percent of its production be electric vehicles
Volvo Cars announced that “all the models it introduces starting in 2019 will be either hybrids or powered solely by batteries”

Posted in Clean Energy, Electric Vehicles / Comments are closed

Whether it’s safe or not, do we need Aliso Canyon?

By Tim O'Connor / Published: July 25, 2017

In early 2016, southern California awoke to the harsh reality that reliable operation of the regional energy system might be tied to a single aging natural gas storage field called Aliso Canyon, where a catastrophic blowout that started the previous October was not closed until February. So while Southern California Gas Company got to work to repair the facility, several government and private institutions also went to work assessing whether the facility was actually needed in the first place.

Last week multiple state agencies issued a verdict that Aliso Canyon is now safe, and giving the green light to increase the gas stored in it on a limited basis. The decision caused an outcry from nearby residents, but it should also be a concern for utility customers throughout the region.

But what if we don’t need the facility at all? Why take the risk? The latest analysis strongly suggests we don’t have to. Read More »

Posted in Aliso Canyon, Methane, Natural Gas / Comments are closed

Ohio electricity battles abound

By Dick Munson / Published: July 25, 2017

Crain’s Cleveland Business first published this op-ed on July 16, 2017.

Ohio long has been a bellwether state. Politically, no state during the past 120 years has picked more winners of presidential elections. Ohio also reflects the nation’s diverse and evolving set of energy resources. In particular, this past year Ohio became ground zero in the electricity wars. Its utilities are seeking subsidies for uneconomic power plants, setting up a lively federalism debate about when states can encourage specific energy technologies. Meanwhile, Ohio manufacturers and customers are seeking to break up utility monopolies, provoking discussions about the role of competition in electricity markets.
Read More »

Posted in FirstEnergy, Ohio, Utility Business Models / Comments are closed

UPDATE: A tale of two utilities: One Illinois power provider looks ahead, while the other won’t budge

By Dick Munson / Published: July 25, 2017

TaleOfTwo Energy Exchange published an original version of this post in July 2016. This post updates the original to reflect recent developments in Illinois.

As a utility executive, it is the best of times, it is the worst of times. It is the age of innovation, it is the age of stagnant tradition. With a nod to Charles Dickens, it is the epoch of environmental improvement, it is the epoch of continued pollution.

Perhaps no state better represents those extremes than Illinois, where Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) in the north is considering new business models and embracing greenhouse-gas reductions, while Ameren in the south is rejecting change and virtually anything related to clean energy.

Posted in Energy Efficiency, Utility Business Models / Comments are closed

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By EDF Blogs / Published: July 21, 2017

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Posted in General / Comments are closed