Energy Exchange

Investor Ranks Top $1.5 Trillion in Support of National Methane Standards

By Ben Ratner / Published: July 1, 2015

California public school teachers. Religious charities. New York police officers and firefighters.

What do all of these groups have in common? Investors representing them — who manage $1.5 trillion in retirees, current employees’, and others assets – are standing together and calling for strong rules limiting harmful methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. This level of outpouring – from diversified investors with holdings in the oil and gas industry – represents five times the support investors expressed for methane rules last year. A trend is emerging.

The investors, including the largest retirement funds in California and New York, issued a powerful statement in support of the president’s methane proposal aimed at cutting emissions nearly in half in a decade. A centerpiece is regulation of methane, the primary ingredient in natural gas, which has over 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide in the first 20 years after it’s released and is responsible for 25 percent of the warming we are feeling today. Read More »

Posted in Methane, Natural Gas / Comments are closed

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.

Posted in Clean Energy, 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 »

Posted in California, Clean Energy, 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 »

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

Bringing The Pope’s Climate Encyclical to Life, a Church at a Time

By Nancy Buzby / Published: June 23, 2015

Last week’s papal encyclical on climate change galvanized those of us who already see responsible stewardship for the earth as both a moral mandate and business imperative. In the 184-page document, Pope Francis calls for a sweeping overhaul of political, economic, and individual practices to halt the degradation of the environment and protect our planet for the long term.

The pope’s sweeping vision is sure to prompt churches, people of faith, and a whole range of organizations to rethink their actions with regard to use of energy, water, and other natural resources. But already, religious organizations have been working quietly and steadily to effectively manage their environmental impact, in keeping with the established theological tradition of moral economic development and use of resources.

Take Gene Murphy of Prescott, Arizona, as a prime example of someone sitting at the intersection of religion, sustainability, and business. As the business manager for the Sacred Heart Parish in the Diocese of Phoenix, Gene has developed scalable solutions for his church and school that could and should be replicated across all churches, schools and relevant organizations. Read More »

Posted in Clean Energy, Climate, Energy Efficiency, Energy Financing, Renewable Energy / Comments are closed

Building Blocks of a True Energy Efficiency Market Now in Place

By EDF Blogs / Published: June 23, 2015

By: Matt Golden, Senior Energy Finance Consultant

The Investor Confidence Project (ICP), an Environmental Defense Fund initiative designed to unlock investment in energy efficiency, announces the launch of the ICP Quality Assurance Credential for companies with the skills, training, and experience to provide independent review of ICP projects.

This last of three key credentials authorizes third-party Credentialed Quality Assurance providers to verify that a project conforms to a set of ICP protocols, as well as certify it as an Investor Ready Energy Efficiency^TM project. The completion of the ICP credentialing system marks a crucial step forward for ICP and the standardization of the commercial and multifamily energy efficiency industry.

Posted in Clean Energy, Energy Efficiency, Energy Financing, Investor Confidence Project / Comments are closed