Energy Exchange

Under the Wire: EDF Welcomes SoCalGas Leak Maps

By Tim O'Connor / Published: May 15, 2015

A great thing happened today for the environment and people of California. On the very day we released new maps measuring methane leaking from natural gas lines under Los Angeles-area streets, the Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) announced they would begin publishing their own maps showing the locations of leaks they find on their system.

It is a positive move that brings the company a big step closer to complying with the California law requiring them to publish not only the whereabouts of known leaks, but also the amount of methane escaping (which their newly announced maps do not). The public has a right to know where and how much harmful air pollution is being emitted by SoCalGas and any other company in California.
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Posted in Air Quality, California, Climate, Methane, Natural Gas / Tagged Methane, Natural Gas | Comments are closed

Adding to the Clean Energy Chorus: Voices of Faith

By Marilynn Marsh-Robinson / Published: May 14, 2015

Diverse groups are creating a healthy dialogue on climate change and clean energy. In addition to ethnicity, diversity includes geographical representation, political affiliation, socio-economic backgrounds – and religious beliefs.

One notable group, Interfaith Power and Light (IPL), is mobilizing millions of people of faith to be better stewards of energy and the environment. Founded in 1998, IPL now has chapters in more than 40 states and represents 15,000 congregations. IPL works with congregations to promote energy conservation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy, with the goal of reducing carbon emissions and the impacts of climate change.

In addition to clean energy advocacy, IPL recognizes that public policies – local, state and federal – play a pivotal role in reducing reliance on fossil fuels and expanding energy choices. IPL rightly focuses attention on communities most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, advocating for strong adaptation and mitigation actions to protect all communities – from the coast to the heartland. These communities, which are least responsible for activities and decisions that adversely impact the climate, suffer the most. Read More »

Posted in Clean Energy, Climate, Energy Efficiency, General, Renewable Energy / Read 1 Response

FirstEnergy Will Raise Rates to Recoup Bad Bets on Coal

By Dick Munson / Published: May 13, 2015

FirstEnergy, the giant Ohio-based company that owns power plants and transmission lines in several midwestern and northeastern states, is ready to raise electricity prices for its customers. This is in part because three of its oldest coal-fired power plants are set to close, but also because of a few bad business bets.

Though finally shuttered this week, the three plant closures were announced in January 2012 so FirstEnergy could take advantage of a power auction planned by PJM Interconnection, the power grid operator in the Mid-Atlantic region. That auction determines the most efficient power plants to serve this region for the next three years.

By taking these old and dirty units out of the auction, FirstEnergy was able to push up prices for its other power plants.

At the time, environmentalists argued FirstEnergy should account for the efficiency gains that would result from state-mandated programs. Lower demand for electricity caused by efficiency improvements would have reduced the auction price for power. Although such energy efficiency is typically “bid” into PJM auctions in the same way coal or nuclear energy is, FirstEnergy refused. Read More »

Posted in Clean Energy, Energy Efficiency, FirstEnergy, Ohio / Comments are closed

Smart Energy Policy Deserves Advanced Meters

By Beia Spiller / Published: May 13, 2015

With time-variant pricing, people can choose to run their dishwashers at times of day when electricity is less expensive.

New York cemented its reputation as a national leader in energy policy last year when it announced plans to revamp the way utilities are regulated in order to establish a 21st-century energy system. But the state is still trailing in one crucial area: More than 99% of its homes have antiquated meters that tell utilities nothing more than how much electricity customers use each month. To achieve its ambitious goal of an energy revolution, the state should embrace a technology—advanced meters—that empowers New Yorkers to cut their energy use during times of the day when it matters most.

A key component of the smart grid, advanced meters provide detailed electricity-use data throughout the day. This information reduces inefficiencies in the energy system and leads to quicker detection of power outages. Such improvements reduce the costs of operating the power grid, resulting in lower electricity prices.

Advanced meters, also known as two-way-communicating Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), or “smart meters” (which can both send and receive information such as electricity prices and energy usage), enable pricing that incentivizes customers to use electricity when it is cheaper and cut back when it is expensive. This time-variant pricing reduces congestion on the power grid, ultimately lowering costs for everybody. But, without advanced meters measuring electricity use in short time intervals, it’s impossible for utilities to bill on a time-variant basis. Read More »

Posted in Clean Energy, Electricity Pricing / Comments are closed

Coast to Coast and Across the Electric System, Microgrids Provide Benefits to All

By Dick Munson / Published: May 13, 2015

Source: via Wikimedia Commons

Microgrids are getting a lot of attention. Yet how they’re developed could dramatically alter today’s electricity system.

At the most obvious level, microgrids could disrupt today’s utilities and their regulated-monopoly business model, because they challenge the centralized paradigm. In a nutshell, microgrids are localized power grids that have the ability to disconnect from the main, centralized grid to operate independently when the main power grid experiences disturbances. This significantly boosts grid resilience. For almost a century, large centralized power plants have generated electricity and delivered that energy over high-voltage transmission lines to customers. But with microgrids, all that could change.

Less obviously, microgrids challenge the basic assumption that the power grid must be controlled by a monopoly electric utility. Multiple microgrids on the south side of Chicago, for example, could be owned by different entities (not just a utility or even a platform provider, which would provide an exchange between customers and distributed energy generators) with contract arrangements among them controlling the sharing of power. Put another way, microgrids open the distribution system to some level of competition and, thereby, engage entrepreneurs and advance innovation. Read More »

Posted in Grid Modernization, Illinois / Tagged microgrid | Read 3 Responses

Little Pomp, Lots of Circumstance in California’s New Plan to Cut Short-Lived Climate Pollutants

By Tim O'Connor / Published: May 12, 2015

Methane, refrigerants, black carbon – these are all pollutants that fall within a class of global warming agents known as SLCPs, or short-lived climate pollutants. As the name suggests, each has a shorter lifetime in the atmosphere than their better-known cousin, carbon dioxide (CO₂) – but at the same time each is more potent (and works in different ways) than CO₂ at warming the planet.

While SLCPs are a serious problem – responsible for nearly a quarter of the warming we’re experiencing today – cutting them is a huge opportunity to have almost an immediate benefit on slowing global climate change.

SLCPs and California Climate Policy

On April 30, Governor Jerry Brown announced new statewide targets for all greenhouse gas emissions – stating by executive order that all GHGs must be reduced to 40 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2030. And, while many may be asking what more the state can do to cut more GHGs to meet the governor’s overall goal, on May 7 the Air Resources Board demonstrated that SLCP reductions are going to play a major role.

The new SLCP plan (released as a concept paper) didn’t receive a tremendous amount of fanfare. That lack of attention isn’t surprising – the SLCP plan after all is about a specific class of pollutants that is named by a rather obscure acronym. But, while the pomp of the governor’s executive order to cut all GHGs may have stolen the show on April 30, the May 7 plan may have just as much circumstance. Read More »

Posted in General / Comments are closed