Energy Exchange

Finding Gold in the Value Chain

By EDF Blogs / Published: October 9, 2014

By: Victoria Mills, Managing Director of EDF Climate Corps

Energy efficiency is a goldmine, but not everyone has the time or resources to dig. That’s why for the past seven years, over three hundred organizations have turned to EDF Climate Corps for hands-on help to cut costs and carbon pollution through better energy management. And every year, the program delivers results: this year’s class of fellows found $130 million in potential energy savings across 102 organizations.

But this year we also saw something new. In addition to mining efficiencies in companies’ internal operations, the fellows were sent farther afield – to suppliers’ factories, distribution systems, and franchisee networks. What they discovered demonstrated there is plenty of gold to be found across entire value chains, if companies take the time to mine it.

Here are three places where EDF Climate Corps fellows struck gold: Read More »

North Carolina is well positioned for EPA’s Clean Power Plan

By Greg Andeck / Published: October 8, 2014

A majority of Americans endorse setting limits on carbon emissions from the nation’s power plants, which account for the single largest source of carbon pollution in the U.S. The United States is on the verge of doing just that with EPA’s proposed Clean Power Plan.

Nationally, the plan will reduce carbon emissions from power plants 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. However, these carbon-reduction mandates vary from state-to-state, which will cumulatively lead to a nation-wide reduction of 30 percent.

In North Carolina, where I live, the plan requires the state to reduce absolute carbon emissions about 21 percent by 2030 from a 2012 baseline, according to an analysis by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Read More »

Posted in Air Quality, Clean Energy, Climate, North Carolina, Renewable Energy / Read 1 Response

Why Military Veterans are Uniquely Primed for Climate Action

By Stephanie Kline / Published: October 8, 2014

Most veterans’ climate action advocacy is not motivated only by traditional environmental issues, but also by lives lost during fuel transports amid increasing global conflicts.

My advocacy is motivated by both, and as a veteran, I’m inspired by increased opportunities to promote clean energy policies that support energy security, resiliency, and military readiness.

Climate change affects us in multiple ways, not the least of which is geopolitically. Rising global temperatures are, in fact, one of the fastest-growing threats to national security.

This is why the U.S. Armed Forces are actively responding to the threat of climate change, as are many veterans who leave the military with a strong understanding of how climate issues can drive or alter missions. Read More »

Posted in Clean Energy / Comments are closed

The Social Cost of Stagnation: A Call for FERC Action

By EDF Blogs / Published: October 7, 2014

By: James T. B. Tripp, EDF Senior Counsel

America’s electricity industry – the single largest source of carbon pollution in the U.S. – is at the heart of some of the world’s biggest environmental challenges, especially climate change. Given this connection, you would think an agency called the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) would take into account the major environmental consequences of its policies, which fundamentally shape the U.S. power industry. Sadly, you would be wrong.

FERC is charged by law with ensuring wholesale rates and other critical aspects of the electricity industry, such as transmission practices, are “just and reasonable.” Yet FERC’s official policy is to exclude environmental considerations from its regulation of the industry. Why? FERC’s reasoning is based on a combination of questionable statutory interpretation and an approach to energy regulation that is stuck in the past. In fact, FERC’s statutory mandate over wholesale electricity sales and transmission dates back to the 1930s, long before scientists discovered climate change. Read More »

Posted in Clean Energy, Climate / Tagged FERC | Comments are closed

Why EPA’s Press Release Doesn’t Reflect the Real Methane Emissions Numbers

By Mark Brownstein / Published: October 6, 2014

Source: Dan Lurie

At first glance, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Sept. 30 press release looked like a winner: Methane emissions from the oil and gas sector dropped by 12 percent in 2013, with a whopping 73-percent decline from hydraulically fractured natural gas wells making up the largest share of reductions.

The drop in methane emissions shows how effective regulation is in reducing air pollution from oil and gas production. It was led by an early phase of EPA’s air pollution rules, enacted in October 2012, with full implementation expected by January 2015. (Although this regulation targets emissions of volatile organic compounds, it has also reduced methane as a co-benefit.)

Except, the 73- percent decline is not the whole story. It only accounts for 2.3 percent of the total methane emissions reported to EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, leaving a large amount of tons on the table addressed.

Posted in Air Quality, Climate, Methane, Natural Gas / Tagged Greenhouse gas, Methane, Natural Gas | Read 1 Response

While Critics Debate Energiewende, Germany is Gaining a Global Advantage

By Peter Sopher / Published: October 6, 2014

Source: Frank M. Rafik

Economics is the focus of many debates surrounding Germany’s aggressive “energy transition” (or Energiewende), which plans to move the country to nearly 100 percent renewable energy by 2050. Critics say Energiewende’s costs are unjustifiable, arguing they hurt the country’s international competitiveness and systemic inefficiencies exacerbate these costs.

At first glance, it’s hard to argue with them. The scale of investment in Energiewende can seem intimidating: So far, Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates the total cost of Germany’s clean energy expansion at €106 billion. Furthermore, the Wall Street Journal quotes government sources when predicting total costs through 2040 to be about €1 trillion.

By contrast, however, Germany’s annual investment in fossil fuels has been €90 billion; and, investments in Energiewende go into electric grid upgrades that would need to happen in Germany anyway, whereas fossil fuel investments leave the country.

When viewed in context, there are many reasons to believe investments in Energiewende will reap economy-wide rewards, giving Germany a competitive global advantage over other countries that lagged behind investing in the future.