Energy Exchange

Clean Power Plan to Reward Texas, not Wyoming Coal-Backers

By Jim Marston / Published: September 2, 2014

Source: Aurora Lights

Chronicle readers would be forgiven if they opened their papers last weekend and thought it was 2005. That’s because the Koch brothers-funded Texas Public Policy Foundation published an editorial that echoed the pro-coal rhetoric we heard nearly 10 years ago when then-TXU wanted to build new power plants across Texas that would burn Wyoming coal.

Sure, this weekend’s piece had a different news hook – the new Clean Power Plan that will require Texas to reduce carbon emissions from power plants like every other state. But TPPF’s conclusion was the same: better, cleaner technology is bad and coal is king. As Yogi Berra would have said, “It’s like déjà vu all over again.”

Texas is the number one carbon emitter in the U.S. and power plants, together, are the largest emitters. Our state represents close to 10 percent of the entire nation’s carbon emissions. The Clean Power Plan will simply require Texas to adhere to the rules all other states have to follow. I love Texas more than the average person, but I don’t think we should get special treatment simply because some of our energy companies doubled-down on fossil fuels. And I certainly don’t think we should rely on Wyoming coal when Texas is the nation’s energy powerhouse. Read More »

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

2014 is the Year of the Energy-Water Nexus

By Kate Zerrenner / Published: September 2, 2014

Source: worldwaterweek Flickr

2014 is shaping up to be the year of the energy-water nexus. First, the United Nation’s World Water Day centered on this topic. Then, the U.S. Department of Energy released a 250-page report on the energy-water nexus and indicated that it will be included in its Quadrennial Energy Review. And, this week, the biggest international water conference, World Water Week, is taking on the nexus.

Held every year in Stockholm, Sweden, World Water Week is led by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) and serves as a platform for over 200 collaborating organizations and 2,500 participants from 130 countries around the world to discuss global water and development issues.

In choosing the energy-water nexus as this year’s theme, SIWI and its supporters are affirming – on a global stage – what policy experts have been saying for years: energy and water are inextricably linked, and the best way to set the energy-water system on a sustainable course is to plan for both resources holistically. Read More »

Posted in Clean Energy, Energy-Water Nexus / Comments are closed

Clean Energy Conferences Roundup: September 2014

By EDF Blogs / Published: September 1, 2014

Source: National Retail Federation Flickr

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:

Sept 4-5: Energy Policy Research Conference, San Francisco, CA
Speaker: Jamie Fine, Senior Economist

Energy Policy Institute’s (EPI) 4th Annual Energy Policy Research Conference (EPRC) is the premier energy policy research conference held in the Western United States. EPI is thrilled to welcome Dr. Steven Chu as the Keynote Speaker for the event! This conference is for you if you are seeking to present or discuss energy policy research with participants and panelists from academia, think-tanks and research institutes, NGOs, national laboratories, industry, and government. Read More »

Posted in Clean Energy, General / Comments are closed

Forward-Looking Analyses are Key to Comparing Clean Energy Benefits

By Peter Sopher / Published: August 28, 2014

Source: Kuebi, Armin Kübelbeck

Good science should spark debate. It’s the nature of the field, after all. You ask questions, search for data and then debate what it means or what actions the data should spur. Such a debate is underway now, and it is adding fuel to an old fire.

In May 2014, Dr. Charles R. Frank of the Brookings Institution published a working paper comparing the net benefits of replacing coal and gas plants with five no- and low-carbon fuels – solar, wind, hydropower, nuclear, and combined cycle natural gas. Avoided carbon emissions and low energy and capacity costs are deemed benefits, whereas higher emissions, energy and capacity costs, and unique fuel-specific deficiencies (i.e. toxic waste from nuclear power, intermittency of wind, solar, and hydro, etc.) comprise costs.

In late July, The Economist promoted several of this working paper’s primary findings, namely that wind and solar are expensive fuel sources with relatively sparse net benefits – compared to nuclear, combined cycle gas, and hydropower – when replacing coal plants.

Many refute the validity of this conclusion, and response from the scientific community was swift. Read More »

Posted in Clean Energy, Renewable Energy / Read 1 Response

U.S. Lags on Energy Efficiency, but Creative Communications can Help

By Kate Zerrenner / Published: August 28, 2014

This post was co-written by Catherine Ittner, Communications Intern, and Catherine Nisson, Clean Energy Research Intern.

Source: energyhog.org

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) recently released the second edition of its International Energy Efficiency Scorecard, ranking the energy efficiency efforts of the world’s 16 largest economies. The report assigns each country a score based on three primary sectors responsible for energy use: buildings, transportation, and industry. So where did the land of the free fall on the index? Disappointingly, the U.S. ranks number 13, ahead of only Russia, Brazil, and Mexico. The international champion for the second time this summer: Germany.

ACEEE concedes the demand for energy has been declining in the U.S. since 2007, and progress is most likely due to increasingly energy-efficient appliances and buildings, as well as the local and state policies that encourage their use. But, clearly, there is significant room for improvement and much of that may lie in behavioral changes and everyday tweaks people can make to conserve energy.

With recent energy efficiency initiatives going nowhere on Capitol Hill, another means of encouraging the efficient use of energy without legislation is to take the message straight to the people. Cue creative communications campaigns that can play a role in bumping the U.S. closer to the top of the International Energy Efficiency Scorecard. Read More »

Posted in Clean Energy, Energy Efficiency / Comments are closed

EPA’s Clean Power Plan: Texas’ Last Stand or Last Hope?

By Marita Mirzatuny / Published: August 27, 2014

Source: North Texas Renewable Energy Group

August has been an eventful month here in Texas. And, no, I’m not referring to news about Governor Rick Perry, rather some of his appointees. The Texas Public Utility Commission (PUC), Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), Railroad Commissioners (RRC) Barry Smitherman and Christy Craddick, and State Representative Jason Isaac held a joint session to discuss the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) new Clean Power Plan (CPP).

The CPP will limit – for the first time ever – carbon emissions for existing power plants. Texas, the number one polluter in the country, needs to cut 195 billion pounds of carbon in the next 18 years, according to a Texas Tribune analysis. However, EPA suggests Texas could easily meet its goal through a combination of actions: making coal plants more efficient, using more natural gas plants, increasing the use of renewable resources, and expanding energy efficiency.

Texas has a choice: either roll up some sleeves and double down on the state’s clean energy leadership, creating jobs and wealth, or continue to play petty politics to buy the fossil fuel industry more time. Read More »

Posted in Clean Energy, Clean Power Plan, Demand Response, Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy, Texas / Comments are closed