Energy Exchange

States Stand Up To ALEC’s Assault On Renewable Energy: Clean Energy – 26 ALEC – O

By Marita Mirzatuny / Published: July 18, 2013

Back in March, I wrote about the American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC’s) state-by-state attack on renewable energy. The attacks contribute to ALEC’s growing reputation as a “shadowy right-wing front group,” funded by the likes of Koch Industries, ExxonMobil and Peabody Energy, the largest private-sector coal company in the world. ALEC’s legislative efforts were aided by the Heartland Institute, a “free-market think tank” and notorious climate change denier.

ALEC has a clear motive: to serve the interests of dirty fossil fuel power plants and block progress towards greater use of clean, homegrown energy.

I’m happy to announce that ALEC and the Heartland Institute’s efforts to roll-back individual state’s renewable energy goals decisively failed in legislatures spanning from West Virginia to Kansas. In total, 26 bills designed to remove renewable energy standards (RPS) for eight states were denied, according to a report from Colorado State University’s Center for the New Energy Economy.

Now, Kansas, Missouri, Ohio, North Carolina, Texas, West Virginia and Wisconsin will continue on the path towards a clean energy future. Even better, some states increased their energy guidelines, namely Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland and Minnesota.

This news comes as a resounding victory for the climate, consumers, and Americans who care to see the U.S. progress into the global $ 2 billion clean energy economy. Read More »

Posted in Climate, Renewable Energy, Texas / Tagged , , , | Read 1 Response

Financing Clean Energy: Innovations From The Nutmeg State

By Brad Copithorne / Published: July 17, 2013

Connecticut’s Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority (“CEFIA”) was created in 2011 to help the state increase public and private investment in clean energy solutions that are cheaper and more reliable than traditional solutions.  I had the chance last week to catch up with Bryan Garcia, CEFIA’s CEO, and his impressive team.  I found three of their initiatives to be particularly innovative and impactful.

  • Commercial PACE (C-PACE) – Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) is an innovative, market-based approach that helps alleviate the steep, upfront costs that property owners generally incur for energy improvements by using loans that are seamlessly repaid through an additional charge on their property tax bills. While many jurisdictions have implemented PACE programs, CEFIA has had a particularly hands-on approach of working with property owners, contractors, lenders and mortgage holders to reach agreement on transactions that meet the needs of each party.  This strategy appears to be paying off as CEFIA has received 190 applications since the program was launched in April 2013.  Additionally, the Connecticut program appears to be the first PACE program that supports commercial solar installations with the lowest-cost financing structures such as leases and power purchase agreements.  I believe this could be a game changer for installing solar projects and plan to write about this in greater detail in a blog post coming soon. Read More »
Posted in Energy Efficiency, On-bill repayment / Tagged , , , , | Read 7 Responses

Investor Confidence Project Aims To Develop Multi-Billion Dollar Energy Efficiency Finance Market

By EDF Blogs / Published: July 17, 2013

This commentary, authored by James Lester, originally appeared on Cleantech Finance. 

Last month, we discussed an influential new report by Ceres and the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), Power Factor: Institutional Investors’ Policy Priorities Can Bring Energy Efficiency to Scale. The report detailed several policies that if put in place, could unlock broad-based financing from institutional investors for energy efficiency, a potential several hundred billion dollar investment opportunity.

Among the issues that prevent large scale energy efficiency financing, Ceres and others have found that there is no systematic method to measure the accuracy of the initial predicted energy and financial savings of each project. There is not a robust fundamental way to make sure the upgrades are performing after they have been completed. The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and a collection of expert partners are working to change that.

EDF has worked with a variety of industry experts to design a straightforward set of protocols that define a clear road-map from efficiency opportunity to an investment quality project with reliable returns and access to markets. The project, known as the Investor Confidence Project (ICP) hopes to enable a market for investment quality energy efficiency projects, by reducing transaction costs and engineering overhead, while increasing the reliability and consistency of savings. Read More »

Posted in Energy Efficiency, Investor Confidence Project, On-bill repayment / Comments are closed

One Way Or Another, We All Profit From Clean Energy

By EDF Blogs / Published: July 16, 2013

This commentary, authored by Dan Upham, originally appeared on EDF’s Voices blog.

When the folks at oilprice.com wanted to take a look at the clean energy landscape and see what opportunities might exist for energy investors, they turned to Jim Marston, the head of Environmental Defense Fund’s U.S. Climate and Energy program and regional director of our Texas office.

“As an environmental organization, EDF doesn’t offer investment advice,” Marston was quick to explain. “There are other, far more qualified people to recommend investment options.”

When it comes to market-based environmentalism and the economic benefits of clean energy, however, we’re in our comfort zone. And Marston is particularly comfortable talking about the “smart power” sector; the ideas, products and services that focus on clean, renewable energy and energy efficiency.

“Keep in mind that the U.S. will spend around $2 trillion over the next two decades to upgrade our outdated energy infrastructure,” Marston said, “And many companies realize that there’s a real market for products that make the existing electric grid better, greener and ‘smarter.’”

Read the full interview on oilprice.com for more.

Posted in General, Grid Modernization, Utility Business Models / Comments are closed

Austin’s Own Pecan Street Inc. Launches The Pike Powers Lab

By Marita Mirzatuny / Published: July 16, 2013

Last month, while I was speaking at the 7th Annual Platts Texas Energy Markets Conference in Houston, I missed out on celebrating a very important milestone here in Austin: The grand opening of the Pike Powers Laboratory & Center for Commercialization! The ribbon cutting on June 11th brought over 150 people, including “leaders from major technology firms, like Dell, Intel Corporation, Schneider Electric and National Instruments, along with representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy.” Named after the godfather of Austin’s technology scene, Pike Powers is located in the Mueller community in the shadow of the former air traffic control tower. As the research arm of Pecan Street Inc., the lab will be the “nation’s first non-profit smart grid research laboratory, serving as an elite industry-caliber facility for members of the Pecan Street Research Consortium.”

Priorities

Pecan Street is inviting startup firms to take their questions and challenges and incorporate them into the mission of the lab, which is driven by three priorities: commercialization, research and education.

Commercialization: Pecan Street provides a pathway for companies and utilities to test and demonstrate innovative technologies in a controlled environment and bring advanced products to market, such as new electric vehicle chargers. The lab will also conduct field-testing on technologies, such as set-and-forget home energy management tools, to ensure that products are properly evaluated before hitting the shelves. Read More »

Posted in Grid Modernization, Texas / Comments are closed

House Cuts Clean Energy Funding, Dragging Down An Entire Community Of American Innovators

By EDF Blogs / Published: July 15, 2013

This commentary, authored by Robert Fares, originally appeared on Scientific American’s “Plugged In” blog.

The U.S. Department of Energy recently partnered with Texas Tech University to commission a Scaled Wind Farm Technology (SwiFT) laboratory, which helps researchers understand how wind turbine placement affects performance. (Source: Texas Tech University)

In my last post, I discussed a House subcommittee’s shortsighted vote to slash funding for the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) innovative Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E). I’m sorry to report that the rest of the House has now followed suit, passing a $30 billion energy spending bill that cuts a huge chunk out of clean energy programs.

Not only does the bill contain the subcommittee’s 81 percent cut to ARPA-E, it also guts energy efficiency programs and even rolls back progress in energy efficient lighting. The House’s embargo on funding for clean energy doesn’t just hurt our footing in the international race towards a new energy economy, it also drags down an entire community of American innovators working to achieve a sustainable future.

We deserve more than political posturing and moves as antiquated as the incandescent bulb. Right now, a convergence of environmental, economic and technological forces is transforming the global energy landscape. Just last month, the International Energy Agency (IEA) projected that renewable energy sources would eclipse nuclear and gas generation by 2016, and provide a quarter of the world’s energy supply by 2018. Renewable energy is unequivocally a major component of the energy landscape. Read More »

Posted in Energy Efficiency, Grid Modernization, Renewable Energy / Read 2 Responses