Energy Exchange

WATCH: NYC Clean Heat Video

By Abbey Brown / Published: June 4, 2013

EDF’s US Climate and Energy Program takes to the airwaves

A lot has been happening with NYC Clean Heat lately.  We have converted over 1,200 boilers to the cleanest available fuels and we have reduced over 150 tons of soot pollution, or particulate matter (PM2.5), from the air.  That number is equivalent to removing over 800,000 light-duty passenger vehicles from the road for one year, or over 13 billion miles traveled!

And now we’re taking to the airwaves.  We created a video to showcase our achievements and create a new outreach tool to propel us to our next accomplishment.

Source: NYC Clean Heat

To give you a little background, NYC’s Department of Health estimates that achieving our goal, reducing soot pollution by replacing highly-polluting No. 6 and No. 4 heating oils to the cleanest available fuels, will result in over 120 lives saved each year and prevent hundreds of emergency room visits and hospitalizations for respiratory and cardiovascular conditions.  Approximately 1,500 buildings still need to complete conversions by the end of the year, and, roughly 2,000 permits for No. 6 oil are set to expire before March 2014, representing 232 tons of soot pollution.  Here’s an astonishing fact – only 1% of all buildings in NYC use these heavily polluting heating oils, yet burning these oils creates more soot than all of the cars and trucks in NYC combined.  The problem is grave, but the solution is within grasp. Read More »

Posted in New York / Tagged | Comments are closed

EDF Energy Innovation Series Feature #20: Renewable Energy Financing From Mosaic

By Jim Marston / Published: June 3, 2013

EDF’s Energy Innovation Series highlights innovations across a broad range of energy categories, including smart grid and renewable energy technologies, energy efficiency financing and progressive utilities, to name a few. This Series helps illustrate that cost-effective, clean energy solutions are available now and imperative to lowering our dependence on fossil fuels.

Find more information on this featured innovation here.

Mosaic’s “crowd-investing” concept gives people the opportunity to invest in a clean, low-carbon energy economy

Over the last decade, web-based crowd funding has grown from a clever way for fans to fund their favorite artist to a multimillion dollar funding option for just about anyone with a new widget.  For as little as a few bucks, anyone can help a friend or stranger get a good idea to market, and you might even get one of the first CDs or gadgets that come off the line.

But crowdfunding isn’t really an investment.

Source: Mosaic

Oakland-based Mosaic wants to do for renewable energy investing what crowdfunding sites have done for entrepreneurs. But rather than just offering a chance to help, Mosaic offers a piece of the profit.  Think of it as a renewable energy Kickstarter with a kickback.

“We connect individuals and institutions with high quality solar project investments,” said Billy Parish, president and founder of Mosaic. “The fastest way to grow the clean energy economy is to allow more people to benefit from it.” Read More »

Posted in Energy Innovation, Renewable Energy / Comments are closed

Environmental Accomplishments And Missed Opportunities From The 83rd Texas Legislative Session

By EDF Blogs / Published: May 31, 2013

This blog post is co-authored by Marita Mirzatuny and Kate Zerrenner.

In addition to passing tax cuts and making pecan pie the official state pie of Texas, the 83rd Legislature heard numerous energy-related bills.  As a solution to our Texas Energy Crunch efforts, EDF supported 13 bills that would have provided relief to Texas’ resource adequacy problems; in other words, the issues Texas faces as a result of increasing energy demand, scorching temperatures and a record drought.  Among those bills (which we review on page 13 of our ‘State of the Texas Energy Crunch’ report) are a few, highlighted below, that made some – albeit not enough – progress.

Energy Legislation

A big success this session was the passage of Senate Bill (SB) 385 by Chairman John Carona.  SB 385, or the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) bill, clears some of the hurdles that prohibit commercial and industrial properties from taking advantage of new financing for energy improvements.  PACE allows property owners to pay for water and energy efficiency upgrades or renewable energy improvements with loans, which are then repaid through an annual charge on their property tax bill.  For more on this legislation, please see our recent blog post covering PACE in Texas.

Chairman Carona’s demand response bill, SB 1351, passed and was referred to State Affairs in the House.  Demand response (DR) initiatives allow customers to voluntarily reduce peak electricity use and receive a payment for doing so in response to a signal from their utilities.  Additionally, Chairman Rafael Anchía introduced the companion bill, House Bill (HB) 2194.  HB 2194 allows for customer, or demand-side resources (DSR), from “residential, commercial, and industrial customers to participate in all energy markets” and specifies that DSR “must be designed and implemented in a manner to increase market efficiency, competition, and customer benefits.” This bill clears the way for demand response, renewable energy, and energy efficiency to become important players in the market.

SB 1280, by Senator Kirk Watson, passed out of the Business and Commerce Committee with a seven to two vote.  This bill, regarding Texas’ reserve margin for the electric grid, requires that power regions (such as the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT) estimate the available generation at any given time, the expected peak demand (demand at the hottest part of the day when the most energy is being used) and the amount of reserve energy needed to ensure a reliable electricity supply.  SB 1280 also directs the use of voluntary load participation programs (think demand response) with at least 20 percent of peak energy demand coming from each of the residential, commercial and industrial sectors.

Senator José Rodríguez’s net metering bill, SB 1239, successfully passed out of the Business and Commerce committee.  Texas is one of only seven states where customers are not guaranteed fair compensation for the electricity they provide to the grid.  SB 1239 clarifies that all retail electric providers, municipal utilities and cooperatives must buy back extra electricity from residential customers along with churches and schools at a reasonable, market-based value.  For example, Los Angeles implemented the largest solar buyback program in the nation earlier this year, paying customers 17 cents a kilowatt hour for excess energy produced.

In the House, HB 303 by Representative Eddie Rodriguez called for a new renewable energy goal – to supply 35 percent of energy demand with clean energy by 2020, with at least two percent coming from solar.  This marks an important precedent for the clean energy standards introduced in state legislatures around the country.  Additionally, Representative Rafael Anchía authored HB 2196, a bill that addresses payments to customers for renewable energy and other demand-side contributions to the electric grid.

While it’s great that some of the bills gained some traction, only SB 385 made its way to the Governor’s desk.  With a hotter than average summer approaching, possibly worse than 2011, electric reliability is not a guarantee and these bills would have provided solutions to help address our energy issues.  Already Texas is receiving national attention for our impeding energy shortages.

Source: www.lavacacountytaxpayers.org

Water Legislation

At the last minute, the House and Senate, after much back door negotiating and out front wrangling, approved a plan to fund the State Water Plan.  HB 4, by Chairman Allan Ritter, set up two funding accounts to pay for water projects.  These accounts must be approved by voters, because the bills would amend Texas’ Constitution to allow the plan to be initially funded with a portion of the Rainy Day Fund. Read More »

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

EDF Releases New Blog For All Our Expert Voices

By EDF Blogs / Published: May 29, 2013

Environmental Defense Fund’s new flagship blog collects stories, ideas and arguments from all of our EDF expert voices in one place.

 

EDF’s Energy Exchange blog is where we discuss how to accelerate the transition to a clean, low-carbon energy economy. We keep you updated on the latest clean energy news and provide thoughtful analysis on the issues. However, we know you may have a broad interest in environmental issues.

That’s why we wanted to share with you Environmental Defense Fund’s new flagship blog, EDF Voices. EDF Voices collects stories, ideas and arguments from all of our EDF expert voices in one place. Our thought leaders use this space to weigh in on all sorts of environmental issues, from tips on how to convince people of the reality of climate change to reflections on how a businessman turned conservationist decided to leave a natural legacy for future generations.

We hope you like what you read on our new EDF Voices blog and become a subscriber.

 

 

Posted in General / Comments are closed

Texas Picks Up The Clean Energy PACE

By Kate Zerrenner / Published: May 23, 2013

Chairman John Carona’s Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) bill, Senate Bill 385 (SB 385), which was sponsored by Chairman Jim Keffer in the House, is headed to the Texas Governor’s desk!  Building upon successful legislation passed in 2009 to authorize “PACE districts” in Texas, SB 385 clears some of the hurdles that prevent commercial and industrial properties from taking advantage of new financing for water and energy conservation efforts.

PACE is an innovative, market-based approach that helps alleviate the steep, upfront costs property that owners generally incur for water and energy improvements by using loans that are seamlessly repaid through an additional charge on their property tax bills.  The loan is then attached to the property, rather than the owner, and can be transferred if the property is sold.  PACE loans can be issued by city or county financing districts or financial institutions, such as banks.  Property owners who participate will start saving money on their utility bills each month as a result of water conservation, energy efficiency and/or renewable energy improvements, while repaying the loan annually when they file their taxes.  In other words, they will see net gains despite increased property taxes.  The program is entirely voluntary.

In 2009, Governor Perry signed House Bill 1937 (HB 1937) by Mike Villarreal, which established PACE districts in Texas for the first time.  Although cities and counties across the state began the process of setting up PACE districts, the entire process was derailed when the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) created an obstacle for residential PACE programs.  FHFA expressed concerns about the senior lien—that is, if a homeowner with a PACE loan defaults, the repayment of the PACE obligation would take priority over settling the mortgage.  There were also some structural concerns which would have “required the Texas legislature to amend or replace the existing statute.”  This new bill, SB 385, addresses the structural problems and applies to commercial and industrial (rather than residential) property owners, thus removing the senior lien concern from the equation. Read More »

Posted in Energy Efficiency, On-bill repayment, Texas / Tagged , | Comments are closed

Heat Without Fire: Geothermal For A Cleaner, Sustainable Future In New York City

By EDF Blogs / Published: May 21, 2013

By: Mark Franks, EDF Energy Research Intern

Source: Achrnews.com

Hurricane Sandy proved that New York City’s energy system is not up to the challenges of the present day.  And, as we have highlighted before, the city faces some major challenges to reducing dangerous air pollution caused by heavy heating fuels.  One promising solution seeking to significantly reduce NYC’s carbon footprint, improve air quality, and increase grid resiliency during storms is geothermal heat pumps.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has called ground source heat pumps the “most energy-efficient, environmentally clean, and cost-effective space conditioning systems available.”  Geothermal heat pumps or exchangers, also known as geo-exchange, require no fossil-fuel burning on-site, use 70 percent of their energy from Earth’s renewable sources and are, on average, nearly 50 percent more efficient than gas furnaces.

Last month, I had the honor of watching NYC Mayor Bloomberg sign a bill tasking the New York City Office of Long-Term Planning & Sustainability to study geothermal energy resources and the feasibility of city-wide adoption of geothermal heating and cooling.  As Mayor Bloomberg’s sustainability leadership – in an official capacity at least – comes to an end, his plans to ensure that the city’s mission to find sustainable, cost-effective solutions to combat air pollution are well underway.  Though the geothermal heating and cooling bill is very important, it is only one aspect of the Mayor’s larger PlaNYC effort.

During his speech, Mayor Bloomberg remarked, “So what is geothermal anyway? I am having it installed in the new place I just bought and I know it works and how much it costs but nothing else.”  His words sum up the greatest challenge for geo-exchange yet – lack of awareness.  Geo-exchange technology needs our help to move it out of its prolonged infancy and into the mainstream. Read More »

Posted in Energy Efficiency, New York / Tagged , | Read 4 Responses