Energy Exchange

Colorado: A Case Study In Clean Tech Planning And Execution

By Jackie Roberts / Published: March 18, 2013

In a recent posts, we revisited the recent trio of reports of the clean energy clusters in Ohio, Iowa and Colorado and shared some insights on lessons learned from Iowa and Ohio.  In this post, we’ll take a look at Colorado.

Colorado is the 12th windiest state in the U.S. and is currently 9th in installed wind capacity. It’s one of only six states that have exceeded 10% of state generated electricity coming from wind.  For more than a decade, Colorado has been atop most lists for states vying for leadership in the clean energy economy.  It has research labs, a proactive state government, universities and active economic development efforts.  All of these have combined to help Colorado excel in the new energy landscape.

Consider that Golden, CO is home to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the only federal lab dedicated to research, development, commercialization and deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency technology.  For more than 30 years, NREL has been working on advancements in solar, wind, geothermal and other renewable energy sources.  NREL, Colorado universities and private companies have leveraged the hometown lab to establish specialized research centers in several of these areas and contribute more than $700 million in the economic activity of Colorado each year.

The Denver-metro area, where our report focuses, has become a particularly popular place for cleantech startups and more mature companies.  In 2011, the region had about 1,500 companies and 18,000 employees in the cleantech industry, a 35% increase in direct employment growth from 2006. In terms of the entire Colorado workforce, cleantech employees account for 1%.  But that’s twice the national average and generates more than a billion dollars in annual wages. Read More »

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30 Years Of Forward-Thinking Leaders Has Spurred Iowa’s Clean Tech Growth

By Jackie Roberts / Published: March 13, 2013

People who haven’t been following the renewable energy industry will be forgiven for their reaction when they’re told that Iowa is among the most advanced, opportunistic state in the cleantech economy.  “Iowa?  Isn’t that corn country?”

Well, yes.  But it’s also wind country.  And like few other states, Iowans have turned their constant breeze into a powerful economic force.

This is the last in a trio of posts highlighting the findings from EDF’s reports on the cleantech economies of Ohio, Colorado and Iowa (here is my last post on Ohio).  Today, I’ll focus on Iowa.

Despite its size, Iowa produces the second most wind power in the U.S. (Texas is #1 and California is #3) and is one of only two states that receives over 20% of its electricity from wind power.  More impressive has been the state’s ability to capture the economic — not just the environmental — benefit of that ranking.  According to the American Wind Energy Association, Iowa has attracted more major wind industry manufacturers than any other state.  It’s a great example of supply meeting demand.

Politically, wind power has been supported by both parties for three decades.  It was the first state to pass a Renewable Portfolio Standard, under republican Governor Terry Branstad in 1983.  In 2005, democratic Governor Tom Vilsack signed a tax credit for renewable energy production.  And in 2007 democratic Governor Chet Culver created the Iowa Power Fund to invest in local renewable energy research and development projects.  This level of across-the-aisle cooperation is unique among states and has given Iowa a considerable advantage in competing against larger and richer states. Read More »

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EDF And Others Honored For New York City’s Carbon Emissions Video

By Jim Marston / Published: March 8, 2013

Source: Carbon Visuals

Last week, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and Carbon Visuals, a UK-based firm (brought to EDF’s attention by Power Angels) dedicated to “communicating carbon data more effectively,” were honored by American Clean Air Skies Foundation at their awards gala to commemorate videographers and web-based innovators for works that bring climate change and energy resources to mainstream media.  Carbon Visuals produced a video, funded by EDF, which encapsulates, literally, New York City’s (NYC) carbon emissions in a year’s time.  The video shows blue bubbles as they multiply and expand to cover NYC’s skyline over the course of an hour, day and year.  It was designed to engage everyday people who use energy (which is everyone!), helping them to visualize the magnitude of carbon emissions emitted in order to better understand why we must act NOW to accelerate the transition to the clean, low-carbon energy economy we need to avoid climate catastrophe.

This visually impactful video was made possible with the support of NYC and its exemplary effort to track and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  The City of New York provided a report from September 2011, Inventory of New York City Greenhouse Gas Emissions, documenting the 54 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) – the principal contributor to man-made climate change – NYC added to the atmosphere that year.  The building sector alone contributed approximately 75 percent of the emissions, with the bulk of the remainder attributed to the transportation sector.  While these figures may seem irreversible, NYC and Mayor Bloomberg have made considerable strides to reduce emissions in one of the most energy-intensive cities in the world. For instance, emissions in 2010 were 12 percent less than 2005 emissions, and NYC continues to stay on track to reduce emissions by 30 percent by 2017 – a commendable target.

Read More »

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

We Cannot Afford To Undo Economic And Environmental Progress In Ohio

By Jackie Roberts / Published: March 7, 2013

EDF is working with Ohio elected officials, the small business community and other stakeholders on adopting an on-bill repayment (OBR) program in Ohio.  As a private capital solution to financing energy efficiency (EE) and renewable energy (RE) projects, OBR enables building owners to access low-cost capital, with repayment on their utility bills.  Small businesses in particular have trouble accessing affordable financing for energy projects, as it is hard for lenders to assess small to medium-sized business (SMB) credit risk and SMB properties are likely rentals that experience high turnover rates.  OBR provides lenders with significant credit enhancement, since the repayment obligation is tied to the utility meter and survives changes in rental and ownership.  At the same time, utilities and customers can benefit from a well-designed OBR program – one that compensates utilities for their services and allows utilities to receive credit toward state mandates for the OBR-enabled EE and RE investments.

As we at EDF endeavor to increase demand for clean energy projects in Ohio, other parties, including the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), have proposed rollbacks to Ohio’s energy efficiency and renewable portfolio standards.  The standards were established by SB 221 in 2008, with bi-partisan support,– and there is a strong effort underway to defend them.  EDF is working with other Ohio clean energy stakeholders to keep the existing standards in place.  As we actively participate in this dialogue, EDF vigorously supports the State’s commitment to investing in clean energy – a commitment that has resulted in environmental and economic progress from which we cannot afford to undo.

EDF’s clean energy economic development series documented progress made in Ohio to date, which is extremely promising:

Stimulating Demand

The 1992 Energy Policy Act seeded demand for renewable energy and energy efficiency through tax credits and other programs.  In Ohio, two important state efforts in 1999 expanded on this federal support.

The Advanced Energy Fund, created by the Ohio Electric Restructuring Act, provided funding for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.  The same bill introduced net metering, which allows homes and businesses that install alternative energy technology — solar, wind, biomass, hydro, etc. — to receive credit for the excess energy their systems generate.  Combined, these two efforts provided ways for individuals to reduce the cost of deploying “clean tech” or even turn it into a revenue generator.   Read More »

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New BLM Proposals For Large Oil And Gas Fields Ignite Wyoming Air Quality Concerns

By Jon Goldstein / Published: March 7, 2013

Wyoming is already one of the country’s top natural gas producers. And large new developments under review by the

Source: Anne Nowell

U.S. Bureau of Land Management totaling more than 25,000 new wells in the coming years could further solidify Wyoming’s status as a national energy leader.

But what will this leadership look like? Will this series of development projects lead to worsening air quality or set an example for safe, responsible development?

The first of these, the Continental Divide – Creston Project, is alone one of the largest onshore natural gas developments ever proposed on federal lands in the United States. This enormous development slated for the Wamsutter area of south-central Wyoming, includes drilling nearly 9,000 new natural gas wells across 1,672 square miles (or 1.1 million acres) of public and private lands — an area a bit larger than the state of Rhode Island. The well-known Jonah Field in western Wyoming, by comparison, covers about 21,000 acres and includes about 3,500 wells.

The scale, concentration and vicinity of new wells proposed by the CD-C project are fueling concern for regional air quality issues. If managed improperly, this project could lead to more unhealthy air for local residents and workers.

Unhealthy air, as a result of oil and gas development, has been a particular issue in Pinedale, a community just northwest of the CD-C proposal in Wyoming’s Upper Green River Basin. The past few winters have earned the area unwanted national attention for its U.S. Environmental Protection Agency nonattainment designation for ground-level ozone pollution — one of the first non-urban areas to report such high levels of smog. Read More »

Posted in BLM Methane, Climate, Methane, Natural Gas / Tagged | Comments are closed

Solar, Wind Prompting Electricity Grid Innovation In California

By Jamie Fine / Published: March 4, 2013

In a February Wall Street Journal article (“California Girds for Electricity Woes”), reporter Rebecca Smith gives an alarmist and misleading account of California energy regulators’ efforts to secure a cleaner, less expensive, more reliable electricity grid.  Right now, California has plenty of power:  44 percent more generating capacity than it typically uses, including a considerable fossil fuel energy portfolio.  Renewables – large scale, rooftop solar, wind, and, increasingly, energy storage – make up almost 15 percent of the grid, a percentage that will more than double in the next decade.  These clean, innovative energy technologies are working to improve the system by reducing the need for fossil fuels.

The reality is that the grid is changing, driven by California’s quest to secure an environmentally safe and affordable electricity system. Increasing the amount of renewable energy on the grid will mean that more generation is variable; electricity output from solar and wind depends on sunshine or windiness, respectively.    Up to this point, California has met this challenge by backing up clean resources with fossil fuels.  But California’s ratepayers can’t afford to keep doing this, so instead of “girding for woe,” the CAISO and the CPUC met to proactively address our changing future – to move California towards cleaner, less expensive electric grid planning.

This new approach can increase California’s ability to rely on clean energy generation by building greater flexibility into the system – while giving more options to consumers.  Not only can customer-based (“demand-side”) clean energy technologies reduce reliance on polluting power plants, they are quite likely to be more reliable and are potentially more cost-effective.   Demand response, or the ability of customers to choose to save money by responding to a price or electronic signal from the grid operator in times of excess system demand, will be key to integrating large amounts of intermittent solar and wind without back-up fossil or storage.   In fact, during afternoon peak demand, where supply is extremely limited in its ability to serve load, the addition of virtual generation resulting from the participation of DR into the market will actually lower energy prices.

California has already installed a robust digital metering infrastructure – and it’s time to put these meters to work by enabling customers to participate in demand response and other demand-side programs.  Coupled with technologies that now allow for fast, reliable, automated ‘set-it-and-forget-it’ adjustments to electricity use, we can seamlessly integrate variable electricity resources, such as wind and solar, without disrupting energy users.  Customers can choose to become an energy resource instead of fossil fuel plants.  Read More »

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