Category Archives: EDF Energy Exchange Blog
EDF’s energy experts discuss how to remake today’s energy market for efficiency and innovation.
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The Greenest Building in America?
On Earth Day this year, The Bullitt Center opened its doors in Seattle, Washington. The six-story building is being hailed as the greenest commercial building in the world. Its specs are very impressive indeed, including: 56,000-gallon cistern for rainwater collection; Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on the roof that are estimated to generate 230,000 kilowatt-hours per [...]
Going Solar By Paying Your Utility Bill
So far, my experience is that environmentalists and business executives often speak different languages. Take the basic idea of sustainability. To an environmentalist, sustainability, as applied to a business, refers to the amount of environmental damage it will cause over time. To a business person, the term refers to the ability of the business to [...]
California Clean Energy: Ready to Launch
Environmentalists and other policy makers have long touted the economic benefits of investing in energy efficiency and renewable projects. For California, that vision is on course to being realized. Yesterday, EDF, Citi and Wilson Sonsini held Innovations in Energy Efficiency Finance II, a sequel to the successful conference we hosted in 2011. That year, we [...]
In Focus: President Obama’s Next-Generation Energy System Plan
Tuesday’s State of the Union (SOTU) speech included much that was music to environmentalists’ ears. The headline, of course, is the commitment to take serious action to address the most significant challenge our generation faces – climate change. And, with it, the extreme weather and public health burdens that are already making life harder for [...]
Doubling U.S. Energy Productivity By 2030
The Alliance Commission on National Energy Efficiency Policy released a report today with recommendations that would put the U.S. on a path towards doubling its energy productivity by 2030. The Commission, which is chaired by U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.) and National Grid U.S. President Tom King, is a diverse coalition of energy leaders that [...]
Technological Breakthroughs vs. A Carbon Diet
Over the weekend, The New Republic published an interview with President Obama, where he noted the following: “On climate change, it’s a daunting task. But we know what releases carbon into the atmosphere, and we have tools right now that would start scaling that back, although we’d still need some big technological breakthrough.” How accurate [...]
California Announces Financing For Energy Efficiency Retrofits
Yesterday, the California investor-owned utilities (Sempra, SoCalEd and PG&E) announced several financing programs including the first On-Bill Repayment(OBR) program using third-party capital to finance energy efficiency retrofits in commercial properties. Property owners would be able to access low-cost capital to finance upgrades and repay the investment through their utility bill. The OBR program will contain [...]
San Diego’s Smart Energy Community
San Diego Gas & Electric Co. (SDG&E) and Sudberry Properties have announced plans to incorporate breakthrough smart grid technology in the construction of Civita, the new master-planned development in Mission Valley, California. With a focus on sustainability and energy-efficiency, the “smart energy community“ will be home to vehicle charging stations, solar and fuel cell electricity, [...]
Leveraging Data To Move Markets
Recently, I blogged here about the fact that significant improvements in the efficiency of existing buildings – a critical and potentially cost-effective part of our carbon reduction strategy – are not easy to achieve, and described how doubts about the likely success of energy upgrade projects are a barrier to “scaling up” efficiency in buildings. [...]
Better Place’s Innovative Battery Switch Model
When it comes to refueling gas-powered cars, drivers around the world have about 100 years of practice: when you run low on fuel, you look for a gas station. With electric vehicles (EVs) beginning to enter the market, auto manufacturers, grid operators and customers are searching for ways to ease the transition from gas to [...]
In Focus: On-Bill Repayment (OBR)
Earlier this year, the California Public Utilities Commission (“CPUC”) issued a decision requiring the state’s investor-owned utilities to establish several financing programs, including an On-Bill Repayment (“OBR”) program for commercial properties. OBR programs allow property owners to finance energy efficiency and/or renewable energy projects with third-party banks or other investors. Property owners repay their loan [...]
How The Green Button Will Change Energy Data
Since their introduction, smart meters and “connected” appliances have offered the potential for customers to better access and control their energy data. Tens of millions of smart meters later, there’s a massive amount of data being gathered, but few ways for customers to understand it. A desire to make sense of this treasure trove of [...]