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Archive for the ‘Sustainability’ Category

Market Impacts of the Clean Power Plan

Thursday, November 12th, 2015
Clean Power Plan Emissions Rate Goals: Projection of needed progress from 2020‐2030 (Source: EPA and SNL data)

BLACK & VEATCH Introduction On August 3, 2015, President Obama announced the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final Clean Power Plan (CPP) rule for reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from existing fossil fuel electric generating units (EGUs). The final rule establishes CO2 emission performance rates based upon the EPA’s determination of the best system of emission […]

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Industrial Efficiency in the Changing Utility Landscape

Wednesday, November 4th, 2015
Annual Electricity Consumption Has Decreased on Average: U.S. percentage demand growth, 1950-2040

THE PEW CHARITABLE TRUSTS

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Infrastructure Repair Is About People, Not Profits

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2015
Wall Street

As we sit and watch our infrastructure crumble, what can we do? We all depend on the roads, the bridges, the canals, the rails. But we’re not in the same position as Congress. We don’t play the role of financing the renovation. They pass the bills, then we do the work. But the question still remains. What can the individual do in the face of a system that struggles with enabling the individual to do anything?

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Lights Out? Storm Surge, Blackouts, and How Clean Energy Can Help

Monday, November 2nd, 2015
FIGURE 1. U.S. Electric Grid Disruptions

UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS
To maintain our present and future access to reliable electricity—and all the health, safety, and economic benefits such access allows—we must prepare our electric grid for increased coastal flooding. One necessary approach is adapting electricity infrastructure. However, it is also critical to simultaneously pursue solutions that go beyond intervening with specific pieces of equipment. For that, we can look to bolstering the overall electricity resilience of critical facilities and vulnerable populations.

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Minnesota DOT: Protecting Bats Along the Mississippi River

Tuesday, October 27th, 2015

The Minnesota Department of Transportation and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources worked together to create new habitat for over 3,000 bats that will be displaced by the replacement of bridges crossing from Minnesota into French Island, Wisc. over the Mississippi River.

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Peak Energy Demand Reduction Strategy

Tuesday, October 27th, 2015
Table 1.1 Massachusetts Peak Demand Benefit/Cost: 2014

After launching a project assessing peak demand and demand response (DR) standards at the state level, Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) discovered that no currently existing study examined existing DR programs or made recommendations on best practices for structuring a DR/peak demand initiative. AEE engaged Navigant to perform quantitative and qualitative analysis in order to gain an understanding of peak demand reduction standards, their potential benefits, and how such standards should be designed.

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The Decisions We Make Today Will Shape Tomorrow

Monday, October 26th, 2015
Figure 1: Business-as-usual urban contribution to the remaining carbon budget

C40 CITIES CLIMATE LEADERSHIP GROUP
The world is becoming ever more urban, with 1.5 million people moving into towns and cities every week, all requiring infrastructure like homes, roads, electricity and water supplies. As a result, the approach taken to urban infrastructure construction, renewal and refurbishment will play a substantial role in avoiding or locking in future emissions. For example, hundreds of millions of new homes will either produce large quantities of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through poor energy performance, or avoid emissions through sensible and efficient design.

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2015 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard

Thursday, October 22nd, 2015
Figure ES1. 2015 State Scorecard rankings

AMERICAN COUNCIL FOR AN ENERGY-EFFICIENT ECONOMY
In this ninth edition of our State Energy Efficiency Scorecard, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) ranks states on their policy and program efforts and recommends ways that states can improve their energy efficiency performance in various policy areas. The State Scorecard provides an annual benchmark of the progress of state energy efficiency policies and programs. It encourages states to continue strengthening their efficiency commitments in order to promote economic growth, secure environmental benefits, and increase their communities’ resilience in the face of the uncertain cost and supply of the energy resources on which they depend.

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Shared Solar: Current Landscape, Market Potential, and the Impact of Federal Securities Regulation

Wednesday, October 14th, 2015
Figure ES-1. Estimated PV market potential of onsite and shared solar distributed PV capacity

NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY
This report provides a high-level overview of the current U.S. shared solar landscape and the impact that a given shared solar program’s structure has on requiring federal securities oversight, as well as an estimate of market potential for U.S. shared solar deployment. Shared solar models allocate the electricity of a jointly owned or leased system to offset individual consumers’ electricity bills, allowing multiple energy consumers to share the benefits of a single solar array. Despite tremendous growth in the U.S. solar market over the last decade, existing business models and regulatory environments have not been designed to provide access to a significant portion of potential PV system customers.

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Infographic: Greening Buildings with LEED Certification

Tuesday, October 13th, 2015

LEED, or Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design, is a green building certification program. From sustainable site development to indoor environmental quality—LEED focuses on building practices that support areas of human and environmental health. There are more then 68,000 LEED commercial projects in the United States and LEED certified buildings exist in more than 150 countries and territories and 6 continents.

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