All Things Energy

Eastern States Resist Paying for Delivery of Midwest Wind Power

jbailey — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:43:29 -0600

A coalition of utilities have announced their opposition to a series of 765-kilovolt transmission lines, more than double the capacity of the current 345-kilovolt lines. The lines are proposed as a way to send electricity from the Dakotas, Iowa and Minnesota to Chicago and points east. "If Iowa wants to build a transmission line for their energy, we have no objection. But Iowa or the Midwest should pay for it," said Ian Bowles, secretary of energy and environmental affairs in Massachusetts. New England states want to produce their own wind energy from offshore farms.

New Wind Data Finds a Windier, More Self-Reliant Midwest

jfarrell — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 07:48:25 -0600

Five Midwest states (Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio) could get nearly all their electricity from wind, according to updated maps from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR). New data from Wind Powering America mean that 32 states could get all of their electricity from in-state resources, even more than initially revealed in ILSR's ground-breaking report last fall, Energy Self-Reliant States. The revised estimates come from the National Renewable Energy Lab's Wind Powering America project and are the first nationwide update since the early 1990s.

John Farrell Explains the Benefits of Decentralized Energy on KBOO

admin — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 11:36:07 -0600

The Obama administration's energy policy jumps the shark: why nuclear is a bad deal and carbon-captured coal is anything but clean. Senior Research John Farrell discusses this and the smarter strategy of a decentralized renewable energy future with KBOO host Bill Resnick.

The rules we make now will decide our energy future. Listen to the interview here.

Britain Moves Feed-in Tariffs to a Whole New Level

admin — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:16:23 -0600

In a truly groundbreaking move for the English-speaking world, Britain's Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) has released a full suite of renewable energy tariffs that go into effect in April. Britain will become the first country in the world to offer a comprehensive system of tariffs for renewable heat, including tariffs for solar domestic hot water and ground-source heat pumps among others.

Instead of Cap and Trade, Cap and Dividend

dmorris — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 10:56:50 -0600

A new and vastly improved climate change policy has come out of nowhere to capture the imagination of state and national policymakers: "Cap and dividend." It works like this: Step one, impose a carbon cap. Step two, auction off all carbon allowances. Step three, return most of (if not all) the revenues generated to all households on a per capita basis.

Supreme Court Removes Clean Energy Policy Detour

jfarrell — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 09:46:47 -0600

In a largely unheralded move last week, the Supreme Court removed an unnecessary and unpopular detour from the road to a clean energy economy, preserving the right of states to refuse new high voltage transmission lines. At issue was the right of the federal government to override a state’s veto of a new transmission line. Electric utilities had appealed the Piedmont Environmental Council’s victory in a lower court decision, but the high court’s refusal to review means that states will retain the authority to refuse new high voltage transmission lines.

Regional Plug-In Electric Vehicle Planning - Southern California

jbailey — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:42:58 -0600

This effort was announced in December 2009 and is a nice example of the start of a regional effort to do some comprehensive planning to facilitate the smooth transition to electric vehicles. The initiative is a collaboration between cities, utilities, automakers and others in the Southern California region who will work actively to support and build the necessary infrastructure for the commercial launch of electric vehicles.

Electric Vehicle Charging Systems Required For New Buildings – Vancouver, British Columbia

admin — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 10:18:59 -0600

Normal.dotm 0 0 1 683 3895 Institute for Local Self-Reliance 32 7 4783 12.0 Vancouver has established an electric vehicle (EV) charging system requirement for new construction - both single family and multi-family properties. In October 2009, a new rule requires 20% of the parking spots in new multi-family developments in Vancouver to have charging ports for electric vehicles.

Electric Vehicle Charging Rates

jbailey — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:39:37 -0600

With respect to charging electric vehicles (EVs), the ideal scenario would result in a maximum amount of renewable energy flowing into the vehicle's battery packs while at the same time utilizing our existing infrastructure (power plants, transmission/distribution lines) as efficiently as possible. To meet this scenario, the timing of charging up vehicles must be compared to the timing of power plant

Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Planning Requirement

jbailey — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 12:43:14 -0600

The idea here would be to get a head start on the emerging market penetration of electric vehicles (EVs) and enact legislation that opens a regulatory proceeding covering electric utility related EV issues. At a minimum, the legislation should require utilities to develop a coordinated infrastructure plan for EVs. Issues included would be: ensuring interoperability of EV equipment, requirements for infrastructure, cost recovery, smart grid integration, time-of-use (TOU) pricing, other rate and billing issues. The proceeding should also bring to light a clear picture of what power plants will be operating during the likeliest charging periods for EVs.