This week’s articles include:
CBC discusses renewable energy, retrofits touted as job-creating alternative to oil sector devastation. Renewables create more jobs per dollar invested than oil industry, say advocates.
With a barrel of Canadian oil now going for the same price as a cup of coffee, some renewable energy experts say it’s time for a different approach to building Canada’s energy sector.
They say the massive job losses and economic turmoil hammering the oil industry could be at least partly offset by a more aggressive shift toward renewables, energy-efficiency retrofits and other sustainable infrastructure.
“There are very practical reasons it would make sense,” said Martin Boucher, of the University of Saskatchewan’s Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy.
Western Canada Select crude oil has been selling for less than $5 a barrel since the coronavirus-imposed travel bans and business shutdowns caused demand to plummet more than a month ago. Even last week’s deal between OPEC and other world powers to cut supply by 10 per cent failed to ignite crude prices. On Friday, WCS was listed at $2.87.
This week’s articles include:
E&E News discusses how the Coronavirus is unraveling the energy efficiency industry.
The nation’s largest source of energy jobs — the energy efficiency sector — is experiencing mass layoffs from the coronavirus as utility and state programs shut down across the country, according to contractors and industry representatives.
Utilities and state energy agencies have halted programs that help homeowners and business owners pay for new installations and building retrofits. The Department of Energy has encouraged local nonprofit grantees, some of which contract out to small third-party companies, to suspend or “severely limit” low-income weatherization activities, with the vast majority of grantees electing to do so, according to a recent DOE notice.
State governors have also in some cases shut down in-person construction work, which accounts for about half of the industry’s workforce. Nearly all residential projects are on pause nationwide, according to several industry associations.
This week’s articles include:
Green Tech Media discusses how Virginia created an energy storage market by recently-passed legislation. A new energy bill makes Virginia a market to watch. “Last year, we were talking about pilots; this year, we’re talking about 2.7 gigawatts.”
Virginia, as it stands today, can hardly be called an energy storage market. But its legislature just passed a clean-energy omnibus bill so comprehensive and thorough that, almost overnight, it converted the state into a storage market to watch.
Richmond’s entry sets a new standard for ambitious clean energy policy. Not only does it call for closing fossil-fueled plants by midcentury, but it also introduces energy-efficiency savings targets for the first time in the state’s history, ramps onshore renewables by 16 gigawatts, targets 5.2 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2034, lifts caps on distributed generation, and commits the state to joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).
American Council for Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) discusses their energy efficiency scorecard. The 52 largest US electric utilities have dramatically increased their overall energy savings as they adopt innovative ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to the 2020 Utility Energy Efficiency Scorecard. Leading the way are Eversource Massachusetts and National Grid Massachusetts, which tied for first place for the second time, followed by San Diego Gas & Electric (#3), Commonwealth Edison in Illinois (#4), Baltimore Gas and Electric (#5), and Pacific Gas & Electric (also #5).
Dominion Energy is #50 out of 52 – almost, but not quite, the worst.
This discusses a NRDC commissioned- report from Optimal Energy to vet the benefits of the proposed 2% Energy Efficiency Resource Standard in Virginia (HB 1450 and SB 354, also incorporated in to the VA Clean Economy Act).
This Lazard report discusses Lazard’s Levelized Cost of Energy (“LCOE”) analysis, addressing:
This Ensia article discusses a report that shows how efficiency improvements can cut US energy use and GHG’s by half by 2050.
Improved energy efficiency can make a big contribution to U.S. efforts toward dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, according to a new report from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE).
The report, “Halfway There: Energy Efficiency Can Cut Energy Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Half by 2050,” determined that major energy savings could be attained by a combination of measures, including moving to electric vehicles, strategically managing industrial energy use and decarbonization, improving aviation efficiency, upgrading existing commercial buildings and homes, better designing new buildings, and improving appliance efficiency.
ACEEE’s analysts also note the role that collective individual action can play in improving energy efficiency and reducing the threat of climate change. By creating greater demand for energy-efficient cars, appliances and well-insulated homes, consumers can push industry to develop new, more innovative green technology.