President Donald Trump is set to sign a sweeping executive order on Tuesday aimed at promoting domestic oil, coal and natural gas by reversing much of his predecessor’s efforts to address climate change — prompting warnings the action will undermine U.S. leadership on the issue.
The document lays out a broad blueprint for the Trump administration to dismantle the architecture that former President Barack Obama built to combat the phenomenon, according to details shared with Bloomberg News. Some of the changes would happen immediately, while others would take years to complete.
“He’s trying to undo more than a decade of progress in fighting climate change and protecting public health,” David Doniger, director of the climate and clean air program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in an email. “But nobody voted to abandon America’s leadership in climate action and the clean-energy revolution. This radical retreat will meet a great wall of opposition.”
Read more (The Bloomberg)
Today, most American households pay for electric service via a two-part electric rate. This typically consists of a small, fixed customer charge ($ per month) and an energy rate applied per unit of electricity ($ per kilowatt hour). There are some variations on this model, including energy rates that vary based on time of day or total monthly consumption, but the basic structure of residential rates hasn’t changed much over time. In recent years, utilities have proposed significant departures to this format to address the changing dynamics of the electric utility industry.
Some of these changes have the potential to disrupt the economics of customer efficiency investments and may drive customers to use more electricity. In our new report, Rate Design Matters: The Intersection of Residential Rate Design and Energy Efficiency, we examine the relationship between the changes in residential electric rates and customer engagement in energy efficiency.
New Trends in Residential Rates
Under two-part rates, the first part is typically a monthly customer charge also known as a service fee or fixed charge. This charge collects costs associated with customer service, billing, and the meter and is typically less than $8 a month.
Read more (ACEEE)
Dozens of companies and organizations are pleading with Congress to save the popular Energy Star program for appliances and other products, rejecting President Trump’s proposal to eliminate it.
The companies, including major names such as 3M, Johnson Controls Inc., Philips Lighting and Intel, joined advocates such as the Natural Resources Defense Council and Alliance to Save Energy, which organized the letter, in backing the program in a Tuesday letter to congressional appropriators.
“This voluntary partnership program … helps businesses, state and local governments, non-profit organizations, institutions of higher education, homeowners, and consumers save money by investing in energy efficiency,” they wrote.
Read more (The Hill)
Businesses, as well as residential users, utilities and governments, are expected to increase spending on energy efficiency programs, according to Navigant Research. The firm predicts that outlays will more than double – from $25.6 billion to $56.1 billion – between 2017 and 2026.
An indicator of the heightened spending, the press release says, is that the increase in mergers and acquisitions among utilities, technology providers and energy equipment manufacturers.
Read more (Energy Manager Today)
The steep spending cuts that President Trump will soon call for from federal agencies would fall particularly heavily on the Energy Department unless the Trump budget team unexpectedly warms up to the Obama administration’s clean energy, energy efficiency, and smart grid technology programs, budget experts say.
White House officials said last month that the president will ask Congress to add $54 billion to discretionary Department of Defense spending in the 2018 fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. The new budget goals will be released in the middle of this month, White House spokesman Sean Spicer reiterated yesterday, which circles next week on the calendar.
To keep the budget in balance, that increase for defense would require a matching $54 billion cut in civilian agencies’ discretionary spending, just over 10 percent of the ceiling for these programs set by the Budget Control Act, under which the federal government is operating.
Read more (E&E News)
The smart home has seen impressive technological innovations designed to improve sustainability and reduced energy usage, leading to a drop in associated utility expenditures. But the same is not true for businesses: The “smart store” does not yet exist.
To make the smart store a reality, the same innovations found in the smart home must be applied to brick-and-mortar retail outlets to help them manage energy usage and reduce overhead expenses.
Whether or not a retailer operates in multiple locations, energy costs take up a large percentage of overhead expenses (think refrigeration units at a grocery store or AC units running at a coffee shop on a hot summer day). Without an energy management system in place, these HVAC systems often go unchecked, unnecessarily running through the day and night. Worse yet, their energy costs are assumed to be a necessary, unchangeable factor.
Retailers have an opportunity to save immensely on energy usage and overhead expenses if similar innovations from the smart home carry over to the store. For these businesses, connected devices are the next step in focusing on sustainability while cutting costs, increasing energy efficiency and easing the work of energy managers.
Read more (Greentech Media)
The Trump White House has wasted no time in targeting pro-climate policies, freezing energy-efficiency standards finalized during the last days of the Obama administration. Its “America First Energy Plan” makes no mention of renewable energy or energy efficiency, and it is focused on fossil fuels. But in 2012, Donald J. Trump, the businessman, played a different tune.
That year, Mr. Trump finished securing almost $1 million in energy-efficiency incentives and low-interest loans from New York State to fit a Trump-branded residential tower in Westchester County with eco-friendly fixtures, state records show.
“I strongly believe in clean energy, in conserving energy, all of that — more than anybody,” Mr. Trump is quoted as saying in a fact sheet about the project, at Trump Tower at City Center in White Plains. As part of the project, a state-of-the-art power system that recycles energy was installed.
Read more (The New York Times)
Home efficiency advocates and homebuilders are squaring off in Virginia over what many stakeholders say is an overdue update to energy codes for new home construction.
A public comment period that began February 20 runs through April 21 with open meetings and an online portal. It is to be followed by a public hearing May 15 in Richmond. Gov. Terry McAuliffe will have the opportunity to add his efficiency recommendations before he leaves office at year’s end.
Despite the opportunities for public input, the interim path is a complex one and depends on interested parties making sure their views are heard and then surviving a vote that is heavily influenced by homebuilders.
Ultimately, any energy changes in the state’s residential new construction code will be decided by the board of the Department of Housing and Community Development, which includes several private homebuilders and developers.
Read more (Southeast Energy News)
At every level of government—from a small rural community in the U.S. to the entire European Union—there’s one common energy policy that everyone seems to agree on: energy efficiency. Theoretically, it has its benefits. Saving energy saves money. It also reduces pollution and the emissions that cause climate change. And, in developing countries where energy access is a major problem, it conserves more energy for those who have none.
Yet, for all the appeal of energy efficiency as a goal, more and more economists are finding that energy efficiency policies don’t actually work all that well. Take my colleague Michael Greenstone. He and his coauthors studied an energy efficiency program in Michigan and found the costs to implement the program greatly exceeded the benefits. He’s not alone. A growing field of research is focused on assessing energy efficiency policies, and is finding similar discouraging results (see more here). The point in all this research is not to denounce the goals of energy efficiency and energy conservation. Rather, the studies demonstrate that policies must be tested before being widely implemented.
Work in the United States continues to test those policies and is showing that when households are given information that compares their electricity use to that of their peers, they tend to reduce consumption. But we know little about how this behavior translates to the developing world, with different cultural norms, incomes and consumption levels. That’s where a new study of mine comes in.
Read more (Forbes)
Since the Alliance was created 40 years ago, we’ve witnessed great strides in energy efficiency, and much of it can be attributed to champions of the cause working in every corner of government, business and industry.
On Wednesday, Feb. 8, the Alliance celebrated three professionals who played a major role in these accomplishments (full photo gallery here), but have not received recognition commensurate to their contributions to the field. They are the 2017Unsung Heroes of Energy Efficiency!
- Chester Carson, Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
As a Professional Staff Member for the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Carson focuses his work on energy efficiency, building codes, appliance standards, climate change, biomass, wind, solar, and rural energy. See Chester’s full bio.
- Mark Fowler, Legislative Assistant, U.S. Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.)
Fowler advises Rep. Welch on energy, environment, and agriculture policy, as well as related matters within the Energy and Commerce Committee. Prior to joining the Congressman, Mark served as a policy aide in the office of Senator Claire McCaskill where he also worked on energy and agriculture policy. See Mark’s full bio.
- Maria Vargas, U.S. Department of Energy
As Director of the Better Buildings Challenge at the Department of Energy, Vargas oversees the programs’ efforts to makeAmerican buildings 20 percent more efficient in the next decade. She also serves as a Senior Program Advisor in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the Department of Energy. See Maria’s full bio.
Read more (Alliance to Save Energy)
