Some of the world’s most innovative technology companies, from Apple to Facebook to Google, are famous for “acquihires,” or buyouts of far smaller firms that are overflowing with specialists who have skills in important emerging business areas. Apparently, the same is also true when it comes to finding experts in clean energy procurement.
The latest evidence? In mid-January, energy management and sustainable building infrastructure company Schneider Electric snapped up one of the better-known advisory firms in this space, Renewable Choice Energy of Boulder, Colorado, for an undisclosed sum of money. In fact, the latter’s 35-person team is already making joint sales calls with its new colleagues from Schneider Electric.
The deal, considered alongside Edison Energy’s acquisition of Altenex last year, offers another signal of just how important clean energy is becoming to corporate energy strategies.
If anything, we have to work to become more creative.
“Developers don’t have the time and resources to figure out how to get the output of their assets to the market, and you have end users who are eager to get their hands on this capacity,” said Steve Wilhite, senior vice president of energy and sustainability services for Schneider Electric. “We are linking the two sides to make this more accessible.”
Read more (Green Biz)
With President Trump preparing to nominate a ninth justice for the Supreme Court this week, tumult over the crucial vacancy is overshadowing his unprecedented potential to fill the benches of lower federal courts.
A broad refusal by Senate Republicans to approve judicial nominees during the last two years of Obama’s second term means Trump could move quickly to fill 114 vacant federal judge positions. U.S. Courts data shows that to be the most vacancies in at least 20 years.
Trump is a foe of environmental regulations who is working quickly to undo rules, programs and agreements backed by President Obama to slow global warming. By appointing federal judges with similar views, Trump could make it harder for future administrations to secure courtroom approvals for new climate rules for decades to come.
“It’s a very serious problem,” said Glenn Sugameli, an attorney for the nonprofit Defenders of Wildlife who tracks federal judge vacancies and nominations. “It does create more opportunities for bad judges to get confirmed, for bad decisions to be issued, and for courts to tilt.”
Read more (Climate Central)
Amazon’s launch of its “Go” store — essentially a grocery with no cashiers — has fueled a debate about how automation will destroy jobs.
There are 3.4 million workers with some variant of the title “cashier” in America, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, making it one of the most common jobs in the country. But Amazon’s store eliminates this role. And soon, automated taxis, stores and restaurants could wipe out many millions of similar jobs across the service sector.
Experts are increasingly grappling with what technology, automation and artificial intelligence mean for the average worker. But it’s not all bad news.
For example, a recent Planet Money podcast noted that improvements in navigation and tracking technology enabled UPS to increase the number of packages that a driver can deliver in a day. Due to these improvements, the total compensation for a UPS driver has doubled over the past 20 years.
Read more (Green Tech Media)
Did you blink? If so, you might have just missed a major piece of news this week.
We’re just seven days into the Trump presidency and a major shift in U.S. energy policy is already underway. It’s been such a whirlwind of a week that it’s been tough to keep track of all the developments.
In this recurring series, GTM tracks the latest energy and climate policy changes under the new administration to help you stay up to date. Several of Trump’s cabinet nominees have also weighed in on climate and energy policies in recent days. So in this edition we also chronicle the highlights from last week’s confirmation hearings.
An America First Energy Plan
Minutes after Trump took office, the White House archived President Obama’s policy pages and posted new ones, including “An America First Energy Plan.” The plan commits to embracing the oil and shale gas revolution, reviving America’s coal industry and promoting energy independence, but makes no mention of renewable energy. Trump’s plan also commits to ending “unnecessary policies,” such as President Obama’s Climate Action Plan and the Waters of the U.S. rule. Eliminating such regulations will increase American workers’ wages by more than $30 billion over the next seven years, according to the new White House webpage.
Trump lists infrastructure priorities, including in wind, solar and energy storage
The Trump administration has drawn up an infrastructure investment priority list with about 50 projects nationwide, totaling at least $137.5 billion, McClatchy and the Kansas City Star reported this week. The preliminary list of vetted projects created by the White House matches a list of projects developed by the National Governors Association.
Read more (Green Tech Media)
Arthur H. Rosenfeld, a physicist who became widely known as the father or energy efficiency for championing energy-saving requirements for appliances and buildings, died on Friday in Berkeley, Calif. He was 90.
The cause was related to pneumonia, said Adam Gottlieb, a marketing and outreach specialist with the California Energy Commission, with which Dr. Rosenfeld worked for 10 years.
His work, embraced at first in California under Gov. Jerry Brown, gained national attention and helped lay the foundation for federal energy efficiency rules that are in place today.
Read more (The New York Times)
Over the past several decades, the United States has been transitioning into a more environmentally sustainable and energy efficient economy. New business models, goods and services, such as energy efficiency and renewable energy, have emerged, while traditional businesses and institutions have made significant efforts to reduce the environmental footprint of their operations. This report highlights the role of this transition in boosting the American economy and creating millions of sustainability jobs across the nation.
“Now Hiring: The Growth of America’s Clean Energy & Sustainability Jobs” [PDF] discusses the current status and key trends in renewable energy and energy efficiency, and summarizes some of the major advances in other sectors such as local/state government, transportation and the private sector.
In many cases, these sectors are vastly outpacing the rest of the U.S. economy in growth and job creation, and are generating more jobs per dollar invested. Many of these jobs have higher than average wages, create local economic benefits, and are widely available in markets across the U.S.
Read more (EDF Climate Corps)
EPA staff has been instructed to freeze all its grants ― an extensive program that includes funding for research, redevelopment of former industrial sites, air quality monitoring and education, among other things ― and told not to discuss this order with anyone outside the agency, according to a Hill source with knowledge of the situation.
An EPA staffer provided the information to the congressional office anonymously, fearing retaliation.
It’s unclear whether the freeze is indefinite or temporary as the agency transitions fully to the Trump administration; the Senate has not yet confirmed Trump’s pick for EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt. It’s also not clear the immediate impact the grant freeze would have on programs across the country, since EPA grants are distributed at varying intervals and frequency.
“I will say it’s pretty unusual for us to get these kinds of anonymous contacts from people at the agency, which makes me think it’s unusual,” said the Hill source.
A source who works closely with states and territories on EPA grants said they heard from the agency on Tuesday evening that a review of grants would be done by Friday.
Read more (The Huffington Post)
Companies focused on smart grid, energy storage and energy efficiency raised $1.3 billion in venture capital funding in 2016, according to Mercom Capital Group.
Energy efficiency companies led the field, raising $528 million, followed by smart gird firms, which raised $389 million, and battery storage companies, which raised $365 million.
Overall, however, VC funding for the three sectors was down compared with 2015, when $1.67 billion in venture capital funding flowed into those three sectors. Debt and public market funding for the three sectors, on the other hand, was up in 2016, hitting $4.58 billion, compared with $2.8 billion in 2015.
Dive Insight:
Mercom’s full year results reflect a trend noted when the consulting and communications firm reported on third quarter funding for smart gird, battery storage and energy efficiency companies.
In that report, Mercom noted that funding activity slowed to $102 million, from $433 million in the second quarter.
Read more (Utility Dive)
Last fall, business leaders from Whirlpool, Schneider Electric and Clif Bar met with Ohio state lawmakers on an important request: Don’t hurt jobs, profits and the economy by rejecting the promise of renewable energy and energy efficiency.
Corporate and citizen support for clean energy in Ohio made a powerful difference. In the waning days of 2016, Ohio Republican Governor John Kasich vetoed a bill that would have continued the state’s two-year freeze on renewable energy and energy efficiency mandates. It caused some dissent, but it was hard to argue with the economic case presented by major companies in the state. Within minutes of announcing his veto, a half-dozen major Ohio companies publicly thanked the governor for withstanding “immense pressure” and standing up for clean energy and resulting new jobs.
Governor Kasich’s move in Ohio underscores the mounting challenges we face in continuing this country’s progress towards a low-carbon future, despite a new president who is embracing coal and fossil fuels over climate protection and clean energy.
It’s a politically charged environment like never before and the temptation to ‘lie low’ is obvious. But lying low right now on climate and clean energy – and the policies that are fostering low-carbon action – would be short-sighted and dangerous. Too much is at stake with heat-trapping carbon pollution sending global temperatures, sea levels and economic losses ever higher. There are also enormous stakes in positioning the United States to compete in the fast-growing low-carbon global economy. China’s new plans to invest hundreds of billions of dollars on renewable energy in the next several years should be seen as a clear competitive threat to U.S. policymakers.
Read more (Forbes)
Conservatives for Clean Energy, a Raleigh based non-profit, recently expanded into Virginia where it will continue its efforts to “educate the public on the benefits of clean and renewable energy sources.”
Mark Fleming, the group’s president and CEO, recently discussed with Southeast Energy News the importance of renewable energy in North Carolina and Virginia, and what the future might look like for the clean energy industry under the Trump administration. Fleming also explains why there is no “free market” for the energy sector.
Before launching Conservatives for Clean Energy in 2014, Fleming served as District Director for U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry. He has also served as vice-president of the N.C. Free Enterprise Foundation and as the executive director of the Wake Forest Area Chamber of Commerce.
Read the full story. (Southeast Energy News)
