Andy Xie

Andy Xie
Industry Positions Writer, Yale Center for Business and the Environment
Degree Programs , Yale College, 2021
Affiliations CLEAN ENERGY FINANCE FORUM Conservation Finance Network Yale Initiative on Sustainable Finance

Andy Xie studied Economics and Political Science at Yale College, graduating in 2021. He has written for the Clean Energy Finance Forum and the Conservation Network - and served as a Research Assistant at the Yale Initiative on Sustainable Finance.

Authored Articles
The golden age of wireless?

Beam announced its deal with the City of San Diego in October 2020. 

Building Profits in Charging: A Naming Rights Model

Andy Xie
Carbon emissions from transportation must nearly vanish in coming years for the world to add less than two degrees of temperature above preindustrial levels. So ways to charge up cars on clean electric supply must proliferate. Beam, a San Diego vendor, promises to finance its growth largely on advertising.
How do you sum the value of everything in, from, and under these trees?

(Courtesy City Forest Credits.) Beyond soothing imagery, urban trees measurably lift air quality, energy affordability and employment. City Forest Credits aims to quantify what that's worth. 

City Forest Credits: Reforestation-Based Urban Equity Solutions

Andy Xie
City Forest Credits matches nonprofits and cities to fund urban trees. It describes its mission as one to make “American cities greener, healthier, and more equitable.” By computing value of rainfall interception, air quality benefits and energy savings, the outfit aims to define premium price for nonprofit organizations to charge...

In a Boiler, a Recipe for Energy Savings

Andy Xie
The story of a small property owner and a repaired boiler hints at the potential multipliers in C- , a program that lets owners use energy savings to repay loans for upgrades. Keys to the program include training and coaching, which make the savings easier to achieve and quicker to see...
Get to know the power purchase agreement

How can electricity customers route electricity economics in a greener direction? Two forms of long-term power commitments provide promising vehicles. 

Virtual or Physical, the PPA Is Prime

Andy Xie
Power purchase agreements come primarily in two flavors: physical and virtual. In the physical deal, a buyer takes electricity on specified green terms. In the virtual arrangement, a buyer commits capital for renewable projects that will light somebody else's territory. This piece lays out the logic, risks and potential in...
Cleaning this up can happen more quickly when a corporation enters a PPA

Power economics look volatile after the shutdown, but power purchase agreements can provide security, predictability and a production pathway for non-polluting fuels. 

Introducing the ABCs of PPAs

Andy Xie
Though operating in distinct markets, each with unique business needs, companies from Sprint to Gap to the Clorox Company have all taken on a novel technique for energy procurement in the past year: the power purchase agreement (PPA).