"States can now accelerate deeper progress toward what we really want: a 100 percent clean electricity grid that is also affordable and reliable. Unfortunately, by failing to allow all carbon-free technologies to compete equally, leading states are on the brink of adopting policies that miss the opportunity to achieve all three objectives simultaneously."
"Policies to foster competition in energy are important especially in states like Michigan with regulated electricity markets. In Michigan, regulated investor-owned utilities are the only providers of electricity in the service territories in which they operate."
North Carolina has the potential to be a leader in offshore wind development, and the governor’s guidance can help jumpstart the industry. As a new market, however, the industry needs a stronger signal of interest. An executive order setting a goal for offshore wind development will show the wind industry that North Carolina intends to significantly invest in the sector.
As Germany shuttered another of its nuclear power plants on New Year’s Day, the office of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi was said to be considering a proposal which would make coal more competitive with renewables in one of the world’s worst polluting nations.
In California, the nation’s most populous state, every newly-built home must now come with enough solar panels to satisfy its electricity needs. It’s a quiet revolution tucked into the building codes approved unanimously by the California Energy Commission in 2018.
Some of the biggest investor-owned utilities in the country have in recent years had significant grid modernization proposals rejected by regulators. But utilities may be able to avoid such rejection by answering three basic, but critical questions.
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf proposed Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) legislation in the fall 2019 legislative season. By voting to join RGGI, Pennsylvania can reduce electricity rates, improve the state and regional economy, and make the state a leader in the global effort to combat climate change.
The implementation plan that Arlington County expects to propose in June 2020 needs to include the creation of a green bank – a quasi-public entity established to facilitate private investment into local low-carbon, climate-resilient infrastructure.
To capture the energy efficiency opportunity across the U.S. economy, the House Energy and Commerce Committee should introduce a bill to establish a national energy benchmarking standard for commercial buildings. Building on the success of local ordinances, the proposed bill would create a national requirement while giving state and local governments the option to maintain more aggressive requirements if they desire.
