TIghtening gaps, thickening windows, and recovering waste heat might sound like the stuff of a bygone sitcom. It's the stuff of climate resilience, and its economics loom large in how investors treat commercial building portfolios or their own homes. Our writer spells out the choices.
(Photo by overWHAMmed, from Flickr Creative Commons). This transmission line in Pelzer, SC, testifies to the market potential for investment in new high-voltage lines.
The main line is the main event. Transmission of clean electricity, combined with storage, means that every state and nearly every community can effectively live on fossil-free power. Financing and permitting involve economic, political, and engineering knots. This explainer takes in the breakthrough ideas and baseline for speedier deployment.
(Photo by Greg Dunlap, via Flickr Creative Commons.) Ratings of Chevron, and other companies whose fortunes float on the energy transition, can leave asset managers feeling lost at sea.
As ESG becomes an increasingly popular investing strategy, questions about better standardization arise. Ideally, ratings agencies would use objective criteria. Some frameworks are emerging that emphasize transparency and context.
Activists in Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood have explored whether Clean Peak Standards can address air quality and energy inequity. (Photo by Victoria Belanger via Flickr Creative Commons.)
One state has tried requiring power at peak demand periods to come from clean sources. This mandate can improve air quality in low-income communities. Critics question its effect on emissions, though, and its optimal design as clean-energy storage for utilities evolves.
(Courtesy Fairfax County, VA.) EV charging looks one way to flatlanders...
Utilities whose businesses span rural and urban terrain can gain when they support the rollout of electric vehicle charging networks. This memo sets a framework for Maine's utility to meet policy objectives and secure market position.
