Blog

Dec 15

Ten Strategies to Increase Customer Participation and Fairness in Energy Efficiency

Energy efficiency is widely recognized as an abundant and low-cost option for complying with the requirements of EPA’s Clean Power Plan. However, not all electric customers have equal access to customer-funded efficiency programs. Concerns about fairness between customers—those who participate in programs and see greater benefits than those who do not—create a barrier to widespread implementation of energy efficiency programs.

Dec 10

Ready for Action while Eagerly Anticipating a Deal in Paris

Among those attending side events at the Paris climate talks, there was general confidence that the negotiations would result in a signed climate agreement. Rather than ruminating on a worst-case scenario—one where world leaders leave the event without a plan to combat climate change—participants of the side events focused on making sure that what we get will be a “FAB deal”: fair, ambitious, and binding. Indeed, the feeling among parties outside the negotiations was largely that the general shape of the deal is known and therefore the time for debates is over and the time for serious climate action has arrived.

Dec 09

Oklahoma Corporation Commission Denies OG&E Request for Retrofits at Sooner Coal Plant

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission denied last week the application of Oklahoma Gas and Electric (OG&E) to spend $1.1 billion on new capital projects—primarily coal plant retrofits to comply with federal environmental standards. The Commission’s decision casts the future of the 1,100 megawatt Sooner Generating Station into doubt.

Dec 08

States Must Engage Vulnerable Communities during Development of Clean Power Plan Compliance Plans

Vulnerable communities such as low-income communities and communities of color are disproportionately affected by the health and climate impacts caused by power plant emissions. To comply with EPA’s Clean Power Plan, states must engage these communities during plan development and analyze opportunities to counteract these effects.

Dec 08

Handbook Provides Start-to-Finish Guidance on Clean Power Plan Compliance Process for Consumer Advocates

A handbook released today walks state consumer advocates through EPA’s Clean Power Plan, a complex rulemaking made all the more difficult to unpack due to the degree of flexibility provided to states. Effective participation of consumer advocates in the compliance process is essential to protect the interests of ratepayers.

Dec 04

Does Energy Efficiency Have a Role in Mass-Based Clean Power Plan Compliance?

Yes, it does. Unfortunately, some confusion persists about how energy efficiency measures can be applied to mass-based compliance within the Clean Power Plan. Fortunately, the answer can be summarized in two sentences: (1) In any situation, energy efficiency is a cost-effective way to reduce demand for electricity, both reducing emissions and helping to avoid or defer other mass-based compliance actions. (2) States can take action to develop customized plans to further encourage energy efficiency as a means for meeting mass-based compliance.

Oct 22

A History of Opposition to Federal Regulation: The Perpetual Asymmetry of Cost-Benefit Analysis

At the beginning of this month, the EPA set a new national standard for ozone, nudging the maximum allowable concentration down from 75 to 70 parts per billion (ppb). Industry backlash to the ozone standard continues a long tradition of opposing regulation on the grounds that it is too expensive, despite almost 20 years of rebuttal that shows that estimated costs of federal regulations are overblown.

Oct 14

Transition to Clean Energy Will Create Jobs, Not Kill Them

A strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050 would create hundreds of thousands of new jobs in addition to reducing the total costs of energy services and stabilizing the climate, according to new analysis released today.

Oct 09

Synapse Welcomes Two New Colleagues

Avi Allison joins Synapse as an associate. He was previously a research assistant at the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, where he gathered and analyzed data used to create an international Environmental Performance Index that ranks how well countries perform on high-priority environmental issues. Ariel Horowitz, PhD, joins us as a senior associate after completing her doctoral thesis on the field of energy storage at Tufts University.

Sep 22

Tricks of the Trade: Who Can Sell Emissions Credits to Whom in the Clean Power Plan (Part 2 of 2)

Emissions trading programs are a long-established mechanism used by environmental regulators to reduce air pollution from the electric sector. In this series of posts, we explore how EPA has designed the Clean Power Plan to facilitate the buying and selling of credits representing emissions reductions at fossil-fuel fired power plants. Part 1 focused on rate-based trading. Part 2 explores how states can trade allowances representing tons of CO2 emissions.

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