Energy Efficiency, GHG Emissions, Regulation, Utilities, Solar  -  August 29, 2020

Weekend reads: How climate became a priority for voters; Decarbonizing America's energy system

It's the weekend! Kick back and catch up with these must-read articles from around the web.

Climate Is Taking On a Growing Role for Voters, Research Suggests (The New York Times) The number of Americans who feel passionately about climate change is rising sharply, and the issue appears likely to play a more important role in this year’s election than ever before, a new survey shows. What’s more, despite the turmoil caused by overlapping national and global crises, support for action to curb climate change has not diminished. Backing for government to do more to deal with global warming, at 68 percent in May of 2018, was at the same level in 2020, according to the survey, issued Monday.

Solar Power Finds Ripe New Market in Crop Protection (BloombergNEF) Which solar panel works best with which crop? The answer to that question is being sought in hundreds of farms around the world. The fusion of agriculture and solar – where elevated panels shelter crops beneath – can be seen in two ways: it makes the same piece of land doubly productive, or it slices away performance from both. There is something to be said for both arguments, as more and more so-called agroPV projects are being rolled out globally.

Webinar: EXCLUSIVE RESEARCH - COVID-19's Impact on Sustainability Programs (Smart Energy Decisions and BNEF) Wednesday, September 2, 2020, 2:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time. As the energy industry faces the continuing shock of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s becoming clear that organizations want to hold firm to their sustainability strategies – but will budget uncertainty and competing priorities get in the way? Smart Energy Decisions, in partnership with BloombergNEF, fielded the “Pulse Survey: COVID-19's Impact of Sustainability Programs,” among energy executives to measure the influence of COVID-19 on a series of sustainability practice areas as well as what they anticipate the impact to be as we move through re-openings and economic recovery. REGISTER HERE

Top 10 Utility Regulation Trends of 2020 – So Far (Advanced Energy Economy) In December, we published a list of the top 10 utility regulation trends of 2019. With 2020 now past the halfway point, we check in on the top public utility commission (PUC) actions and trends so far this year. Ten trends stand above the rest, from the impact of COVID on everything, to a growing trend in electric vehicle make-ready investments, to an increasing number of states implementing 100% clean energy targets. And, for the first time, we are including in our curation a key trend in federal regulation of wholesale electricity markets, as it goes directly to the question of who is in charge of energy policy in a changing electricity landscape. Prepare to settle in, as here is the full round-up of the top 10 utility regulation trends so far in 2020.

Webinar: What’s the Total Cost of Ownership? (Duke Energy One) Thursday, September 10, 2020, 2:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time. It is critical for energy executives to understand and derive the true Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for their energy infrastructure before making investment decisions. Even as the impact of COVID-19 and shrinking business margins could discourage investment, innovation will create more value through developing new products and services – but what’s the best financial model for your company to access these products and services? In this webinar, Duke Energy One will explore the key factors you need to know in order to make an informed decision about your company’s energy future. REGISTER HERE

How to decarbonize America — and create 25 million jobs (Vox) Saul Griffith knows the US energy system better than just about anyone on this planet. He’s an inventor, a MacArthur genius fellow, and the founder and CEO of Otherlab, where his team was contracted by the Department of Energy to track and visualize the entirety of America’s energy flows. I had Griffith on The Ezra Klein Show last year for our climate series to lay out what it would look like for America to decarbonize. It was an awesome episode, but it was just a start.

More than $40 million sought for energy efficiency as part of rebuild following civil unrest (Insight News)  Reconstruction assistance in parts of Minneapolis and St. Paul damaged or destroyed by civil unrest could be available to make the area more energy efficient. An idea proffered by Rep. Fue Lee (DFL-Mpls) would establish the Rebuild Right Grant Program in the Commerce Department to promote qualified energy technologies in rebuilt buildings and low-income households.  “We’re facing an issue of equity where these communities impacted by the civil unrest have not traditionally been able to tap into some of these energy efficiency programs and some of these renewables,” Lee told the House Energy and Climate Finance and Policy Division at an informational hearing Thursday. “… These businesses are from communities of color, Indigenous communities.”  

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