March 30th, 2015
Via Renew Economy, an interesting report on a new utility business model that embraces efficiency and solar without sacrificing revenue: A few weeks ago the city council in Fort Collins, Colorado, unanimously voted to accelerate the city’s climate action goals to achieve an 80-percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050. The […]
Read more »How ‘Virtual Water’ Can Help Ease California’s Drought
March 22nd, 2015
Via The Wall Street Journal, commentary on how market incentives could reverse the economic logic that drives local farmers to plant more water-intensive crops: While the recent rains in California are welcome, they’ve barely made a dent in the enduring drought, now in its fourth year. Solving the state’s water problem will take radical solutions, […]
Read more »February 4th, 2015
Via ThinkProgress, a report on a new Chinese plan to create a national carbon market: On Wednesday, a Chinese government official said that China plans to launch the first stages of a national carbon market next year. According to the South China Morning Post, Jiang Zhaoli, a senior official with National Development and Reform Commission’s […]
Read more »Google’s Rush Hour Rewards
January 11th, 2015
Via The Motley Fool, a look at Google’s plans for the energy business, in particular its Rush Hour Rewards program: Google (NASDAQ: GOOG ) has been trying to get into the energy business for years. In 2007, it set a goal of making renewable energy cheaper than coal, and as part of the campaign it invested […]
Read more »January 1st, 2015
Via Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, some recent research on the development of market-based mechanisms for water resource allocation in China, with particular focus on water rights trading (WRT): Water scarcity is an issue of growing concern for China, particularly in the north, where a combination of limited water sup- plies, economic growth, and population […]
Read more »Utility 2.0 Vs. Energy Democracy
November 11th, 2014
Via Renewable Energy World, an interesting look at the difference between what many call the transition to Utility 2.0 and what others call energy democracy: The transformation taking place in the electricity system is enormous, and the prescribed solution — a version 2.0 electric utility — offers a way for utilities to remain financially solvent, […]
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