As we learn more about the transition of the nation’s electric grid to a “smart grid” we are coming to the realization, among other considerations, that it will be a costly undertaking, will involve a highly complex infrastructure, and will need to be protected from any number of vulnerabilities,
At the April 15, 2011 Chamber Special Briefing Series, energy storage technology was discussed by Eric Hsieh, who is the Regulatory Affairs Manager for A123 Systems, where he promotes policy reforms that bring storage benefits to electricity users and markets. Previously, he was the Government Rel
What exactly is Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE)? Is it more than just chargers but also energy management? What might be EVSE’s impact on transportation; on the electricity grid, and on energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions? These and many other questions were addressed today at
Last month the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) released a national assessment of demand response that estimates the potential for demand response, both nationally and for each state, through 2019. The assessment, A National Assessment of Demand Response Potential, finds the potential fo
The European Union (EU) and Norway are increasing cooperation to commercialize carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology by handing out upward of 140 million Euros to support European CCS projects and exploring the possibility of storing CO2 in the North Sea. See their website for more informatio
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently issued a cost estimate for the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (H.R. 2454), which was recently approved by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. This legislation would make a number of changes in energy and environmental policies l
The good news: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) researchers are developing technologies that in the future will help produce new commercial buildings that use 80% less energy than today’s buildings. More here.
The bad news: "A recent Electric Power Research Institute study projects that
The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) has published Incentives to Sustain forest Ecosystem Services – A Review and Lessons for REDD. REDD is an acronym for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation. A detailed UNFCCC web site deals with REDD.
The IIED
Congressional Research Service (CRS) environmental policy analyst Jonathan Ramseur has written The Role of Offsets in a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Cap-and-Trade Program: Potential Benefits and Concerns. Ramseur notes:
If Congress establishes a greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction program (e.g.,
The Washington, DC-based think tank, Resources For the Future (RFF) has re-launched its Weathervane website, which has been a source of climate information and data for more than ten years, as an interactive blog. The restructured site will draw on the expertise and perspective of researchers at RF
A keynote luncheon presentation was given by the Honorable Jon Wellinghoff, Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Emerging Technologies Committee (ETC) meeting held May 13, 2009. Wellinghoff discussed FERC regulatory activities related to gri
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has posted the negotiating text document that was prepared by the Chair of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-Term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA) in response to the request from the AWG-LCA at its third session. The
Some people are very passionate about technology. Two-thirds of the people who own Roombas, the humble floor-sweeping robots, give them names; one-third take their Roombas on vacation. Of course you could also just read these emerging technology articles of note:
Services industry and climate chan
Resources For the Future (RFF) analysts Harrison Fell and Richard Morgenstern have produced an RFF Discussion Paper titled, Alternative Approaches to Cost Containment in a Cap-and-Trade System (RFF DP 09-14). In the report, they compare how a set of policies performs in terms of reaching an expec
A quick look at the CBO's report How CBO Estimates the costs of Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions. The report describes the methodology CBO uses to estimate the costs of mitigating emissions. According to the agency:
CBO uses projections of mitigation costs that, by construction, are in the middle
Carnegie Mellon University researchers have published a report titled Near-Term Implications of a Ban on New Coal-Fired Power Plants in the United States. Proposals for many new coal-fired U.S. power plants have been canceled; some states have prohibited such new generators. The Carnegie Mellon res
Researchers associated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change have published Prospects for Plug-in Hybrid electric Vehicles in the United States and Japan: A General Equilibrium Analysis (Report No. 172, April 2009). An abstract
Why Chrysler Chose A123 Batteries - The automaker wanted U.S.-based manufacturing and a flexible battery design.
Measuring Corn Ethanol's Thirst for Water - Ethanol from corn consumes three times more water than previously thought.
Holistic Advice On Climate Change - "Congress asks National Ac
The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) has published the findings from a detailed modeling analysis of how cuts in greenhouse gas emissions might influence impacts such as melting of arctic ice and sea level rise.
Tackling the climate change challenge will require global cooperation. B
Economists Dallas Burtraw, Richard Sweeney, and Margaret Walls with the Washington, DC-based think tank, Resources For the Future have produced a report titled The Incidence of U.S. Climate Policy: Alternative Uses of Revenues from a Cap-and-Trade Auction. They observe:
"Federal policies intended
Professor Andrew Odlyzko of the University of Minnesota's Digital Technology Center has, among his many other interests, considered cybersecurity issues and the challenges that they pose. See this recent PowerPoint presentation titled How to Live and Prosper With Insecure Cyberinfrastructure. Relat
"Everybody agrees that tomorrow's electrical grid must incorporate wind and solar power seamlessly. But solving the reliability issue won't be easy," Dan Charles in Science (sub req'd)
Addition of large quantities of intermittent power to the grid, such as wind and solar will create significant ch
A World Wildlife Fund (WWF) analyst claims that the European Union is "cheating" the world on climate change. As reported on EurActiv's Climate Change web site page, Stefan Singer, director for global energy policy at WWF, claims that the European Union is playing "tricks on the atmosphere" when it
On April 8, 2009 the, Palo Alto, California based Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) reported that they had been selected by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an agency of the Department of Commerce, to facilitate the development of a smart grid interoperability roadm
Melisa F. Pollak and Elizabeth J. Wilson, analysts at the University of Minnesota Center for Science, Technology, and Public Policy have published Regulating Geologic Sequestration in the United States: Early Rules Take Divergent Approaches (found here) in the journal Environmental Science & Techno
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has issued three key "Advance Version" reports that are relevant to the ongoing post-2012 international climate change negotiations aimed at making progress on addressing technology issues. The reports are:
Advance report on a str
From the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) blog, talking about their report The Impact of Ethanol Use on Food Prices and Greenhouse-Gas Emissions
Over the past several years, spurred by both rising gasoline prices and long-standing subsidies for producing ethanol, the use of ethanol as a motor fue
Yesterday, experts from IBM, CenterPoint Energy, Itron Inc., and VantagePoint Venture Partners gathered on Capitol Hill to discuss what the smart grid is, its benefits, what it provides towards addressing future energy needs, and next steps needed to move it toward implementation. The widely attend
