Main EDF feed

The Gulf’s Suffering Continues, So Should BP’s Payments
Opinion by Kathleen Koch. U.S. News & World Report. July 19, 2013.
"It's hard to miss the commercials that bombard television viewers, showing cheerful scenes of the Gulf Coast and assuring everyone that oil giant British Petroleum's "commitment to the Gulf and to America has never been stronger." Yet today BP appears before a federal judge…" (Read more).

Corps of Engineers moves closer to decision on how to 'armor' New Orleans area levees
By Mark Schleifstein. The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, La.). July 18, 2013.
"The Army Corps of Engineers is closer to making a final decision on how to “armor” the earthen levees in the New Orleans area hurricane levee system, to keep the levees from eroding or breaching during hurricane storm surges, corps officials said Thursday…" (Read more).

Plaintiffs attorneys oppose BP’s effort to halt Gulf spill payments
By Harry Weber. FuelFix – The Houston Chronicle. July 18, 2013.
"Attorneys for victims of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill oppose BP’s request to suspend all payments from a multibillion dollar civil settlement, saying in a court filing Thursday there is no evidence the overall processing of claims has been corrupted…" (Read more).

Delays on restoration work spark concern
By Nikki Buskey. Houma Courier (Houma, La.). July 18, 2013.
"Local officials and environmental advocates stressed Thursday that early restoration work planned for the Gulf Coast after the BP oil spill is urgently needed and can’t keep suffering bureaucratic delays.  Terrebonne and Lafourche residents had the opportunity…" (Read more).

Sediment diversions are important to survival of state’s coast
Opinion by Aaron Viles. The Lens (New Orleans, La.). July 18, 2013.
"Regarding the July 3 opinion piece, “Sediment diversions not the way to rebuild Louisiana’s coast,” by George Ricks:  There’s a massive irony in the name of your contributor’s organization, the so-called Save Louisiana Coalition…" (Read more).

Levee protection methods debated at meeting
By Jeff Adelson. The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.). July 18, 2013.
"Ongoing tension continued Thursday between the board overseeing the East Bank’s flood protection system and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over how to ensure the area’s levees hold if they get overtopped during storm surges…" (Read more).

Landrieu, Cassidy gloss over cooperation on flood insurance measure
By Stephanie Grace. The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.). July 18, 2013.
"On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu issued a news release announcing great news for certain Louisiana property owners whose flood insurance rates were scheduled to rise: Landrieu had just shepherded legislation delaying the increase through a subcommittee…" (Read more).

By Steve Schwartzman

A key reason California has become a global leader on climate change is its ability to successfully adopt the Global Warming Solutions Act, the state’s climate law that uses market-based tools to significantly reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emission levels.

A group of leading tropical forest experts has presented a blueprint for how California can significantly reduce global warming pollution while keeping pollution control costs down and helping stop tropical deforestation. (image source: Wikimedia Commons)

A group of tropical forest experts has now presented a blueprint for how California can secure significantly more reductions in global warming pollution than the law requires, while keeping pollution control costs down and helping stop the catastrophe of tropical deforestation.

California is widely recognized as the major first mover in the United States on climate change, but tropical states and countries are making strong progress in stopping climate change, too. Brazil and Amazon states have reduced emissions from cutting and burning the Amazon forest by about 2.2 billion tons of carbon since 2005, making Brazil the world leader in curbing climate change pollution.

Research has shown that government policies played a big role in this major achievement. But so far this success in reducing deforestation has been entirely from government “command-and-control;” promised economic incentives for reducing deforestation haven’t materialized.  Pushback from ranchers against environmental law enforcement and the officially recognized indigenous territories and protected areas that cover an area four times the size of California have weakened critical environmental legislation.

Brazil and the Amazon states will continue to reach their ambitious deforestation reduction targets, at least for the next few years, but deforestation rates recently appear to be edging upward.

California now has an opportunity to send a powerful signal that forests in the Amazon – and ultimately elsewhere – can be worth more alive than dead by partnering with sustainable development leaders outside the United States.

Since state-wide, or “jurisdictional,” reductions in deforestation and forest degradation are large in scale and relatively low-cost, it’s critical that well-governed and effective pollution control programs from early movers, like the state of Acre, Brazil, are recognized by California’s carbon market. Ultimately, this can help California control costs, while giving these environmental leaders the sign they need to keep deforestation under control.

REDD Offsets Working Group report

The REDD Offsets Working Group (ROW), along with observers from the governments of California, Acre and Chiapas, Mexico, calls for the Golden State to allow limited amounts of carbon credits from Reducing Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) into its carbon market, but only from states that can show that they have reduced deforestation state-wide and below historical levels.

“The ROW report: Recommendations to Conserve Tropical Rainforests, Protect Local Communities, and Reduce State-Wide Greenhouse Gas Emissions" recommends:

• Partner states receive credit for a part of their demonstrated reductions only after showing they have succeeded in halting deforestation through their own efforts.

• Free, prior and informed consent for local communities in REDD+ programs.

• Adherence to internationally recognized standards for protection of indigenous and local peoples’ rights and participation in policy design in partner-state REDD+ programs.

REDD+ programs are especially important for indigenous and forest-based communities because these groups have historically protected forests, and typically want to continue doing so, but they have largely lacked access to markets, modern technology, quality health care and social services that REDD+ could help deliver. With California’s help, forest communities can achieve better economic opportunities and forest conservation.

By Steve Schwartzman

A key reason California has become a global leader on climate change is its ability to successfully adopt the Global Warming Solutions Act, the state’s climate law that uses market-based tools to significantly reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emission levels.

A group of tropical forest experts has now presented a blueprint for how California can secure significantly more reductions in global warming pollution than the law requires, while keeping pollution control costs down and helping stop the catastrophe of tropical deforestation.

California is widely recognized as the major first mover in the United States on climate change, but tropical states and countries are making strong progress in stopping climate change, too. Brazil and Amazon states have reduced emissions from cutting and burning the Amazon forest by about 2.2 billion tons of carbon since 2005, making Brazil the world leader in curbing climate change pollution.

Research has shown that government policies played a big role in this major achievement. But so far this success in reducing deforestation has been entirely from government “command-and-control;” promised economic incentives for reducing deforestation haven’t materialized.  Pushback from ranchers against environmental law enforcement and the officially recognized indigenous territories and protected areas that cover an area four times the size of California have weakened critical environmental legislation.

Brazil and the Amazon states will continue to reach their ambitious deforestation reduction targets, at least for the next few years, but deforestation rates recently appear to be edging upward.

California now has an opportunity to send a powerful signal that forests in the Amazon – and ultimately elsewhere – can be worth more alive than dead by partnering with sustainable development leaders outside the United States.

Since state-wide, or “jurisdictional,” reductions in deforestation and forest degradation are large in scale and relatively low-cost, it’s critical that well-governed and effective pollution control programs from early movers, like the state of Acre, Brazil, are recognized by California’s carbon market. Ultimately, this can help California control costs, while giving these environmental leaders the sign they need to keep deforestation under control.

 

REDD Offsets Working Group report

The REDD Offsets Working Group (ROW), along with observers from the governments of California, Acre and Chiapas, Mexico, calls for the Golden State to allow limited amounts of carbon credits from Reducing Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) into its carbon market, but only from states that can show that they have reduced deforestation state-wide and below historical levels.

“The ROW report: Recommendations to Conserve Tropical Rainforests, Protect Local Communities, and Reduce State-Wide Greenhouse Gas Emissions" recommends:

• Partner states receive credit for a part of their demonstrated reductions only after showing they have succeeded in halting deforestation through their own efforts.

• Free, prior and informed consent for local communities in REDD+ programs.

• Adherence to internationally recognized standards for protection of indigenous and local peoples’ rights and participation in policy design in partner-state REDD+ programs.

REDD+ programs are especially important for indigenous and forest-based communities because these groups have historically protected forests, and typically want to continue doing so, but they have largely lacked access to markets, modern technology, quality health care and social services that REDD+ could help deliver. With California’s help, forest communities can achieve better economic opportunities and forest conservation.

On Today’s Senate Vote to Confirm Gina McCarthy as Our New EPA Administrator Statement of EDF President Fred Krupp On Today’s Senate Vote to Confirm Gina McCarthy as Our New EPA Administrator July 18 2013 59-40 Thu, 2013-07-18

NEWS RELEASE 

Contact:
Keith Gaby, kgaby@edf.org, 202-572-3336
Sharyn Stein, sstein@edf.org, 202-572-3396
 

 “We are very gratified the Senate has finally voted to confirm Gina McCarthy as America’s new EPA Administrator. McCarthy has always been an ideal candidate for this crucially important job. She has exceptional qualifications and experience, and she has a well-earned reputation for bipartisanship. She has a history of working with both environmental advocates and industry stakeholders, and for pursuing a regulatory approach that is flexible, cost-effective and environmentally effective.

“It’s time to put politics behind us and get to work on the many important issues facing EPA, including implementing key parts of the President’s Climate Action Plan. I look forward to working with Gina McCarthy and her staff at EPA to ensure that Americans have a cleaner, healthier environment.” 

-          Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense Fund

 

# # #

Environmental Defense Fund (edf.org), a leading national nonprofit organization, creates transformational solutions to the most serious environmental problems. EDF links science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships. Connect with us on Twitter and Facebook.

By Marita Mirzatuny

Back in March, I wrote about the American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC’s) state-by-state attack on renewable energy. The attacks contribute to ALEC’s growing reputation as a “shadowy right-wing front group,” funded by the likes of Koch Industries, ExxonMobil and Peabody Energy, the largest private-sector coal company in the world. ALEC’s legislative efforts were aided by the Heartland Institute, a “free-market think tank” and notorious climate change denier.

ALEC has a clear motive: to serve the interests of dirty fossil fuel power plants and block progress towards greater use of clean, homegrown energy.

I’m happy to announce that ALEC and the Heartland Institute’s efforts to roll-back individual state’s renewable energy goals decisively failed in legislatures spanning from West Virginia to Kansas. In total, 26 bills designed to remove renewable energy standards (RPS) for eight states were denied, according to a report from Colorado State University’s Center for the New Energy Economy.

Now, Kansas, Missouri, Ohio, North Carolina, Texas, West Virginia and Wisconsin will continue on the path towards a clean energy future. Even better, some states increased their energy guidelines, namely Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland and Minnesota.

This news comes as a resounding victory for the climate, consumers, and Americans who care to see the U.S. progress into the global $ 2 billion clean energy economy.

Renewable energy is not only a vital component of the national plan to address climate change, but also a bargain for consumers. For example, Texas’ RPS, established in 1999, led the state to become an international powerhouse for wind energy. Texas has already reached its RPS goal, set for 2015, and now boasts more than 1,300 companies employing more than 100,000 workers in industries directly and indirectly related to renewable energy. On top of that, renewable energy is driving down the energy costs for consumers. A Public Utility Commission report to the 81st Legislature states that “prices are lower [ERCOT]-wide when there are large amounts of wind energy being produced.”

Texas’ experience with wind energy is no outlier. Colorado proclaims that the state’s RPS will save customers as much as $100 million over the next 25 years. Just last week, Xcel Energy, the state’s largest utility, moved to purchase another 700 megawatts of wind energy, saving its customers over $590 million in fuel costs over 20 years. Colorado will reap the benefits from a reduced reliance on foreign oil imports, stable prices and less harmful air pollution.

In a way, ALEC and the Heartland Institute’s failure to roadblock progress in these states is no surprise. Carbon-free sources, like renewable energy and energy efficiency, are the key to addressing climate change and lowering energy costs.

The American people understand these fundamental benefits—despite the propaganda ALEC and the Heartland Institute like to promote. A resounding 92 percent of voters, including 84 percent of Republicans, support an increase in renewable energy.

While this is a huge victory, we can’t rest our laurels just yet.  ALEC will be back for their attack on the clean energy, low carbon economy.  We must be just as vigilant if we are going to keep up the momentum to accelerate the transition into clean energy nation.

By Marita Mirzatuny

This commentary originally appeared on EDF's Energy Exchange blog.

Back in March, I wrote about the American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC’s) state-by-state attack on renewable energy. The attacks contribute to ALEC’s growing reputation as a “shadowy right-wing front group,” funded by the likes of Koch Industries, ExxonMobil and Peabody Energy, the largest private-sector coal company in the world. ALEC’s legislative efforts were aided by the Heartland Institute, a “free-market think tank” and notorious climate change denier.

ALEC has a clear motive: to serve the interests of dirty fossil fuel power plants and block progress towards greater use of clean, homegrown energy.

I’m happy to announce that ALEC and the Heartland Institute’s efforts to roll-back individual state’s renewable energy goals decisively failed in legislatures spanning from West Virginia to Kansas. In total, 26 bills designed to remove renewable energy standards (RPS) for eight states were denied, according to a report from Colorado State University’s Center for the New Energy Economy.

Now, Kansas, Missouri, Ohio, North Carolina, Texas, West Virginia and Wisconsin will continue on the path towards a clean energy future. Even better, some states increased their energy guidelines, namely Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland and Minnesota.

This news comes as a resounding victory for the climate, consumers, and Americans who care to see the U.S. progress into the global $ 2 billion clean energy economy.

Renewable energy is not only a vital component of the national plan to address climate change, but also a bargain for consumers. For example, Texas’ RPS, established in 1999, led the state to become an international powerhouse for wind energy. Texas has already reached its RPS goal, set for 2015, and now boasts more than 1,300 companies employing more than 100,000 workers in industries directly and indirectly related to renewable energy. On top of that, renewable energy is driving down the energy costs for consumers. A Public Utility Commission report to the 81st Legislature states that “prices are lower [ERCOT]-wide when there are large amounts of wind energy being produced.”

Texas’ experience with wind energy is no outlier. Colorado proclaims that the state’s RPS will save customers as much as $100 million over the next 25 years. Just last week, Xcel Energy, the state’s largest utility, moved to purchase another 700 megawatts of wind energy, saving its customers over $590 million in fuel costs over 20 years. Colorado will reap the benefits from a reduced reliance on foreign oil imports, stable prices and less harmful air pollution.

In a way, ALEC and the Heartland Institute’s failure to roadblock progress in these states is no surprise. Carbon-free sources, like renewable energy and energy efficiency, are the key to addressing climate change and lowering energy costs.

The American people understand these fundamental benefits—despite the propaganda ALEC and the Heartland Institute like to promote. A resounding 92 percent of voters, including 84 percent of Republicans, support an increase in renewable energy.

While this is a huge victory, we can’t rest our laurels just yet.  ALEC will be back for their attack on the clean energy, low carbon economy.  We must be just as vigilant if we are going to keep up the momentum to accelerate the transition into clean energy nation.

State says Coast Guard won't make BP clean up oil from Grand Terre's Fort Livingston
By Mark Schleifstein. The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, La.). July 18, 2013.
"Frustrations with the dwindling response of BP and the U.S. Coast Guard to environmental and safety complaints about the removal of oil and cleanup equipment used during BP's Gulf oil spill in April 2010 bubbled to the surface again at Wednesday’s monthly meeting…" (Read more).

La. seeks $68 million for coastal restoration
By Amy Wold. The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.). July 17, 2013.
"SLIDELL — The state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority board Wednesday approved sending a state proposal request for $68 million for barrier island restoration and river diversion work to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation…" (Read more).

BP agreed to Deepwater Horizon settlement terms
Opinion piece by James Parkerson Roy & Stephen J. Herman. The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, La.). July 18, 2013.
"For eighth months, we worked with BP, a host of accountants and other experts to develop a settlement agreement that would fairly and transparently compensate families and businesses that might have been directly or indirectly harmed by the spill…" (Read more).

Our View: The coast is our problem
By The News Star Editorial Board (Monroe, La.). July 17, 2013.
"In northeastern Louisiana, we have the benefit of levees that assure us the Ouachita and Mississippi rivers won’t suddenly change course and eat our homes and businesses.  That is not the case in the coastal parishes of Louisiana, where erosion has claimed entire communities…" (Read more).

Debate rages on over river diversion project
By Don Dubuc. WWLTV (New Orleans, La.). July 17, 2013.
"VIOLET, La. — Just when everyone thought the long-awaited state 2012 coastal master plan was good to go, controversy over one of the main aspects of the project has threatened further delay.  The debate over whether diverting massive amounts of freshwater…" (Read more).

Fragile Reefs, Dunes Protect Millions on U.S. Coasts
By Terrell Johnson. Wunderground Blog. July 17, 2013.
"All along the U.S. coastline, millions of people and billions of dollars' worth of real estate rely on nature's defenses — like coral reefs, coastal forests and beach dunes — for protection against the impacts of extreme weather and rising seas…" (Read more).

BP Bid for Spill Payment Freeze Gets Friday Court Hearing
By Margaret Cronin Fisk & Edvard Pettersson. Bloomberg News. July 17, 2013.
"BP Plc (BP/)’s request to temporarily halt payments from the court-supervised settlement program set up after the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill will be considered at a hearing this week.  BP yesterday asked U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier to suspend payments…" (Read more).

 

By Will Lindsey, Environmental Defense Fund

Louisiana-based company HESCO Bastion Environmental, Inc. is at the forefront of business innovations in response to the growing market for coastal restoration projects. Finding new uses for established products, the company is now involved in creating artificial oyster reefs and protective structures for wetlands. This arena of work is expected to expand and create more jobs in coastal communities as the RESTORE Act funds and other monies from the BP oil spill begin to flow.

The Louisiana National Guard constructs a wall of sand-filled Hesco Concertainer units in Cameron, La. to help keep oil-tainted water in the Gulf of Mexico from moving inland. June 22, 2010. (U.S. Army)

HESCO’s original product, the Concertainer, is a barrier system that consists of galvanized welded mesh framed baskets complete with a non-woven geotextile liner. The product is offered in different dimensions and when properly assembled and filled with substrate, such as sand, creates a system of “walls of exceptional strength and integrity.” In the past, the Concertainer has been used primarily for flood protection and by the U.S. armed forces as a barrier against force.

Now, in the face of coastal erosion in the Gulf Coast, the Concertainer has been adapted to take on the challenge of coastal restoration. The aptly named “Concertainer Delta Unit” maintains the original shape and design of the Concertainer, but adds front, unlined compartments. These front compartments, which alternate between rectangular and triangular shapes, can be filled with materials, such as oyster shells, that provide habitat for aquatic organisms. The lined section can be filled with other substrates that encourage coastal plant life to be established. This allows for the restoration of coastal environments by creating a “living shoreline.”

Working with the University of New Orleans, HESCO demonstrated that the Concertainer could be used as an effective coastal restoration tool, by helping to rebuild degraded shoreline near New Orleans. Currently, with the potential for millions of dollars in funding to be directed to coastal restoration through the RESTORE Act and other payments from the BP oil spill, coastal restoration companies like HESCO could see a significant growth in business.

“Our products provide a low-cost solution to a wide range of coastal restoration and protection challenges, from oyster reef construction to flood protection,” said Stephanie Victory, president of HESCO Bastion Environmental, Inc. “We have completed projects all over the world…from emergency flood responses in Thailand to building HESCO Delta Unit oyster reefs just north of Gulf Shores, Ala. We are thrilled that the RESTORE Act passage will create more opportunities for jobs and coastal restoration efforts back home in Louisiana and across the Gulf region.”

REDD Offsets Working Group’s final recommendations called “gold-standard” The ROW report offers guidance to California on establishing gold-standard criteria for states that reduce emissions from deforestation and wish to receive credit in the CA carbon market. Thu, 2013-07-18 Contact:  Joaquin McPeek, Environmental Defense Fund, +1-916-492-7173, jmcpeek@edf.org Jennifer Andreassen, Environmental Defense Fund, +1-202-572-3387, jandreassen@edf.org Environmental and research groups hailed a report released today by world-class experts on how California can help fight tropical deforestation and carbon pollution around the world through innovative policies that Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+). The REDD Offsets Working Group (or ROW) report offers guidance to the state on establishing “gold-standard criteria” for tropical forest states that cut their greenhouse gas emissions by reducing deforestation and wish to receive credit in California’s climate change program. “The ROW report: Recommendations to Conserve Tropical Rainforests, Protect Local Communities, and Reduce State-Wide Greenhouse Gas Emissions" is the final version of the report produced by the group after receiving public comments on its draft released in January.   “Tearing down and burning tropical forests produces more greenhouse gas emissions than all cars, trucks, buses, trains and airplanes on the planet combined,” said Environmental Defense Fund’s Director of Tropical Forest Policy Stephan Schwartzman, a member of the ROW expert group. “California has the opportunity to help turn that around, by taking a significant step to work with these states and jump-start programs that can keep forests standing.”   The destruction of tropical forests accounts for about 15% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions every year; tropical forests house more than half of the planet’s biodiversity and millions of people, including indigenous peoples, depend on them for their survival. In many tropical forest regions, deforestation and forest degradation accounts for a substantial portion of their annual greenhouse gas emissions - in some cases up to 80%.   The ROW report, authored by eleven ROW scientists and environmental policy experts:

• offers the most detailed treatment to date of how to develop comprehensive, statewide REDD+ programs that account for emissions from entire states, not just fragmented, often isolated small-scale efforts.
• addresses how to effectively incorporate REDD+ credits into a carbon-market system while maintaining environmental and social integrity.
• describes how to ensure that any REDD+ credits from outside California come from states and provinces that are reducing emissions from their forest sectors in a way that is as stringent as California’s program requires for other types of emissions.

  “California has an historical opportunity to send a badly needed positive signal to partner tropical states who are making enormous contributions in the fight against climate change with little or no recognition from the global community,” said IPAM International Program’s Director and Senior Scientist, Daniel Nepstad, also a member of the ROW group.   “For us to effectively address global warming, we need to address forest degradation and deforestation. The ROW report provides opens a dialogue so we can explore how California can not only reduce emissions within the state, but also leverage action elsewhere to reduce this significant source of emissions and benefit communities,” said Michelle Passero, Senior Climate Policy Advisor at The Nature Conservancy and member of the ROW expert group.   “These recommendations can help California leverage its ambitious climate change program to achieve emissions reductions beyond its borders that also provide enormous additional benefits to people and biodiversity in tropical forest states,” said Toby Janson-Smith, Senior Director of Forest Carbon Markets at Conservation International.   “The state of California now has the opportunity to do even more to stop dangerous climate change while cutting the costs of controlling global warming pollution. Recommendations from a group of experts on how Reducing Emissions from tropical Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) can come into California’s market show how,” EDF’s Schwartzman said.

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Environmental Defense Fund (edf.org), a leading national nonprofit organization, creates transformational solutions to the most serious environmental problems. EDF links science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships. Connect with us on Twitter and Facebook.

Steve Schwartzman

From the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, Cheryl Roberto to lead EDF Smart Power Campaign From the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, Environmental Defense Fund welcomes Cheryl Roberto to lead EDF Smart Power Campaign Thu, 2013-07-18 Contact:  Mica Vehik, (512) 691-3451, mvehik@edf.org

(New York, NY – July 18, 2013) Today, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) announced the hire of Cheryl Roberto as Associate Vice President, US Climate and Energy.

Roberto served as the Commissioner of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) from 2008 to 2012, where she was the lead commissioner for PUCO’s partnership with the United States Department of Energy combined heat and power pilot project. She was also Co-Chair of the 2012 National Electricity Forum, which centered on envisioning a future electric grid.

Roberto has distinguished herself in the area of energy efficiency. She currently serves on the Executive Group of the State and Local Energy Efficiency Action network (SEEAction) and received the Inspiring Efficiency Leadership Award from the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance in January 2013.

In addition to her experience as PUCO Commissioner, Roberto was the head of the City of Columbus, Ohio Department of Public Utilities. During her four-year tenure as the chief executive officer of municipal distribution utilities, she managed a team of over 1,300 employees, directed a successful water quality environmental initiative and completed the first restructure of utility rate models in two decades.

In her new role at EDF, Roberto will apply her many years of utility leadership experience to lead the organization’s national “EDF Smart Power” campaign. Through regulatory reform and new utility incentives, among others, EDF’s smart power initiatives aim to modernize our outdated energy infrastructure, accelerate the deployment of cutting-edge, clean technologies into the nation’s electric system and break down the regulatory and financial barriers to broad-scale adoption of renewable energy, energy efficiency and other innovative ways to generate, distribute and use energy.

Putting the right policies in place to accelerate investments in clean, homegrown energy will address the need for reliable power and reduce harmful pollution sharply, while spurring economic development, creating jobs and helping America gain a global leadership position in the multi-trillion dollar clean energy economy.

# # #

Environmental Defense Fund, a leading national nonprofit organization, creates transformational solutions to the most serious environmental problems. EDF links science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships.  See Twitter, Facebook and EDF’s Energy Exchange blog.

By Brad Copithorne

Connecticut’s Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority (“CEFIA”) was created in 2011 to help the state increase public and private investment in clean energy solutions that are cheaper and more reliable than traditional solutions.  I had the chance last week to catch up with Bryan Garcia, CEFIA’s CEO, and his impressive team.  I found three of their initiatives to be particularly innovative and impactful.

• Commercial PACE (C-PACE) – Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) is an innovative, market-based approach that helps alleviate the steep, upfront costs that property owners generally incur for energy improvements by using loans that are seamlessly repaid through an additional charge on their property tax bills. While many jurisdictions have implemented PACE programs, CEFIA has had a particularly hands-on approach of working with property owners, contractors, lenders and mortgage holders to reach agreement on transactions that meet the needs of each party.  This strategy appears to be paying off as CEFIA has received 190 applications since the program was launched in April 2013.  Additionally, the Connecticut program appears to be the first PACE program that supports commercial solar installations with the lowest-cost financing structures such as leases and power purchase agreements.  I believe this could be a game changer for installing solar projects and plan to write about this in greater detail in a blog post coming soon.

• Distributed Solar – Financing solar projects in a cost-effective manner can be quite complex due to the tax benefits associated with solar installations.  Earlier this month, CEFIA worked with six financial partners to develop an innovative investment fund that has reduced credit requirements and increased availability of funds for Connecticut homeowners looking to install solar panels by local installers.  This fund also plans to invest in C-PACE commercial solar installations as discussed above.

• Residential On-Bill Repayment (OBR) – Legislation requires CEFIA to establish an OBR program to finance clean energy retrofits for residential properties.  As a private capital solution to financing energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, OBR enables building owners to access low-cost capital, with repayment on their utility bills. The program looks to have many of the key features that we believe are necessary for success, including treating the OBR obligation as an integral part of the utility bill, allowing it to run with the meter upon changes in building ownership and financing a broad range of energy upgrades (including renewables).  We look forward to working with CEFIA for a successful implementation of OBR in Connecticut.

By Erica Morehouse

Source: National Geographic

Arguing that California’s cap-and-trade program doesn’t need to auction carbon allowances is like arguing that the ocean doesn’t need whales or that America doesn’t need bald eagles.  This is essentially what the California Chamber of Commerce and the Pacific Legal Foundation are arguing in a series of lawsuits against the Air Resources Board.  On Tuesday EDF and the Natural Resources Defense Council filed a brief with the Sacramento Superior Court pointing out just how ridiculous this argument is.

Like whales and bald eagles, auctions are quickly becoming a popular part of the cap-and-trade program because of the many environmental, health, and economic benefits that can come from investing auction proceeds to reduce GHGs.  But just as whales don’t exist because people think they are cute, auctions are not part of the cap-and-trade program because the public thinks they’re cool (although they are and people do).  If whales suddenly went extinct there may be a few (fishy) beneficiaries but the whole ocean ecosystem would be thrown off kilter. Like the whale, the auction is an integral part of a cohesive, functioning system for reducing climate change pollution.

Source: Flickr

Half of Plaintiffs argument is that AB 32 did not give ARB the authority to hold auctions under a cap-and-trade program when it gave them the authority to design a program to reduce GHG pollution to 1990 levels by 2020.  They argue that ARB doesn’t need to auction allowances in order meet this target.  But what they ignore is that ARB is supposed to meet this target while protecting low-income communities, maximizing total benefits to California, encouraging early pollution reductions, promoting equity, and encouraging cost-effective reductions. Auctions help California achieve all of these goals.

The other half of Plaintiffs argument is that the auction of carbon allowances is an illegal tax on businesses.  Interestingly they argue this not by comparing the auction to a tax and showing overwhelming similarities but instead by setting up a straw man that they can more easily shoot down.  To continue the whale analogy, it’s as if a scientist discovered a whale for the very first time.  The scientist really, really wants the whale to be a fish.  But instead of looking at whether whales have scales and are cold blooded, the scientist just says “well, it’s not a seal so it must be a fish”.  In our brief we take a more direct approach and lay out at least five reasons why auctions are different than taxes.  Just for starters, have you ever heard of a tax that people volunteer to pay?  Because as many as 12% of the participants in each auction have been buyers who have absolutely no obligation to turn over allowances under the cap-and-trade program.

Speaking of whales and bald eagles, some of the Plaintiffs in this case are no stranger to trying to drive them extinct.  The Pacific Legal Foundation which is representing some of the plaintiffs was a longtime proponent of DDT which nearly wiped out America’s bald eagles.

By EDF Blogs

This commentary, authored by James Lester, originally appeared on Cleantech Finance. 

Last month, we discussed an influential new report by Ceres and the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), Power Factor: Institutional Investors’ Policy Priorities Can Bring Energy Efficiency to Scale. The report detailed several policies that if put in place, could unlock broad-based financing from institutional investors for energy efficiency, a potential several hundred billion dollar investment opportunity.

Among the issues that prevent large scale energy efficiency financing, Ceres and others have found that there is no systematic method to measure the accuracy of the initial predicted energy and financial savings of each project. There is not a robust fundamental way to make sure the upgrades are performing after they have been completed. The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and a collection of expert partners are working to change that.

EDF has worked with a variety of industry experts to design a straightforward set of protocols that define a clear road-map from efficiency opportunity to an investment quality project with reliable returns and access to markets. The project, known as the Investor Confidence Project (ICP) hopes to enable a market for investment quality energy efficiency projects, by reducing transaction costs and engineering overhead, while increasing the reliability and consistency of savings.

The ICP encourages the funding of building energy efficiency projects by taking the variability out of the process. The project has built a coalition of both equity and debt finance companies, building owners and managers, energy service providers, insurers, engineers, utilities, and a range of NGO and public sector organizations. These experts and the ICP have come up with standardized protocols for a five-step evaluation for energy efficiency retrofits. The five-steps represent the lifecycle of a “well-conceived and well-executed energy efficiency project” and include:

1. Baselining
2. Savings projections
3. Design, construction, and commissioning operations,
4. Maintenance and monitoring,
5. Measurement and Verification (M&V)

The protocols are designed to add value to the various participants in the energy efficiency ecosystem. Project developers benefit from better access to capital resources, standardized origination processes, and the ability to benchmark projects. Building owners and managers will see a more competitive bidding process and get better rates and terms for their projects. Investors will be able to underwrite deals more efficiently by having reduced transaction costs and consistent yields. Once consistent protocols are adopted, the entire industry will benefit from smaller transaction costs, more consistent project performance, and increased access to capital. Last year, the project released its first protocol, the Energy Performance Protocol for Large Commercial (EPP-LC).

One of ICP’s partners is Noesis Energy, who we have recently profiled here. Noesis has developed a platform that connect energy efficiency projects requiring third-party funding with financing lenders. Last week, ICP and Noesis combined to conduct an interesting webinar on how the ICP Energy Performance Protocols can be leveraged as a pathway to securing investment in energy efficiency projects such as those Noesis offers.

ICP and its partners are also working on another of the Ceres report’s key conclusions. The project is working on a range of public programs focused on driving demand and overcoming barriers, such as Commercial PACE, on-bill repayment, and benchmarking programs. The ICP is just one of several ways that energy efficiency finance is entering the mainstream world of institutional investment. As Ceres and other experts have noted, building energy efficiency retrofits is a nearly $280 billion dollar investment opportunity that can save building owners more than $1 trillion over 10 years. ICP is helping private-sector financing models develop and expand to meet this huge market, so be sure to check their website and news aggregator for their latest research and webinars.

Rebuilding Louisiana's lines of defense
By The Times-Picayune Editorial Board (New Orleans, La.). July 17, 2013.
"Reversing erosion on Louisiana's barrier islands is integral to protecting our communities from storm surge. So, the addition of more than 1,350 acres of beaches and dunes at Scofield, Pelican and Shell islands is encouraging. 'The reason this is so important, this is our first line of defense…'" (Read more).

Report links La. ecosystem and economy
By Amy Wold, The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.). July 16, 2013.
"Restoring Gulf Coast ecosystems is not just good for birds, fish and other wildlife, but it’s also good for the economy, says the Environmental Defense Fund. Wildlife tourism in the five states bordering the Gulf of Mexico — from Texas to Florida — provides 2.6 million jobs…" (Read more).

Work starting on last phase of LA 1 bridge to protect vital oil port
By Bill Capo. WWLTV (New Orleans, La.). July 16, 2013.
"GOLDEN MEADOW, La. – The elevated portion of Louisiana Highway 1 carries 1,000 trucks a day to the massive oil industry supply center along the coast.  "Port Fourchon services 90 percent of all the deepwater activity in the Gulf of Mexico," said Port Fourchon…" (Read more).

Gulf Of Mexico Oil Sheens Likely Came From Deepwater Horizon Wreckage, Study Shows
By Michael Kunzelman. The Associated Press. July 16, 2013.
"NEW ORLEANS — A team of researchers has concluded that pockets of oil trapped in the wreckage of the sunken Deepwater Horizon are the likely source of oil sheens that have been spotted in the Gulf of Mexico near the site of the deadly…" (Read more).

Sinking sections of eastern New Orleans hurricane levee prompt $1.3 million repair
By Mark Schleifstein. The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, La.). July 16, 2013.
"The Army Corps of Engineers is spending $1.3 million to raise about 4,000 feet of earthen levee in easternmost New Orleans that has subsided so low it wouldn't be able to withstand a storm surge caused by a so-called 100-year hurricane…" (Read more).

BP asks federal court to suspend claims payments during fraud investigation
By Mark Schleifstein. The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, La.). July 16, 2013.
"Attorneys for British oil giant BP asked U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier late Tuesday for a preliminary injunction to temporarily suspend payments of private economic  claims until former FBI Director Louis Freeh completes an investigation of alleged fraud in the multibillion-dollar claims payment program…" (Read more).

St. Bernard Parish president discusses flood insurance maps, hurricane recovery
By Benjamin Alexander-Bloch. The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, La.). July 16, 2013.
"St. Bernard Parish President Dave Peralta on Tuesday provided a breakdown of homes that will be affected by impending flood insurance map changes. He told the Parish Council that only 5 percent of the parish's residents will be in a worse flood insurance zone after the map changes…" (Read more).

FEMA Officials to Visit La. Communities Affected by NFIP Rate Increases
Press Release. KATC-TV (Lafayette, La.). July 16, 2013.
"WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., today announced that Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Associate Administrator David Miller, who oversees the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), will join her on August 8, 2013, to meet with Louisiana citizens…" (Read more).

"We would like to thank the commission for giving careful consideration to these issues and moving forward into a formal rulemaking process," said Jon Goldstein, EDF Senior Energy Policy Tue, 2013-07-16 Contact:  Lauren Whittenberg, 512-691-3437, lwhittenberg@edf.org Chris Merrill, 307-223-0071, chris@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org Jon Goldstein, 505-603-8522, jgoldstein@edf.org Amber Wilson, 307-389-9499; amber@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org

"We would like to thank the commission for giving careful consideration to these issues and moving forward into a formal rulemaking process," said Jon Goldstein, EDF Senior Energy Policy Manager. "On the whole, this rule establishes a solid, scientifically-valid framework for groundwater quality testing."

"We would like to thank Governor Mead for his leadership on this issue," said Amber Wilson, Environmental Quality Coordinator with WOC. "As he noted today at the commission, this rule establishes a foundation that can be added to over time. This rule will go a long way toward providing the public with important information about the quality of the water resources we all share."

"We will continue to be involved as this rule moves forward, especially on the newly introduced concept of "master plans," said Goldstein. “We need to ensure these plans don’t undermine the fundamental goal of creating a scientifically sound program that protects the critical groundwater resources of Wyoming."

# # #

Environmental Defense Fund (edf.org), a leading national nonprofit organization, creates transformational solutions to the most serious environmental problems. EDF links science, economics, law, and innovative private-sector partnerships. See twitter.com/EDFEnergyEX; facebook.com/EnvDefenseFund; and http://blogs.edf.org/texasenergyexchange/.

The Wyoming Outdoor Council (wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org) is Wyoming’s oldest independent conservation organization. The Wyoming Outdoor Council’s mission is to protect Wyoming’s environment and quality of life for future generations.

Jon Goldstein

By Elena Craft, PhD

At EDF, we are constantly ‘finding the ways that work’, and today’s announcement embodies that effort. EDF is requesting proposals to develop a Marine Port Environmental Recognition Program. This effort will enable port stakeholders to develop a program that uses best management practices with regard to environmental initiatives, specifically air pollution reduction at ports. The idea for the program was developed from a series of discussions with environmental leaders within the port industry, other port stakeholders, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and trade organizations, such as the Coalition of Responsible Transportation (CRT).

The aim of the program is to highlight motivated terminals and ports that are striving to reduce air pollution, help them identify more opportunities for improvement and measure the environmental gains from their efforts. The program will establish a robust mechanism for assessing environmental metrics– initially focusing on air pollution from port activities. A complementary effort will include the release of a toolkit with ideas and strategies to lessen the impact of emissions on air quality.

This program is critical to protecting our air quality. Ports are often identified as pollution hotspots and communities living close to ports are at a heightened risk for respiratory diseases, such as asthma and lung cancer. By reducing emissions from port operations, we will help save lives.

The Port of Houston, with support from EPA’s SmartWay Transport program, is an example of a port working to improve air quality and health standards for communities living in close proximity.  At the Port of Houston, more than one-third of emissions come from 3,000 “drayage” trucks — diesel-fueled heavy duty trucks that move containers.  By working with the port’s key stakeholders, EDF helped develop an innovative program, the Houston Drayage Loan Program, which makes it easier for truck owners to buy new, cleaner trucks and reduce air pollution around the port. It is estimated that by 2014, the program will result in a significant reductions of harmful air pollutants, such as 1,638 tons of nitrogen oxide, 239 tons of carbon monoxide and 3,636 tons of carbon dioxide.

Houston is not the only port striving to improve the air quality. EDF believes that by developing an initiative that recognizes best performers, we will reveal and share how different ports are effectively handling emissions, so others can replicate those successes.

Like many EDF programs, the proposed environmental recognition program helps relevant stakeholders understand where economic and environmental goals line up with proven strategies that help our communities. Having a system to evaluate environmental performance will help businesses consider the environmental costs when they compare various operational strategies. We hope that the environmental recognition program will reveal how shippers, ports, terminals and other stakeholders can employ common-sense practices to reduce their environmental impact.

By EDF Blogs

This commentary, authored by Dan Upham, originally appeared on EDF's Voices blog.

When the folks at oilprice.com wanted to take a look at the clean energy landscape and see what opportunities might exist for energy investors, they turned to Jim Marston, the head of Environmental Defense Fund’s U.S. Climate and Energy program and regional director of our Texas office.

“As an environmental organization, EDF doesn’t offer investment advice,” Marston was quick to explain. “There are other, far more qualified people to recommend investment options.”

When it comes to market-based environmentalism and the economic benefits of clean energy, however, we’re in our comfort zone. And Marston is particularly comfortable talking about the “smart power” sector; the ideas, products and services that focus on clean, renewable energy and energy efficiency.

“Keep in mind that the U.S. will spend around $2 trillion over the next two decades to upgrade our outdated energy infrastructure,” Marston said, “And many companies realize that there’s a real market for products that make the existing electric grid better, greener and ‘smarter.'”

Read the full interview on oilprice.com for more.

Please let your members of Congress know we need our political leaders to debate climate solutions, not climate denial.

By EDF Blogs

By Eric Pooley, EDF Senior Vice President for Strategy and Communications

(This post first appeared on Stanford Business, the Stamford Graduate School of Business' magazine)

Source: Eric Pooley

Astonishing images still crowd my mind: an endless field of jagged, broken sea ice glowing red at twilight; an aquamarine vista of iceberg, water, snow, and mountain, sparkling in the brightest sunshine I’ve ever seen. Penguins that morph as they move from sea to land — swimming like porpoises, paddling like ducks, wobbling upright onto the beach like drunken wedding guests. And a humpback whale, surrounded by a halo of seabirds, diving deep and then bumping gently against the underside of our vessel, as if to scratch an itchy back.

The otherness of this place, Antarctica, struck me from the moment I arrived, as it had so many before me. “Antarctica is monumental, an astonishment,” the great naturalist Peter Matthiessen wrote a decade ago. “Its excruciating purity and vast healing silence ring with creation, ancient and yet new and fresh beyond imagining.” Yet rising atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases are seeing to it that this ice fortress of a continent, which Matthiessen called “inviolable,” was being violated before my eyes. Indeed, Northwestern Antarctica, which I visited last December with a group of Stanford Graduate School of Business students, business leaders, and faculty, is one of the fastest-warming places on earth.

Each year, Stanford MBA students organize overseas study trips — opportunities to meet the tech leaders of Bangalore, say, or explore the supply chains of Shenzhen. Students who are building clean-energy careers had organized ours because they wanted to come face to face with global warming — an encouraging sign, since their generation will need to find the solutions that have so far eluded ours. As a journalist and environmental advocate who focuses on the politics of climate action, I’d been invited along to talk about some of those emerging solutions, as well as the policy tools that are beginning to accelerate them.

Our cruise departed from King George Island, a reassuringly frigid chunk of rock just north of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, which is like a crooked finger poking up from the northwestern corner of the continent. The Antarctic landmass — twice the size of Australia — remains impenetrable to tourists like us. So we cruised along the continent’s edge in a 240-foot, ice-strengthened vessel called Ocean Nova, and explored the peninsula by climbing into rubber Zodiacs twice a day for expeditions ashore.

Guidebooks had warned us to wear multiple layers of down and fleece. But soon we found ourselves sweating and peeling away those layers as we hiked, because on most afternoons during our journey, the frigid south wasn’t all that frigid. Average midwinter temperatures on the peninsula have increased by an astounding 11 degrees Fahrenheit over the past 60 years. In late December, which is in the austral summer, average highs can exceed 40 degrees Fahrenheit. On the day we headed home, a study in the journal Nature Geoscience reported that the Western Antarctic mainland has seen an average temperature increase of 4.3 degrees Fahrenheit since 1958 — not the extreme warming seen on the peninsula, but still three times the average global rise for that period. And in another Nature Geoscience paper, in April, researchers from the British Antarctic Survey analyzed a 1,194-foot-long ice core sample taken from James Ross Island, near the tip of the peninsula. They found that the amount of snow and ice melting in the summer and then refreezing is now almost 10 times greater than it was 550 years ago, with the most rapid melt occurring in the last 60 years. Rapid melting can lead to dramatic collapses of glacial ice, as when the vast Larsen B Ice Shelf — roughly the size of Rhode Island — disintegrated early in 2002.

March of the Penguins

Unlike most of Antarctica, the peninsula has long been known to have a summer melting season. This produces a mix of snow-free land areas, open sea, and residual ice that makes the peninsula a fecund breeding ground for marine birds and mammals. Rapid melting in summer, however, is upsetting this delicate balance. As the extent of sea ice around the peninsula diminished over the past quarter century, it helped drive a decline in the populations of Adélie penguins, Weddell seals, and crabeater seals — species that hunt from sea ice. On Torgersen Island, the number of Adélie breeding pairs has declined by more than 85% in the past 38 years, from 15,000 to just 2,000. As these species retreat south, away from man-made warming, they are being replaced in these waters by sub-Antarctic species from farther north — elephant seals, fur seals, and chinstrap and gentoo penguins, all of which prefer to hunt in open water.

The Adélie rookeries we visited certainly seemed full of life, as the obstreperous birds guarded nests built of small stones, stole each other’s pebbles, and raised their cacophonous mating calls, but the science tells a sadder story: The colonies here are dwindling as the number of breeding pairs drops and the average weight of the fledglings falls. Many underweight fledglings go off to sea and never return. The Adélies of the Antarctic Peninsula, according to seabird ecologist Bill Fraser, who has spent his long career studying the birds, are “on a decline that has no recovery.” In interviews with journalist Fen Montaigne, author of Fraser’s Penguins, a heartbreaking book about the man and his birds, the scientist shared his frustration that “this unbelievably tough little animal, able to deal with anything, [is] succumbing to the large-scale effects of our activities. That’s the one thing they can’t deal with, and they’re dying because of it.”

The Adélie is not in danger of extinction, at least not yet. Several million of the birds are scattered about Antarctica, which is warming at different rates in different places and even has areas that have cooled as stratospheric ozone depletion has changed wind patterns. (The damaged ozone layer is slowly being repaired, thanks to a global ban on chlorofluorocarbons, so this local cooling likely won’t last.) Adélie populations are shifting south, to bays that used to be too icy in summer but now have the right mix of ice, open water, and snow-free beach. But there is a limit to how far south the Adélie can move: They need winter light to hunt, and below the Antarctic Circle, it is just too dark for that. Sooner or later, unless humankind stops pumping carbon pollution into the air, climate change will chase the bird down.

All Climate is Local

As the students discussed these issues during and after the cruise, they recognized that observable impacts, which are primarily local, can have an enormous influence on public attitudes toward climate change, perhaps as much as or more than technological and financial factors. Antarctica is local if you’re a penguin. But for Americans, other impacts hit closer to home. “It’s hard to talk about climate change because you can’t see it. If I’m going to talk about climate to people on the Eastern Seaboard, I’m not going to talk about penguins,” says Jake Saper, who is studying toward a joint MS Environment & Resources/MBA and is spending the summer as a clean-tech intern at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. “Penguins are cute, but people don’t really care about penguins. I’m going to talk about how cataclysmic events like Hurricane Sandy happen more frequently and are more extreme as a result of climate change.”

Indeed, as historic droughts, floods, wildfires, and ferocious storms, all made worse by warming, are felt around the world, they are helping people connect the dots to climate change. As a result, national polls show an increase in the percentage of Americans in favor of action.

For Mike Volpe, who received his Stanford MBA this year, communicating about climate change is difficult because burning fossil fuels creates costs for people and other living things that are not billed in the transaction. Known to business students as an example of “market failure,” this problem requires cross-disciplinary solutions. The good news, Volpe says, is that “there are thousands of young minds on this campus eager to solve big problems like climate change. The right policies can help unleash these young minds.”

I left Antarctica convinced that the students on our trip will help drive the innovations we need. Many will find work in California, since the state’s clean-energy economy is already flourishing thanks to smart policy. California added more clean energy jobs last year than the next three states combined because it has developed a remarkable tool kit for the task at hand: helping to restore the climate system by decarbonizing its energy system without destabilizing the economy.

California’s Plan

Fossil fuels have reigned supreme for the last 200 years, providing the vast majority of the energy we need to make our homes, businesses, and vehicles work, and even powering the ship that took us to the Antarctic to observe the effects of combusting these fuels. These fuels are ubiquitous, so getting rid of them overnight isn’t an option. As we limit their role in the near term, however, we accelerate the transformation of our energy system and create tremendous investment opportunities.

In 2006, California enacted the Global Warming Solutions Act, or AB 32, landmark legislation upheld by voters in a 2010 statewide referendum despite an attack by out-of-state oil companies. Under AB 32, California has implemented energy-efficiency regulations and expanded renewable-energy targets, and this year launched the United States’ first nearly economy-wide cap on carbon. The state places an absolute limit on the amount of pollution that can be released, then establishes a price for emissions through the trading of pollution allowances, which gives the regulated entities flexibility in meeting their reduction goals. Since 2006, in anticipation of the cap, clean-tech investors have poured more than $9 billion into the state. In April, Gov. Jerry Brown approved the trading of carbon allowances from California’s program with Quebec’s — a first step toward connecting the state with a broader carbon market that could grow to include other U.S. states and Canadian provinces, as well as existing and emerging programs around the world.

As part of AB 32, California has also developed a low-carbon-fuel standard, the subject of intense opposition from the oil industry. Currently, between 92% and 96% of the energy used for transportation in California is derived from crude oil. The standard places a cap on the carbon content of fuels used in the state, creating a market incentive to increase the production and use of cleaner fuel sources, such as ethanol, low-carbon gasoline, biodiesel, electricity, and hydrogen.

This also creates both opportunities and challenges for old-line energy companies learning to adapt. But the fossil fuel companies have a better shot at it than, say, the Adélie penguins. Both of their worlds are changing fast.

Eric Pooley visited Antarctica with 35 Stanford GSB students, faculty, and business leaders in 2012.

By Marita Mirzatuny

This commentary originally appeared on EDF's Energy Exchange blog.

Last month, while I was speaking at the 7th Annual Platts Texas Energy Markets Conference in Houston, I missed out on celebrating a very important milestone here in Austin: The grand opening of the Pike Powers Laboratory & Center for Commercialization! The ribbon cutting on June 11th brought over 150 people, including “leaders from major technology firms, like Dell, Intel Corporation, Schneider Electric and National Instruments, along with representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy.” Named after the godfather of Austin’s technology scene, Pike Powers is located in the Mueller community in the shadow of the former air traffic control tower. As the research arm of Pecan Street Inc., the lab will be the “nation’s first non-profit smart grid research laboratory, serving as an elite industry-caliber facility for members of the Pecan Street Research Consortium.”

Priorities

Pecan Street is inviting startup firms to take their questions and challenges and incorporate them into the mission of the lab, which is driven by three priorities: commercialization, research and education.

Commercialization: Pecan Street provides a pathway for companies and utilities to test and demonstrate innovative technologies in a controlled environment and bring advanced products to market, such as new electric vehicle chargers. The lab will also conduct field-testing on technologies, such as set-and-forget home energy management tools, to ensure that products are properly evaluated before hitting the shelves.

Research: The lab’s state-of -the -art testing facility will bring together member companies, entrepreneurs and researchers to conduct research using the most robust set of consumer energy data in the country. The lab (literally) opens the door for exploration that will help modernize the way we create, transport, manage and use energy.

Education: Thanks to the many contributors who provide financial support, Pecan Street is able to fund scholarships and stipends for university students to support research and grow into thought leaders among the smart grid community. The result: Effective educational materials that will teach entrepreneurs, policymakers and other key stakeholders about the smart grid and energy conservation. Pecan Street’s education focus goes beyond traditional research, as it will also include Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Educationcomponents for college and high school students studying energy, wireless and consumer electronics.

Bells & Whistles

(Source: Pecan Street)

According to Pecan Street, the new lab would make any research facility feel ‘green’ with envy.  With “nearly 80 TB of high speed Dell computing systems, based on Intel® Xeon® processors and sophisticated National Instruments and Schneider product testing equipment as well as near real-time analytics powered by the Intel® Distribution for Apache Hadoop”, the Pike Powers Lab is ready to take on the challenges (and thrills) that come with testing big data, solar panels, natural gas fuel cells, energy storage, electric vehicle charging and much more.

“We can test, verify and help develop almost anything with an on-off button,” said lab director Scott Hinson. “I’ve been working in product development and testing for over a decade, and I’ve never seen anything like it.”

The lab’s Chief Technology Officer, Bert Haskell, boasts: “We built the Lab as a sophisticated facility where companies can test their innovations, improve their performance and obtain independent performance reports that they can show to customers and funders.”

At the ribbon cutting ceremony, the man himself, Pike Powers, summed up the larger mission of the lab in a way only he can: “We’re going to innovate, we’re going to create, we’re going to jazz this sucker up and keep right on going. We’re going to disrupt, we’re going to converge, whatever it takes…to make new things happen.”

Click here for a slideshow of the opening!