Category Archives: Energy

Achieving Mandatory GHG Reduction under a Regional Independent Systems Operator

A structural question arises when evaluating the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) expansion. What will drive the greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions in a regional independent system operator (ISO) or regional transmission operator (RTO) that spans multiple states and out of … Continue reading

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Role of Renewable Energy Credits and Carbon Offsets

(Many thanks to Cameron Bernhardt for his research for this post) This second post continues the discussion of the role of Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) and Carbon Offset Credits in California policies started in the last post. In the next … Continue reading

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Renewable Energy Credits and Carbon Offset Credits

(Many thanks to Cameron Bernhardt for research and writing for this post) While EPIC has written about renewable energy credits in California in the past, this constitutes the first of a series of blog posts related to renewable energy credits … Continue reading

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Center for Biological Diversity et al., v. California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Newhall Land and Farming Company: the Burden of CEQA Land Use GHG Emission Reduction Analysis at the Local Level

The Center for Biological Diversity et al., v. California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and The Newhall Land and Farming Company, 62 Cal.4th 204 (2015)(hereafter, the Newhall Land case) addresses three issues: 1) whether the project level environmental impact report … Continue reading

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Estimating the GHG Emissions Impacts of Reducing or Displacing Electricity: Is it time for a standard method in California?

California has adopted legislation and has executive orders in place laying out aggressive, long-term greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets. There are also specific energy policies including those to increase efficiency, generate more renewable electricity, and to reduce fossil fuel use … Continue reading

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COPs and CAPs: Goals for stabilization of carbon emissions

The COP21 talks and events started on Monday November 30, 2015. Though California is not a nation, and therefore not a member of the UNFCCC, there are 8 California lawmakers accompanying Governor Brown to the Conference. While the US government, … Continue reading

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Splitting the Emissions Baby: Allocating GHG Reductions in the Electricity Sector Part II

In my last post, I discussed the dilemma of how to allocate the avoided greenhouse gas (GHG) emission between policies that policies to increase renewable electricity and reduce electricity consumption. Estimating the effects of increased renewable first will artificially increase … Continue reading

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Unpacking SB 350: CAISO Regional Expansion

The Governor signed SB 350 into law on October 7, 2015 (Chapter 547). SB 350, the Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act of 2015, makes changes to the state RPS, energy efficiency, and several other programs and statutes. This post … Continue reading

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Addressing the Role of Electric Vehicles in Greenhouse Gas Reduction: California Public Utilities Commission

This is the second post in a series looking at legislative and regulatory action addressing Electric Vehicle (EV) greenhouse gas emission (GHGE) reductions. This post focuses on efforts by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). In 2013 Governor Brown, as … Continue reading

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What is Business-As-Usual? Projecting Greenhouse Gas Emissions at the Regional Level

Projecting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is important because it helps us to assess how much the energy and GHG policies in place help to achieve targets set by law. For example, if we apply California’s AB32 target to the San … Continue reading

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