Tag Archives: Electricity

Causation as the Basis for Attributing Greenhouse Emissions from Electricity

Posted on May 25, 2016 by Scott Anders

I have written about the importance of electric emissions factors to estimating greenhouse gas emissions in inventories and the impacts of policies to reduce emissions (see here, here, and here). This post discusses the issue of attributing emissions from electricity … Continue reading →

Posted in Greenhouse Gas | Tagged climate action plan, climate planning, electric, Electricity, greenhouse gases, methodology | 3 Comments

Water Reliability and Renewable Energy Overgeneration

Posted on March 30, 2016 by Joe Kaatz

The issue of renewable energy integration and overgeneration is square and center in California. The California System Operator (CAISO) along with other state regulators have studied or commissioned third-party studies to evaluate both the scope of overgeneration and means to … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy, Legislation, Renewable Energy, Water | Tagged California, Demand, Electricity, Greenhouse Gas, Legislation, rates, Renewable | 2 Comments

Constitutional Reform of the California Public Utilities Commission

Posted on March 23, 2016 by Joe Kaatz

Assembly Members Gatto, Levine, and Wilk introduced a bipartisan State Assembly Constitutional Amendment (ACA) 11 on March 9, 2016 to reform the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). What does this proposed constitutional amendment mean for California and for the CPUC?

Posted in Energy, Legislation | Tagged California, California Public Utilities Commission, Electricity, Energy, Legislation, rates, Reform | 1 Comment

Achieving Mandatory GHG Reduction under a Regional Independent Systems Operator

Posted on March 9, 2016 by Joe Kaatz

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 →

Posted in Energy, Greenhouse Gas, Legislation | Tagged AB 32, California, Carbon Dioxide, Electricity, Energy, Greenhouse Gas, Renewable | Leave a comment

Role of Renewable Energy Credits and Carbon Offsets

Posted on March 2, 2016 by Dr. Nilmini Silva-Send

(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 →

Posted in Energy, Greenhouse Gas, Renewable Energy, Uncategorized | Tagged California, Cap and Trade, Carbon Offsets, climate planning, Electricity, Energy, Greenhouse Gas, Renewable, Renewable Energy Credits, RPS, SDG&E, Voluntary Renewable Electricity | 4 Comments

Renewable Energy Credits and Carbon Offset Credits

Posted on February 17, 2016 by Dr. Nilmini Silva-Send

(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 →

Posted in Energy, Greenhouse Gas, Legislation, Renewable Energy, Uncategorized | Tagged CAFE, California, Carbon Credits, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Offsets, climate planning, Electricity, Emission Factor, Energy, Greenhouse Gas, Renewable, Renewable Energy Credits, Voluntary Renewable Electricity, WREGIS | 5 Comments

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

Posted on January 13, 2016 by Scott Anders

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 →

Posted in Energy Efficiency, Greenhouse Gas, Renewable Energy | Tagged AB 32, California, Carbon Dioxide, CEQA, climate planning, Electricity, Energy, Greenhouse Gas, Renewable | 2 Comments

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

Posted on December 1, 2015 by Scott Anders

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 →

Posted in Energy Efficiency, Greenhouse Gas, Renewable Energy | Tagged Carbon Dioxide, CEQA, Clean Power Plan, climate action plan, climate planning, Electricity, Energy, Greenhouse Gas, methodology, Renewable | 2 Comments

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

Posted on November 5, 2015 by Scott Anders

One area of our work at EPIC is to provide technical support to cities, counties, and regional planning organizations in the climate planning process. This work includes estimating greenhouse gas emissions for inventories and the reductions expected from a variety of policies … Continue reading →

Posted in Greenhouse Gas | Tagged climate planning, Electricity, Energy Efficiency, Greenhouse Gas, local government, Renewable | 3 Comments

Half-Empty Planes: Utilization Rates for California’s Electric Grid Part II

Posted on July 14, 2015 by Scott Anders

In Part I of this post, we discussed the concept of asset utilization — or load factor — and looked at recent trends for California’s investor-owned utilities (IOU). The trend over the past two decades for IOU load factors has been … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged California, Carbon Dioxide, Demand, Electricity, Greenhouse Gas, Load, Load Factor, Policy, SDG&E | 3 Comments