A few weeks ago, Kathleen Petrich wrote on this blog about the emergence of a new great Northwest economy: the transportation economy based upon the development of new alternative fuel vehicles (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3). Specifically, electric vehicles are commonly viewed as providing the greatest potential for weaning Washingtonians from their dependence… Continue Reading
Judy Endejan
Washington Legislation Designed to Fuel Electric Car Growth?
Posted in Electric Vehicles, LegislationWUTC Can Drive Electric Car Development
Posted in Alternative Fuels, Electric Vehicles, LegislationElectric cars cannot operate without electricity. Duhh. And electric vehicles can’t operate without the ability to recharge their vehicle either privately at home or publicly through public electrical vehicle charging stations. So who regulates that most critical ingredient for electric vehicles, electricity?-The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission – (“WUTC”). However, the WUTC only regulates investor-owned… Continue Reading
Energy in Iceland – Too Good To Be True?
Posted in Alternative Fuels, Clean Energy, Natural Resources and Environment, Renewable EnergyLast Wednesday I wrote about Iceland’s impressive development of renewable energy sources which provide 100% of electricity production from hydropower (80%) and geothermal (20%) sources. There is no doubt that Iceland is blessed with massive amounts of clean energy. While Iceland has garnered vast praise for its development of clean, renewable energy, some environmentalists question its… Continue Reading
Iceland — An Energy Superpower
Posted in Alternative Fuels, Natural Resources and Environment, Renewable EnergyLast week on a lark, I went to Iceland, courtesy of a fantastic Icelandic Air deal. I had two modest goals: first, I wanted to see the Northern Lights in February and second, I wanted to learn how to pronounce EyjafjallajÖkull, the volcano that erupted in 2010 to the dismay of European travelers. Cloud cover… Continue Reading
Washington Team Gets Funding to Push Solar Power
Posted in Department of Energy, SolarLast week, the U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”) awarded a Washington team $520,000 to accelerate the use of solar power in Washington. This money is to be used to target the “soft costs” of solar energy. Soft costs include permitting, installation, design and maintenance and they make up 40 to 50 percent of the total… Continue Reading
Get a Charge Out of This!
Posted in Electric Vehicles, LegislationSo you’re driving a Nissan LEAF or Chevrolet Volt and you want to drive from Seattle to Vancouver, British Columbia. According to the Chevy Volt website, you can only drive the first 35 miles via electric power, based upon a full charge and then the car will have to kick into gas to get you… Continue Reading
Kudos to Representative Eddy for Thinking Ahead
Posted in Energy Conservation, Legislation, RegulatoryLast summer, State Representative Deborah Eddy convened a legislative focus group to examine and explore various policy options to promote the development of Distributed Energy (“DE”). Rep Eddy invited key legislative colleagues interested in energy policy, stakeholders in private and public energy development and representatives from the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (“WUTC”) to convene… Continue Reading
Green Power Becomes Fashionable
Posted in Capital and Funding, Energy Conservation, Legislation, Renewable Energy, Sustainable BusinessSeveral weeks ago, a headline caught my eye: “Flagship Lord & Taylor to be 100% Wind-Powered.” I read the short article that followed and learned that Lord & Taylor’s flagship store on New York’s Fifth Avenue and another store will be powered by renewable energy after the company signed a two-year contract with Green Mountain… Continue Reading
A Victory for Energy-Inefficient Light Bulb Users
Posted in Energy Conservation, LegislationBy Judy Endejan and Jackee Walker* Congress is hard at work feuding about light bulbs and preventing energy efficiency. Last Tuesday, the GOP-driven H.R. 2417 “Better Use of Light Bulbs Act,” or BULB Act, sponsored by Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), failed to gain the two-thirds supermajority to needed to pass. However, with a 233-193 simple… Continue Reading
WUTC Provides Paths to Determine “Eligible Renewable Resources” Under the Energy Independence Act
Posted in Legislation, Renewable Energy, Sustainable BusinessLast week, the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (“WUTC”) issued a policy statement designed to provide guidance to Investor Owned Utilities (“IOUs”) and energy entrepreneurs on how to qualify new resources that haven’t been expressly identified in the Washington Energy Independence Act (“EIA”), RCW ch. 19.285. The EIA, passed in 2006, requires Washington’s electric utilities… Continue Reading
The Environment vs. The First Amendment
Posted in Legislation, Natural Resources and Environment, RegulatorySeattle is one of the first American cities to take measures to prevent Yellow Page phone books from clogging local landfills. Last October, the city enacted an ordinance that bans the distribution of yellow page phone books in the city unless telephone book publishers satisfied certain conditions such as a payment of $.14 cents for… Continue Reading
Approval of Qwest/CenturyLink Merger Produces $80 Million For New Broadband Investment
Posted in Legislation, RegulatoryOn March 14, 2011, the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (“WUTC”) issued an Order Approving CenturyTel, Inc.’s acquisition of the Washington properties of Qwest Communications International, Inc. (“Qwest”). The hefty 146-page Order carefully analyzed whether the Century/Qwest merger would be in “the public interest,” the standard the Commission must apply in reviewing merger requests. The… Continue Reading
Blog No. 200–The FCC Takes a Big Step Towards More Bandwidth
Posted in RegulatoryOnce again the worlds of telecommunications and energy polices converge because the FCC took action this week to propel the broadband development that may be key to fulfilling the promise of future energy-saving technologies, that depend upon bandwidth. On February. 8, 2011, the FCC adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to reform the Universal… Continue Reading
WUTC Issues New Policy Statement to Allow for Pre-Approval of Renewable Resource Acquisition (sort of)
Posted in Regulatory, Renewable EnergyIn 2006 Washington voters approved Initiative 937, the Energy Independence Act (EIA) which requires larger utilities to either use eligible renewable resources, or acquire equivalent renewable energy credits to meet power needs. The requisite amount ratchets up from three percent of load as of January 1, 2012 to fifteen percent of load by January 1,… Continue Reading
Let Your Fingers Do the Walking: New Washington State Energy Marketplace Directory
Posted in Renewable Energy, Sustainable BusinessA fabulous new resource for Washingtonians in search of a LEED – certified architect or a biofuel retailer (among many other things) is the Washington State Energy Marketplace Directory released last month by the State of Washington Department of Commerce State Energy Office. It contains over 170 pages of listings for companies involved in renewable… Continue Reading
New Report Urges Regulatory Fix For Disincentives To Energy Efficiency Investment
Posted in Capital and Funding, Regulatory, Renewable EnergyThe Washington Clean Energy Leadership Council (“Council”) issued a report this week that lays out a blueprint for growing clean energy businesses and jobs in Washington. [Other Greentech blog contributors will weigh in on the many meaty aspects of this report.] As a seasoned public utility litigator, I was most interested in the report’s recommendations… Continue Reading
WUTC Plugs Into Electric Cars
Posted in Alternative Fuels, Events, Renewable EnergyEveryone wants to get into the act these days when it comes to finding ways to promote energy efficiency and ways to reduce our dependence upon foreign oil by promoting electric car usage. Regulators want to participate in that effort. On Thursday October 28, 2010, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., the Washington Utilities and Transportation… Continue Reading
Pacific Northwest Gets Funds To Maintain Smart Grid Leadership
Posted in Capital and Funding, Legislation, TechnologyLast week word came from U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash) that long-awaited federal funds would be released to pay for the Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration, which is a national leader. The U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”) approved the release of its share of the $178 million in grant funding for the demonstration. This will… Continue Reading
COMPUTERS AS ENERGY SOURCE?
Posted in Alternative Fuels, Renewable Energy, TechnologyThe countries that brought us slick cellular phone designs and IKEA are at it again in terms of out-of-the-box thinking. This time, however, Scandinavian countries are turning their creativity towards finding new energy sources from computer servers. In Finland, the city of Helsinki has begun building a new, high-tech municipal heating system that uses surplus heat… Continue Reading
Will China Blow Past the U.S. in Wind Power Work?
Posted in Alternative Fuels, Natural Resources and Environment, Renewable EnergyLast week, I returned from a 12-day trip to China. I traveled from Urumqi in China’s most northwest province, Xinjiang, via bus and train through Gansu Province riding across a stark, stony desert landscape speckled with hundreds of wind turbines. This triggered my curiosity over how China is promoting wind farms as a renewable energy… Continue Reading
Can This Marriage Work?
Posted in Sustainable Business, TechnologyTelecommunications and energy utilities have not always been the best of friends. Now, the development of the “smart grid” has the prospect of producing a marriage between the telecom and energy utility industries. Earlier this week, a new study was announced that could lead to a wedding invitation. Verizon Communications, Inc. and the Utilities Telecom… Continue Reading
Progress on WUTC’s New Conservation Rules
Posted in Legislation, RegulatoryLast month, I wrote about a new Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (“WUTC”) proceeding (Docket U-00522) to consider establishing necessary conservation incentives. In light of the fact that Washington state (a) has a coastline and (b) never wants to deal with a major gulf spill alá the recent Gulf of Mexico debacle, the WUTC’s actions… Continue Reading
Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet — A Review of an Essential Text on How Global Warming Has Changed Our Lives
Posted in Climate ChangeIf you read our Green Tech Blog, no doubt, you care about global warming. Bill McKibben in his new book “Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet” smacks the reader with the grim reality that global warming is not some feared future event but has arrived with force. McKibben was one of the… Continue Reading
WUTC to Look Into New Conservation Rules
Posted in Regulatory, Renewable EnergyToday virtually everyone agrees that energy conservation is a good thing. However, even such a laudable goal as energy conservation may have a downside. The less energy that is consumed, the less revenue for the energy utility. In turn, that utility may have to increase rates to make up for lost revenues. No one likes… Continue Reading