America's utilities have more than doubled their investment in energy efficiency in just seven years. NRDC's Ralph Cavanagh offers details about their progress. America's utilities are now our nation's most important investors in smarter use of electricity and natural gas, helping all of us reduce both energy bills and pollution. NRDC's advocacy … [Read more...]
Energy Efficiency and Renewables Are Lowest Risk/Cost Utility Investments
December 2, 2014 By
Old-style utility investments are no longer as viable as they once were, and in fact carry significant financial risk. NRDC's Sheryl Carter offers perspective below. A new report by utility and finance experts contains positive news for the environment, our air and our (and our utilities’) pocketbooks — the economics of electric power resources … [Read more...]
New Analysis: The Cost of Energy Efficiency is Under Half the Cost of Building Dirty Coal Power Plants
November 25, 2014 By
The cost of energy efficiency is truly less than coal. NRDC'S Merrian Borgeson explains a new by-the-numbers analysis. After mining the results of energy efficiency programs representing every U.S. region, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) researchers have reported the initial result that the average total cost of saved energy is … [Read more...]
Report: Customers in 13 Mid-Atlantic States & DC Could Miss Out on as Much as $1.3B in Utility Bill Savings
September 20, 2014 By
Electric customers in the Mid-Atlantic region may be missing out on $433 million in annual utility bill savings over the next three years – as much as $1.3 billion** – because their transmission grid operator seems to be under-counting the impact of energy efficiency programs that avoid the need for more power, according to an analysis released … [Read more...]
What Will the 21st Century Grid Look Like?
July 30, 2014 By
We cannot run a 21st century grid with 1950s technologies, fuel sources and practices. The good news is steps are being taken to usher in the new grid, says Carl Zichella, NRDC's director for western transmission, in this guest blog post. It seems everyone involved with renewable energy and climate change is asking the same question these days. … [Read more...]
Energy Efficiency Progress by America's Utilities: An Update
March 27, 2014 By
Some people are surprised to learn that our electric and natural gas utilities spend billions of dollars a year to help customers need and use less energy. But helping people get more work out of less electricity and natural gas has long been a winning strategy for many of America’s hometown utilities – and a report released this week shows that … [Read more...]
Think the Utility Death Spiral is Hogwash? Think Again.
February 12, 2014 By
Is the utility death spiral real? Two recent events lend credibility to the idea that utilities have something to fear from the growth of energy efficiency and distributed generation. First, Morningstar couldn’t have stated more clearly that it sees trouble ahead: “Investors beware: Distributed generation could kill utilities as we know them … [Read more...]
