As many news outlets are reporting, the Obama administration’s proposed budget presumes about $75 billion in annual revenue from the sale of carbon allowances (even though a cap-and-trade bill has yet to be implemented). While this is certainly an interesting move, and perhaps a way to exert pressure on Congress to move forward with cap-and-trade legislation, what caught my eye is what Obama is proposing to do with the majority of the revenue from auctioning the permits to pollute - give it back to Americans in a tax cut that will help offset the increase in energy costs that will result under such legislation. The remainder of the funds, about $15 billion a year, will go towards energy R&D.
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The wires were buzzing this morning with news that the South Carolina Public Service Commission had officially rejected Duke Energy’s energy efficiency program and cost recovery plan, known broadly as Save-A-Watt. While Duke must no doubt be disappointed with this decision on their widely-publicized plan, they can take encouragement from the fact that the topic of utility incentives for demand-side investments is only going to get more and more attention going forward. What may have initially seemed like a radical approach may find itself with more company as states begin taking bolder steps to incent utilities to do more with the demand side of the equation.
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I was recently in Washington DC for the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) Conference. At both the conference, and in the halls of Congress nearby, there was much discussion about the need to create policy “on-ramps” to eventual climate change legislation. The thinking appeared to be that putting a price on carbon is so politically untenable that we should work in the interim on piecemeal approaches, like a federal Renewable Energy Standard. I’m not convinced this is a good approach however. There are plenty of signs that carbon legislation is indeed politically possible, and there are good arguments against interim solutions.
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One of the common misconceptions about the “smart grid” is that advanced metering infrastructure is inherently “smart.” But the truth is that AMI only becomes “smart” when applications leverage the technological capabilities of this new infrastructure, like two-way communication, to create new solutions like next-generation energy-efficiency and demand response. Proprietary communication protocols and closed systems will make the development of such applications difficult, if not impossible. This is why standards like OpenADR have emerged and why smart meter companies like Silver Spring Networks and are building standards-based networks. Now residential energy management firm Tendril has joined the fray, not just signing on to the OpenADR bandwagon, but also opening up their application programming interface (API) to partners so that third-parties can interface with its software and devices. So far, partners include major meter vendors like Silver Spring Networks, Itron, Landis+Gyr, and in-home device companies like Energate and Onzo.
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