From cities to soap, recognizing the EPA's newest top green power users

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has updated its quarterly rankings of organizations that supply their electricity needs with renewable energy. Twelve organizations on the newest top 50 list have increased their green power usage in the past three months. For example, Houston, Texas hiked its estimated annual green power usage by 42 percent to nearly 623 million kilowatt hours, powering almost half of its overall electricity needs. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, meanwhile, is doubling its annual green power usage to 400 million kilowatt hours and its contribution to electricity mix to 12 percent. Other groups significantly raising their projected annual green power usage include BNY Mellon, BD, State Street, TD Bank, the EPA, the State of Illinois, and Safeway.

States spend $6.9 billion on energy efficiency

State-level support for encouraging utilities (and by association their rate payers) to become more energy-efficient continues to grow, reports Innovation Electricity Efficiency (IEE), part of the Edison Foundation. The budgets for these programs rose 27% to $6.9 billion last year and could exceed $14 billion by 2025, reports IEE. “Supportive regulatory frameworks are the key to expanding the electric power industry’s already large commitment to electric efficiency even further,” says IEE Executive Director Lisa Wood. “Through them, the power industry provides integrated programs to help customers manage energy use, more fully utilize flexible demand resources on the power grid making it more efficient, and serve as a consistent and comprehensive point of contact to support all customer energy needs.”

World Bank Group calls for investment in solar power

The World Bank Group has released a report calling for more investment in solar energy as a tool for tackling extreme poverty. The 31-page report entitled “Toward a Sustainable Future for All: Directions for the World Bank Group’s Energy Sector,” said that solar and other renewables had a key role to play in helping reduce energy poverty, but “critically needed” more investment. The report’s major goals are to promote awareness of energy access in correlation to poverty, and to provide “financial solutions or guarantees” for the “most feasible energy options for the poor.” More than a billion people are currently without access to electricity and 2.8 billion are without modern cooking facilities, according to the report. The report acknowledged that rapidly declining costs are making solar power competitive, subsequently the World Bank Group plans to use solar as a major component in its 2013 energy strategy, which prioritizes universal access to modern energy forms.

Which states are leading in smart grid investment?

A new report from the GridWise Alliance and the Smart Grid Policy Center ranks states on smart grid policies, investments, and customer engagement levels. The Grid Modernization Index Report, released Sunday at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners meeting in Washington, D.C., lays out a treasure trove of statistical detail for industry players and state utility regulators, along with some unexpected findings on which state policies correlate to more effective smart grid efforts. While Texas and California were the top-ranked states, they got there by different routes. For example, while both states are leading the nation in terms of smart meter deployments, Texas’ deregulated and competitive energy markets have allowed retail power providers to use those assets to increase customer pricing programs and engagement efforts, whereas in California’s regulated utility environment, that hasn’t happened as quickly.

Wind, the 'workhorse' of renewable energy

When it comes to renewable energy, Californians hear a lot about solar power. Wind, on the other hand, has a much quieter presence in the Golden State. But it's not a small one: large wind farms in the Altamont Pass between Livermore and Tracy, Tehachapi near Bakersfield, and the San Gorgonio Pass near Palm Springs make California one of the strongest wind markets in the nation. Wind energy projects totaling roughly 5,549 megawatts of capacity are operating in California today, providing enough electricity to power roughly 2 million California households, according to the California Wind Energy Association.

Twelve states show the impact of policy on the growth of solar initiatives

The impact of policy on the growth of solar was underscored today by a new report examining the effect of state mandates and incentives on the industry. The report from the Environment America Research & Policy Center named the top 12 states that lead on solar initiatives and installations. The "dazzling dozen" states account for only 28% of the U.S. population but 85% of the installed capacity. Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Vermont possess strong policies that are enabling increasing numbers of homeowners, businesses, communities, and utilities to “go solar,” the report said.