An Ignoble Experiment

2. Seattle City Light completes community solar project

Montgomery County, Maryland, has become the first county in the country to pass an energy benchmarking law, which requires commercial building owners to track and report the facility's energy use. Nine major cities -- Austin, Boston, Chicago, the District of Columbia, Minneapolis, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle -- have, thus far, enacted similar laws to cut energy waste, lower utility bills, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Montgomery County's new law was part of a package of nine energy bills and unanimously passed to require the annual benchmarking of energy use in county-owned nonresidential buildings with an initial deadline of June 1, 2015; the benchmarking of privately owned nonresidential buildings of 250,000 or more square feet by December 1, 2016; and the benchmarking of private nonresidential buildings of 50,000 to 250,000 square feet by December 1, 2017.

Better managing the energy use of those buildings will lead to energy and cost savings on a large scale. The county will assemble a working group on the law's implementation for private-sector buildings. Benchmarking data must be verified by a licensed professional before the first submission and every three years thereafter.

"I am pleased that we have become the first county in the country to implement an energy benchmarking bill," Councilmember Roger Berliner, who introduced the bill, said in a statement. "My hope is that this benchmarking bill, when paired with our recently passed Commercial PACE program, will bring about significant private investment and good green jobs in our commercial building sector for energy efficiency improvements."

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By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

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3. Stream-reach hydropower still untapped

Seattle City Light is celebrating the installation of the largest solar array at any aquarium on the West Coast (Seattle Aquarium), as part of the utility's Community Solar and Green Up programs. The $330,000, 49.4 kW system covers a large portion of the south side of the Seattle Aquarium's roof with 247 solar panels.

Credit: Joe Mabel/Wikimedia Commons

Most of the panels produce electricity on behalf of 187 City Light customers who bought 1,800 units of solar power through the utility's Community Solar program. The rest of the panels serve as a demonstration project through the utility's voluntary Green Up renewable energy program with the electricity produced helping to power the Aquarium's operations.

"This innovative project lets customers promote and benefit from solar even if they rent, have shady roofs or can't make the big investment of installing their own solar system," Sephir Hamilton, Chief of Staff for Seattle City Light, said. "When customers invest in solar, they also think harder about reducing their own electricity use in order to make the most of their solar production credits."

Participants receive credit on their City Light accounts for their portions of the solar panels' output through 2020 along with all state production incentives, amounting to $1.15 per kilowatt-hour. City Light estimates that participants will receive more than $150 worth of electricity and production incentives for each unit purchased by the end of their agreements.

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By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

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4. Utility customer assistance rivals that of federal government

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory estimates more than 65 GW of new hydropower development potential across more than three million U.S. rivers and streams -- nearly equivalent to the current U.S. hydropower capacity -- demonstrating one of the ways in which the United States can diversify its energy portfolio with sustainable and clean domestic power generation.

Credit: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation

The United States has tremendous untapped clean energy resources. Hydropower makes up seven percent of total U.S. electricity generation and continues to be the United States' largest source of renewable electricity, avoiding over 200 million metric tons of carbon emissions each year, according to DOE. Hydropower also provides reliable baseload power day and night, providing greater flexibility and diversity to the electric grid and allowing utilities to integrate other renewable sources such as wind and solar power.

The DOE's current assessment builds on recent advancements in geospatial datasets and represents the most detailed evaluation of U.S. hydropower potential at undeveloped streams and rivers to date. The greatest stream-reach hydropower potential exists in western states, including Alaska, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.

In 2012, DOE found more than 12 GW of hydropower potential at 80,000 non-powered dams in the U.S. There are still many opportunities to develop new hydropower projects around the country, many which would likely be smaller, run-of-river facilities that could utilize new low-impact designs and technologies.

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By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

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5. ARPA-E funds allocated to reduce methane emissions, develop thermal management systems

Utilities contributed nearly $3.7 billion in assistance to low income customers in 2012, according to a report compiled by the American Gas Association (AGA) -- via discounted rates, arrearage forgiveness, weatherization, and efficiency programs and support provided to charitable organizations that provide resources for customers in need.

Hardship funds, discounted rates, and arrearage forgiveness accounted for nearly $3 billion in 2012. Natural gas and electric utilities also spent nearly $695 million on conservation programs that deliver weatherization services and equipment repair or replacement at little or no cost. Utilities also play a major role in fundraising and providing administrative assistance to private charities that raised $20 million from utility employees, shareholders and the public in 2012.

This utility funding was roughly equal to the fiscal year 2012 federal energy assistance funding of $3.47 billion in Low Income Heating Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) grants, $207 million in U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) weatherization assistance program (WAP) funds, and $10 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds designated for leveraging DOE WAP funds, according to AGA.

This is a win-win for customers, utilities and society, AGA says, as it alleviates hardships and improves the well-being of low income customers, reduces bad debt expenses to the benefit of all utility customers, minimizes bill payment arrears and utility uncollectible balances, and benefits the economy and the environment.

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By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

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