Citing the failure of top-down grid planning to account for the compounding challenges of climate change, Bloomberg Opinion columnist Liam Denning explores the load-bearing and reliability challenges facing the California's grid.
VX News interviews Minh Le for his perspective on both how LA County initiatives and federal investments in clean energy can drive resilient and equitable economic recovery and how deleting the digital divide is a top priority for ‘building back better’ in Los Angeles.
Tim Sasseen, Ballard Power Systems’ Market Development Manager, discusses the transitioning market for hydrogen fuel cell technology.
Dennis McGinn shares the potential for smart, behind-the-meter IT to stabilize demand peaks and enable deployment of renewables + storage at scale. He also highlights the market-shifting opportunities for federal investment in storage incentives, clean hydrogen, and offers his advice for getting the nation’s clean energy transition back on track.
Varun Sivaram speaks to VX News about the need for more continuous funding of low-carbon energy innovation to ensure that the cleanest possible products “unlock” incumbent technologies and proliferate.
The VerdeXchange 2015 opening plenary “The Future is Now—The Green Economy Going to Scale” considered the remaining work to be done by government and business as “sustainability” becomes mainstream. VX News provides edited excerpts of the discussion here, featuring California State Senator Robert Hertzberg, US Congressman Earl Blumenauer, President and CEO of California ISO Steve Berberich, and EPCOR Utilities Board Member and Former Mayor of Long Beach Bob Foster. They consider whether the federal government can be a useful partner in sustainability projects; how technology is creating more decentralized, self-contained systems; and how both public and private institutions will have to reevaluate their roles in the future green economy.
Appointed to the California Public Utilities Commission by Governor Jerry Brown in 2012 after serving on the California Energy Commission, Carla Peterman is an authority on energy policy in the state—which has long been a pioneering leader in developing sustainable energy practices and policy. She recently sat down with VerdeXchange News to talk about electric vehicle regulation and energy storage, among other topics. Peterman provides an optimistic perspective on both of these areas, taking into account market responses to CPUC regulations and initiatives that have already been adopted.
Nate Lewis is the George L. Argyros Professor of Chemistry and Scientific Director of the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP) at Caltech. JCAP is one of several federally funded Energy Innovation Hubs, with a specific focus on deriving fuel from sunlight. In a recent talk given at the LAEDC Mid Year Economic Forecast, republished here in VerdeXchange News and TPR, Professor Lewis puts the earth’s current greenhouse gas levels in historic perspective, noting that no energy source has the power to both clean our atmosphere and meet civilization’s growing energy demands except the sun. Yet harnessing the sun’s energy with current solar panel technology presents problems of space and storage. Lewis outlines how artificial photosynthesis might solve these problems, as well as the steps Caltech is taking to make this hypothetical technology a game-changing reality.
Southern California Edison recently decided to shut down the San Onofre nuclear power plant after trouble with faulty generators. VerdeXchange News consulted Long Beach Mayor, ISO Chair, and former SCE president Bob Foster on the impact the closure will have on energy supply in the Southland, and how the state plans to counter the impending power loss. Foster also talks demand response, California’s energy future (he thinks: renewables), and the revolutionary role storage technology will play in fostering a green energy grid. While San Onofre presents a challenge, Foster notes California’s energy agencies are more capable than ever of meeting such challenges together.