Energy Efficiency, GHG Emissions, Regulation, Sourcing Renewables  -  July 25, 2020

Weekend reads: Cleaning up Big Tech; Walmart takes on Florida's electric regulatory process

It's the weekend! Kick back and catch up with these must-read articles from around the web.

Bribery! Corruption! Renewable Energy! (Whelp, 2 Of 3 Ain’t Bad) (CleanTechnica) The wide world of energy policy suddenly got a little more interesting yesterday, when FBI agents swooped into the state of Ohio to arrest House Speaker Larry Householder and four others on $60 million worth of federal racketeering charges, all on account of a $1 billion nuclear bailout bill under the title HB6. With that kind of firepower behind nuclear energy, it’s little wonder that the state’s renewable energy sector has been drifting in the doldrums. The big question is, what’s next?

Big Tech Has a Big Climate Problem. Now, It’s Being Forced to Clean Up. (The New York Times) The titans of the tech industry like to think of themselves as solvers of big world problems, and, lately, they’re tripping over themselves to show that they are working to solve a problem for which they, too, are culpable: climate change. Apple on Tuesday became the latest tech giant to promise to do more to reduce the emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases, announcing in a statement that, by 2030, “every Apple device sold will have net-zero climate impact.”

Webinar: Critical Facilities, Critical Energy - Achieving Resilient Operations While Saving & Earning (CPower) August 5, 2020, 2:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time. Do you oversee energy management at a critical facility like a hospital, data center, school or university, or critical manufacturing? This webinar is designed just for you. CPower’s certified energy engineers have decades of experience in critical and resilient operations and will teach you how to increase operational resilience while leveraging your energy assets to decrease costs and generate revenue streams. Topics to be covered include the challenges critical facilities face and the impact of COVID-19; a whole-facility analysis and plan for resilience, lower risk, and revenue, and a case study on a critical facility that minimized risk & disruption and increased revenue. REGISTER HERE

Why is Walmart participating in Florida’s electric regulatory process? (Tampa Bay Times) The complexities of Florida’s electric regulatory process are usually taken on only by the state’s power companies. But here’s a surprising participant: Walmart. Over the past three years, Walmart has weighed in on an increasing number of issues before the Florida Public Service Commission. Some of the uptick is because of timing — some issues, such as energy efficiency goals, are scheduled to come up once every five years. But others show the retail giant taking a more active role in dockets that affect its energy bills, particularly those that deal with renewable energy.

11 Ways To Save Money On Business Energy (Forbes) Gas and electricity bills are among the biggest expenses businesses face. According to the Carbon Trust, concern about energy costs among small to medium-sized enterprises (those with up to 250 employees) rose from 46% in 2016 to 67% in 2019. If you’re running a business, you’ll be keen to find out more about how monitoring costs and reviewing your firm’s energy efficiency can be beneficial for both financial and environmental reasons. From choosing the best gas and electricity tariffs for your company, to simple changes that can result in significant savings, here we offer our top tips on how to save money on business energy.

Melting snow drives Nordic power prices down, hits earnings at renewables producer (CNBC) One of Europe’s largest generators of renewable energy, Statkraft, said Friday that Nordic power prices had been “pushed down” in the second quarter due to high levels of snow melt. Announcing its results for the period, the company cited “significant hydrological surplus due to high snow reservoirs” as putting pressure on prices. In addition, issues with reduced capacity in parts of the transmission grid have hampered efforts to export surplus hydropower. This in turn has generated bottlenecks and put pressure on prices, the company said.

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