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The press has been abuzz this summer about the California Energy Commission’s (CEC) new building code amendment that will require most single-family residential and low-rise multi-family dwellings to incorporate PV systems at construction. The amendment takes effect in 2020. Buildings… View Summary +
“If your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail,” goes the saying. In the context of climate policy, the leading hammer is carbon pricing. To many economists and carbon market enthusiasts, putting a price on carbon… View Summary +
Widespread outages in Europe are a nightmare for consumers, system operators, and governments. While rare, they can represent a powerful and costly disruption to daily life. In 2006, Europe experienced a widespread blackout that affected more than 15 million people,… View Summary +
In a RAP webinar held on June 19, 2018, David Farnsworth, Jim Lazar, and Jessica Shipley outlined principles regulators can follow to ensure that electrification initiatives benefit customers, grid management, and the environment. View Summary +
If the video is not visible, please accept all cookies to enable the player. Implemented properly, the electrification of end uses currently powered by fossil fuels can provide significant benefits—lowering consumer energy bills, helping utilities better manage the grid,… View Summary +
For electrification to be considered beneficial, it must meet one or more of the following conditions without adversely affecting the other two: Saves consumers money over the long run; Enables better grid management; and Reduces negative environmental impacts. Beneficial… View Summary +
The regulatory system that governs U.S. electric utilities is 130 years old—while our power grid is rapidly modernizing. Utility regulators need a tool that can facilitate reform to keep pace with this change. One tool they are increasingly exploring: performance-based… View Summary +
RAP senior advisor Jim Lazar tells a story about doing a cost and environmental analysis on behalf of the Association of Northwest Gas Utilities in 1990, in which he compared space and water heating run on natural-gas-generated electricity to… View Summary +
This report, the first of three volumes of Next-Generation Performance-Based Regulation: Emphasizing Utility Performance to Unleash Power Sector Innovation, examines the concept of performance-based regulation (PBR) and how it can provide a framework to connect goals, targets, and measures to… View Summary +
This report, the second of three volumes of Next-Generation Performance-Based Regulation: Emphasizing Utility Performance to Unleash Power Sector Innovation, focuses on best practices for design, development, and implementation of performance-based regulation mechanisms. It begins by laying the groundwork for understanding… View Summary +