Electricity
X-Change: Electricity
Renewable energy – solar and wind – is on an exponential path which will lead to disruption of the global electricity sector this decade.
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Electricity
Metric and Method for Comparing Investments to Decarbonize the Electricity System
This simple, practical guide offers a transparent way to compare the climate-effectiveness of different ways to provide electrical services—specifically, different ways to displace coal-fired electricity. Its worked examples show manyfold to over 50-fold differences in…
Electricity
Fourteen Alleged Magical Properties That Coal and Nuclear Plants Don’t Have and Shouldn’t Be Paid Extra for Providing
As the U.S. electricity sector awaits the release of a Department of Energy study assessing the impact of current market design on baseload generation and grid reliability, Rocky Mountain Institute’s Cofounder and Chief Scientist, Amory…
Electricity
Does “Fuel On Hand” Make Coal and Nuclear Power Plants More Valuable?
On April 14, Energy Secretary Rick Perry sent a memo ordering a 60-day departmental study of whether federal policies favoring an unnamed competitor—evidently renewable electricity like solar and windpower—are constraining supposedly vital “baseload” plants (impliedly coal…
Electricity
The Grid Needs a Symphony, Not a Shouting Match
For more detail on the topics covered in this article, readers should see Amory Lovins’ FERC comments, a recent article on Forbes, and a forthcoming article in The Electricity Journal. In April,…
Electricity
3 Ways Wind and Solar Can Continue To Grow In a 21st-Century Grid
Earlier this year, MIT researchers were the latest in a series of analysts to raise alarm about the perceived limitations of solar PV’s continued growth. In short, these analysts propose that variable renewables will…
Electricity
Micropower’s Quiet Takeover
In a cover story and article 14 years ago about the emergent disruption of utilities, The Economist’s Vijay Vaitheeswaran coined the umbrella term “micropower” to mean sources of electricity that are relatively small,…
Electricity
Efficient Use of Electricity
Electricity is fundamental to the quality of modern life. It is a uniquely valuable, versatile, and controllable form of energy, which can perform many tasks efficiently. In little over 100 years electricity has transformed the…
Electricity
Let’s Celebrate, Not Lament, Renewables’ Disruption of Electric Utilities
Renewables are making headway in Europe and bringing a low-carbon electricity system to the forefront. Renewables were 69 percent of new capacity added in 2012 in Europe and 49 percent in the United States. Not…
Electricity
Separating Fact from Fiction In Accounts of Germany’s Renewables Revolution
I recently wrote about—and debunked—the renewables “disinformation campaign” that spreads misinformed and falsely negative stories about the growth of renewable energy. A special focus of such disinformation has been reportage on Germany’s efficiency-and-renewables…