News & Events

Energy efficiency and renewable projects are no longer skipping down the same yellow brick road as they were this time last year. Similar to the Cowardly Lion, some are inching courageously forward despite doubts from customers and the industry, while others have stepped off the road until the way forward becomes clearer.

The Scarecrow had enough sense to know that he needed a brain, but what about your building? The impending rollout of distributed energy resource (DER) tariffs and power pricing suggests that many facilities may soon need their own “transplants.”

Congratulations to our CEO, Catherine Luthin for being a NJ SmartCEO 2017 Brava Award winner! Catherine along with other award winners will be honored as SmartCEO shares their inspiring stories in SmartCEO magazine and celebrates their success at a high-energy awards gala.

Join us at the AEE GLOBALCON 2017 Conference! Catherine Luthin chairs Session 1A: Creative Ways to Pay for Energy Efficiency.

A presentation delivered by Nat DiDonato on Con Edison Tariff Changes That Impact Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Projects.

As we look at opportunities to impact climate change, out-of-the box thinking may help us bridge the gap until fossil fuel plants are out of the picture. Those of you who enjoy the beach may have noticed   the “Fudgie – Wudgie” guy (that is what we called him in the 20th century) selling ice cream on the beach out of shopping bags or pushing a cart. Rather than using ice which will not last the full day, he uses a solid form of carbon dioxide (CO2) known as dried ice. Did you know that CO2 also occurs in liquid form? Well, somewhat.

With the election of Donald Trump, federal and state energy policies may sharply diverge in the near future. Some states, such as New York and California, are trying to reduce carbon emissions, while President-elect Trump appears to have other priorities.  Trump’s campaign proposals are preliminary, but a few general directions are clear. Here is how those divergent strategies and transition plans may impact energy policy.

Climate change may gradually alter the landscape of energy production like tectonic shifts, but seasonal weather variations yield much shorter and obvious changes, a bit like riding a roller coaster. During the winter of 2015-16, much of the U.S. rode it to the warmest winter on record. In the Northeast, December 2015 had 27% fewer heating degree-days (HDD) than the 30-year average, while January-February saw HDDs 12-17% below normal. Two years before, we had the Polar Vortex winter, one of the coldest on record. Such short term variations cause ripple effects on energy pricing that may be felt for a year or more thereafter.

Weather conditions, such as occasional daily and annual variations in temperature and moisture, have obvious temporary effects on energy bills. Heating costs rise when it is cold and dry, while cooling costs rise when it is hot and humid. Weather changes associated with climate change are expected to have long-term permanent impacts on those costs by causing weather extremes and changes to how power is produced.

In this issue, we take a look at the fuel mix in New York. We hope to provide our readers with guidance and actionable information that will be both valuable and useful.