Northwest Power Planning
Crosscut article: Meet 4 young leaders changing Northwest environmentalism
In her recent Crosscut article, Martha Baskin highlights the NW Energy Coalition’s 4 Under Forty honorees. She describes Tara Anderson, Jessica Finn Coven, Ben Otto and Gus Takala as “a new band that blends conservation, climate activism and sustainable communities.”
NEEA board adopts new 5-year strategic plan with lean budget, leaving long-term energy savings at risk
Despite hundreds of individual comments and letters, the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance board has decided to stick with a budget almost 30% percent below the previous 5-year budget. The NW Energy Coalition and other clean energy advocates will work to ensure that NEEA maintains its effectiveness and helps the region achieve all the cost-effective energy efficiency we can get to reduce climate pollution and consumers’ bills. This is not the time to retreat on energy efficiency, our cheapest, cleanest and quickest new energy resource.
NW Energy Coalition seeking half-time policy staff
The Coalition is seeking a half-time Policy staff person. The level of the position will be determined by experience and qualifications of the individual hired. This position can be located in Seattle or Olympia and will focus on energy efficiency policy and program implementation, as well as other utility regulatory issues.
Seattle Times column: Energy efficiency becomes hot market for tech companies
Federal climate change initiatives create opportunities for tech companies to pursue energy efficiency innovations. New technologies will utilize databases that track customers’ energy usage. The International Energy Agency projects that investments in efficiency technology will double over the next 20 years.
Efficiency-boosting mechanism for PSE moving ahead
Thurston County Superior Court Judge Murphy has rejected the primary challenges to an historic regulatory ruling that will allow Puget Sound Energy to reduce consumers’ energy use without undermining its financial health. PSE will be on a course to increase electricity savings by at least 5% from its already robust conservation programs. PSE will make available an additional $500,000 for weatherization of low-income homes. The order also requires the utility to increase its low-income bill assistance funding by $1.5 million.
4 Under Forty honoree Gus Takala touts energy efficiency in EnergyBiz column
Takala argues that a strong in-house energy efficiency department is necessary for utilities to provide quality customer service. He says that utilities are uniquely suited to help customers take advantage of energy efficiency investments, but this will require them to move beyond just capital investments into territories such as behavior and operation and maintenance programs.
Smart Grid Northwest to host launch event and annual member meeting
Coalition member Smart Grid Northwest (formerly Smart Grid Oregon) is hosting a launch event in Portland on Thursday, July 24 featuring keynotes from Jon Wellinghoff (former FERC chairman, partner at Stoel Rives) and Elliot Mainzer (administrator & CEO, Bonneville Power Administration). Wellinghoff will share his vision for a smarter grid and energy future. Mainzer will provide insights into the region’s most pressing energy challenges and where grid advances will have the biggest impact.
Op-Ed: Colstrip is neither cheap nor reliable for Montanans
In her Hungry Horse News op-ed, Anne Hedges of the Montana Environmental Information Center asserts that energy efficiency and renewable energy are more reliable than the aging Colstrip coal-fired power plant. Hedges claims that it’s time for Montana’s Public Service Commissioners to push NorthWestern Energy to replace Colstrip with clean energy sources because it will save customers money and create jobs in the long-run.
4 Under Forty celebration a huge success!
We are so happy many people in the Seattle area could join us last week to recognize and thank the Four Under Forty honorees for the outstanding work they do every day. The evening was a great success! All of us were moved by the honorees’ stories, by the words of support for the Coalition, and by the contributions from so many to sustain our clean energy work.
E&E news: Wind turbines generate prompt energy payback – study
The energy required to build a new commercial-scale wind turbine amounts to only a small amount of what the turbine will produce over a projected 20-year life span, according to a new life-cycle analysis of wind turbines performed by Oregon State University researchers. The environmental analysis, published in the International Journal of Sustainable Manufacturing, concludes that a 2-megawatt turbine built for a typical Pacific Northwest wind farm will pay back the energy used in its manufacture and installation within five to eight months of coming into service.
Federal agencies squander chance for progress on Northwest salmon survival, send region back to court
Yesterday, 13 conservation and fishing groups filed a legal challenge of the latest federal plan for endangered Columbia and Snake River salmon. The organizations assert that the Obama administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) failed to address the core issues that triggered federal-court rejection of three previous plans, forcing another round of litigation just as momentum is building in the Northwest for a broadly supported stakeholder collaboration as an alternative to the courtroom.
