4 New Year’s Resolutions For Transforming The U.S. Electricity System

by Peter Bronksi, via the Rocky Mountain Institute

It’s that time of year when people make New Year’s resolutions, commitments to do things differently in the coming year that are going to have a positive impact on their lives. But what would New Year’s resolutions look like if the United States as a nation resolved to decrease its fossil fuel consumption and increase the adoption of efficiency and renewables?

I sat down with program director James Newcomb and principal Lena Hansen to find out. They offered up four New Year’s resolutions that can help make the United States’ electricity system more efficient, more resilient, and more planet-friendly sooner than later.

1. Invest further in end-use efficiency.

Energy efficiency is often considered one of the cheapest and most readily available energy sources. Investments in efficiency programs have been increasing around the country, but significant opportunity remains on the table and many utilities are still incentivized to sell more electricity, rather than to sell more efficiency. Taking end-use efficiency to the next level will require utilities and consumers to work more closely together than ever before. Utilities especially can take several steps to make that happen: a) improve efficiency program marketing to truly engage customers and increase participation, b) streamline program transaction costs, such as by implementing faster and simpler energy audits, c) adopt regulatory mechanisms that remove utilities’ disincentives and create incentives to sell efficiency, and d) embrace collaboration with other stakeholders, including regulators, NGOs, auditors, customers, and architectural and engineering firms.

2. Anticipate and head off friction over solar.

As the cost of solar has come down in recent years (19 percent overall between 2011 and 2012 alone, ranging from 15 percent for residential solar up to 30 percent for utility solar) and new business models have emerged, solar is becoming cost competitive with grid-sourced electricity in an increasing number of locales. Meanwhile, the amount of installed solar continues to grow. (According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, the U.S. now has more than 6,400MW of installed solar electric capacity, enough to power more than 1 million average American homes.) These trends are set to continue, and as they do, there’s likely to be increased conflict between utilities, solar companies, and customers. Utilities, regulators, and solar companies need to come together now to dialogue and develop regulatory, business, and pricing models that will enable sustained growth for the solar market while still compensating utilities for the real and valuable grid services they provide.

3. Learn from 2012’s debilitating storms and make grid resilience a priority.

From devastating droughts in the Sahel and America to extreme flooding in Australia, from Western wildfires to Hurricane Isaac and Superstorm Sandy, 2012 was the year of debilitating storms and other weather and climate events that knocked out power for millions and millions of people. Such massive, widespread outages had very real and damaging impacts, from loss of life to billions of dollars lost. It is time to learn from those experiences and begin a genuine conversation about what it will take to fundamentally transform the grid’s architecture to make it inherently more resilient. The conversation must move beyond simply “hardening the grid” by trimming trees or installing expensive underground lines, which are more or less Band-Aids. A more decentralized electricity system—one built upon greater levels of rooftop solar, efficiency, electric vehicles, smart controls for customers, and more—has the potential to support greater resilience, but represents more fundamental and transformative change that must be thought through carefully.

4. Don’t think or act incrementally when it comes to long-term infrastructure.

The U.S. has been under-investing in its electricity system infrastructure for a long time. Even without the devastation caused by storms such as Sandy and the rebuilding that goes along with it, that system will require significant investment in 2013 and beyond. The Brattle Group estimates that the U.S. will need to invest up to $2 trillion in its electricity infrastructure by 2030, for example. But once such infrastructure investments are made, they’re there for decades. Let’s not make incremental investment decisions based on what we’ve always done; the status quo must go. Instead, we must be thoughtful, think systematically, and consider the best overall solution—not the best incremental Band-Aid—before acting. For example, is a new transmission line the best option, or could efficiency and distributed resources closer to the point of use meet the need? These are but four commitments of many the U.S. could make to improve its electricity system. And while the change will happen over the long term, the time to resolve to make that change—and take the first steps toward it—is today.

Peter Bronksi is the Editorial Director of the Rocky Mountain Institute. This piece was originally published at RMI’s Outlet Blog and was reprinted with permission.

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Five Pop Culture New Year’s Resolutions For 2013

It’s a new year, and that means a whole lot of new popular culture, whether it’s a crop of television shows centered on female characters, like FX’s The Americans or Showtime’s Masters and Johnson, the continuation of promising franchises like J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek: Into Darkness, or even just news on who will be directing the new Star Wars movies and potentially starring as Carol Danvers in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. But every year, I like to take some time out to explore things that are missing pieces in my own spotty pop-culture education, that give context to the larger trends that are emerging in film and television, or that I simply didn’t get a chance to catch in the previous year. These are my 2013 pop culture New Year’s resolutions. I’d love to hear yours in comments:

1. Finish Homicide: Life On The Street and Twin Peaks: I got through a chunk of Homicide in 2011, and the first season of Twin Peaks last year. And I can’t stop thinking about either one of them. I’m looking forward to finishing both for the simple pleasure of watching them, and for all the things I know that watching them will let me see in the rest of pop culture.

2. Read all of the competitors in the 2013 Tournament of Books: Judging the 2012 Tournament of Books, a competition that puts all kinds of novels, written in all kinds of styles, up against each other, was one of the most fun things I did last year. This year, I’ll just be an observer as a group of talented critics tries to sort between everything from the pulp of Gone Girl to the interrogations of Bring Up The Bodies. But I’m excited to catch up with the books I haven’t read, including HHhH, The Round House, The Fault In Our Stars, Arcadia, May We Be Forgiven, Ivyland, Dear Life, Where’d You Go Bernadette, Beautiful Ruins, and perhaps most of all, Chris Ware’s Building Stories.

3. Seven Samurai. Yojimbo. Ran. Throne of Blood. I don’t know enough about Asian cinema, or about Westerns, either. So it’s time to get my Akira Kurosawa on. I’m going to start with these four movies. And I’d love your recommendations for where to go once I’m done with those.

4. Watch Hatufim: Whether you think Homeland jumped the shark this season or gained adrenaline as it ramped up to the major terrorist attack that ended this season, the show is guaranteed to remain a key part of the prestige television landscape—and shows based on Israeli programs look to become an even more important part of the network television mix. I want to go back and see where Homeland came from and watch Hatufim, the Israeli show it’s loosely based on, especially as Gideon Raff starts work on American television shows in conjunction with Homeland‘s creators.

5. Pandora’s Box and Diary of a Lost Girl: One of the most common complaints about Hollywood today is that it’s hamstrung by commercial concerns, chasing movies that will make hundreds of millions of dollars, rather than ones that will recoup modest gains but make more important points. But I’m curious about what kinds of movies couldn’t get made when there was a genuine blacklist. So I’m going to spend some time this year with the movies Louise Brooks made in Europe when it was difficult for her to work in the United States.

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Progressive Resolutions For 2013

1. Reform the broken immigration system.

Following President Obama’s re-election — supported by a large majority of Latino voters — even House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) came out in support of comprehensive immigration reform. The president is preparing to “begin an all out drive” for immigration reform in January, so 2013 needs to be the year that Congress passes a comprehensive plan that includes a path to citizenship.

2. Enact sensible gun safety laws.

Tens of thousands of Americans signed a petition calling on the White House to introduce legislation to address the weak gun laws in the United States, members of Congress pledged to introduce billsregulating assault weapons, and President Obama has formed a task force to address gun violence. Lawmakers must act decisively in to prevent any more tragedies in 2013.

3. Secure higher wages and benefits for workers.

Union advocates launched campaigns to organize more service sector workplaces this year, and those efforts need to continue. In New York, fast food workers are fighting for the fair wages and health benefits that union membership could help bring. Across the country, Walmart workers are demanding labor rights and fair wages at a company that tells them that joining a union could mean the loss of their benefits. Unions built America’s middle class, and in the face of continued attacks on workers, they’re an important piece in the fight to strengthen it again.

4. Enhance oversight of the drones program.

Though the Obama administration’s policy of killing al-Qaeda and affiliated groups from afar may be weakening terrorist organizations, it is almost certainly killing innocent civilians as well. Given the level of secrecy surrounding the program, it’s almost impossible for the public to know whether the program is doing more good than harm.

5. Adopt a more effective federal drug policy.

In 2012, two states for the first time voted to legalize and regulate the marijuana industry. The move has prompted nationwide discussion and increasing support for a move away from the failed War on Drugs. In 2012, members of Congress and the administration should divert federal resources away from minor drug crimes, and clear the way for states to experiment with an alternative to the failed War on Drugs.

6. Embrace progressive monetary policy.

The latest announcement from the Federal Reserve that it will continue monetary stimulus until unemployment is below 6.5 percent or inflation rises above 2.5 percent was a historic shift in how the Fed strategizes and conceptualizes its role. It reorders the Fed’s priorities towards emphasizing employment. Bloggers and policymakers from across the political spectrum helped push forward the proposal by Chicago Fed president Charles Evans, but progressives certainly played a role. And this lays the foundation for eventually establishing even more worker-friendly Fed policies, such as NGDP targeting and a hike in the NAIRU — the level of employment the Fed believes the economy can tolerate before the danger of inflation becomes too great.

7. Reform the filibuster.

For President Obama’s entire term, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has been the king of the Senate. And he’s wielded this power to more interested in sabotaging Obama than in actually governing. The solution is a robust filibuster reform package, including major confirmations reforms.

8. Minimize risky bank transactions.

The Volcker Rule, meant to rein in the sort of risky bank trading that helped fuel the 2008 financial crisis, is supposed to be implemented in early 2013. Wall Street lobbyists — and their Republican counterparts in Congress — are trying to water it down, even though it is necessary to safeguard the financial system.

9. Repeal the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act.

With the Supreme Court set to consider a challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), 2013 could prove to be a historic year for same-sex couples. Regardless of how the Court rules, the Respect for Marriage Act, legislation to repeal DOMA, enjoys record support in Congress.

10. Advance national standards for federal elections.

Americans had to overcome major obstacles and long lines to vote in 2012 due to Republican voter supppression efforts. To keep this from happening again, Congress needs to pass minimum standards for election procedures that states must abide by during federal elections.

11. Secure paid sick and parental leave.

The U.S. is one of the only developed countries in the world that doesn’t guarantee paid maternity leave for expecting mothers. Federal policy should encourage employers to provide parents with time off to adjust to life with a newborn and additional time off to take care of their children in times of need.

12. Invest in infrastructure.

Our roads and bridges are literally crumbling, and analysts say the nation will need to make $2 trillion in immediate investments to update infrastructure. Hurricane Sandy underlined the problem, when 8.1 million people -– in homes, businesses, and hospitals — lost power.

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