Residential rates always seem to be in the news for one reason or another. These days, residential rates are the subject of pending legislation (AB 327) and an ongoing rulemaking at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) (R.12-06-013). To help add some context to the discussion, we will be writing a series of blog posts to address the history of how we
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Energy Crisis
Recently many states have chosen to deregulate their energy markets. This means that homeowners and consumers can choose who generates the power that they use. This is done in part to lower utility prices and to let competition drive the more or less monopolized market. At the moment there are 28 states that have deregulated either electricity, natural gas or both. In a
“There is no energy crisis, just a crisis of ignorance,” the great Buckminster Fuller once wrote. I’ve been Googling this, learning more about it, and challenging myself to figure out what it truly means in our world today.
Check out the video below from non-profit education/research organization GENI.org, featuring some of Fuller’s ideas — among them
It seems like an audacious claim, but Uranium-238 might just be the solution the world needs to solve the energy crisis. As many of the intellectual thinkers, serial entrepreneurs and research stalwarts all over the world combine their efforts to solve the energy crisis, Uranium 238 seems to pop up more often than not.
Before dismissing this as yet another pipe dream or a media publicity stunt, consider this – the best minds of the scientific and research community are already involved in this project. Bill Gates has recently classified this as an ‘Energy Miracle’ if successful. This is a total revolution and not an incremental improvement of existing technologies. This is why, if successful, it can redefine the way we look at all forms of energy and indeed the entire geo-politics and socio-economics of the world.
| In a bold new risk publication out today from Lloyd’s of London, entitled Sustainable Energy Security: Strategic Risks and Opportunities for Business, the insurance heavyweight states in no uncertain terms that businesses that fail to prepare for short and long term energy crises face potentially catastrophic risks: |
Yesterday, First Solar announced it had reduced its manufacturing cost for solar modules in the fourth quarter to 98 cents per watt – that is big news because the company won the race to produce under the $1 per watt price barrier. This news didn’t come as a surprise to many, and perhaps we can get Brad to write a note about the true significance of the announcement.
Other big news was PG&E’s proposal for 500 MW of solar PV – half of which PG&E would develop on its own. This is worth noting because traditionally Investor Owned Utilities (IOUs) in California, like PG&E, have had to rely on Independent Power Producers (IPPs) since the deregulation of the State’s energy market in the 1990’s.