Research that Informs Business and Public Policy
A thought experiment suggests how much rooftop solar could reduce transmission and distribution costs. California and other locations are moving to renewable energy at high speed. But even in these … Continue Reading What Can Distributed Generation Do For the Grid?
Rising electricity demand from air conditioning will exacerbate problems during heat waves. The Bay Area has definitely felt dystopian recently. Our Covid cases are high, we’ve had heat waves and … Continue Reading Are There More Blackouts in California’s Future?
(Title inspired by the Beatles. Blog inspired this song sent by an anonymous reader.) Customers can help avoid blackouts if they are given better information and prices. Even if you … Continue Reading Why Don’t We Do It With Demand?
On the economics of building back greener. With a high-stakes election on the horizon, the Democrats are working hard to shore up a winning policy platform. The Biden-Sanders Unity Task … Continue Reading Biden’s New Climate Plan
Time to reexamine how utility losses will be shared among customers. The coronavirus pandemic has thrown public finances into turmoil. Legislators and city councils are wrestling with what services to … Continue Reading How Utility Customers Will Pay for the Pandemic
Preliminary survey results from California suggest that long outages are leading people to buy backup generators, possibly instead of rooftop solar. The COVID-19 pandemic has shone a very bright light … Continue Reading Electricity Outages Lead to Substantial Backup Generator Purchases
How do we foster innovation to solve COVID-19 and climate change? Ten days ago the Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency approval for remdesivir. It’s too soon to know … Continue Reading Remdesivir, Low-Carbon Energy, and the Origins of Innovation
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