Comments on: California tightens building standards yet again

By: mauri pelto

mauri pelto — Sun, 04 May 2008 12:35:23 +0000

These are very practical steps. What can the EPA do to block these? President Reagan did not understand that electric utilities could make more by promoting less use of their product, than by trying to produce more product in the early 1980’s. Strange for free market thinking, but it has proven to be true and the utilites have pushed the line for sometime.

By: John Mashey

John Mashey — Mon, 05 May 2008 03:30:54 +0000

Mauri:
Fortunately, this isn’t the EPA’s turf.

How are the local PUC rules in new England? Do they do good job of incenting utilities for efficiency? If not, it’s probably one of the biggest wins there is. Our local NorCal utility is PG&E, and quick perusal of their webpages shows how they act, and they actually mean it - I’ve talked to several of their senior people, including their CEO, Peter Darbee, and articulate and impressive speaker.

By: Mark Shapiro

Mark Shapiro — Mon, 05 May 2008 04:15:43 +0000

I certainly like decoupling utilities’ profits from revenue so that they can encourage efficiency, and I have read about it at RMI, but how is it implemented? How is (or was, in California’s case) utility law changed to encourage efficiency?

By: Hal Levin

Hal Levin — Mon, 05 May 2008 04:17:26 +0000

California started on the conservation path after “exporting” its former governor (RR) to Washington where he and his allies did what they could to make sure the country didn’t follow the California lead. We still haven’t recovered, but California has managed to keep per capita electric consumption stable all these years anyway. It’s just that there are so many more of us now. Like Amory says, conservation is the low hanging fruit that is piling up and rotting around our ankles.

By: Earl Killian

Earl Killian — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:46:27 +0000

Hal, strangely enough it was RR who signed the Warren-Alquist bill in California in response to the 1970s energy shocks. Actually I think the legislature passed the bill, RR vetoed it, then the crisis hit, and RR reversed himself and signed it.

Art Rosenfeld’s biography (online, not too long) talks about this a bit.

By: Earl Killian

Earl Killian — Mon, 05 May 2008 16:41:32 +0000

Mark, I am not familiar with the gory details, but in the US most private utilities are regulated by some sort of public utilities commission. I believe that body takes into account the utility’s expenditure on conservation just as it would if the utility were building a power plant and getting a return on that investment.

By: John Mashey

John Mashey — Mon, 05 May 2008 19:53:49 +0000

Mark, Earl:
regarding the rules, a good palceto start is California Energy Commission. Go there, and search: energy utility .

From the way Peter Darbee talked when I heard him last Fall, many state PUCs weren’t into effective decoupling yet or enough.

Google: decoupling utility

gets lots of hits, and Joe wrote about this here.