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RAP assisted in the development of China's new Regional Air Quality Management Rule, which was issued by China's State Council on May 11, 2010. The new regulation designates three key regions for aggressive air quality management. RAP offered these recommendations during a RAQM workshop held in Hangzhou in March 2010. The significance of the new rule is outlined in this RAP briefing paper.
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Compendium of Best Practices is the result of extensive outreach, data gathering, and analysis conducted to identify leading state and local-level best practices in energy efficiency and renewable energy in the United States. The report describes more than 20 practices and includes examples of their effective implementation in states or cities. Policies, financing mechanisms, and other initiatives are highlighted for their success in creating favorable market conditions for energy efficiency and renewable energy, as well as for their replicability, relative ease of implementation, measured energy savings, ability to offset the need for conventional energy, cost effectiveness, greenhouse gas emissions reduction, and job creation. Exemplary local governments from across the United States share the key elements of their programs, their lessons learned, and the factors in their programs' successes. RAP's Wayne Shirley and Rick Weston were among those who provided support to the authors. |
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RAP serves as a technical advisor to the Complementary Policies Committee of the Western Climate Initiative (WCI), and assisted in the preparation of this report. Complementary policies can address market barriers that would otherwise limit the use of low-cost greenhouse gas (GHG) emission-reduction options and reduce emissions from sources excluded from the cap-and-trade program. Thus, complementary policies can lower the overall cost of reducing GHG emissions. The charge of the Committee is to recommend to the WCI partner jurisdictions those policies that would help achieve the regional emissions reduction goals and assist with the transition to a low-carbon economy. |
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RAP is working with the Natural Resources Defense Council Demand-Side Management Center in Beijing to hold national training workshops for Chinese officials and practitioners on how to implement electricity demand-side management (DSM) and energy efficiency projects, including construction of efficiency power plants (EPPs). RAP is also coordinating with the Beijing-based Center for Industrial Energy Efficiency in this effort. A major goal is to support an anticipated national framework for DSM, which the central government may launch later in 2010. The first training workshop, "Planning and Constructing an Efficiency Power Plant," will be held from June 1-3, 2010. See more details and an agenda for the workshop here. |
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Energy efficiency is among the federal government's objectives in the Recovery Act of 2009 (HR 1, 111th Congress) for modernizing the US electric grid. But unless utilities and others plan for energy efficiency benefits from the start, the smart grid will not live up to its promise. This Issuesletter raises questions that public utility commissions and stakeholders can ask if they want smart grid investments to improve distribution system efficiency, focusing on conservation voltage reduction and optimizing voltage and var control. It is the first of a two-part series on smart grid's potential benefits for energy efficiency and distributed generation. An earlier Issuesletter examined the potential values of smart grid for consumers and recommended policies for commissions to consider before committing ratepayer dollars for such investments.
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RAP Senior Associate David Farnsworth articulated the connections between preserving affordable housing, energy conservation and RGGI's cap-and-trade design for CO2 in this
presentation at the MacArthur Foundation's "Partners in Innovation: Preserving Affordable Rental Housing through Energy Conservation" forum, held Apr. 14, 2010 in Boston, Mass.
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RAP's
Policy Brief on forward capacity markets was contained in this
Roadmap 2050 report, released by the European Climate Foundation (ECF) on Apr. 13, 2010. The Roadmap project will support the European Union's efforts to reduce emissions by at least 80 percent of 1990 levels by 2050. For more on the Roadmap 2050 project, visit
www.roadmap2050.eu .
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RAP Senior Advisor Jim Lazar made this webinar,
"Industry Customer Participation In Utility Energy Efficiency Programs and Decoupling: Skepticism, Barriers, and Constructive Approaches," for the US Department of Energy on Apr. 14, 2010. The webinar focused on the regulatory framework needed to make industrial energy efficiency work, for both utilities and consumers. (Audio not available).
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RAP's recently published Issuesletter reviews activity in six Midwestern states: Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The report provides examples of the efforts that these states have undertaken to confront the challenge of climate change and to formulate policies that will develop cleaner and more sustainable energy sectors. The discussion is organized by state and focuses primarily on legislation, climate action plans, and administrative activity related to the deployment of energy efficiency and renewable energy.
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