Chinese government and international experts will gather in Zhuhai, Guandong Province, China this week to discuss best practices and methodologies for reducing the carbon intensity of China’s power generation sector. With support from RAP, Chiara Di Mambra, from the European Commission Directorate-General for Climate Action, will join the group to discuss the European Union’s Emissions Trading…

Members of the California Energy Efficiency Industry Council explored the effectiveness of different types of energy efficiency program administration models in a recent webinar. Rich Sedano, RAP Principal, highlighted the findings from RAP’s 2011 update to Who Should Deliver Ratepayer Funded Energy Efficiency? In the absence of a study comparing the effectiveness of the different…

As part of an ongoing bilateral cooperation between Germany’s and Israel’s Environmental Ministries, a 2-day workshop was held in Tel Aviv to discuss energy efficiency policies and practices.  Staff and key managers from Israel’s air quality and utility regulatory agencies participated, as well as NGOs, members from industry and Israel’s state owned electric utility company. …

On July 25, 2012, the Regulatory Assistance Project, along with the Energy Research Institute, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Energy Foundation China Sustainable Energy Program, organized a meeting in Beijing entitled “Workshop on Best Practices for Shale Gas Development in China: Policies and Technologies to Minimize Environmental Impacts.” The workshop brought together experts from government,…

The Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP) is hosting a webinar to discuss the current status of building energy codes in the U.S. and examples that demonstrate how energy efficiency program administrators and regulators can integrate energy code support programs into utility energy efficiency portfolio goals. Moderator: Phyllis Reha, Commissioner, Minnesota PUC Introduction:  David Farnsworth, Senior Associate…

Germany’s Ministry of Environment invited RAP to participate on a small working group of government policy advisors and experts to develop recommendations for implementation of the Energiewende (“energy turn”), which calls for a phase out of all nuclear power plants by 2022 and a minimum of 80% renewables in the power mix by 2050.  The…

The U.S.-China Energy Efficiency Forum was sponsored by U.S. Department of Energy and China’s National Development and Reform Commission. Rick Weston spoke on a panel that included Gary Locke, U.S. Ambassador to China, Xie Ji, Deputy Director-General of the NDRC, and Jennifer Matz, Director of the San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development. Weston…

RAP was invited to join a select group of speakers to brief German journalists on emerging technical, political and market design issues for the Energiewende (“energy turn”) at a recent Berlin workshop hosted by the European Climate Foundation. Andreas Jahn, RAP’s senior associate based in Berlin, presented the reliability challenges and opportunities in this powerpoint overview. …

Richard Cowart, RAP principal and director of RAP’s European programmes was invited by the European Union’s Danish Presidency, as the only outside speaker, to address a special meeting of the EU’s Energy Ministers at the end of April 2012 in Horsens (DK). He delivered this presentation on global experiences with Efficiency Obligations, and design options…

RAP was invited to EPA Region 10 in Seattle to train staff on various energy and electricity topics, with an emphasis on how these topics have environmental benefits and impacts. This training is a continuation of EPA’s recognition of the inextricable links between energy and the environment. Cooperation and collaboration between regulators is important to…