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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20140203
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SUMMARY:Daniel Esty Offers Solution to “Fundamental Breakdown” in Environmental Policy
DESCRIPTION:On the morning of Monday\, February 3\, Daniel Esty wrapped up his three-year term as Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP). That evening\, he arrived at NYU School of Law\, where Professor Richard Stewart\, director of the Frank J. Guarini Center on Environmental and Land Use Law\, welcomed him for his first post-DEEP talk. \nEsty’s lecture conveyed the practiced capability and finesse needed to gather bipartisan support for an innovative environmental strategy. His manner was in utter contrast to what he described as today’s national failure: the “very fundamental breakdown in Washington when it comes to energy policy\, climate change policy\, [and] environmental policy.” He described a stagnant federal government that has moved little on the environment since the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change treaty of 1992. \nIn response to Washington’s foot-dragging\, he and Governor Dannel Malloy pushed for fresh thinking at the state level. DEEP\, Esty said\, is better spelled “DEEEP”—energy\, environment\, and economy. It’s the “triple E agenda.” \n“You cannot pursue a clean energy agenda without simultaneously pursuing cheaper and more reliable energy\,” he argued. That is\, people are far likelier to support clean energy if it’s easy to finance and cheaper than fossil fuels. \nSo\, among his goals was “normalizing” clean energy—making it normal for people to invest in clean energy projects. This means standard forms and checkpoints. It also means that Connecticut’s “green bank”—the Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority—now helps “de-risk” investments in clean energy projects. Created in 2011\, it can take the first 2% of defaults on clean energy investments\, encouraging banks to make loans for such projects at lower interest rates. \nThis initiative has already impacted New York: in 2013\, Governor Andrew Cuomo set up the New York Green Bank\, a division of the New York State Energy and Research and Development Authority\, with an initial $210 million funding. \nIn Connecut\, the green bank\, combined with other practices like long-term contracts and reverse-auctions\, has meant the following: Esty said that when he took over\, Connecticut was paying about 40 cents per kilowatt-hour of solar power. Since then\, they’ve pushed that price down to 15 cents per kilowatt-hour; on grid-scale projects in New England\, he said the cost is under eight cents per kilowatt-hour. \n“That is grid-scale parity\,” he concluded. “And by the way\, in my mind\, that’s the end to the climate-change challenge: It’s not a big treaty\, it’s not a Waxman-Markey big cap and trade bill. It is simply a driving of innovation through the series of innovation steps\, so that the price of renewable energy comes in under the price of the fossil fuel status quo.” If clean energy is cheaper\, people will adopt it\, period. “That’s the 21st century model that I propose to you tonight.” \nEsty served as commissioner while on a public-service leave from Yale University\, where he is the Hillhouse Professor of Environmental Law and Policy in the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies\, and Clinical Professor of Environmental Law and Policy at Yale Law School. He is also director of both the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy and the Center for Business and the Environment. These roles are a testament to a career dedicated to the environment. \nIn his resignation letter\, Esty wrote of his experience\, “As a boy spending the day at Black Rock State Park\, I never could have imagined that I would have the opportunity to lead the agency so central to protecting that park as well as Long Island\, and all of the other parks\, forests\, rivers\, and lakes that make Connecticut a special place to live and work.” \nAfter three years of dedication\, he was able to offer Connecticut as a hopeful example\, a “model for how an energy agenda moves state by state perhaps. Maybe someday nationally.”
URL:https://guarinicenter.org/event/daniel-esty-offers-solution-to-fundamental-breakdown-in-environmental-policy/
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20140220
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20140221
DTSTAMP:20260405T233652
CREATED:20140220T184428Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221202T155312Z
UID:10314-1392854400-1392940799@guarinicenter.org
SUMMARY:Richard Kauffman Sees Promise for Climate Change in Green Banks
DESCRIPTION:On February 20\, Richard Kauffman presented the second installment of the Energy Policy Discussion series. In February of last year\, Kauffman was appointed the first-ever Chairman of Energy and Finance for New York\, and since June 2013\, he has also filled the role of chairman for the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). \nHis lecture was\, in many ways\, an excellent counterpart to the series’ previous installment with Daniel Esty\, former commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. \nLike Esty\, Kauffman emphasized that the current context for promoting renewable energy growth is difficult. “The headwinds against a robust renewable energy program are in some sense getting stronger\,” he said. Federal financial support for renewable energy is dropping off. And because natural gas remains cheap\, cleaner yet more expensive forms of energy like wind and solar power aren’t catching on. \nHowever\, he said\, “we have room to tack against these trends.” Decreasing federal financial support is incentive to look at how we can reduce the “soft costs” of renewables\, which can be burdensome. In December 2013\, for example\, the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory calculated that for solar panel installations\, such non-hardware costs can mean up to 64% of the total. One way we can reduce soft costs\, Kauffman said\, is by eliminating financial inefficiencies. \nNew York State is taking the initiative in promoting renewable energy. One project is the Green Bank\, inspired by Connecticut’s Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority—the original “green bank.” Rather than subsidize renewable energy\, the Green Bank strives to close gaps in access to funding. \nKauffman also suggested that greater competition among utilities companies and greater interaction between them and their customers can lead to more innovation. He encouraged utilities companies to respond to customers more efficiently by using “smart software.” \nBefore taking on the role of chairman\, Kauffman was the senior advisor to US Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. He was also CEO of Good Energies\, now known as Bregal Energy\, and chaired the Global Financial Group at Goldman Sachs.
URL:https://guarinicenter.org/event/richard-kauffman-sees-promise-for-climate-change-in-green-banks/
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