Tag: rooftop solar

Energy Tradeoffs Podcast #36 – Scott Burger

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This week’s EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast episode features David Spence interviewing MIT’s Scott Burger about his research on “How to Value Distributed Energy Resources.”

David and Scott discuss the problems that can arise if rooftop solar is overcompensated through net metering when rooftop solar is mostly installed by wealthier customers. Scott and his colleagues “simulated rooftop solar adoption across single family homes [in] the Chicago, Illinois area” and found that bills dropped for rooftop solar adopters and rose for those who didn’t adopt. This tended to increase costs for low-income consumers “[b]ecause adopters are (on average) wealthier than non-adopters.”

The discussion builds on one of Scott’s recent articles: “Why Distributed? A Critical Review of the Tradeoffs Between Centralized and Decentralized Resources,” which was published last year.

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Energy Tradeoffs Podcast #31 – Yael Lifshitz

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Today’s EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast episode features Yael Lifshitz, from King’s College London, talking with me about her research on “Private Energy, Private Law, & the Green Transition.”

Yael describes her research on how private law interacts with our public policy goals for an energy transition. As one example, she describes how private leases for housing often are roadblocks to installing rooftop solar on rental units. As more people rely on rentals, this can seriously limit rooftop solar. Yael proposes private law solutions that could remove these roadblocks.

Yael also explains her research on conflicts between neighboring landowners over wind power. She describes how extraction of wind power by one landowner can have both local and area-wide impacts. Yael suggests how policymakers can look to water law and oil and gas law for possible solutions to these conflicts.

The discussion builds on two of Yael’s recent articles: “Private Energy,” which was published in the Stanford Environmental Law Journal, and “Winds of Change: Drawing on Water Doctrines to Establish Wind Law,” which was published in the NYU Environmental Law Journal.

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Energy Tradeoffs Podcast #28 – Sanya Carley

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In this week’s EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast episode, the University of Colorado’s Sharon Jacobs interviews Sanya Carley of Indiana University about Sanya’s work on Alternatives talks with about Sanya’s work on “Energy Justice.”

Sanya explains her efforts to identify communities that are particularly likely to be harmed as the country moves to cleaner energy sources. She describes steps that the government can take to address these disparate impacts and how to allow affected communities to participate in developing solutions.

This conversation relates to a number of Sanya’s recent publications, including a paper titled “A framework for evaluating geographic disparities in energy transition vulnerability,” that was published in Nature Energy in 2018.

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Energy Tradeoffs Podcast #25 – Victoria Mandell

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Another week, another EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast episode. This week, Victoria Mandell of GRID Alternatives talks with the University of Colorado’s  Sharon Jacobs about Victoria’s work on “Energy Poverty, Energy Burden and Rooftop Solar.”

Victoria and Sharon talk about why some policies that favor rooftop solar are regressive: “You have low income customers paying for high income customers to have solar on their roofs.” Victoria explains the complex interactions between equity, efficiency, and environmental goals in adding more solar energy to the grid.

Victoria has published some of her thoughts on energy poverty, rooftop solar, and the Colorado Public Utility Commission in this brief post: “Environmental and Economic Justice in Distributed Solar Energy Investment.”

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Energy Tradeoffs Podcast #7 – Michael Wara

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In this week’s EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast interview, Stanford’s Michael Wara talks with David Spence about his research on “California’s Energy Transition—Decarbonization & Decentralization.”

Michael discusses the necessary tradeoffs in meeting California’s varied goals for its energy grid: the challenges of moving away from gas power plants and increasing rooftop solar and different ways to meet those challenges while limiting the costs borne by low-income ratepayers.

The interview builds on Michael’s 2017 article in the NYU Environmental Law Journal, which is titled “Competition at the Grid Edge:  Innovation and Antitrust in the Electricity Sector.” 

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Energy Tradeoffs Podcast #4 – Shelley Welton

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This week’s EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast features David Spence interviewing the University of South Carolina’s  Shelley Welton about her research on “The Distributional Impacts of Distributed Energy Resources.”

Shelley talks about how rooftop solar and other smaller sources of power are changing energy policy. The interview builds on her article on “Clean Electrification,” which was published in the Colorado Law Review.

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