utilities Archives - The Handbuilt City

midjourney ai image of neon illuminated district heating plant

New Ideas For Utility Policy (Idea No. 2)

March 16, 2023March 15, 2023 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments ASHRAE, district cooling, district energy, district heating, energy, glycol loop, magic-pak, PTAC, steam heat, utilities

In my last article, I looked at this question of “dig once” and how it might influence utility affordability and

midjourney ai comic book art, 1930s style

Policy Data & Analytics Energy Utilities

Can Utilities Be Held Financially Liable For Outages?

March 6, 2023March 6, 2023 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments ai generated art, ben dueweke, blizzard, caidi, climate, climate change, climate stressors on infrastructure, CMS, consumers, DTE, extreme weather, investor-owned utilities, maintenance, midjourney, midjourney ai, public utilities, sadie white coat, SAIDI, SAIFI, snowstorm, utilities, utility, utility industry, utility regulation, WACC, walker-miller energy services, weighted average cost of capital

In the aftermath of recent power outages that saw as much as 20% of the population of the state of Michigan without power, this article outlines some ideas on what specific things we should be asking about or thinking about in trying to hold utilities accountable.

Climate Michigan Energy Infrastructure Utilities

The Anatomy of a Power Outage in Michigan

March 5, 2023March 6, 2023 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments Consumers Energy, consumers outage, consumers outages, DTE, DTE Energy, dte outage, dte power outage, ERCOT, ercot disaster, february 2022 ice storm michigan, infrastructure, michigan power outages, miso, PJM, power grid, power lines, power outage, power outages, public utilities, utilities, utility company, voltage

The power went out. Then the ice melted. A few days later, the snow came, and the power went out– again. Now that the snow is gone, what’s next?

solar-panels-photovoltaic-rooftop-PV-germany-net-zero-passiv-haus

Energy Utilities

Community Solar: Coming To A Michigan Near You?

October 26, 2021October 26, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments CMS, coal, Coalicia, community solar, community solar power, Consumers Energy, decarbonisation, decarbonization, DERs, distributed energy resources, distributed generation, energy, fossil gas, jackson michigan, lobbying, natural gas, net metering, photovoltaic, photovoltaics, pv, pv solar, rooftop solar, sarah nielsen, solar, solar panel, solar power, solar pv, utilities, war on coal

DTE and CMS took the unusual step of tag-teaming a new announcement about community solar, a novel model for photovoltaic power generation development, in the Mitten state, where fossil fuels continue to dominate the generation mix.

edgewood-dc-rowhouses-mixed-income-housing-units-efficiency

Energy Efficiency Poverty Energy Utilities

Energy Burden: How To Measure? How To Reduce?

September 10, 2021September 10, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments air source heat pump, analytics, CDD, census, census tracts, cooling climate, cooling degree days, decarbonization, EIA, energy, energy efficiency, energy poverty, energy waste reduction, federal poverty line, first energy, HDD, heat pumps, heating climate, heating degree days, LMI, low to moderate income, low-income, metrics, mini-split, pepco, potomac edison, potomac electric power company, program evaluation, red states, reducing energy burden, Rust Belt, smeco, statistics, Tony Reames, urban energy justice lab, utilities, wgl

Measuring energy burden is relatively straightforward. Figuring out how to create robust metrics for it, though– and how to address it- is much more challenging.

power-distribution-lines-utility-windsor-ontario

Policy Energy Midwest Utilities

Better Utility Regulation: How We Can Get Out Of This Mess

August 16, 2021September 14, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments 2021 detroit floods, CFPB, challenge coastal chauvinism, climate change, CMS, coal, Consumers Energy, detroit floods, DTE, DTE Energy, EIA, energy information administration, energy waste reduction, EWR, extreme weather, investor-owned utilities, IOU, IOUs, maryland, michigan utility regulation, MPSC, municipalization, on-bill financing, PG&E, rainfall, Regulation, regulatory innovation, rulemaking process, SAIDI, SAIDI-MED, SAIFI, SNAP!, utilities

Too much regulation restricts innovation. But too little regulation does the same, and this is what we see in the crumbling infrastructure of Michigan, where regulators are asleep at the wheel in the name of a “business-friendly regulatory” environment that, as it turns out, is neither terribly regulatory nor terribly business-friendly.

Energy Utilities

Solar Power and EV’s, If Your Local Grid Is Up For The Challenge

July 1, 2021July 1, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments anacostia, anacostia river, community solar, DC, DERs, distributed, distributed energy resources, distributed generation, distribution losses, district of columbia, exelon, feeder lines, local power grid, microgrid, photovoltaics, power grid, power grid capacity, rooftop PV, rooftop solar, solar power, solar thermal, solar united neighbors, transmission losses, utilities, ward 7, ward 8, Washington DC

Power grids are complex things. Understanding the local grid capacity– as visualized by one mapping tool- can help us plan for things like rooftop solar or electric vehicle adoption.

Energy Utilities

Time-Of-Use Pricing Is Coming. Here’s How To Make Sure You’re Ready.

June 11, 2021June 11, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments air conditioning, blackout, blackouts, brownout, climate change, energy, energy efficiency, energy waste reduction, ERCOT, extreme temperatures, heat pump, heat pumps, kilowatt-hours, kwh, peak, peak demand, peak demand surcharge, power grid, power grids, seals & crofts, summer, summer breeze, texas blackouts, time-of-use pricing, utilities

Time-of-use pricing is (most likely) coming to a utility near you, if it hasn’t arrived already. Here’s what you need to know.

Energy Efficiency Policy Energy Utilities

“Electrification Is Not Enough For Decarbonization” – Consumers Energy

April 6, 2021April 6, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments building decarbonization, carbon transition, decarbonization, demand response, demand-response, distributed generation, electrical grid, electrification, energy efficiency, energy policy, energy transition, energy waste reduction, EWR, Gretchen Whitmer, just transition, michigan, michigan public service commission, MPSC, photovoltaics, policies, policy, pv, rooftop solar, solar panels, state of michigan, utilities, utility, utility infrastructure, utility policy

A new workgroup seeks to address some questions about the future of infrastructure in a state that continues to lag in regulatory and technical innovation.

Energy Efficiency Poverty Energy Utilities

Debt or Asset? How Utility Shutoffs Are About To Be A Big Problem.

March 24, 2021March 24, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments ACA subsidies, accounts receivable, chevy aveo, debt, double-entry bookkeeping, dr. tony reames, DTE Energy, energy poverty, harvard business school, investor-owned utilities, investor-owned utility, LIHEAP, mercedes g-wagon, michigan public service commission, MPSC, public service commission, public utilities, regulated corporations, regulated entities, Tony Reames, utilities, utility shutoffs, willy wonka, willy wonka rant

Springtime and mounting debt related to COVID19 means utility shutoffs are coming. At least probably. Here are some ideas for how we can fix our broken systems for utility billing– and how we subsidize utilities through programs like LIHEAP without actually moving the needle on energy poverty.

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