Interesting article about the increased investor interest in energy efficiency worldwide. A leading asset manager argues that “[R]eally what’s driving the growth in energy efficiency is the economics. Even after the recent fall in energy prices, the payback rate is still very attractive for a lot of these technologies.” http://online.barrons.com/articles/the-smart-money-warms-up-to-energy-technology-1417138911
The annual Global Landscape of Climate Finance report, released on Thursday by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI), shows that global climate investments reached $331 billion in 2013. That’s a big chunk of change, but it represents a decrease of about $28 billion compared to 2012 and $33 billion compared to 2011, the high-water mark for climate investments.
Private and public climate finance investments in 2012 and 2013 in billions of dollars.
Credit: CPI
As Grist reports, it often surprises people to hear that big companies like Exxon use a “shadow carbon price” when assessing future investment opportunities (in other words, they assume a price on carbon even where/when there isn’t one). After all, if you only pay attention to the headlines, it sounds like the big story on climate change is that nobody’s doing anything and we’re all doomed. Why would Exxon think carbon will be priced any time soon?
Well, it turns out that carbon is getting priced, not in the big, dramatic, simple way climate hawks would prefer, but incrementally, piecemeal, country-by-country, region-by-region, and in a way that’s starting to add up.
The always-excellent folks at the Sightline Institute have done the world a favor by pulling all the world’s carbon pricing systems into one place. Here’s their awesome animated map:
According to Robert Rapier, Chief Investment Strategist for Investing Daily’s Energy Strategist Service, “this winter marked the sharpest decline trajectory and we have made the largest ever withdrawals from storage in history, and barring a sudden warm spell we are going to go into injection season with very low natural gas inventories.”
Rapier goes on to say that “this has implications. Why? Because historically a significant deviation of inventories from normal will have a lingering impact on natural gas prices.”
See his full post at: http://theenergycollective.com/robertrapier/354091/gas-inventories-reach-11-year-low
Rapier is forecasting that for a number of reasons natural gas is going to trade higher over the next 3-5 years, and this remarkable and “abnormal” situation with inventories will only exacerbate that trend.
With natural gas prices continuing to rise, building owners who have outdated and/or inefficient heating systems should consider an energy efficiency retrofit to bring down their energy costs. Thankfully, financing alternatives, such as those offered by Renew Energy Partners, allow building owners to make needed upgrades and retrofits without having to secure bank debt or use their cash reserves. To learn more, visit renewep.com.
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Bio
Hubbard has more than 25 years of experience in the mutual fund and investment management industries. His background encompasses consulting, research and investment banking within the financial services sector.
Mason is a consultant advising clients on energy matters. He is a director of the California Clean Energy Fund, and served as chair of the Board of Governors of the California Independent System Operator from 2005 through 2010.
Previously, Mason was a partner of Nth Power, a venture capital firm focused on clean energy technology and founder and chairman of EnergyWorks LLC, a joint venture of PacifiCorp and Bechtel Group which provided combined heat and power to industrial firms in less developed countries, which was sold in 1998. From 1979 through 1994, Mason was CEO of PG&E Enterprises and other executive positions at PG&E, including executive vice president.
Prior to joining PG&E, he was in academia as Professor of Law at the University of Virginia, and as Director, International Relations, at The Rockefeller Foundation. He is author or co-author of ten books and numerous articles on international security issues and energy policy. During the Kennedy/Johnson administrations he was assistant general counsel of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, serving on U.S. delegations for nuclear arms control negotiations in Geneva and Vienna.
Mason has served as Senior Advisor, MIT Energy Innovation Project; Trustee, Winrock International; a member of the Advisory Councils of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Electric Power Research Institute; and a Director at Resources for the Future.
After college, Willrich served in the U.S. Air Force, including as a pilot in Strategic Air Command. Receiving a B.A., Phi Beta Kappa, from Yale University and a J.D., Law Review, from University of California, Berkeley, he was a Guggenheim Memorial Fellow in 1973.
Cary has led numerous major energy technology and energy service companies. He co-founded Excelergy Corporation and Econoler/USA, was a founding member of FPL Services and NSP Power Services and was an owner of Xenergy Inc. In addition, he has helped launch several other companies that developed, built and financed major energy cost reduction projects for utilities and commercial, industrial and institutional clients.
His past leadership positions include Chief Executive Officer, President and Chairman of Thermoenergy Corporation; Chief Executive Officer of ThermoEnergy Power Systems LLC; President of Castion Corporation; President and Chief Executive Officer of GreenFuel Technologies Corporation; Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Excelergy Corporation; President of KENETECH Energy Management; Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Econoler/USA; and Vice President of Engineering and Operations of Xenergy.
In addition, Cary has served on numerous Boards of Directors of energy and investment related companies and has served as an advisor to many early stage companies. Mr. Bullock was named by Hart’s Energy Markets as one of the top 100 most influential industry leaders in the gas and electric industry in the 20th century.
He holds a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a BS in physics from Amherst College.
Prior to joining Renew Energy Partners, Michael was a solar developer for US SolarWorks, where he worked with Commercial and Industrial customers to reduce on-site electricity consumption through PV distributed generation projects in the New England area.
Michael was the first student at the University of Rhode Island to join the undergraduate Green Business dual degree program, which allowed students to receive degrees in both General Business and Environmental and Natural Resource Economics in four years. Here, he focused his studies in Sustainability and Green Markets.
While at The University of Rhode Island, Michael was selected for the Rhode Island Energy Fellow program. Through this fellowship, he worked with the Rhode Island Renewable Energy Fund and the Office of Energy Resources to develop the first Rhode Island Solarize program.
Ani received his Master’s Degree in Energy Systems from Northeastern University, where he worked as an Investment Analyst at Greentown Labs, served as President of the Energy System Society at NEU, and received the the Outstanding Student Leadership Award two years in a row.
Doug served as a special advisor to Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his office in the development of PlaNYC, the City’s sustainability plan, which commits to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent (while adding a million new residents) by 2030. Doug’s consulting firm, Serrafix, then worked with the Mayor’s staff to develop a detailed analysis of implementation challenges and recommended solutions. Serrafix has also worked with other cities throughout the nation on commercial and industrial sector energy efficiency strategies.
Prior to founding Serrafix, Douglas was Secretary of Commonwealth Development in the cabinet of Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, where he oversaw transportation, housing, environment and energy agencies with combined annual capital budgets of $5 billion and a total workforce exceeding 11,000. This unique position enabled him to put into practice policy approaches he developed over twenty-five years as head of the Conservation Law Foundation, New England’s premier environmental advocacy organization.
Doug holds a BS from Princeton University and JD from Harvard Law School.
Prior to RENEW, Charlie was at C-Quest Capital, LLC (CQC) a carbon finance business dedicated to originating and developing high-quality emission reduction projects that provide superior returns for investors and energy services to low-income communities in Africa, India and Latin America. Charlie helped launch CQC’s Global Cook Stoves Program.
Prior to C-Quest, Charlie was a principal at SCRC, an investment manager focusing on sustainable infrastructure (energy, waste and water), with an emphasis on emerging markets. Charlie also founded and scaled two social ventures, including Alternatives for Community & Environment (ACE), the largest environmental justice center in the Northeast, where he served as Co-Director until 1998 and on the Board until 2004. In 1998, Charlie founded the Urban Ecology Institute at Boston College, and served as its Executive Director until 2008. Charlie taught in the Environmental Studies Program at Boston College until 2010.
He has published numerous articles on environmental law, environmental justice and environmental policy. After graduating from Yale University and the University of Virginia School of Law, Charlie clerked on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Charlie is a recipient of the Echoing Green Fellowship and Barr Foundation Fellowship and was Editor-in-Chief of the Virginia Law Review.
Steve was President/COO for I-Group, LLC, a private family equity company with a portfolio of diverse businesses including a $1.8 billion real estate and infrastructure development joint venture with the Bahamian government.
Prior to I-Group, he was the executive leader of the emergency “Stem to Stern” Safety Review of the Boston Metropolitan Highway System project (“Big Dig”) mandated by law following a July 2007 tunnel ceiling collapse, reporting directly to Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts. Steve was tapped for that post while serving in the Governor’s cabinet as Secretary of Environmental Affairs.
Before going into state government, he was the Vice President for Project Development for Infrastructure Development Company LLC and Vice President of Operations for Intercontinental Energy Corporation, leading both operations and project development for a portfolio of independent power projects specializing in clean, efficient combined cycle natural gas fired power production facilities. Steve also previously worked as a Senior Engineer, Plant Engineering Supervisor and Operations General Supervisor for Constellation Energy.
He holds a BS in mechanical engineering from Northeastern University and an MBA in Finance from Loyola University in Maryland, and is a registered Professional Engineer.
