Sustainable Energy Utility


Sustainable Energy Utility (SEU) is a community-based model of development based on energy conservation and community-scale renewables which seeks to permanently decrease the use of source materials, water, and energy.[1] The model prescribes the creation of independent and financially self-sufficient non-profit entities for energy sustainability through conservation, efficiency and end-user based decentralized renewable energy all in an effort to address concerns about climate change, rising energy prices, inequity of energy availability, and a lack of community governance of energy development.[2][3]

The SEU model was developed by Dr. J Byrne at the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy, University of Delaware.[4][5][6] The Foundation for Renewable Energy and Environment (FREE) is implementing versions of the model.[1]

In the US, the SEU was first implemented by the State of Delaware,[7] the District of Columbia,[8] Sonoma County in California,[9] the California Statewide Communities Development Authority (CSCDA)[10][11] and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.[12] The SEU’s international application is being investigated by the City of Seoul (South Korea)[13][14] and the City of Thane (India).[15] The SEU is recognized by the U.S. White House and the Asian Development Bank as a viable platform to spur sustainable energy investment while driving local economic development.[16][17]

Sustainable energy

Sustainable energy is energy obtained from non-exhaustible resources. By definition, sustainable energy serves the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.[18]

Technologies that promote sustainable energy include renewable energy sources, and also technologies designed to improve energy efficiency. Renewable energy is generally defined as energy that is collected from resources which are naturally replenished on a human timescale, such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves, and geothermal heat.[19] Renewable energy often provides energy in four important areas: electricity generation, air and water heating/cooling, transportation, and rural (off-grid) energy services.[20]

History of the SEU

The SEU was a result of efforts by Dr. J Byrne to realise a model of energy-environment-society relations which could reflect Amory Lovins’ promise of the negawatt and the philosophical tenets of Amulya K. N. Reddy’s DEFENDUS.[3][21] While working as an author with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Byrne was influenced by the philosophical framework of the discourse on political ecology and environmental justice. He and his team worked on calculating per capita per year amount of greenhouse gas emissions which would lead the planet out of the path of a changing climate and on to a sustainable and just future. Their study concluded that a target of 3.3 tons of emissions per capita per year would be a sustainable and just emissions.In response to this finding, Byrne’s team worked on designing an energy system model on the lines of commonwealth economy and community trusts to achieve this goal. The result was the SEU.[3][22]

Principles

Paradigm Shift

The SEU aims to achieve a fourfold paradigm shift in the contemporary energy system:

(Figure 1 illustrates this shift in paradigm)

Key guiding principles

The idea is guided by the following principles:

Departure from traditional utilities

The SEU departs from the traditional model of energy supply and expansion, as well as the efficiency power plant and efficiency utility models. It is focused on permanently lowering overall energy use and limiting supply to renewable energy sources.[2] Rather than slowing the rate of energy market expansion or improving the efficiency of energy services, the SEU cuts energy efficiency of energy services, the SEU cuts energy requirements based on sustainability defined constraints, notably, the need to adhere to an annual 3.3 ton per person emission budget for greenhouse gas releases expressed in a CO2 equivalent.[22]

SEU as a ‘community utility’

The SEU functions as a 'community utility' directly accountable to the local community it serves, as it seeks to deliver sustainability services.[2][3] SEUs do not report to stockholders or utility regulators. SEUs can be organized by communities of almost any scale (towns, cities, or regions) seeking to gain independence and agency in their energy development pathway. As a community utility, the success of the SEU rests on the participation of local stakeholders, namely individuals, businesses, farms, localities, etc., and is directly answerable to these entities. The SEU itself remains independent.[23]

Sustainable Energy Bond (SEB) Program

Concept

The Sustainable Energy Bond Program was pioneered by Dr Byrne to build a clean energy infrastructure from guaranteed savings earned by participants. The SEU uses bonds at a scale which allows a city or a region to treat conserved and renewable energy as primary sources rather than the current situation in which fossil and nuclear energy sources dominate. Historically, tax-exempt bonds were used to underwrite investments in public goods and services and, for this reason, SEBs are seen as a critical tool for SEUs to serve their communities. An SEU can be given bond issuing capacity which allows it to sell tax exempt bonds in order to treat sustainable energy as an infrastructure scale investment.[3][24]

First implementation

In 2011, the Delaware SEU issued a statewide tax exempt bond issue, the first of its kind in the U.S., acquiring $72.5 million for capital investments in sustainable energy measures. Targeting about 4% of Delaware's total state owned or managed building stock, the SEU bond issue includes contractual guarantees of $148 million in savings which cut energy use in participating buildings by more than 25% for 20 years (the 2011 bond issue average payback period was almost 14 years and the longest maturity was 20 years, while average performance guarantees were greater than 20 years).[1][25]

SEUs in Practice

The SEUs in practice in the U.S. are the Delaware SEU.,[7] the Washington D.C. SEU,[8] the SCEF Program by the Sonoma County Water Agency (SCWA) in California,[9] California’s Sustainable Energy Bond Program by CSCDA and FREE[10][11] and the Sustainable Energy Bond Program by Pennsylvania Treasury and FREE[12]

Challenges

SEU presents a different paradigm in energy governance. One of the greatest challenges it faces is empowering the community to break away from the existing paradigm of top-down energy supply. Sometimes, local initiatives have wide support at the outset, but as time passes, active participation is limited to a smaller core group. Adding to this is the problem of limited resources at the local level. It is thus, challenging for the SEU movement to institutionalize and maintain momentum.[26][27]

Financial sustainability of the initiative is vital to its long term success.[28] The appropriation and allocation of funding can determine the longevity of the SEU itself. Depending on its organizational structure and funding source, the SEU can encounter problems when some of its dedicated funds are re-allocated to fill general obligation gaps in, for instance, the state budget.[29] The New Jersey Clean Energy Program has encountered such a difficulty.[30] Another hurdle could be the low hanging fruit offered by a single-year or short-term projects that disincentivize funding allocations for multi-year projects (as occurred with the DC SEU).[31]

Finally, the political context is an important determining factor of an SEU's success. Support from local government and the possibility of collaborating with other available government schemes and programs can substantially increase success.[27][28]

New Developments

City 2.0 movement in Seoul

The mayor of the City of Seoul, Park Won-soon, launched a citizens’ campaign in April 2012 to reduce city greenhouse emissions by 25% by 2020 and by 40% by 2030. The city cut its emissions by 11.9% in two years, and was designated as the 2015 Earth Hour Capital by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).[32] The Seoul Metropolitan Government signed an MOU signed with FREE on June 16, 2015, where both parties pledge to cooperate to design climate-sensitive, sustainable and equitable energy policies for City of Seoul using the SEU model.[33]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "FREE Policy Briefs". Foundation for Renewable Energy and Environment. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Houck, Jason; Rickerson, Wilson (2009). "The Sustainable Energy Utility (SEU) Model for Energy Service Delivery". Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society 29 (2): 95–107. doi:10.1177/0270467608330023. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Byrne, John; Martinez, Cecilia; Ruggero, Colin (2009). "Relocating Energy in the Social Commons: Ideas for a Sustainable Energy Utility". Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society 2: 81–94. doi:10.1177/0270467609332315.
  4. ↑ Byrne; et al. (2007). The Sustainable Energy Utility: A Delaware First (PDF). Sustainable Energy Utility Task Force. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
  5. ↑ Byrne, John. "Center for Energy & Environmental Policy (CEEP)". CEEP Faculty.
  6. ↑ Byrne, John. "FREE Biography". Foundation for Renewable Energy & Environment (FREE).
  7. 1 2 "Energize Delaware and the Sustainable Energy Utility". Energize Delaware. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  8. 1 2 King, Pamela. "New DC Utility Helps Carry Out Sustainability Measures". Greenwire. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  9. 1 2 "Sonoma County Efficiency Financing (SCEF) Program". Sonoma County Water Agency. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  10. 1 2 Byrne, John; Penkower, Jon. "A New Approach to Financing Energy Efficiency" (PDF). Foundation for Renewable Energy and Environment (FREE). Western City - the monthly magazine of the League of California Cities. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  11. 1 2 "Sustainable Energy Bond Program Helps Cities Reduce Energy and Water Costs without Upfront Capital". League of California Cities. California Statewide Communities Development Authority (CSCDA). 19 March 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  12. 1 2 "Pennsylvania Sustainable Energy Finance Program". Foundation for Renewable Energy and Environment. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  13. ↑ "2013 Seoul International Energy Conference". Seoul City Archives. Seoul City. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  14. ↑ "Seoul International Energy Advisory Council". Arirang - Asia's Heartbeat.
  15. ↑ Gopal, Sanjay Mangala (2013). Urban renewablization in India through public-public partnerships: A feasibility study of applying the "sustainable energy utility" model to the city of Thane. University of Delaware.
  16. ↑ "White House Recognizes SEU Model Developed at CEEP" (PDF). Foundation for Renewable Energy and Environment (FREE). Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  17. ↑ "Communiqué - Special Roundtable to Develop a Regional Plan of Action for Clean Energy Governance, Policy, and Regulation" (PDF). Asia-Pacific Dialogue on Clean Energy Governance, Policy, and Regulation. Asian Development Bank (ADB). 24 June 2011. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  18. ↑ Renewable Energy and Efficiency Partnership (August 2004). "Glossary of terms in sustainable energy regulation" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-12-19.
  19. ↑ Omar Ellabban, Haitham Abu-Rub, Frede Blaabjerg, Renewable energy resources: Current status, future prospects and their enabling technology. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 39, (2014), 748–764, p 749, doi:10.1016/j.rser.2014.07.113.
  20. ↑ REN21 (2010). Renewables 2010 Global Status Report p. 15.
  21. ↑ "Amulya Kumar N.: Author Profile". Economic and Political Weekly. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  22. 1 2 Byrne, John; Wang, Young-Doo; Lee, Hoesung; Kim, Jong-Dall (1998). "An Equity- and Sustainability-based Policy Response to Climate Change" (PDF). Energy Policy 26 (4): 335–343. doi:10.1016/s0301-4215(97)00174-2.
  23. 1 2 Byrne, John; Wang, Young-Doo; Taminiau, Job; Mach, Leon (2014). The Promise of a Green Energy Economy. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-1-4128-5375-0.
  24. ↑ Byrne, John; Hodsoll, Francis; Hughes, Kristen. "Shifting from the Economics of Obesity to Sustainable Energy". Renewable Energy World.com. Renewable Energy World. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  25. ↑ "Energy Efficiency Revenue Bond - Series 2011: Post Pricing Commentary" (PDF). Delaware Sustainable Energy Utility. Citigroup. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  26. ↑ Seyfang, G; Haxeltine, A (2012). "Growing grassroots innovations: exploring the role of community-based initiatives in governing sustainable energy transitions". Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy 30: 381–400. doi:10.1068/c10222.
  27. 1 2 Van der Schoor, T; Scholtens, B (2015). "Power to the people: local community initiatives and the transition to sustainable energy.". Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 43: 666–675. doi:10.1016/j.rser.2014.10.089.
  28. 1 2 Reinsberger, Kathrin; Brudermann, Thomas; Hatzl, Stefanie; Fleiß, Eva; Posch, Alfred (2015). "Photovoltaic diffusion from the bottom up: analytical investigation of critical factors". Applied Energy 159: 178–187. doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.08.117.
  29. ↑ Nadel, S (2013). "Utility Energy Efficiency Programs: Lessons from the Past, Opportunities for the Future". Energy Efficiency: Towards the End of Demand Growth 5 (4): 74.
  30. ↑ Johnson, Tom (April 24, 2013). "Repeated Raids on Clean Energy Fund Sets Back State's Back Energy-Efficiency Efforts". NJ Spotlight. Retrieved October 29, 2015.
  31. ↑ Saul, Kathleen M.; Taminiau, Job; Hasan, Asifa; Zhu, Chun; Li, Junli; Utturkar, Mayuri; Byrne, John. "Sustainable Energy Organizations: A Comparative Study of Administration, Business Models and Governance Approaches Among Leading U.S. SEOs" (PDF). Center for Energy and Environmental Policy. Retrieved October 29, 2015.
  32. ↑ World Wildlife Fund. "Congratulations Seoul – 2015 Global Earth Hour Capital!". Retrieved 16 August 2015.
  33. ↑ Foundation of Renewable Energy and Environment. "FREE advises Seoul". Foundation of Renewable Energy and Environment. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, February 03, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.