Utility ‘Demand Side Management’ Programs: Time to Go Voluntary (RSM brief to Georgia PSC)

By Jim Clarkson -- June 25, 2019

Editor Note: Captive customers of franchised, monopolistic utilities should decide for themselves whether or not to participate in so-called demand-side management (energy conservation) programs. Jim Clarkson of Resource Supply Management Company filed testimony to this effect as part of Georgia Power Company’s 2019 Integrated Resource Plan.

Comes now, Resource Supply Management and shows the Commission that participation in Georgia Power’s Demand Side Measures (“DSM”) programs should be voluntary:

One way to provide a little relief to ratepayers from the cost of Vogtle is to allow customers to op-out of Demand Side Measures instituted by Georgia Power and approved by the Public Service Commission along with the associated surcharges on customer bills. These energy efficiency programs are supposed to reduce customer use of electricity, which is the last thing Georgia Power needs to do in their current situation.

CO2 for Enhanced Oil Recovery (a market niche)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- June 24, 2019

“The CO₂ helps unlock and recover crude oil from mature oil fields and residual oil zones. We use a good portion of this CO₂ in our own EOR projects….” (Kinder-Morgan)
“Many climate activists will have nothing to do with CCS because of its prominent/dominant role in enhanced oil recovery. But here is the Carbon Capture Coalition, with a green eye shade, promoting the very technology to increase American Energy Dominance.” (below)

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a new realm of rent-seeking in the all-things-climate debate. The Carbon Capture Coalition (a revamp of the National Enhanced Oil Recovery Initiative) describes itself as “a nonpartisan coalition supporting the deployment and adoption of carbon capture technology … to foster domestic energy production, support jobs and reduce emissions, all at the same time.”…

China’s Coal Bi-Polarity Expedites the Death of the Paris Agreement

By Vijay Jayaraj -- June 20, 2019

The Paris agreement’s nosedive has been expedited by the growing skepticism about man-made global warming.

However, the most significant threat to the agreement has come from countries that refuse to quench their addiction to coal. Among them is the largest consumer of coal: China.

China’s continued defiance of the anti-coal establishment has dealt a lethal blow to the future prospects of the Paris agreement. Here are some key indicators from China which suggest that the chance of a comeback for the Paris agreement is slim to none.

China’s Significance to the Paris Agreement

The Paris agreement is the United Nations’ flagship climate agreement that originally came into effect in 2015. Donald Trump’s decision to pull the United States out of the agreement served as the first blow to the agreement.…