FREE

  • About Us
    • Mission & Purpose
    • Organizational Structure
    • Free Team
      • Board of Directors
      • Financial Advisors
      • Staff
      • Research Team
      • Co-Founders
  • PennSEF
    • About
    • Participating
    • Documents
    • Current Indicative Borrowing Rates
    • Financing
    • Webinars
  • The SEU
    • About / The Model
    • FREE and the SEU Initiative
    • Education and Advisory Service
  • Research
  • News & Blog
    • Announcements
    • FREE Thoughts Blog
    • Media Kit
  • Library
    • Policy Briefs
    • Publications
    • Videos
  • Contact Us
  • Donate
You are here: Home / Archives for Announcements

FREE Collaborates with International Leaders to Address Climate Change

ParisFor Immediate Release
March 25, 2022

NEW YORK – The Foundation for Renewable Energy and Environment’s collaboration with the international community has produced advancements that address a host of climate change needs.

Collaboration with the United Nations
FREE is an official observer and participant in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNFCCC. As an official observer, FREE participates at meetings and conferences in the UNFCCC process, debates with researchers from non-governmental organizations, and contributes briefing papers to the public record of UNFCCC meetings of the Conference of Parties.

The UNFCCC, or “Convention,” is the United Nations entity tasked with supporting the global response to the threat of climate change. The Convention is the parent treaty of the 2015 Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change. It was adopted by 196 Parties at the 21st Conference of the Parties, or COP 21, in Paris, on December 12, 2015, and entered into force on November 4, 2016.

FREE members participated at COP 21 and contributed to discussions that lead to the Paris Agreement. FREE’s contribution to COP 21 focused on the promotion of a “polycentric strategy” to initiate and implement programs to realize just and sustainable solutions to climate change. FREE President Dr. John Byrne and FREE Research Director Dr. Job Taminiau participated in the proceedings and submitted a position to the UNFCCC, “A Polycentric Response to the Climate Change Challenge Relying on Creativity, Innovation, and Leadership.”

FREE members have actively participated in UNFCCC proceedings since the 1997 Conference of the Parties 3 in Kyoto, Japan. FREE members have participated by submitting position papers and attending eight of the Conference of the Parties meetings.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Dr. John Byrne, FREE president, has participated in scientific assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, as a contributing author and expert reviewer. The IPCC is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change.

Dr. Byrne has contributed since 1992 to Working Group III of the IPCC. His work is published in IPCC assessments which led to greater global awareness of the problem and the award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize to the Panel.

Endorsement of FREE’s SEU Model from the Asian Development Bank

FREE’s work on sustainable energy financing has received international attention, including an endorsement by the Asian Development Bank. On June 24, 2011, Asian Development Bank’s Report, Second Annual Asia-Pacific Dialogue on Clean Energy Governance, Policy, and Regulation, said that as part of the priority to facilitate the scale-up of energy efficiency and renewable energy, the Communique recommends policy-makers to consider “establishing a Sustainable Energy Utility (SEU). […] to fund energy efficiency and renewable energy as infrastructure investments.”

FREE members developed the Sustainable Energy Utility, or SEU, model to address energy and environmental crises in an environmentally, socially and economically sustainable manner.

FREE’s pioneering work on sustainable energy financing was also highlighted by the International Energy Agency (IEA) in Energy Technology Perspectives (2016), a comprehensive review of technology and financing options for a low-carbon future. Stressing the need for “fast, radical, and effective policy action”, the IEA has featured one of FREE’s flagship innovations, the SEU model, in its annual Energy Technology Perspectives publication.

In 2016, the International Energy Agency (IEA) Energy Technology Perspectives said, “The Sustainable Energy Utility (SEU) has demonstrated its capacity “to address many barriers to tapping into the local sustainable energy potential.”

A White House announcement from President Obama recognized the Delaware SEU for its successful $70.2 million bond offering which received a AA+ rating by Standard & Poor’s. “The Sustainable Energy Utility (SEU) [is] a one-stop shop for […] energy efficiency solutions,” the White House said on December 2, 2011.

FREE Develops Model for City-wide Energy Efficiency Calculation

The FREE research team has recently completed an investigation into the development of a energy efficiency opportunity estimation tool that can profile city-wide savings opportunities. A full report of the research effort, titled “Developing a Building-by-Building Estimate of City-wide Electricity Savings Potential: An Early Trial for the City of Wilmington, Delaware”, has been published on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) and on our own FREE research page. The project, conducted jointly with the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy (CEEP), provides a methodological framework that can be directly relevant to the City of Wilmington and other cities in Delaware. Using high-resolution and comprehensive data, the research effort pursues a detailed inventory of the Wilmington building stock with which we estimate building-level electricity consumption and possible energy-saving opportunities.

We call it an ‘early trial’ to underscore that the model described and applied in this report is part of an ongoing development process. In future research rounds, the methodological framework will be refined in order to have practical value to urban planning. The results illustrated in this report should, therefore, be seen as an assessment of the overall value the methodological framework brings to the table and not firm estimates to be used in planning.

Why is this Research Important?

Currently, methods to estimate building energy savings potential for a city relies on technology potential for ‘typical buildings’. As discussed below, our team is investigating a method that uses all buildings in a city and is sensitive to the range of differences in building stocks from one city to the next. The promise of this approach is that it can offer estimates derived from actual city building inventories, not ‘typical’ building stocks. The accuracy of estimates produced by this method should be greater and more useful to cities.

How does the Tool Work?

To assess city-wide energy savings opportunities, it is first critical to get an accurate understanding of the city’s building stock. For this purpose, the FREE & CEEP research team developed an inventory of all buildings in the City of Wilmington, Delaware. This inventory documents the proportions of every building as well as useful descriptors (such as age of the building). A major part of the assessment was to use Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) data to build a 3D model of the city in order to build an accurate depiction of the city’s building stock. LIDAR data, in the form of a 3D ‘point cloud’ (see image below), provides highly accurate measurements of each building in the city at the time the LIDAR data was collected.

Figure 1. Example representation of 3D point cloud for downtown Wilmington, Delaware.

What will FREE to Develop the Model Further?

Many additional configuration options are available to increase the accuracy and usefulness of the model. The FREE research team continues to develop the model so that it can one day be directly useful to cities and towns across the United States and internationally. Be on the look-out for more FREE publications on this tool in the near future!

 

Community Clean Energy Choice (CCE) Authorities are Changing the Energy Regime

The FREE research team has recently published their primary findings regarding the ongoing and rapidly accelerating growth of Community Clean Energy Choice (CCE) authorities in the United States, in particularly in relation to their solar energy offerings. In contrast to the conventional arrangement, where energy utilities determine the available energy options, CCEs enable community-wide energy decision-making. The research focused on the trajectory of CCEs in California, Massachusetts, and New York and explored how this innovation could shake-up the existing energy regimes in these states and accelerate the deployment of solar energy. The full research report, titled “Community Solar Governance: Institutional Design and Collective Choice Options”, is available via the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) or via the FREE research page where you can find all the research publications of the FREE research team.

Several Key Findings from the Research Effort:

  • Sizeable Market: We estimate that the CCEs in operation in the three states in question now represent over 15 million people. In particular, we identify 471 cities, towns, and counties that have embarked on the community solar choice and CCE authority trajectory. For each state, we assess market conditions by evaluating solar sales, contracts, CCE coverage, and CCE market scale. We find that 55%+ of the Massachusetts population now resides in jurisdictions with active CCE efforts and the same is true for ~41% of the California population. Rapid growth of the CCE model is expected to continue in all three states.
  • Rapid Solar Growth: We find that CCEs spur substantial solar energy deployment. For example, we were able to examine 85 solar energy transactions by California CCEs that together exceed 3.8 GWp of solar capacity.
  • Sharing of Benefits: CCEs are realizing lower solar-generated electricity prices compared to incumbent utility offerings. The benefits are often explicitly shared with low- and moderate- income families that receive, for instance, temporary relief due to emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic and permanent discounts on their electricity bills through bill offsets and shared savings. CCEs in California, Massachusetts, and New York are earmarking solar energy deployment that directly serves LMI households through discounted electricity offerings.
  • Community-based Governance of Energy Decisions: The solar energy programs and projects initiated by CCEs in the three states are managed and overseen by local governments. While the extent and depth of local government participation varies, we see evidence in all three states that local government oversight produces benefits for the community as a whole that would otherwise be unavailable in utility or private developer-based subscriber programs.

The CCE authorities have grown rapidly over the years. For example, The figure below provides an overview of the growth of CCEs in California from 2010 to 2020. As you can see, the CCE innovation has rapidly grown to cover a sizeable portion of the state. Major population hubs like San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego are now part of the CCE movement. As we document in our report, this growth pattern is expected to continue in the following years, making FREE’s research a timely and necessary piece for understanding the possible implications.

Figure 1. Overview of CCE growth in California (2010 – 2020). Clicking the various areas of the map provides a pop-up with additional information.

Seoul Mayor Forum Emphasizes Global City Action – FREE Attends and Supports

For Immediate Release
November 30, 2019

The October 2019 Seoul Mayors Forum on Climate Change, hosted by the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG), brought together representatives of 37 cities from 25 nations in Seoul, Korea to discuss the important position of local governments to address climate change. Mr. Park Won-Soon, mayor of Seoul, emphasized the need for cities around the world to adopt climate emergency declarations and mobilize additional resources to advance projects and policies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In his keynote speech to the Forum, Dr. Byrne, President of FREE, underscored how cities can utilize their in-city assets to accelerate the sustainable energy transition. Bottom-up, locally designed approaches that accommodate the diverse economic, political, and social structures of cities’ communities can benefit from local experience and multi-faceted knowledge to engender new ideas and help identify solutions to the climate change issue.

https://freefutures.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Seoul-Mayors-Forum-2019.mp4

Video Caption: Mayor Park Won Soon and Dr. Byrne are featured in the Arirang clip.

Third Asian Energy Conference Explores Urban Energy Transitions – FREE Offers Ideas

For Immediate Release
July 5, 2019

On July 3, 2019, the Third Asian Energy Conference on “Diversity in Urban Energy Transitions in Asia: Trajectories, Governance, and Policy Innovations” took place at the Asian Energy Studies Center at Hong Kong Baptist University. In his keynote speech at the conference, Dr. Byrne, President of FREE, discussed several challenges and solutions to building sustainable cities in his presentation called “New Energy for New Cities”. Central to the presentation was the question whether society, including its cities, can move at a pace and scale necessary to address the challenges produced through our modern success. Examples provided by Dr. Byrne underscore the possibility of rapid urban action and energy transition – including strategically positioning cities’ in-boundary assets like their rooftops and buildings. The conference included a series of panel presentations and discussions.

Dr. Taminiau, Research Principal at FREE, presented research findings and ideas from the FREE research team.  A central thrust of the panel presentation by Dr. Taminiau was that cities could identify infrastructure-scale portfolios of in-city assets that can be deployed to the market. A detailed overview of the conference, including powerpoints and videos of the presentations, is available at: http://aesc.hkbu.edu.hk/the-third-asian-energy-conference_details-of-conference.

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • …
  • 6
  • Next Page »

News & Blog

  • FREE Thoughts Blog
  • Announcements
  • Media Kit

Policy Brief Authors

Policy Brief Authors

Announcements

New Article Examines Public Transportation and the Legacy of Jamie Lerner and Curitiba, Brazil

American national climate policy inaction leads to emboldened emerging voices in communities, policy successes

Climate expert to Korean TV audience: How can the U.S. give energy sector workers “a just transition” in moving from coal to renewable energy?

Recent Posts

Simply Switching to Electric Vehicles Today is Not Enough to Address Climate Change

How can U.S. climate action equalize the wealth gap between white and black American families?

Stay Connected

Get email updates about new announcements, policy briefs and relevant information.

We never share your contact details.

Article Tags

Abundant Energy Building Energy Efficiency Standards California Carbon Markets Carbon Trading China Clean Energy Clean Energy Financing Climate Change Climate Finance Decarbonization Duck Curve Energy Access Energy Efficiency Energy Markets Environmental Justice Ethical Cities Green Dispatch Innovation Microbeads Natural Gas NIMBY Nuclear Energy Paris Agreement Philadelphia Pollutants Polycentric Climate Governance Renewable Energy Shale Gas Solar Solar City Solar Electricity Solar Mandate Sustainable Cities Sustainable Investing Title 24 Water-Energy Nexus

Connect

Foundation for Renewable Energy and Environment
630 5th Avenue, Suite 2000
New York, NY 10111

Mailing Address:
1013 Beards Hill Rd.
STE 101-M #200
Aberdeen, MD 21001

E: contact@freefutures.org
P: +1 212 705 8758
P: +1 215 494 7383 (Pennsylvania)

SUPPORT FREE

Social

  • Email
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Search FREE

Copyright © 2023 · FREE · Site by: Epic Brand Media