Bentham Paulos

Bentham Paulos 7 posts

Bentham Paulos is the principal of PaulosAnalysis, providing consulting and writing on energy policy, technology, and trends. Consulting clients have included state and federal governments, foundations, clean energy companies and trade associations, research firms, think tanks, national labs, and non-governmental organizations. He is also a contributor to POWER, Greentech Media, and the Energy Transition blog, and is the author of the e-book “Empowered: A tale of three cities taking charge of their energy future” (Midwest Energy News, 2015).

The US electric power sector is halfway to zero carbon emissions

04.20.2021

By Bentham Paulos, Dev Millstein, Joseph Rand, and Ryan Wiser, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Renewable energy’s rapid growth is accelerating a national shift to a carbon-free electric power system. So far 17 states plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico have adopted laws or executive orders setting goals for reaching 100% clean electricity by 2050 or sooner. And 46 U.S. utilities

EBCE’s resilient home program aims to deploy over 1,000 battery backup systems in California

02.05.2021

California is suffering its worst fire season ever, with over 4 million acres burned this year alone. In EBCE’s service area, PG&E is continuing to implement Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) events, proactively shutting off power to thousands of customers to prevent accidental wildfires. While power shutoff events may reduce community risk to wildfires they can also deeply impact residents

05.16.2019

Minnesota is the national leader in community solar, with 208 projects producing enough power for 100,000 typical homes (as of December 2018). Minnesota has more than a third of all community solar projects in the US. The Community Solar Garden policy is the best in the nation, making it easy to develop and subscribe to solar power.

01.21.2019

A small municipal utility in Texas is taking advantage of the falling cost of solar power to serve low-income customers, with benefits shared by local non-profits and public agencies.

08.06.2018

The debate around whether Western states should join together in a formal electricity market has been going on for at least two decades. It may be coming to a head — or at least get closer to coming to a head — if the legislature passes AB813, a bill that sets conditions for how California utilities could join a Western RTO.

01.25.2018

Over the past three years, the Solar Market Pathways project, a U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office initiative, has supported 14 innovative solar projects around the country with the goal of increasing solar energy adoption by reducing the soft costs associated with solar.

10.30.2015

There is a national war underway on electric consumers, and Madison, Wisconsin is on the front lines. Last year Madison Gas & Electric (MGE) proposed cranking up the mandatory fixed charges on electric and gas bills. The net result: to raise bills for low income and elderly customers, to penalize customers who save energy or go solar, and to block

01.25.2018

Over the past three years, the Solar Market Pathways project, a U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office initiative, has supported 1…

10.30.2015

There is a national war underway on electric consumers, and Madison, Wisconsin is on the front lines. Last year Madison Gas & Electric (MGE) proposed cranki…