By SkySite Property Staff
With companies searching for new ways to lower utility costs and reduce
their impact on the environment, the concept of distributed energy has
been receiving more and more attention.
Unlike what has become the traditional format for generating
energy—centralized coal or gas power plants or nuclear
reactors—distributed power results in many small energy sources
generating electricity and sending the surplus into the energy grid.
The advantage of this approach is lower pollution and a reduction of
energy lost during the transmission from generator to end-user.
Recently, three of the world’s largest financial institutions created a
group of guidelines to help address the environmental risks involved
with the financing of electric power projects and encourage clients to
invest in distributed energy resource systems.
The Carbon Principles, developed in partnership by Citi, JP Morgan
Chase and Morgan Stanley, was driven by the risks faced by the power
industry as utilities, independent producers, regulators, lenders and
investors deal with the uncertainties around regional and national
climate change policy. The financial institutions worked closely with
various power companies, and environmental non-governmental
organizations also advised on the creation of the Principles. The
purpose was to help the different parties understand the carbon risk
inherent in power sector investment and evaluate the potential
environmental damage that can result from coal plant investments.
"These principles are a first step in facilitating an honest assessment
of electric generation options in light of the obvious and pressing
need to substantially reduce national greenhouse gas pollution," said
Mark Brownstein, managing director of business partnerships for
Environmental Defense, one of the organizations that advised the banks.
The group’s principles focus on energy efficiency by encouraging
clients to invest in cost-effective demand reduction, and particularly
on distributed energy technologies. These technologies may include fuel
cells, micro combined heat and power, microturbines, photovoltaic
systems, reciprocating engines or small wind power systems.
The Carbon Principles noted that low-carbon distributed energy holds
considerable promise for meeting the electricity needs of the U.S., and
the group members committed to encouraging regulatory and legislative
changes that facilitate carbon capture and storage to further reduce
CO2 emissions from the electric sector.
"Expectations are rising fast for this industry,” said Dale Bryk,
senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “Global
warming is changing the competitive landscape. Clean power is the name
of the game today. Conventional coal facilities are already facing
intensive scrutiny. We think the serious money is increasingly going to
be on clean, efficient solutions."
