As interest grows around climate issues, regional utilities are moving to address their greenhouse gas emissions in their integrated planning, system operations and conservation programs. Some utilities have even adopted their own climate-related initiatives. The region can take a leadership role in the climate arena, but there is significant work ahead.

Weighing in on national climate-related policy
Currently, climate, renewables and grid are a big part of the national policy debate. Yet the conversations are unfortunately not currently well linked. Our region is watching whether the utility industry will address climate change through a carbon tax or cap-and-trade system and, if the latter wins out, how credits will be allocated. As most can imagine, states with significant coal holdings have a very different perspective than our region regarding what should determine the level of credits each utility starts with. Some of the regional public power companies are coordinating outreach efforts to make a more unified case to policymakers in Washington, D.C., so that we have the headroom to support the further investments that will be necessary to make renewables feasible.

Defining and measuring carbon footprints
The biggest part of a utility’s carbon footprint is typically the power supply choices it uses to meet load; with our region’s large hydro base and limited coal supply, our supply-side measures for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from Northwest utilities are currently better than most regions. Maintaining that leadership role going forward could become more of a challenge.

Beyond the supply-side evaluations of carbon implications, determining what else to factor into your carbon footprint becomes a real issue. Within operations, is the emphasis on GHG emissions, resources utilization or some combination of both? As we promote new approaches and materials in buildings that require less energy to operate, do we care about the energy intensity of what it costs to produce those products? What about the space in the landfill or emissions from the supplies we use internally or promote? Like many other businesses, utilities in our region are in various stages of figuring out what matters to them and how to measure it. Seattle City Light moved earlier on this than most, and has invested a lot of energy in sorting through their philosophy on such issues.

Making climate commitments
More than a decade ago, several regional utilities joined the Climate Challenge, a voluntary U.S. Department of Energy program where utilities report on activities such as conservation, electric production efficiencies and tree planting, that impact GHG emissions. Most recently Snohomish County Public Utility District (PUD) and Chelan PUD announced their own climate policies and strategies [see "Snohomish adopts climate change policy," nwcurrent, April 2007]. They both made a stated commitment to address climate change, but did not specify a quantity of reduction or maintenance of their current footprint through growth, which is typical of industries as they first foray into uncharted waters.

Sorting through state policy, resource mix, and I-937
Projected load growth in many utilities’ service territories, the evolution of Bonneville Power Administration’s role in meeting regional supply requirements, and the passing of I-937 in Washington and the Oregon Renewable Energy Act changed the nature of power planning in the region. More utilities are recognizing the need to develop resources. Integrated resource planning is moving towards incorporating environmental implications of those potential resources more centrally into their analysis. Snohomish recently issued an RFP looking for innovative approaches to renewables in their service territory. Even utilities that are in a position to easily meet the requirements of I-937 and Oregon’s renewable portfolio standard are still looking aggressively at the environmental soundness of future resources. 

Managing our own operations
Beyond power resources, there are a number of areas in which utilities can reduce their carbon footprint — facilities, fleets, energy-efficient IT management, employee engagement, procurement, environmental standards, property management and more. The level of effort varies, but Pacificorp, Seattle City Light and most other utilities are looking at improving the energy efficiency of their buildings and reducing the fuel and GHG emissions of their fleets.

Bringing the climate commitment to customers
Making the business case for renewables and energy efficiency will become even more interesting as more industries explore reducing their climate footprint. On the residential level, the “save the planet” message is a powerful one that can be used to mobilize electricity customers around energy efficiency. We’ve only scratched the surface in the kind of social marketing programs that are available to get people really engaged around climate and energy conservation.

Climate related innovation
Regional utilities are beginning to explore plug-in electric hybrids, standardized inverters for distributed generation, more aggressive approaches to reducing line losses and more avenues for reducing their carbon footprint. Oregon utilities have conducted a number of pilots in demand-side innovations. The desire for more environmental soundness is increasing the willingness of utilities to explore areas they may have traditionally been reluctant to consider.
Each of these areas are worthy of more lengthy discussions, and it seems obvious that we are only seeing the beginning of utilities’ efforts to incorporate climate change concerns into their decisions around generation, delivery and end-use.

P.S. Reilly currently serves as the Chief Innovator & Technologist at Snohomish County PUD.