Electric Utilities Impeding Distributed Generation
A colleague sent me this piece on the roadblocks that the utilities are throwing up to impede distributed generation. He notes, “Everyone will decide where they come down on these issues, but the utility industry is now using a monopoly position to work against battery storage, solar, and independent electric vehicle infrastructure; they are stunting progress. Now the industry will talk back, and so will the younger generation.”
You’re absolutely right, my friend. There are huge pressures mounting up associated with utilities and distributed generation. I’ve always advocated for a wholesale reform in the way utilities are regulated that is fair for all concerned while encouraging the things that are obvious social goods: distributed generation, storage, renewable energy, smart-grid, and, ultimately, V2G. That our society allows the utilities to work actively against clean energy is stupid, to put it kindly.
I just got back from a long lunch with a brand new intern here at 2GreenEnergy — Louis de Saint Phalle. A high-powered intellectual (he speaks five languages, and is highly educated, especially in economics and the physical sciences), Louis wants to research and write about a subject close to my heart: the national security implications of energy policy.
I just got off the phone with a bright new intern at 2GreenEnergy, Avdit Kohli, who’s wrapping up his master’s degree in electrical engineering at Northeastern University in Boston. Insofar as Avdit’s main interest at this point is the technology side of solar photovoltaics, I told him that I would assemble a list of questions, then suggest that he pick one for the topic of a white-paper that he could develop for publication on our website.
Writing for RenewableEnergyWorld, my colleague 
Here’s a talk I gave in Santa Barbara to a meeting of a group called “Community Planet.” It’s a small group, but they’re enlightened people; I was impressed with their level of engagement. I covered the technological, economic, and political challenges that stand in the way of a sustainable future for humankind. 
