Energy and Utilities Law Commons^™

Residential Renewable Energy: By Whom?, Joel B. Eisen

Law Faculty Publications

The technology already exists to put solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on millions of homes, but we have paid inadequate attention to getting them there. This current lack of focus on distribution will limit residential solar deployment indefinitely, unless it is addressed soon. While a number of solutions to this problem have been proposed or are in various stages of implementation, this Article finds that given the pressing need to address climate change, more rapid action is needed. In addition to pursuing other options for generating electricity using renewables (including onshore and offshore wind power, and utility-scale solar power stations), and …

Can Urban Solar Become A "Disruptive" Technology?: The Case For Solar Utilities, Joel B. Eisen

Law Faculty Publications

After examining the theory of disruptiveness and the inadequacy of current initiatives for renewables, I argue for a disruptive solution to solar. Achieving the kind of deployment that would be required to make a serious down payment on our climate obligations will take something far different than we have seen to date: companies devoted to national (or at least regional), large-scale installations of solar technology, and which are deeply capitalized and willing to take risks to bring solar to many homeowners. I will term these "solar utilities,'' and I propose that one or more of them should take over the …

China's Renewable Energy Law: A Platform For Green Leadership?, Joel B. Eisen

Law Faculty Publications

This article describes programs and initiatives in China promoting growth of renewable energy capacity, and analyzes obstacles to future growth.

Greening Demand: Energy Consumption And U.S. Climate Policy, Noah M. Sachs

Law Faculty Publications

The search for greener, less polluting energy supplies has dominated discussions of u.s. climate change strategy, but we often overlook cheaper and faster greenhouse gas emissions reductions achievable through energy efficiency and conservation. In this article, I outline a decade-long "greening demand" agenda to reduce the amount of energy consumed in the United States. The federal government should aim to reduce U.S. energy consumption by fifteen percent by 2016 and twenty percent by 2020 to achieve needed reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

While the United States has achieved notable efficiency gains since the 1970s, several market failures and other barriers …

Regulatory Linearity, Commerce Clause Brinksmanship, And Retrenchment In Electric Utility Deregulation, Joel B. Eisen

Law Faculty Publications

The point of this Article is that if an agency has reached this point in the lifetime of its reinvention efforts by being "linear," then the experiment should end. In the case of restructuring, that is not the case, but two aspects of the situation make it exquisitely difficult to see this: an agency that is trying the same ideas repeatedly (FERC) and a complex set of variables that has hampered restructuring activity. Through this fog, the final point to be made is that if moving beyond the current stasis requires change, this should be contemplated. This industry is famously …

The Blackout Of 2003: What Is Next?, Joel B. Eisen

Law Faculty Publications

The blackout of August 2003 was a massive dislocation of American life, with millions of people in eight states and Canada losing power and a cost estimated in billions of dollars. As many as fifty million people were affected by the blackout. While the ultimate cause of the blackout is still being investigated, the implications for national policy may not be fully known for decades. The blackout was a wake up call and a watershed event that calls for reevaluation of just about every facet of the electric utility industry. We tend to think of a "wakeup call" as something …