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Pathways

Our journey to a sustainable future requires multiple routes

Pathways to a clean, fair transition

The public’s enthusiasm for a clean-energy transition has been demonstrated with the emergence of passionate young activists and aggressive carbon reduction goals adopted by governments, legislatures, commissions, municipalities and companies. Yet a fundamental question remains: How can we deliver that low-carbon vision at a sustainable cost while maintaining reliability in the face of extreme weather conditions? A fact-based, holistic approach that considers system-wide interdependencies is critical to implementing meaningful decarbonization strategies. Here are some routes to consider.

Understand distinctions of aspirational climate goals

The reality of successfully transforming modern, energy-dependent societies is complicated. Yet 100% slogans with very different meanings are often used interchangeably. Both the public and policymakers need to understand what targets would actually mean to our lives.
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Adopt true, transparent hourly carbon accounting

Measuring the impact of one resource vs another is hard to do. When? Where? How much? These all factor into trade-offs to reduce carbon, keep costs down, and maintain reliability. To make good policy decisions, carbon analysis must match load with supply on an average hourly basis, not aggregated annually.
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Optimize for universal service, not just green privilege

The self-sufficiency of grow-your-own electricity is a wonderful path for those who possess the necessary resources but unfortunately isn’t practical for everyone. An equitable modern society will maintain the current social compact for universal service with clean, reliable technologies that achieve economies of scale.
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Deploy DERs where they provide locational, economic, or resilience value

While DERs (Distributed Energy Resources) are often not the cheapest way to produce electrons, they can provide other value, especially when generation resources are integrated with storage and on-site applications or used to supply generation to connected and independent microgrids.
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Support emerging technologies to reduce carbon in existing infrastructure

Companies are developing new technologies that overcome inherent limitations of legacy systems. For example, large-scale hybrid thermal storage can be used to re-purpose impaired assets and avoid curtailment of renewables or hydrogen and other green gases can replace fossil fuels in existing pipelines and distribution systems.
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Socialize cost of 24x7 community reliability

Everyone benefits from generation, transmission, and distribution assets that power shared resources in our communities. Yet most net metering programs pay solar customers for all they produce, no matter how much they use when the sun sets. If only non-solar customers, which includes most moderate and low income families, are left to pay to operate legacy assets, the latters' energy burden will be unsustainable.
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Plant and protect trees

Even if we cannot directly control vast resources like the Amazon rainforests, we can help on our local levels. Protecting what we have and planting more trees reduces concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere and improves quality of life in our neighborhoods and reduces the amount of energy required to support families.
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Electrify Selectively

When deciding to promote fuel switching, it is worth noting that not all changes yield the same carbon reduction results. For example, electrifying transportation, especially if charging is directly connected to solar, has a greater impact than replacing home heating if the electrons must be generated overnight by gas or coal. "Electrifying Everything" may be a catchy slogan but it is not a silver bullet to achieve rapid decarbonization.
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Practice good urban planning

As with electrification, a single approach will not suit all locations. By taking advantage of local climate, resources, and priorities, good planning can make rural, suburban, and urban communities more livable and sustainable. One goal is to increase the stock of affordable, energy efficient housing close to jobs and accessible by clean transit.
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To the Point, Palo Alto, California, USA

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