Arthur O'Donnell for over three decades, an award-winning reporter specializing in energy, environment and economics. My books include: In the City of Neighborhoods (iUniverse 2004) The Guilty Environmentalist (Trafford 2003) and Soul of the Grid (iUniverse 2003). For beginning readers, When Chelsea Came to Stay (Trafford 2004), co-written with Tess Kelly, with illustrations by Sophia Varcados.
Use this link to find a list of my books and articles for sale via Amazon.com
Recent activities have taken the form of market analysis for Pike Research. I've just completed the Energy Service Company (ESCO) Market report for 2011-2020. This report focuses on ESCOs that provide government and public institutions with energy efficiency services and equipment under "performance-based contracts." With a surge in the federal market following the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and strong policy support from the Obama Administration, the ESCO market reached $5 billion in 2011 and is expected to grow at a fast clip through 2020. Look here for the Executive Summary of the ESCO 2011-2020 report.
Corporate Procurement of Electricity 2011, looked at competitive markets for power and renewable energy products. See the brochure and the Executive Summary.
From 2008 through 2010, I was Executive Director of the Center for Resource Solutions, a globally influential nonprofit NGO known for the Green-e certification programs.
Find a more complete bio here.
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What's New 2012:
2020 Visions: California's Clean Energy Future (California Current, 02/03/2012)
California has so many layers of energy policies, you need a roadmap, a dashboard and a rearview mirror to sort them all out. This guest column in California Current newsletter points the way to some new tools for doing so.
Keeping Current with the Western Climate Initiative
California is on the cusp of starting a mandatory carbon market as one of its tools to implement AB 32 and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Although California's cap-and-trade system was supposed to be only one cornerstone of a regionwide market, with links to other regional programs, the recent defection of six states that comprised the Western Climate Initiative leaves just California and four Canadian Provinces...maybe. WCI, which is supposed to provide bridging services and credibility to the carbon market, has just spun off an independent non-profit. What does all this mean? Find out in these two recent updates.
Quebec to Join CA in Carbon Allowance Auction, California Current Jan. 20, 2012
Why the Western Climate Initiative Matters, California Current Dec. 9, 2011
Other recent contributions to California Current
Public Goods' Political Control
Strings Attached to PIER Reprieve (Current, 9/2/11)
Prying Open the Competitive Electricity Market (Current 7/15/11)
What Do We Get From Publicly Funded Energy Research? (Current, 06/24/11)
PG&E: Crisis Management or Management Crisis?
What a Troubled Utility Might Learn from Toyota (Current newsletter 4/15/11)
How the New Renewable Portfolio Standard Bill May Impact Energy Markets (Current newsletter 03/04/11)
The Clean Tech/Regulatory Nexus (February 2011)
Other Recent Writings and Events of Note:
This is your invitation to experience EcoCloud, a new on-line community platform sponsored by Sustainable Silicon Valley. This interactive forum for news, information and idea exchanges focuses on what it takes to create more sustainable communities. I've begun an Energy Overseer blog and will likely contribute some standing articles on energy policy in the weeks to come. Please take a look at other focus areas as well: Water, Materials, Waste Management. Join and contribute!
Here are some recent posts:
Solyndra: Crisis or Catalyst for Solar Industry?, Sept. 27, 2011
Smart Grid Faces Stress Tests, Sept. 14, 2011
Sustainability Requires Continuous Improvement Upgrades, Sept. 6, 2011
State Reprieve for Public Interest Research Program Comes with Strings, August 30, 2011
How Cities Can Streamline Solar Permitting, August 23, 2011
Data Centers Not the Energy Hogs We Thought? August 16, 2011
2011 Appearances:
To start the annual Conference of the California Public Utility Counsel (CCPUC) , I put CPUC President Mike Peevey on the hot-seat about current issues facing the utility industry for an interesting exchange and free-wheeling conversation.
Look for other 2011 conference appearances here.
Revisiting California's Doomed Experiment in Electricity Deregulation, Ten Years Later.
In this section of The Energy Overseer, I try to exorcise some of the demons of this not-too distant past, by recounting the Western Energy Crisis via summaries of news stories and my Bottom Lines opinion columns from 1998 when the new system began operations through early 2002. The Restructuring Archive closes out with a two-part article: "Where Do We Go From Here?" and "First Steps to a New Marketplace" based on a special report that I wrote for the Energy Foundation. Look for them here, Part 1 and Part 2.
Coverage of the PG&E Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Case starting with the April 13 opening report in:
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