5 minute read: Op-Ed Who will win the solar panel war?, IKEA, BlackRock, UK Advertising Standards Authority | from the desk of The Green Link’s team.
Op-Ed_
Who will win the solar panel war? | The battle between independents and utilities towards decarbonization.
California has set a decarbonization goal of 100% clean energy by 2045. You may remember the blackout in California that made global news in 2020. The conversation is ongoing.
And really – the conversation is not about whether or not to turn to renewables but who should lead the way. Utilities argue that they’re best positioned, as the players who have long controlled the production, sale and distribution of electricity, while historically it has largely been smaller companies that install solar panels and batteries at homes in California.
The state will hear the California Public Utilities Commission plan to cut homeowners incentives, leaving energy management to the grid once again. This plan relies on residents supporting large power installations, including solar and wind farms, and long-distance transmission lines operated by utilities like Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison.
What are the implications?
In the scenario where the utilities are given priority over the development of renewable energies, several technologies and massive capital investment are needed. Investments such as modernizations to the grid, energy storage facilities (batteries), massive infrastructure for solar and wind farms, and modernization of transmission lines. Energy may become more localized, meaning that we may need more of these energy hubs compared to today’s fossil fuels refineries model.
Benefits of this model include decarbonizing an entire grid at once, meaning thousands of people bear the cost and benefit from the decarbonization.
In the scenario where individuals are responsible for their energy sourcing, residents may benefit from incentives such as tax rebates for installing solar on their homes, but there are several drawbacks, as well. Individuals generating their own energy most of the time and drawing from the grid occasionally makes forecasting energy demand difficult. This can lead to an increase in energy shortages. While a competitive market can develop to sell direct to consumer, this also places the burden on individuals to secure the capital for their own decarbonization. In the event that homeowners are required to pay carbon taxes, and individualized approach to renewable energy favours the wealthy. These are a few points to consider. Can you think of others?
In the news_
[IKEA]
Throughout the entire IKEA value chain, the total climate footprint has decreased by 5.8% compared to FY16, while continuing to grow the business. Additionally, IKEA has replaced virgin fossil-based polyester with recycled, reducing the climate footprint from polyester by around 45%. IKEA also intends to phase out the remaining plastics in consumer packaging by 2028. Finally, IKEA also released Blueprint a new interactive circular product design tool based on what was learned from assessing the 9,500 products in the IKEA range.
Congratulations, IKEA!
Larry Fink released this year’s Letter to CEOs. Making the rounds is his quote, “The next 1,000 #unicorns won’t be search engines or social media companies, they’ll be #sustainable, scalable innovators – startups that help the world #decarbonize and make the energy transition affordable for all consumers.”
[UK Advertising Standards Authority]
Made headlines when they banned Lipton Ice Tea (Pepsi/Unilever) & Aqua Pura’s adverts claiming ‘100% recycled’ bottles because on the body was recycled, not the cap and label.
