Introducing Researcher Bryndis Woods
In September, AEC welcomed a new researcher, Bryndis Woods. Prior to joining AEC, Ms. Woods worked as a researcher at the Nordic Centre of Excellence for Strategic Adaptation Research and as an analyst for Business for Social Responsibility. She currently works as a staff writer for the International Institute for Sustainable Development’s Earth Negotiations Bulletin and is completing her PhD in Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Iceland. She joins Liz Stanton, Rachel WilsonandTyler Comingson AEC’s professional staff.
An Analysis of Community Choice Energy for Boston
Senior Researcher Tyler Comings, Clinic Director and Senior Researcher Liz Stanton, PhD and Researcher Bryndis Woods with AEC have prepared a report and policy brief, funded by the Barr Foundation, to examine how Community Choice Energy (CCE) programs work and address commonly asked questions in order to inform efforts in the City of Boston to understand the implications of CCE programs, including the program’s costs to residents and businesses, impacts on renewable energy, and contributions to the City’s climate goals.
Ratepayer Impacts of ConEd's 20-Year Shipping Agreement on the Mountain Valley Pipeline
Senior Researcher Rachel Wilson with AEC has prepared a report, on behalf of the Environmental Defense Fund, to determine whether a 20-year contract for firm natural gas transportation on the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), entered into by Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. (ConEd), would result in unjust and unreasonable costs to the utility's ratepayers. AEC found that recent new and expanded natural gas pipeline capacity has caused natural gas prices between regions to equilibrate and that any expected benefit of the MVP contract was disappearing at the time that ConEd signed the transportation agreement. Narrowing basis differentials for natural gas across regions turned a net present value ratepayer benefit of more than $1 billion into an anticipated $630 million cost given current natural gas pricing. Costs of the transportation contract will be paid by New York ratepayers, and the New York Public Service Commission should consider ConEd's ownership interest in the pipeline when evaluating the cost of the agreement.