The Commonwealth of Massachusetts (Commonwealth) committed to a target of net-zero emissions by 2050, which was codified in legislation in March 2021. In addition, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (MA EEA) published its 2050 Decarbonization Roadmap (the Roadmap) along with
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Duke Energy and Dominion Energy recently cancelled their Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) project, a natural gas pipeline planned to traverse West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina. Dominion coupled this announcement with another that it would be divesting its natural gas transmission and storage segment.
Increasingly, companies are realizing the value that a knowledgebase offers their employees.
In February, Kaiser Permanente doubled down on its prior commitment to open a new medical school in Pasadena, CA in 2020 by announcing that it would provide free tuition to its first five classes. Kaiser Permanente said the school will focus on teaching population health and the health system’s model of integrated and coordinated care.
On May 16, 2019, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) issued a decision establishing a cost-benefit framework comprised of four cost-effectiveness tests. This framework will be used to evaluate distributed energy resources (DER) in regulatory proceedings. The most notable impacts of the decision are the revised greenhouse gas (GHG) adder value to existing cost-benefit tests, the creation of a new test to measure societal impacts and environmental externalities, and the universal application of the tests across multiple proceedings. The framework will be applied as the state pursues its aggressive climate goals, including 60% of retail load served by renewable generation by 2030 and 100% served by zero-carbon generation by 2045.
In November 2018, the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) issued an order setting a date of June 30, 2020, for Consumers Energy Company (Consumers) and DTE Electric Company (DTE) to file updates to their five-year distribution investment and maintenance plans. The order provided guidance on what should be included in the next versions of the plans.
Just like finance spreadsheets were a major breakthrough for finance departments, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is expected to change how HR will operate in the future. Several companies already leverage AI to screen resumes, but recent AI technological developments, such as voice and image recognition, are expected to expand capabilities and create $100 billion of value in HR in the next 20 years.
A study conducted by the Union of Concerned Scientists and applauded by the Nuclear Energy Institute claimed that 21 of 60 nuclear plants in the United States are at risk of early retirement largely due to inadequate rates of return and lower pricing of other competing generation types. To combat early retirements, many states are establishing nuclear subsidy programs to compensate financially challenged nuclear plants for the environmental attributes of
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Soon the cup of coffee customers buy from a Starbucks in the state of Illinois will be brewed using renewable energy generated by wind turbines. The Seattle-based coffee giant recently signed a long-term agreement with Constellation, Exelon’s commercial business, to power more than 340 Starbucks locations in Illinois with 100% carbon-free energy.
On November 1, 2018, Northern States Power Minnesota, d/b/a Xcel Energy, filed its first Integrated Distribution Plan (IDP), fulfilling the requirements of an IDP Order issued by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) on August 30, 2018. The comprehensive filing includes a wealth of information regarding the current state of the distribution system, notice of near-term investments, and a 15-year roadmap of potential future investments. The plan highlights Xcel Energy’s focus on customers, linking the grid investments to the expected customer benefits and new offerings. Xcel Energy notes that it intends to formally request approval for the investments and bring forward the costs and benefits for the MPUC’s approval through future IDP/grid modernization filings or as part of a general rate case.
The concept of using Robotic Process Automation (RPA) as a tool to unlock additional value in your organization is a common topic of conferences, technology presentations, and HR publications. However, HR leaders are often left with more questions than answers around how HR departments can benefit from this technology. Can bots be used to execute people processes? Is the work in HR too sensitive for automation? How does human judgment come into play? The answer is that RPA can be used in HR, but processes should be carefully evaluated, and the focus should be on paper-oriented, repetitive tasks, allowing HR professionals to spend more time on people-facing strategic initiatives.
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