{"version":"1.0","provider_name":"Citizens Utility Board","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org","title":"Illinois Future of Gas: Geothermal Energy Meeting - December 16, 2024 | Citizens Utility Board","type":"rich","width":600,"height":338,"html":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"Bet7RkQCiM\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/blog\/2025\/01\/23\/illinois-future-of-gas-geothermal-energy-meeting-december-16-2024\/\">Illinois Future of Gas: Geothermal Energy Meeting &#8211; December 16, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/blog\/2025\/01\/23\/illinois-future-of-gas-geothermal-energy-meeting-december-16-2024\/embed\/#?secret=Bet7RkQCiM\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" title=\"&#8220;Illinois Future of Gas: Geothermal Energy Meeting &#8211; December 16, 2024&#8221; &#8212; Citizens Utility Board\" data-secret=\"Bet7RkQCiM\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n\/* <![CDATA[ *\/\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/* ]]> *\/\n<\/script>\n","description":"By: Scott Allen, Energy Policy Specialist The final Future of Gas workshop of 2024 was possibly the most optimistic one to date.\u00a0 The theme of this workshop was geothermal energy and thermal energy networks (or, TENs) Geothermal energy and energy networks are both interesting and practical, and, as we heard from the many case studies presented at this workshop, they work. As usual, I encourage all of you to watch the video replay, and check out the slides from Salas O&#8217;Brien and The Accelerate Group from the Dec. 16 workshop.\u00a0 However, I\u2019m not going to discuss either of those presentations here.\u00a0 By now I\u2019ve probably talked enough about how well geothermal energy and heat pump technology works, but haven\u2019t yet explored what it is that gas and electric utilities hope to accomplish in this proceeding. So that\u2019s my subject for today.\u00a0 Specifically, I want to address a report from MidAmerican Energy on the efficacy of its gas and electric efficiency programs, and the predictable failure of its customer electrification experiment. MidAmerican doesn\u2019t get a lot of attention in Illinois &#8211; most of that attention goes to ComEd and Ameren &#8211; but they should not escape scrutiny just because their service territory is relatively small. MidAmerican is an Iowa-based, investor-owned gas and electric utility that serves a good portion of the Quad Cities.\u00a0 It is a particularly dirty utility, owning several coal plants and thousands of miles of gas pipelines, so there\u2019s a lot of atonement needing to be made.\u00a0\u00a0 At this point in the Future of Gas proceedings all of the gas utilities have reported on the status of their energy efficiency programs. By and large they all believe that their programs have performed well enough, acknowledging (without anybody having asked) that there is room for improvement, which they are working on. This translates to: \u201cThe status quo is fine. We\u2019re already decarbonizing our systems to an acceptable degree\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m not trying\u00a0 to downplay the importance of energy efficiency. Improving a building\u2019s envelope is the most cost-effective way to reduce energy bills and building-related emissions. Using more gas-efficient appliances is obviously better than using less efficient appliances\u2013but neither of these is a substitute for phasing out gas. It\u2019s also important to keep in mind that the practice of energy efficiency is not synonymous with an energy efficiency program.\u00a0 In my first blog I cited the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy\u2019s definition of energy efficiency:\u00a0 \u201cUse of technology, systems or behaviors to accomplish the same task with less energy.\u201d\u00a0 Programs on the other hand are offerings from gas and electric utilities that try to incentivize the people to practice energy efficiency. These programs are severely limited in their usefulness in two ways:\u00a0 They are difficult to access They provide very few benefits to renters, which is a significant problem since homeownership is a near-impossibility for youth and lower-income consumers.\u00a0\u00a0 According to the Census Bureau, about a third of Illinoisans rent their homes. But in Chicago (where rent burden is highest) DePaul&#8217;s Institute for Housing Studies reports that roughly 54 percent of residents are renters. All of this is to say [&hellip;]","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Illinois-Future-of-Gas-Banner.png","thumbnail_width":2560,"thumbnail_height":707}