We are pleased to present an interview with Ralph Cavanagh, Co-Director of the Energy Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council from October 23, 2017.

We honor Earth Day by bringing in a much deeper perspective than is typically seen by the environmentally-conscious consumer.  We look deeply at the prospects for clean energy on a massive scale in the western region of the US through the lens of the NRDC, the remarkable development of energy efficiency as a resource, and the exciting prospects for clean energy integration across the west through electricity grid regionalization in the western electric transmission grid.

The Natural Resources Defense Council or NRDC is an NGO with really a superhero’s mission of working to safeguard the earth, its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. This is a tall order, requiring courageous, charismatic, and competent policy-oriented leaders of influence to carry out the mission. Ralph Cavanagh joined the NRDC in 1979 and has focused on removing barriers to cost effective energy efficiency, and on the role that electric and gas utilities can play in leading a clean energy transition.

Ralph has taught energy law and policy at Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School, U.C. Berkeley Law School, and at the University of Idaho. Ralph serves on several boards. The Bipartisan Policy Center, The Northwest Energy Coalition, Renewable Northwest, The Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies. Ralph chairs the advisory board of the U.C. Davis Energy Efficiency Center. He’s a graduate of Yale University, and Yale Law School.