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Thank you, francis. Thank you. We are delighted to have you both. You give us a global snapshot of Energy Poverty and the repercussions for gender equity and employment in the areas of the world most affected . Thank you, thank you again. About what the foundation has done under the leadership of the secretary is looking at how we can and this global problem of Energy Poverty. What is the Global Landscape space . 3. 2 ofccounts for only the 2700 kilowatt hours generated. [indiscernible] only asia with india is 8. 5 . Southafrica but also africa. America is 4. 9 . When you look at those three, africa is 3. 9 . Are large swaths of the global space that is energy poor. What we talk about as it relates , and that iscrisis [indiscernible] say one of the things the pandemic is shown as is if we do not have energy we cannot even solve the health crisis. On the continent we have a lot of obstacles. Universal access is a critical part of what we are considering as part of the policy for ending Energy Poverty. That means looking at the whole [indiscernible] of distribution. One of the things we have seen is there is a fourth line in the distribution so a lot of the around what we can do with [indiscernible] you link generation, transmission to distribution and ensure we can get to the last mile . Low Energy Consumption across the globe cannot get what we are looking for. [indiscernible] two sustainable affordable electricity. Concern, andbal especially what we have been trying to understand is a way that continuously challenges the public and private sector and it shows we have a way to do it in that is sustainable. This a big ruralurban divide . People cooking with wood. I would like to get a sense of the personal impact before we move on to factories. Million women2 across the world that die from respiratory diseases [indiscernible] and that is the energy linkage. It is a ruralurban divide as well. The same is true of south america and south asia. The cities tend to have 70 or 20 or lessural access to energy and women in particular. Inclusiveking at an and more sustainable design, which shows we can protect the trees. There is a lot going on to see how we can restore our green environment. And ensurehat [indiscernible] and women still need to go out and look for wood. There is another conversation. Lets turn to you, secretary. One of the cochairs of the commission to end Energy Poverty. Committed tohow reform the commissioners are. Are we talking about a problem that is also in more developed countries around the world . Francis, let me first make a couple of comments expanding on what vera said. We will be focusing on the Commission First on electricity. The cooking issue that you have raised is so critical. There is a documentary recently switch on, that i would recommend, and it has an emotional scene in terms of medical requirements of women and children suffering the respiratory consequences of indoor biomass cooking. In fact [no audio] six of all of his patients were women and children with respiratory illness. [indiscernible] we cannot have womens empowerment, and have them engaged in the economy until these issues are resolved. That is very important. On the commission, to go back to that, first of all there are myself with my hat at m. I. T. Where the analysis raj shah rahd particularly emphasizes that the Rockefeller Foundation support this work because addressing Energy Poverty is a necessary condition for addressing poverty more generally, so that is the perspective that he brought to the table. Is therd cochair president of the African Development bank and clearly while in Subsaharan Africa is not the commission, it is the bank brings so the that perspective of how were going to bring together the capital to have the kinds of transitions we have. The commission was rounded out by many others. For example, investors in infrastructure like africa 50. But government and quasi government officials who will have enormous responsibilities that we will perhaps come back to and a number of individuals who have long experience in for example, initiatives such as power africa, which was started in the Obama Administration to address the electricity and lighting needs in in africa specifically. But youre also right that the Energy Access issue is not one just in developing countries. Clearly, theres a major focus. Hundreds of millions of people without proper Energy Access. One could argue about 1 3 of the global population without adequate Energy Services. But right here in the United States if one goes to things like the native american lands, one finds a very, very disheartening lack of Energy Services in many cases. So this is a big problem. Its absolutely critical. And i would just say that as well, you mentioned briefly covid. When the commission started just over a year ago, i dont think any of us dreamed that today because of the covid crisis we probably have more people without electricity access than we had a year ago. Because many who gained access, you know, these countries always catch the cold first when theres a global event. The Economic Impact does not help people afford the excess so hard won over the past few years. Doctor, you are on the commission. The goal is universal access. Thats going to involve partnerships between utilities, investors. What do those partnerships look like . And what are the barriers in different parts of the world . What are you up against . We have done a couple of actually, were not up against as much as it is trying to see whether we can bring the right coalitions together. And i think, the coalition and the commission is one of them. The secretary already talked about the fact that we have that in the Public Sector and some of Civil Society with us and actually the academics as well. I think, for example, the partnership that we have, for example, with westward africa under the operation and also the Sustainable Development group that was set up by the United Nations secretarygeneral essentially that brings together , a very substantial group of private sector investors, billions of dollars, interested in looking for Renewable Energy. And when you look at the african continent, only 2 of global new Renewable Energy capacity was installed in africa over the last 10 years. So for all the conversations that we have around Renewable Energy, the drop in the cost of Renewable Energy and the need , for more investment, africa has only been able to attract 2 of that. One of the things were trying to understand is what is it that is stopping or hindering those kinds of investments . A big part of it. And thats one of the things the commission talks about when they talk about the integrated framework is the fact that the distribution, the Utility Companies because of not the appropriate tariff adjustments and thats the conversation you had, what are we up against . Were up against Affordable Energy and the financing to build that Affordable Energy. Is howthe issues is how can wet can we do projects with local currency . When you do a plant, but citizens most often are paying for that energy in local currency that is also subject to the variations of microeconomics and the covid crisis and led many of them depreciating for example, it becomes very expensive. They cannot afford to pay any of those p. P. A. There contracts were suspended and energy gets cut off. So we need to be able to find some way of doing reflective and to do that we need to move to more local currency financing of the investments were putting in place. Of course the overall macroeconomic environment is quite an important one to put investment into those sectors. Another thing that is very important is building local, Technical Assistance for africa. What were doing actually, were partners with the commission now and others, is to launch what were calling the team energy africa, which is essentially bringing together all the african industrial manufacturers of Energy Together to say what can we do . Theres a team europe. There was up with in africa that was launched by the United States, and we hope we can form a cluster when they come under the d. S. C. And others to say we have to do this in partnership. Probably when we do that, we can find local Insurance Companies that can buy this investment. I think its a cluster of things. First, you need to bring in continental producers. Weve seen that in india because there are indian supplier of energies in the energy sector. Bring in continental producers. Weve seen that in india because there are indian supplier of energies in the energy sector. We can see that access is increasing at a much faster rate. We believe we should emulate Something Like that on the african continent. And hopefully there as well. Is there one small model that things are working well that youre trying to broaden . Well, i think that , you know, the the the attraction of independent energy has done really well. Many other countries have started that seneca, south africa has been the leader in this. We see a lot of progress and investment. A project that was launched by the i. S. C. Is the solid power project, which has been scaling forward. We have it in seneca. In morocco were doing something. We need standardization of this program. You can standardize it. Investors know what to expect. The country know what is to offer and it makes it much easier to close on those deals. Secretary moniz, could you talk to us about other progress that could make a big difference in this area . Secretary moniz certainly the Technology Progress in providing energy and in particular clean energy has been very, very dramatic. Solar energy, wind energy, including the storage that one needs to be able to use the for example, the solar energy at night as opposed to during the day, the rapid cost reductions here, i think are going to provide dramatic opportunities o have support for african buildout quite rapidly of the new the new energy technologies. But a couple of points i do want to emphasize, we have to recognize, and one of the one of the pill lars really of the pillars really of the commissions work is we cannot look at offgrid and ongrid solutions as two different things. We need the integration of on and offgrid solutions. Because the issues it isnt about ideology in terms of how one best to does to have distributed generation or the like. Its about universal access. And the universal Access Solutions are going to have to be looked at in an integrated way with the combined if urban and rural populations of these countries. Technology is going to allow that to happen more easily. But i think actually its actually worth stating that just like everywhere in the world, the projections, the demographic projections continued enormous urbanization in in africa. O so i think we need to not have, you know, everything looks like a nail because i have a hammer. We have multiple technologies, multiple ways of integrating them, using i. T. You alluded to i. T. For example. Using i. T. To to really serve the population that needs universal access. In sing that, again something you alluded to earlier for instance, maybe well come back to it, but the reality is, and frankly, when i speak with africans who are very knowledgeable about the, you know, the developments and energy that are needed, that would include vera, the they all say that, look, we have to sahara africa, in sub africa a Real Development on industrialization. And so thats going to require well certainly for some considerable period a more internal utilization in africa of the enormous natural gas finds that have been happening in both east and west africa. We have to keep in mind the goals, Economic Development, universal access, and of course, as low carbonate trajectory as can be realized in putting together a coherent solution. And again, universal access, integration of on and off grid, focus on development and as vera said, creating financially viable systems to provide the the electricity, the energy, not with a short term focus but with a longterm focus all must come together. And it will be technology, but it will also be things like significant elevation and best practices, etc. , in terms of regulation, without stable, predictable regulation, it will be very hard for the kind of load serving entitys that we need to to really put in the Capital Investment to serve the peoples needs. Just quickly if you can, and these are all big questions. Tell me where the private sector fits in here . How do we make sure that they t in the interest of Broad Development rather their own interest . Whats their role, and how do you regulate their investment . Secretary moniz the private sector, theyre absolutely essential because otherwise it will be hard to see the capital accumulation that one needs to to realize the Development Hat we are hoping for. Again, i dont see its no different in africa or anywhere else. If its private capital coming , some certainty for a substantial period, call it 20 years, a concession being awarded for example with specific mile stones for universal access, reliable access to to electricity that has to come. And frankly and vera could comment on this probably more expertly than i, but lets just say those conditions are very uneven at the moment in in sub saharan africa. I think we need to bring the best practices, which have been demonstrated in various places to bear. For example, one of the recommendations of the commission is to establish an African School of regulation, maybe at one of the universities in africa, for example, and really bring a cutting edge experience of regulation across the globe to bear, so that there can be more uniformity. Uniformity across countries will also encourage other important developments such as Regional Power pools where several countries can coming to regionally and provide more efficient, more reliable, more affordable electricity as a regional effort. Clearly, if you have different policies, different rules across boundaries, that becomes very, very difficult. So theres a lot to do. But by the way, were very encouraged in terms of progress towards this Regulatory School for example of being founded, well see. But its looking quite promising. Were short of time. But i will able to ask you a couple of questions sent in by readers. Im going to read this. This is barry moore from virginia who asks how would you characterize chinas Economic Impact in africa . Thank you for that question. And let me use that question to answer a little bit of what were talking about. China africa has decided, you know, were going to go to net zero. However, between now and getting to net zero, africa still needs to grow. We need to you know, insure that our economies have the right Energy Production to go. One of the areas where africa has an abundance of raw material for Energy Production is gas and hydro. Hydro is one of the leading, you now, builders [indiscernible] one of things were doing is working with the french, working with the americans to make sure we do build the right kinds of hydro power plants on the continent but also that we begin [no audio] i think we have a little interruption in our connection which were trying to rebuild at the moment. So please stay with us. Secretary moniz i can inject something on the african front. I think one of the issues that i think as many countries, vera mentioned several come in and be rt of the build of the to astructure, that i think build up local capacity, use local workforces. Frankly, i think china may be not quite there in terms of the necessary building of indigenous capacity. I think we have dr. Songwe back with us. Did you want to finish . Ok. Maybe not. Thank you both very much. Im sorry about that little interruption at the segment. But it was a fascinating conversation. I will be back in a few minutes. [indiscernible] thank you very much to both of you. Secretary moniz thank you. Hello, im elyse labott. Today were talk tact Global Commission to end Energy Poverty founded by the Rockefeller Commission to galvanize the delivering of Cost Effective electricity access to hundreds of millions of underserved homes and businesses. Im joined by aspen dial who leads the Climate Initiative and rob stoner, Deputy Director at the m. I. T. Energy initiative, which is working rock fell tore produce High Quality Research data and evidence behind these goals. Lets talk with you and talk about the ties between poverty and the lack of access to energy. I hear you at rockefeller call it the socalled global thread human ves together Pro Development and sustainbility human viability. Well, thank you. If you think about the relationship between poverty and Economic Development and the importance of energy as the driver and enabler of that has only grown in an increasingly connected world. If you think life as a farmer 50 years ago vs. Today, you need to coal storage the or for machinery for processing. So you know, electricity and access to electricity has become part. Easingly important when you look at Energy Poverty and poverty, its increasingly overlapping. If we want to end poverty in the 21st century were going to have to end Energy Poverty. The question becomes how to you do that . Thats where we see such enormous potential today especially with what weve seen with technology and price of technologies over the last 10, 15 years. Just opening up a much more diverse set of options especially for low income economys that cant necessarily afford to build out a traditional centralized grid everywhere and as quickly as its need in todays economic context. Yeah, i think a lot of people dont make the connection between poverty and access to electricity. Well talk a little bit more about that. But rob, your focus on addressing the barriers to achieving universal and onomically impactful electricification and delivering hat road map has got to be a multisectorial mission. Rob it is. Were focused largely on the african problem and africa is distinctive because many of the utilities, almost all of them are structurally insolvent. They lose money on every kilo watt power its inaggregate. Thats a very challenging problem. The reason that happens is the people are trying to serve at the other end of the line are poorer by and large and cant ford to pay the price. And the companies tariffs creates a lot of stress for them. A lot of d challenge that were dealing with of providing electricity access to everyone is improving the Business Condition of those electric utility and that means that you have to take advantage of opportunities to use novel technologies like solar, for example, finding it way into Rural Communities to make it less expensive for the utilities to serve, people who live in far flung areas, sort of or rather the last mile problem that we used to talk about in telecommunications. And its very much the problem in the electricity system. Gceep as brings up we like to shorten it. As you work from a recovery from covid19, i know the commission has improoved access for Economic Development. Talk to me about the economic case for such a massive investment in energy as the key priority when the needs across the board for Covid Recovery are so great. Thats a very fair question. Clearly the needs in the covid19 questions are enormous and diverse. We see the challenge particularly through two major lenses, theres obviously the media and Ongoing Health crisis. This is not just a crisis for today. Its going to take several years to see the rollout of an adequate treatment regime and vaccines across the world. Especially in some of the least developed markets or groups who tend to get excluded from access to vaccines thats a critical, critical issue that we have to address. But if you think about how the covid crisis has been experienced in so many parts of the developing world it has been experienced primarily as an economic crisis. When you see committees locked down for weeks on end and when you see a massive reduction and access to markets disrupted, the data that weve been gathering with partners around the world for the last seven, eight, nine months has been frankly quy disdistressing. Weve seen this play out in the most impactful way for some of the poorest people around the world. The bank, the world bank using an expanded definition of poverty is estimated that half a billion people could go back to poverty as a result of this crisis. When you look at the crisis from its an economic boarder way, its energy. Why energy . It can create opportunities in the near future and create lasting economic growth. As rob mentioned, sweevepb enormous innovation like solar and storage that makes dribt rue newables an increasingly viable part of the echo system of electrification. These systems can be rolled out quickly. They create jobs in the near term for construction and installation. They create jobs in terms of maintenance and they support productive use activities within local economies whether its processing or offfarm activities. This is an investment not just for addressing a crisis for today and tomorrow, but it is as has often been the case, an investment in the infrastructure that will serve us in the next, 30, 40 years and allows millions of people who allows themselves be lifted out of situations like covid. Thats why its so critical and so important. Elisee so the commission is advancing m. I. T. s concept, this integrated distribution framework. Talk to us about the principles that are informing the solutions for delivering affordable solution and this investment base on viability of distribution and grid and Renewable Energy. Right. Our keyword is integration. Were talking about integrating across technology certainly and grid rid as well as on technologies. Integrating across the Rural Community and different pars parts of the value chain. The idea between the framework is pretty straightforward and will remind people of what works in utilitys that we have in the advanced economies. And that is to say a recognition that you have to serve everybody. Its important in developing countries because one way to make a utility financially viable very quickly is to drop all the poor customers and focus instead on commercial and industrial customers. But we insisted in this framework that they have to focus on everybody. And further more they have to combine as i was saying the use of on and off grid technologies in a way that makes sense. One of the challenges with this technology is that typically sold by small intepreneural companies to have a good idea for for delivering them. But theres no guarantee when they sell them to a to a rural farmer for example that theyre going to be there in the future, to continue to provide service. And so weve talked about integrating that kind of offgrid delivery within the sphere of the regulated utility. In other words, bringing these businesses together in a way. That doesnt mean integrating them into a single business necessarily but to a single enterprise that collectively as an obligation to serve everyone inner the longterm that means if the offgrid provider fails, tility that is working or is integrated with in providing Service Takes over and is the provider of last resort. Thats critically important when youre talking about insuring service because delivering on value in the economy really requires reliability of service and cost. So this is this is an opportunity to try to use new technologies and the energy of different parts of the private sector to make the utility work effectively. Elise were running out of time. But i know you have recommendations. I want to make sure you mention them. Rwanda, nigeria, uganda and india. And well be looking for more information on that as we close, the government and rockefeller are recognizing the ties between this. And lack of pew the help is slow and incremental. How do we convince them that universal access to electricity is to those in need is the single best way to fight poverty . It isnt that the governments need convincing. They need resources and support. There are 800 Million People that are not connected to the grid. There are 300 billion people energy. Who lack what we need is a much more comprehensive, private partnerships along with opportunity first the private sector to come and invest. Lets not forget that no country in the world has achieved universal electrification without heavy investment by the Public Sector and unlocking opportunity first the private sector. We need to dont the same principles as we look at some of the developing economies. And thats why this distributed framework is really so important because that is the framework by which we can produce and create really large scale partnerships that will allow these economies to to achieve universal electrification so quickly because its urgent, more Cost Effectively and more impactfully because were focused on serving the productive needs of the economy. Its lighting , comas. For better so something no one should have to do without. Aven dayal with rockefeller and robert moore at the m. I. T. Energy initiative. Thank you for joining us. Back to the Washington Post. Thank you. Welcome back. If youre just joining us, im frances from the Washington Post. Im taking this conversation with to the local level with two u. S. Major who is have been leading the charge for Renewable Sustainable Energy thats John Mitchell of new bedford, massachusetts who is the chair of the Energy Commission at the u. S. Conference of mayors, and sam locato of san jose, california, a very warm welcome to you both. Thank you, frances. Frances le lighted to have you. San jose is one of the largest citys that has and all electric mandate in the works. Can you talk to me about what that that means for your residents an and consumers . The first thing is to green our grid. If were going to push people to use electric over gas we needed to make sure our elect triss choices are green. We became the largest city in the country to do so to be able to choose our source of electricity. Thats schiff us. And were consuming with 330,000 users now accord more than aa million residents consuming bout 86 of our electricity is g. H. G. Free thats an important first step is greening the grid as john is doing. The second step now is pushing the Economic Activity on to the grid from gas whether in our case in san jose that meant electrifying our buses a the airport, electrifying train systems and electrifying buildings. And so were the largest city in the country to pass and all electric mandate on new conversation of buildings to really try to, again, push the economy toward this much greener grid. We had initial challenges certainly. We know that there are new technologies that need to be tested. So we needed to give folks time to make those adjustments. But the Development Community has come along. And they can appreciate that they can save a lot of cost upfront and not install gas infrastructure. What does this do for electricity cost for your average consume there in san jose . Through the San Jose Clean Energy initiative, were able to provide electricity procure electricity at a cost slightly pg e. He cost of the were not burdened with legacy contracts that those investor run unit yue you you tills have. Were investing in new solar generation at a much lower cost than they were 15 years ago. And just before we move over to mayor mitchell, talk to me briefly about Community Choice energy agregation and what that means in your community. Im sorry frances. That was for me not for john. Frances yeah. Typically the way its done in california, we invest in our utilities that generate electricity in large wholesale contracts and distribute it. Weve taken over the wholesale generation business from pg e here in san jose and other cities have done this as well. We now have 10 million californians that are benefiting from these energy programs. So we procure the energy. The investor run utility owns the wires and they distribute it. And were able to procure it at a much lower cost. And were able to reap those savings publicly that we can reinvest in Energy Savings for example reducing costs for residents, be able to go solar, or be able to invest in more innovative technologies, for example, hydrogen for fuel cells. Frances you are the chair of the u. S. Committee on the u. S. Conference of mayors. What were some of the Key Takeaways from a countrywide perspective as we move to more sustainable and renewable forms of energy . Thanks for the question. And thanks for having me. I want to give a shoutout to sam riccardo, hes been such a leader among one of the biggest cities in america. Ere at a point with the president ial transition going on. And the lack of attention to reduce the Carbon Footprint of every city and town large and small across across the country on the part of the federal government, weve seen cities make progress still. Were at a point now where the vast majority of cities have made the transition of l. E. D. Lighting. They retro fitted many of their major municipal buildings and reduced waste. And weve done things that we expect mayors to be doing despite the country is opting out of paris. Were at a point now where were seeing based on u. S. Conference of mayors surveys that mayors want to do more still. They are prepared to do it. And whether its on the generation side to Going Forward more solar or in efforts to reduce consumption or transitioning to to electric vehicles in the Municipal Police and promoting similar practices in the private sector. Were ready. But we need a federal partner to accelerate those efforts. And i think so it is timely that a new administration is coming in. You had on the earlier segment former secretary of energy moniz, who was great with cities. And he understood that the federal government could be a a very construct ev partner in advancing our efforts whether it was through Grant Programs that increase the capacity of the especially the smaller midsize cities to reduce their footprint to the solicitation of their block grants which is something that will be before congress very, very soon. So were ok. And thorough, federal willingness to participate that point and so were hopeful that the new Biden Administration will be there with us. So thank you for talking. Could you talk to me about new bedford . Youve been a leader in offshore and solar energy can. You tell us what lessons you learned locally that has informed your discussion on this broader National Level . Well, right, so a few years o, we saw the opportunity to establish ourselves as a leader in Energy Efficiency and conservation as having multiple benefits. Obviously, theres the potential to for us to save on electricity cost. So we dont write into the in lopment of solar on municipal buildings as well as public spaces especially in at one point the wall street journal said new bedford had more installed municipal solar capacity per capita than any city in the u. S. Honolulu beat us. But we made a lot of progress in the states. Weve doubled our recycling by going to compressed garbage trucks that were automated. It boosted recycling and got trash off the street. We had built up the largest vehicle fleet in massachusetts. We promoted a greener ethic in the city through our efforts because we take even in the city of only 100,000, we take we want to cultivate the idea that we we should be seizing responsibility in our corner of the world for reducing our Carbon Footprint and doing our part to combat Climate Change. At the same time, new bedford which is the largest commercial fishing port in the United States is pivoting to offshore wind. The offshore wind is going to arrive in ernest we believe in the next couple of years. And so thereby a big ramp up of that. New bedford is the closest industrial part where many wind farms had to be built. So efforts advancing the wind industry as its just getting here is again, all of a piece. We want to be seen as a place. Not industrial and gritty, but forward leading progressive and that helps the citys brand and makes our residents feel like theyre part of something bigger. Thank you. And mayor, i believe your city council is about to vet on a natural gas ban, maybe december 1st. For how will it affect the grid . Certainly, it puts more demand on the grid. And we have to cuss on resiliency. Thats been the focus with other issues weve had out here in the grid. It means that we need to push the regular regulators. And the investment they need to provide to provide a resilient grid. Many cities are moving towards electrification. Frankly, the grid hasnt caught up with where a lot of cities are. Look at the great work that hes doing in new bedford. But there are many cities falling that path. And so were going to need a really National Strategy around esilience that hadnter hasnt emerged from the last experience. What does your experience tell you about innovation in terms of job creation . Well, certainly in the actual wind space thats going to be the source of literal le tens of thousands of jobs in the east coast in the next 10 years, but the job creation potential is obviously a strong rationale for promoting that industry in addition to promoting that its Climate Change benefits. We know that at even at the municipal level, for ens answer he, for the solar job, its created some space especially right now in economic concern. Its offering the possibility amongbs at good wages and the installers as well as the solar parks that are continuing to be built here. But we also know that by reducing electricity cost it benefits all businesses. And so you know, some businesses obviously are more industries are more Energy Intensive than others. But the more we can drive down cost being greener certainly helps everybody. D more likely that jobs will be created. Thank you. I have a question here from our audience. Et comes from pete bowl from new york who asked what could lower the cost of solar for residential and business aligning . I understand that san jose s set ambition goals when it comes to building standards. I think everybody is work and iting for it to evolve quick little. We need those costs to come down dramatically. To make Battery Storage more realistic that would rely on renewable, solar. Nd then be able to store the energy locally in a distributed way. Reer building a micro grid right now in the center of the city that we hope will be great examples for cities along the country that will provide resilience and if were relight only. Then we wont be admitting any greenhouse green. And so in the meantime were going to need some bridge technologies to be able to develop those micro grids that will help us to achieve our renewable future. Maybe you can talk to me about new bedford and talk about this issue again from your perch at the u. S. Conference of mayors. I think its the same here as it is in san jose, and thats exactly right. It is bat i storage in many ways is the holy grail of renewables in the future. If it can be done efficiently, it will open up all sorts of new opportunities for distributed energy systems. I will just say that i agree with everything that sam said. We are reminded of the need for renewable distributeable energy by way of micro grid every time weve had a natural disaster. When you think about the set of hurricanes that hit the east coast just a couple of years oofplgt and some of this some of the disasters that happen as a result of tragedy that ppened as a result of a loss of electricity to Nursing Homes and hospitals and other facilities. You think if those place had access to micro grids which was supposed by solar that they would have literally say live. And so, you know, it makes us more resilient. The micro grid would make us more resilient on several dimensions, i think. Yeah, that brings me to a question for about the pg e. Shitch of what does that look like in california . Is it a blueprint for the rest of the country . The truth is the rest of the company is well ahead. There are about 900. Customer owned. Theyre often rules. And so we are proposing creating the largest customerowned utility in the country here by trying to take over pg e with the ownership of the customers. Frankly, we did not success through the latest battles. The country has been successful nd retraining the ownership. The good news is, we know that theyre pushing in some ways to do to create some of the sins of the past. And some of the sinces we need for example failing to invest and efficiently and in great resill consequence. That has devastated the community out here with wildfires. The band news is that this is a company that is teetering, they have an enormous amount of de. I expect we will be back urging them to return control of the company. Theres actually been some legislation thats passed. I couldnt make this easier for us in the meantime. So we are waiting, ready. Weve got more than 200 local public officials. Saying weaver. We think its time for customers to own the unit yue tillity that theyre paying for. So other specific regional models when you look at this . Yeah, i mine, the Rural Cooperative has been a model of utilities that has existed, you know, for decades. What were learning about it is that at first, they have access to this with the cost of capital. So when they need to make those safety investments and the resiliency investments and the rest investments that microsoft gets. They can do so by going to Capital Marks at lower cost. And theyre not onably gaiting and returning largers turns. In chair price. And theyre not pague executive quite the same price as is or the same salaries that maybe the old model that maybe need to be explored more. Frances i do want to talk to you about the enormous changes. And weve seen changes. Maybe you can talk about the impact of covid in your city. And also on the energy sector. Well, you know, its been a struggle here as it has been everywhere else. You know, new bedford, relatively speaking has a Large Industrial workforce that i tension in mentioned. Were the largest fishing port in the country. Center of he largest seafood processing. Of oursult a big portion work forth force is no in any position. If your job is on the factory oor or on the deck o a scollaper, the zoom doesnt do you a whole lot of good. That means we get a lo of the people going to work. That raised the degree of difficulty here higher than i think most place. We have large workforces in buildings, not taking any time off as a result of the pandemic. So we had to take a number of steps to to mitigate rest. We put in place a set of safety e workplace precautions or sort of an orbalike set of rules that halike set of rules that look at seafood processing plant. We looked at the meatpacking plants and we envisioned a similar scenario here. We tried to get ahead of. That and we did successfully do that. Nd we didnt have major things there. We took some tests before they went out to see. We you know, we also dade few other things that were a little bit different from everyone else. We happen to be the the the city that has one of the largest suit companies in the country joseph aboud who took it on the chin during the pandemic. There arent too many mem men buying masks. But we enter into an agreement unless they made maxes for all of our City Residents that to have done that an youre distributed rufely 1450,000 masks at this point. Its really a number of distribution. I think that pervasiveness of Wearing Masks has certainly helped our cast. So a number of things that weve done athrong way like that to try to just get out of here and ahead of the virus. As it is in san josend everywhere, theres still a ways to go. And you know, were hopeful about the vaccine. Its a light at the end of the tunnel. But a vaccine is plural. But we all know its a long tunnel at this point. Thank you very much. I think we have time for one last. The impact of covid you went on during the lockdown, i believe or you would just about to. What impact is that having on your city and more broadly on this question of energy and renewables . Were seeing that the problems are in the cities, but the problems are as well. Some and theyre like john in new besford. I think were seeing a lot of really interesting innovations emerge from cities. In last. Theyre testing using really rapid, low cost engine testing in a way that could be really transformative in a way that and help us preconvict, what were seeing across the country is that folks and mayors are willing to take risks because the consequences are too great if they dont. And host that now with the new federal administration, were going to have a president and an administration thats going to embrace the innovation across cities across the country that will address these crises. Frances thank you both very much for joining us. Thank you. Frances thank you. We have a great lineup coming for next week. So please mark your calendars. On monday, president obama will be at Washington Post live, but at 11 00 30 in the morning. To talk about his new promise memoir rnl its the first online interview that people do on their book tour and also elizabeth alexander. Thats 11 30 on monday. Them we have bob costa talking to Anthony Fauci about the next steps in the covid crisis. So please, make sure you have both things on the calenda ofmonday, the Mission Bureau elections meets to start certify the States Election results. Its required by law to certify the results by november 23. So far all of michigans 83 counties have certified the results, but the rnc and state republican officials have asked the board to delay certification in order to audit results from wayne county and detroit. Watch live coverage monday at 1 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan. Programs,sunday news many of the questions focused on the trump administrations legal challenges to the election results, the transfer of power, and the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic. We began with republican senator from north dakota kevin cramer. These are legal systems. These are processes in our constitution and they are not just appropriate, they are an obligation to the millions of americans that President Trump is a reflection of. A lot of people may think we are the reflection of him, he is a reflection of millions of people that want to see him fight

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