ElectroFinance Footnotes

  1. Joel N. Gordes is president of Environmental Energy Solutions and Jeremy Leggett is managing director of Solar Century, an organization outside London, England. Mr. Gordes has been involved with energy efficiency and renewable energy since 1975 and has worked in a variety of positions including research, engineering, sales and administration. Dr. Leggett served on the faculty of the Imperial College of Science and Technology and consulted to oil companies until joining Greenpeace in 1989 to direct their climate campaign. Since 1997, he has directed Solar Century, which is dedicated to bringing solar energy to the world through accelerated commercialization. Correspondence on this paper should be directed to Joel Gordes, Environmental Energy Solutions, P.O. Box 101, Riverton, CT 06065.
  2. The authors wish to thank Dr. Adam Serchuk, Frederick Zalcman, Esq., Carl Weinberg and Eugene Lecomte for their comments on early drafts of this paper. The views expressed here are the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of REPP, the REPP Board of Directors, or the reviewers.
  3. Dr. Jeremy Leggett, Climate Change and the Insurance Industry: Solidarity Among the Risk Community (London: Greenpeace, May 1993 (out of print). Large portions of this section are taken from that document.
  4. Ibid., p. 17.
  5. Jolene Anderson, "How Policy Makers Have Responded to Global Climate Change," Wisconsin Energy News, May­June 1995, p. 6.
  6. Stefan Thiel and Bill Powell, "While the Earth Burns," Newsweek, 10 April 1995, p. 44.
  7. "Friends of Earth Getting Powerful New Allies: Insurance Executives," Hartford Courant, 30 March 1995.
  8. United Nations Environment Programme, Statement of Commitment by the Insurance Industry, 23 November 1995; full text available at .
  9. The full text may be accessed at .
  10. United Nations Environment Programme Insurance Industry Initiative: Position Statement on Climate Change, December 1997.
  11. Ariel Sabar, "Greenhouse 101," Whole Earth Review, Winter 1994, p.11.
  12. Eugene Lecomte, CEO of Insurance Institute for Property Loss Reduction (IIPLR), letter to Joel Gordes, 27 November 1995. Note that the current surplus is in excess of $311 billion.
  13. The Allstate Corporation, Annual Report, 27 March 1998, p. A-24.
  14. David Blecker, MSB Associates, interview by Joel Gordes, 8 July 1995.
  15. The authors stress the speculative nature of these points. Nevertheless, they result from fairly extensive conversations with experts in the field.
  16. Charles Edinger of the College of Insurance, New York, personal communication, 21 December 1998.
  17. Ibid.
  18. Fred Zalcman, Esq., Pace University, New York, personal communication, 21 December 1998.
  19. Eugene Lecomte, CEO of IIPLR, personal communication, 7 June 1996.
  20. "House Passes Bill Allowing Financial Firms to Affiliate," Hartford Courant, 14 May 1998.
  21. Marcy Gordon, "Groups Say Bill Threatens Financial Privacy," Hartford Courant, 3 September 1998.
  22. American Banker, "Sign of Times: Minnesota Insurer Buying a Thrift," The PointCast Network, 6 May 1997.
  23. Barry O'Keeffe, "Report Calls for Major Changes in Insurance" The Irish Times, 30 May 1997.
  24. Anne Lampe, "Utilities' Databases May be New Line to Banks," The Age (Sydney, Australia), 14 October 1997. This was the first reference found outside of internal Solar Century discussions that linked financial services with gas or electric utilities. The basic electrofinance concept, described in more detail below, was faxed to Dr. Andrew Dlugolecki, Group Assistant General Manager of General Accident on 21 December 1996 and made public in April 1997.
  25. Paul Hawken, The Ecology of Commerce (New York: HarperCollins, 1993), p. 17.
  26. In April 1999 Shell Energy Services Ltd. introduced their WeatherProof Bill plan, which sets a flat monthly charge for consumers.
  27. Jim Meyers, "Co-op Buyers Save About 5 Percent On Their Bills," Sacramento Business Journal, 19 October 1998.
  28. Zalcman, op. cit. note 18.
  29. "Load management" refers to the practice of using electricity during the times of day, week, or year when demand for power—and hence its price—is low, thus saving money for both the supplier and user. For example, homeowners might set their washers to operate after midnight, when demand is lower. New two-way communication technology allows electric companies to arrange a cheaper rate for customers willing to allow their appliances to be cycled down at times of high demand.
  30. Ann Landers, "Clothes-Dryer Vents Are Potential Fire Traps," Hartford Courant, 21 October 1998.
  31. "Insurance Discounts for Solar Homes," Sun Times, October 1982, p. 13.
  32. "America Unplugged? Landmark Customer Survey Points to Promising New Markets for Distributed Power Generation," Business Wire, 30 September 1998.
  33. "PG&E Hook-up Costs Hit Home New Fees Stun Windsor Pair," The Press Democrat, 8 September 1998.
  34. "Prudential Responds to Policyholders in Ice Ravaged Northeast," Prudential Press Release, 22 January 1998.
  35. Richard Perez, Photovoltaic Availability in the Wake of the January 1998 Ice Storm, http://lunch.asrc.cestm.albany.edu/~perez/
  36. John F. Waldon, "Roof Discounts Raise Insurers' Hopes for Fewer Claims," San Antonio Business Journal, 2 March 1998; "Hail Resistant Roofs May Save Money in Colorado," Business Wire, 5 August 1998.
  37. "Survey: 30% of Pre-retirees Have Saved Less than $10,000," CNN News, PointCast Network, 20 May 1997.
  38. "Small Kitchen Appliances Become Deadly According to Tests by Travelers Safety Experts," PR Newswire, 3 October 1997.
  39. Evan Mills and Ivo Knoepfel, "Energy-Efficiency Options for Insurance Loss Prevention," Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, June 1997.
  40. "U.S. Utility Companies Can Achieve Annual Cost Reductions of $1.2 Billion Through the Effective Use of Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment Systems," Excite, 5 August 1998.
  41. Michael Porter, "What Is Strategy?" Harvard Business Review, November-December 1996, pp. 61­78.
  42. Mills and Knoepfel, op. cit. note 39, p. 13.
  43. Attorney Peter Gilles, personal communication with Joel Gordes, 24 April 1997.
  44. Attorney Robert Googins, personal communication with Joel Gordes, 29 May 1997.
  45. Richard Roth, personal communication with Joel Gordes, 27 May 1997.
  46. Michelle L. Newell, letter to Joel Gordes, 1 October 1997.
  47. Sebastian Weiss, "One-Stop Model Fuels USAA's Fast Growth, McDermott Says," San Antonio Business Journal, 27 April 1998.
  48. Ibid.
  49. Brad Hoeschen, "Small-business Customers Balk at One-Stop Financial Services," The Business Journal, 17 August 1998.
  50. "USAA Investment Management Company Receives Top Honors," USAA Magazine, August-September 1997; universal and whole life from "We're #1—Again!," USAA Life's Issues and Answers, September 1998.
  51. Nicole Shin, Business Relationship Analyst at FAI General Insurances, e-mail, 5 August 1998.
  52. Curtis Runyan, "Green Consumers Make Inroads," World Watch, November/December 1998, p. 9.
  53. "Sources Attracting New Customers," CNN Custom News, 27 September 1998.
  54. Thomas H. Rawls, "What is a Brand? Creating a Green Brand," presentation at Clean Power '97, 28 May 1997.
  55. Barry O'Keefe, "Report Calls for Major Changes in Insurance," The Irish Times, 30 May 1997.
  56. "Sun Life and Provincial to Rebrand," Reuters, 18 September 1998.
  57. Laura Petrecca, "Guardian Life Sets Review As It Mulls Corporate Ads," Crain Communications, 15 October 1998.
  58. Alan Brew, "The Naming Game," The Electricity Journal, November 1998, pp. 30­33.
  59. A majority of PV manufacturers approached by Solar Century have agreed to this in principle.
  60. Ingrid Melody, "Sunlight After the Storm," Solar Today, November/December 1992, pp. 11­12.
  61. Mark Mansley, "Long Term Financial Risks to the Carbon Fuel Industry from Climate Change," The Delphi Group, November 1994, p. 6; Stephen Schmidheiny and Federico J. L. Zorraquin, Financing Change (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1996), p. 82.
  62. "SunLight Power International Expands Operations with $2 Million Investment," SunLight Power Press Release, 22 April 1997; "Swiss Reinsurance Company Pledges $2.75 M to Sunlight Power International," SunLight Power Press Release, 11 July 1997.
  63. Leyla Boulton, "Insurers Take a Shine to Solar Panels," Financial Times, 25 February 1997.
  64. Paul Brown, "Global Warming Fears Add Impetus to Solar Power," Finance Guardian, 25 February 1997.
  65. Leyla Boulton, "NatWest Set to Support Solar Energy Scheme," Financial Times, 1 May 1997.
  66. Steven Silbiger, The Ten Day MBA (New York: William Morrow, 1993), p. 31.
  67. Kenneth R. Gosselin, "Boomers Pay Too Little Attention to Retirement, Survey Says," The Hartford Courant, 8 April 1997. The source cited refers to all bulleted statements up to and including the location of the footnote.
  68. op. cit. note 56. "Survey: 30% of Pre-retirees Have Saved Less Than $10,000," CNN News, Pointcast Network, 20 May 1997.
  69. David B. Kendall, "Baby Boomers Are Population Time Bomb," Hartford Courant, 5 October 1997.
  70. "Survey Finds Baby Boomers Unprepared for Financial Impact of Long Retirements," Business Wire, Pointcast Network, 30 September 1997.
  71. "Aging and Finance Dilemma: Majority of Americans in Their 50's Say They Will Not Have Enough Money to Live in Retirement at Their Desired Standard," Excite, Business Wire, 2 March 1998.
  72. Liz Doup, "Baby Boomers Redefine the Circumstances of Retirement," Hartford Courant, 8 September 1997.
  73. "Boomers Set Off Rush to Mine the Golden Years," American Banker, PointCast Network, 7 May 1997.
  74. PR Newswire, "Inability to Save Money is Americans' Biggest Financial Concern, CIGNA Group Insurance Survey Finds," Infoseek, 9 October 1997.
  75. Fact sheets by Gregory Kats, George Burmeister et al. See http://www.realliance.org/insurance/index.html
  76. David Lightman, "Accounts Would Target Lower Incomes," Hartford Courant, 28 April 1998.
  77. CBS Evening News With Dan Rather, 12 May 1999.
  78. Carlton W. Bartels, Managing Director of Cantor Fitzgerald, personal communication with Joel Gordes, 22 October 1998.
  79. Edan Prabhu, "SCE's Innovative Solar Neighborhood Program," Solar Today, July/August 1995, pp. 22­26.
  80. Connecticut Public Act 98-28, An Act Concerning Electric Restructuring, Section 52 (e).
  81. "Shell Targets Retail Customers for Sale of Electricity and Natural Gas," Excite, 18 March 1998.
  82. "A Warehouse Club for Gas and Power," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2 September 1998.
  83. Donella Meadows, e-mail, 26 June 1997.
  84. Zalcman, op. cit. note 18.
  85. Pamela Kruger, "Guess Who Didn't Save for College," New York Times, 8 March 1998.
  86. Shannon McCaffrey, "New State Programs Offers Tax-exempt Way to Save for College," Associated Press, 5 August 1998. Rhode Island Higher Education Assistance Authority Request for Proposal announcement. November 1997.

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