Former founding CEO of SunEdison, Jigar Shah, started a new company based on what’s being called the “infrastructure as a service” model. The idea is an extension of the financing strategy that dominates the rooftop solar PV business today. “Here’s how it works: Generate Capital will put up funds — between $2 million to $20 million — to get a resource infrastructure project installed. For example, a city might want to upgrade to LED lights, a university might want to heat its water with solar or a sports complex might want to install a new, energy-efficient heat pump. Generate Capital owns the asset (the heat pump, for example), and as the infrastructure delivers reliable revenue over the years (the city pays its monthly lighting bill) and potentially saves the customer money (a smaller energy bill), Generate Capital makes a return off of the cash flow.” [Gigaom]

A new Accenture study found a majority of energy company executives “expect significant or moderate revenue reductions” due to the proliferation of distributed generation, but they don’t expect customers to detach from the grid en masse. Energy efficiency will put additional pressure on utility company bottom lines. [Fuel Fix]

Net-long oil price positions recently increased significantly, which suggests the market doesn’t think prices will fall much further. “Speculators boosted their net-long position in West Texas Intermediate crude by 14 percent in the week ended Dec. 2, the most in 20 months, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. Short bets contracted by 15 percent as long wagers expanded 4 percent. [Bloomberg]