As if fossil fuel stakeholders didn’t have enough to worry about these days, the firm AutoGrid is teaming up with the NRTC to make its energy management software available to as many as 50 million people across 48 states. The deal will help push renewable energy, electric vehicles and other clean tech goodies into the fast lane. […]
For all the nice (and not-so-nice) things people say about hydropower, the chances of building a new fleet of hydropower dams in the US are slim to none. However, there is still plenty of untapped renewable energy to be scoured from running water — and the US Department of Energy is determined to pry it […]
We all have daily reminders of climate change — whether we recognize them as such or not. For Riaz Siddiqi, it’s the palm tree in front of his office in Houston, TX, that is slowly dying in response to a new, intolerable climate. These warning signs are all around us, and yet what drives us […]
The costs of wind and solar energy keep falling; installing a new wind turbine costs about a third of what it did in 2008. Solar prices fell by 88 percent during that time. In fact, renewable energy is so inexpensive, utilities have found that they can save customers money by closing coal plants early and replacing them with wind and solar […]
The escalating war over the potential break-up of PG&E has rallied California’s 19 Community Choice Aggregators, which are seeking to assume a greater role as owners and/or managers of solar and other other renewable energy resources in the state. The state umbrella organization for the CCAs, the California Community Choice Association, has just launched the “Bright […]
Puerto Rico passed an ambitious renewable energy bill committing to 100% renewables by 2050, however natural gas infrastructure plans could complicate things. According to a new study, locally generated solar and wind energy could replace about three-fourths of electricity generated by U.S. coal plants for less than the cost of continuing to operate those plants. Plus, […]
The renewable energy field is coming up roses these days, with a constant stream of new wind and solar farms springing up in rapid succession. Take the US, for example. Even without a strong federal policy, the pace of new wind and solar farm construction is giving fossil fuel and nuclear stakeholders a bad case […]
Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander, who has long advocated a sector-by-sector approach to climate change, is putting forth a “Manhattan Project for Clean Energy” which would include measures such as increased energy research funding, advanced nuclear energy deployment, improved battery technology, and greener buildings, ten “grand challenges” to help create cheap and clean sources of energy. From my […]
On Thursday, March 21, the Naa’bik’iyati’ Committee (Committee of the Whole) of the Navajo Council voted down a resolution to support Navajo Transitional Energy Co.’s proposal to buy and operate Navajo Generating Station and Peabody Energy’s Kayenta coal mine, which supplies the power plant with fuel. The 11–9 defeat of the resolution led today to an […]
On Monday, the Danish minister of education and research, Tommy Ahlers, attended the official inauguration of a giant pilot facility that will use 600 degree hot stones to store energy. Speaking to dr.dk, he said: “This could be the missing link in our renewable energy transformation.” (It’s arguable whether there really is a missing link, but that’s another story.) High-temperature thermal energy […]
Grassroots environmental organization Sierra Club has partnered with one of America’s leading solar manufacturers, SunPower, on a new incentive and rebate program open to the organization’s more than 3.5 million members and supporters. The two organizations announced the partnership on Tuesday in which Sierra Club members and supporters will be given the opportunity to install SunPower’s […]
Last week’s release of the 2019 Community Power Scorecard illustrates which states help and which hurt local renewable energy. Assessing state policy is especially timely/significant because in late 2018 the 100th U.S. city adopted an ambitious 100% renewable energy target. The success of commitments made by cities like Cincinnati, Ohio; Salt Lake City, Utah; or Minneapolis, Minn.; hinges on […]
In November, 2017, father and son Robert and Barney Swan became the part of the first team in history to walk to the South Pole powered entirely by renewable energy. Over the course of their 60-day expedition, they encountered an Antarctica that was melting beneath their feet. That soggy surface was an epiphany, and they […]
Each year, the Energy Democracy Initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance tracks and scores states based on their energy policies and how these policies help or hinder local clean energy action. In the 2019 Community Power Scorecard, four states excelled, 11 states and the District of Columbia saw above average scores, 15 were mediocre, and […]
Global oil companies are plowing billions of dollars per year into solar and into energy storage, as more nations seek to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy. More than $8 billion was spent in just 5 of 15 solar acquisition deals over the past 2 years, according to an analysis by Mercom Capital Group. […]