Despite the challenging economic conditions created by COVID-19, 2020 was a record year for clean energy development in the United States, with the country nearly doubling the capacity installed in 2019. By Katrina McLaughlin and Lori Bird World Resources Institute According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the U.S. installed 35 gigawatts (GW) of new renewable generating capacity in 2020, enough […]
This interview with Mark Jacobson, conducted by Adam Aron, took place on May 24, 2021. By Adam Aron, Mark Jacobson Resilience.org AA: I’m interested in what you have to say about demand reduction. There’s been a rapid rise of renewable energy and it’s going to accelerate even more, but total energy use for the world accelerates much faster. […]
New York enabled virtual net metering in 2011 for solar, wind, and farm-based biogas systems. Virtual Net Metering allows shared-ownership groups or neighborhoods to collectively receive credits for off-site renewable energy generation — essentially allowing community solar. The state did not establish a formal community solar program until 2015, when the New York Public Service Commission issued Case 15-E-0082: the […]
U.S. city budgets are tighter than ever due to COVID-19. The American Rescue Plan Act, recently passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden, will provide some relief in the near term, while the proposed American Jobs Plan offers a tantalizing vision of federal infrastructure investments that could drive local climate action and equity nationwide. […]
Under the Biden administration’s infrastructure plan, tax credits for clean energy and technologies are expected to play an important role in achieving a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.The Clean Energy for America Act, introduced by Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) in April 2021, takes vital steps toward streamlining the tax code and making clean energy tax […]
Climate change and water scarcity are front and center in the western U.S. The region’s climate is warming, a severe multi-year drought is underway and groundwater supplies are being overpumped in many locations. Western states are pursuing many strategies to adapt to these stresses and prepare for the future. These include measures to promote renewable […]
In late 2020, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission asked the state’s electric and gas utilities to discuss what infrastructure projects they had in queue that could be accelerated to support the COVID-battered economy. Tucked into a proposal from Xcel Energy, the state’s largest electric company, was a comparison of two proposed solar projects: one, a […]
Renewable energy’s rapid growth is accelerating a national shift to a carbon-free electric power system. So far 17 states plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico have adopted laws or executive orders setting goals for reaching 100% clean electricity by 2050 or sooner. And 46 U.S. utilities have pledged to go carbon-free. Now the Biden administration and […]
Solar power is now the cheapest source of electricity in history, according to a 2020 report by the International Energy Agency. But there’s something holding this clean energy powerhouse back: space. Unlike fossil fuel power stations, solar farms need a lot of room to generate enough electricity to keep up with demand. Most solar farms […]
As the world reels from the financial blow of COVID-19, local governments in the United States are under huge pressure as cities and counties face severe budget shortfalls. This is forcing cuts to crucial spending on education and infrastructure as well as layoffs, furloughs and hiring freezes. Losing critical funds could have seriously hindered U.S. local governments’ continued progress […]
To avert the worst effects of climate change, global greenhouse gas emissions should fall at faster rates than they have risen for over a century. Economies must essentially turn on a dime and then move quickly toward a carbon-free future. By Jessika E. Trancik, Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Conversation In the U.S., the Biden-Harris […]
Many kinds of extreme events can disrupt electricity service, including hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, wildfires, extreme heat, extreme cold and extended droughts. Major disasters can leave thousands of people in the dark. The Texas deep freeze in February knocked out 40% of the state’s electric generating capacity. James D. McCalley, Iowa State University The Conversation During […]
The Evangelical Environmental Network applauds Pennsylvania’s Governor Wolf and his administration for announcing the new Pennsylvania PULSE Program, a power purchase agreement for 191 MW of solar-generated electricity. This new agreement for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania will reduce pollution, decrease 157,000 metric tons of carbon pollution, lower electric costs by $30 million for the state […]
Thanks in part to the pandemic-induced economic slowdown and the collapse of coal and triumph of wind power over the last decade, a new analysis suggests the UK is halfway to meeting its net zero greenhouse gas emissions target. The ultimate goal of a fully renewable grid will depend on technology that can store clean […]
The world’s most forbidding deserts could be the best places on Earth for harvesting solar power – the most abundant and clean source of energy we have. Deserts are spacious, relatively flat, rich in silicon – the raw material for the semiconductors from which solar cells are made — and never short of sunlight. In […]