In late 2011, citizens of Boulder, CO, voted to boot their incumbent electric utility, Xcel Energy, and form a municipal electric utility.  It was the culmination of a multi-year battle to get more clean, local energy from their corporate electric overlord.  In the end, city leaders and citizens agreed that the only credible option for significantly reducing their contribution to climate change was to go it alone.  Now, the city is embarked on the long, complicated process of localizing their electricity system. Susan Osborne was the mayor of Boulder at the time of the climatic vote, and she came to …

A story in the Minneapolis Star Tribune highlights the increasingly common use of 100 meter wind turbines for new wind power projects, up from the previous 80 meter standard.  The technological change grabs more wind energy, with consistently higher wind speeds at higher altitudes, meaning states can get even more power from a similar number of turbines. In our 2010 report Energy Self-Reliant States, we illustrated the potential for state self-reliance on wind power with the following map, using NREL data that assumed turbine heights of 80 meters (and a minimum capacity factor of 35%, to be conservative).  The following …

Within a decade, 300,000 megawatts of unsubsidized local solar power could compete with utility electricity prices in almost every state, enough clean energy to produce 10% of U.S. electricity.  Grid parity is building like a relentless wave, but how much solar is at parity today?  In 2016?  In 2020?  On homes or businesses?  With incentives or without? Answer all of these questions with the Greatest, Most Interactive U.S. Solar Grid Parity Map from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.  Click the link or the map image below to interact. For more on the data behind the map, see ILSR’s Rooftop Revolution …

By David Morris, Institute for Local Self-Reliance Who should pay the costs of climate disasters?  In light of the current debate in the United States about federal assistance to Hurricane Sandy victims and the recent debate at the recent Doha Climate Conference about international assistance for climate change victims, that has become an increasingly pressing question for humankind. The frequency and cost of natural disasters is rapidly increasing. Since the 1980s the number of billion dollar natural disasters in the United States has tripled from two to six.  In 2011 there were 14 separate $1 billion plus weather events and …

Within a decade, more than 35 million buildings may be generating their own solar electricity (without subsidies) at prices lower than their utility offers, sufficient to power almost 10% of the country. That’s the powerful headline from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s latest report, Commercial Rooftop Revolution. Despite the opportunity, utilities, regulators, and policy makers are largely unprepared for the surge of local solar power. See a summary of the report in the slides below (or read on): Is Your Utility Ready for a Solar Rooftop Revolution? from John Farrell In Minnesota, for example, the state’s largest utility expects just …

As community solar grows in popularity, an innovative solar project by the Wright-Hennepin Cooperative Electric Association in Minnesota highlights the opportunity of merging local ownership with locally assembled solar panels. Earlier this fall, this cooperative serving communities just north and west of the Twin Cities metropolitan area announced Minnesota’s first community solar project.  The 40 kilowatt (kW) solar array will be located at the cooperative’s headquarters, with members allowed to purchase individual panels in the project for $869 per 180 Watt panel.   In exchange, members will receive a credit on their bill equal to the electricity production of their portion of …

Quick question.  Your state has good sunshine, lots of open rooftops, and the cost of solar energy has been falling by 10% per year.  Do you think it will take 13 years to double the 10 megawatts (MW) of installed solar power? Yes, if you're the largest corporate utility in my state, and willfully ignoring the economic trend.  But 'no' if you make decisions based on data, because the price of unsubsidized solar electricity will undercut most utility retail electricity prices within a decade, enabling 200 times more solar (4,400 MW) than found in this utility's plans. That's just one …

Sunlight falls almost anywhere, in every community.  So it would make sense for any number of people in that community to team up to harness the sun and make clean, local power. Sadly, it isn't as easy as it should be, as illustrated by the Vashon Community Solar Project in Washington State. The Vashon project is being organized by a local nonprofit called the Backbone Campaign, with a history of tackling tough issues.  But the unfortunate barriers to community-based solar are challenging even this dynamic nonprofit. The proposed project is a small commercial scale (50-66 kW) solar array located at …

Does a Riverside County, CA, residential energy financing program put thousands of homeowners on a collision course with the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA)? In a proposed rule-making, the FHFA has suggested that Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) policies represent a threat to the safety and soundness of mortgages held by government-backed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  PACE is a unique financing strategy that allows homes and businesses to invest in significant energy efficiency and renewable energy upgrades and pay them back through a property tax assessment (for an explanation of PACE, see this PACE 101 slideshow).  The fight with FHFA …

It started with off-grid locations, places where electricity was either carried in or generated on-site.  Then it beat expensive diesel generators.  In 2010, unsubsidized solar electricity could best on-grid retail electricity prices of major utilities in Hawaii.  In the next decade, residents in metropolitan areas representing 100 million people will watch the biggest solar barrier yet – economics – fall by the wayside. But cost isn't the only barrier to solar, and U.S. states should carefully consider the lessons learned in Hawaii as solar creeps toward cost parity with the grid. For one, utilities adhere to archaic limits on local …