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Articles by Adam Browning

Adam Browning is the executive director of Vote Solar.

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Actor Mark Ruffalo is taking a break from playing a big, green superhero in the movies to talking about something bigger and greener happening in New York: new solar policy.

With rising electricity needs, plenty of sunshine, and a local workforce primed for jobs, New York has what it takes to lead the nation’s solar economy. But the state’s existing policies have installed just over 100 megawatts of solar to date. By comparison, their neighbors in New Jersey have more than six times that amount.

After nearly three years of hard work – lawmakers in Albany are just steps away from passing legislation that would unleash thousands of megawatts of local solar and make New York a real solar powerhouse. And now we’re racing against time to get it done before they break for the summer. Mark Ruffalo is helping us call on New Yorkers to speak up in support.

Now it turns out that New York solar actually has quite a lot in common with a certain comic book character that Mark so winningly portrayed, which for copyright reasons we’ll call “The Shmincredible Shmulk.” Both are incredibly powerful. Both make the world a safer place. And both are j... Read more

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  • Might and Maine: One state brings renewable power back to the people

    Maine citizens are taking renewable power into their own hands.Photo: Matthew David PowellAs the Durban climate talks come to a disappointing (if predictable) close, Politico takes a look at prospects for federal action on energy issues and breaks the news that with a deadlocked Congress — in a presidential election year — no one should […]

  • NY Times needs a time out

    I recently turned 401.  But I didn’t start feeling old until this weekend — because that’s when I started yelling at newspapers2. On Saturday, the New York Times published a lurid, sneering, over-the-top piece on renewable energy that was riddled with errors and really missed the forest for the trees.  We’ve prepared a document rebutting […]

  • Colorado to achieve 30% renewables 8 years early, ratepayer savings of $409 million

    Advocates say that massive amounts of renewable energy are feasible and will save money in the long run. But how do we know that’s true? Because that’s exactly what’s happening.  Let’s take Colorado. The state has a 30 percent renewable energy requirement. How are things going? Xcel, the largest utility in the state, says it […]

  • Solar comes out of the shadows

    Mainstream energy companies may finally be seeing the light when it comes to solar power.How do we know when solar becomes a mainstream energy source? One tip-off: when mainstream energy companies get serious about solar. For example, take NRG, a Fortune 250 wholesale energy generator with about 26 gigawatts of capacity in its portfolio. Most […]