policy
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Representative Tipton: My 150 isn't even my biggest truck
Recently U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton came to Aspen to speak to his Republican supporters here. He said that he drove an F150, and that that wasn’t even his biggest truck. And then he lamented the fact that it cost $78 to fill his tank halfway. And so we should drill for more oil in the […]
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Smaller generation incites largest renewable energy gains
While seeming counterintuitive, a focus on smaller-scale distributed generation enables more and faster development of cost-effective renewable energy. In April, I wrote about the illusion that we can “move forward on all fronts” in renewable energy development; rather, a bias toward centralized electricity generation in U.S. policy reduces the potential and resources for distributed generation. […]
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Cuts to U.K. solar incentive may spread economic benefits more widely
This post originally appeared on Energy Self-Reliant States, a resource of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s New Rules Project. A proposed revision to the United Kingdom’s feed-in tariff program may have created an uproar, but it may also help spread the economic benefits of solar more widely. The proposed changes, announced in March, would reduce solar […]
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Want local communities to support wind? Put them in charge
Let’s turn NIMBYs into YIMBYs.Photo: Eddie CodelThis post originally appeared on Energy Self-Reliant States, a resource of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s New Rules Project. Last month, Grist’s Jess Zimmerman noted sarcastically that “Money is a miracle cure for ‘wind turbine syndrome.'” It is. And environmental advocates frustrated by the (spurious?) health and aesthetic complaints raised […]
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Ontario's 'buy local' energy program growing rapidly
In January, we released a report – Maximizing Jobs From Clean Energy: Ontario’s ‘Buy Local’ Policy – highlighting the impressive job forecast (43,000 jobs) from Ontario’s CLEAN Contract (a.k.a. feed-in tariff) program. News from the province suggests that the program is overcoming hurdles and continuing to grow. Forecasts for 2011 indicate that Ontario could become […]
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U.S. energy policy as a teenage boy
With all the media frenzy around the Japanese nuclear situation, one topic hasn’t been covered much : Why don’t the Japanese love fossil fuels? Not only have they pushed hard into nuke but they’re also world-beaters in photovoltaics, electric vehicles, and energy efficiency. How come? The economic incentives are pretty obvious: Japan doesn’t have any […]
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Can states keep clean energy jobs at home?
Photo: GreenforallCan a state with a renewable energy mandate require green jobs to stay at home? Litigation has made states into tepid defenders of their job rights, but states have the legal ground to go great lengths to keep more of the economic development from their renewable energy industry inside their borders. No renewable energy […]
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FHA PowerSaver Loans – a PACE Replacement?
Late last year, the Federal Housing Administration announced a new PowerSaver loan program to provide financing for home energy efficiency improvements. The program comes on the heels of the downfall of residential Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing, which allowed homeowners to pay back energy efficiency improvements via long-term property tax payments, as well as […]
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Is China's quasi-dictatorship better prepared for the 21st century than our mess of a democracy?
China is a nation ruled by engineers with a steely-eyed determination to vanquish us in the race for clean energy. How can a democracy beholden to corporate interests and besieged by politicians in deep denial about the shape of the 21st century possibly keep up?
