solar power
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City brings renewable energy to the little guy
Solar power nerds are fond of an estimate that 100 square miles of Nevada desert — filled with solar panels — could provide enough electricity for the entire United States. But right now, solar supplies just 1 percent of the country’s energy. Cost is one reason that figure is so low. Unless you’re an independently […]
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How a city got real about solar energy
Photo courtesy of Gary ShaverWhen the city of Ellensburg asked the Washington State University energy program for help designing a community solar project, the state folks weren’t sure the city folks were serious. At the time, just a few years ago, solar projects were few and far between. But WSU energy consultant Gary Shaver jumped […]
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Obama preaches green tech gospel to California choir
Silicon Valley in the Internet age has not made for great presidential photo ops. The Valley’s computer-chip factories were off-shored decades ago and (Google excepted) the software giants that supplanted hardware companies just didn’t have the same pizzazz — T-shirted geeks writing code can’t compete with guys and gals in bunny suits tending big futuristic […]
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Solar: not as expensive as the WSJ thinks
The Wall Street Journal recently published an article called “Test Your Solar Power IQ,” that cites the cost of solar power at 25 cents/kWh, or more than double the cost of natural gas or coal. Solar is actually a lot cheaper than that. It’s not the reporter’s fault. She got the figure from a national […]
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American PRIDE Alternative to Lieberman-Kerry Climate bill -short executive summary
This is the executive summary(doc) of the American PRIDE (Promote Renewable Infrastructure & Develop Efficiency) proposal. The PRIDE(doc) proposal is a two decade ~400 billion a year jobs bill that makes a profit, while creating two to five million new jobs per year, reducing U.S. oil use by a third within ten years, and reducing […]
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Feds push solar solution to coal addiction
Infinia’s PowerDishPhoto: PowerPlay SolarThe Obama administration last week gave a $62 million boost to efforts to make solar power truly competitive with coal. “The projects announced today will seek to improve component and system designs to extend operation [of concentrated solar power projects] to an average of about 18 hours per day, a level of […]
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American PRIDE – alternative to the Lieberman-Kerry Disaster
The leading U.S. bill in tackling the climate crisis is so flawed and weak and full of concessions to major polluters that even centrist environmental groups like Greenpeace have noticed that it is worse than nothing. It fails to take advantage of the many opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in ways that strengthen our […]
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Gulf oil spill and Florida politics
There’s been a lot of discussion about what the Gulf oilspill means for federal clean energy legislation. The same thing has been happening at the state level as well. Take Florida. The Florida Legislature has debated clean energy legislation in the last several sessions, and has come heartbreakingly close to passage several times, only to […]
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Municipal Energy Financing is Expanding: Is It Working?
Twenty states now allow cities and counties to finance energy efficiency retrofits and on-site renewable energy generation, with property owners repaying the loan with a property tax assessment. Five municipalities launched Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs in the past two years and these programs have spent $37.5 million to help enable close to 2,000 […]
