solar power
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Tracking property tax financing programs for renewable and energy efficiency investments
Berkeley’s program for leveraging property taxes to help homeowners finance investments in solar and energy efficiency is taking off–San Francisco was the latest to announce a new program. To date, 11 states (and counting) have enacted enabling legislation allowing local municipalities to follow suit. Which ones? The good folks at the Interstate Renewable Energy Council […]
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Solar Power, Yes We Did! (& Will!)
The outlook for all three categories of solar power in the United States is bright, according to a new study by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). The IREC reports that photovoltaic (PV) capacity grew by 63 percent in 2008 alone. The study’s author, Larry Sherwood, credits the federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) for a […]
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Recipe for green jobs
In this economy, every state wants jobs. Green jobs are popular, but frankly, they’ll take them in any color. A great way to attract renewable energy jobs to a state is to—and this should be obvious—establish a local market. If a state provides incentives for a local solar market, for example, you get on the […]
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Washington guv highlights green-jobs potential of climate action
Washington Gov. Christine GregoireWashington state has already surpassed its ambitious goal for creating green jobs, and the rest of the country could see similar results if Congress passes strong energy and climate legislation, Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire (D) told the Senate this week. In 2007, Gregoire set a goal of having 25,000 green jobs in […]
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Silicon Valley VC sees bright future for green tech — and a need to engage policy makers
A BrightSource Energy solar thermal project.Photo: BrightSource EnergyDrive around the San Francisco Bay Area and you can see the emerging corporate infrastructure of the new green economy. In a downtown Oakland office tower, you’ll find the headquarters of BrightSource Energy, a solar thermal power-plant developer that has scored contacts to build more than 2,600 megawatts’ […]
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San Francisco solar energy incentive program shines bright in first year
Last July, the City and County of San Francisco launched the first local solar energy incentive program in the nation. The results are in, and the program is an unequivocal success. In the year since our solar energy incentive program GoSolarSF launched, we have seen a 450% increase in applications for solar installations in San […]
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Intersolar gathering
Fifteen thousand solar devotees from around the world are expected to meet in San Francisco this week in an event that organizers hope will “create strong global relationships.” Actually, the sun worshippers will be fully-clothed (many in suits, no doubt). These movers and shakers, metaphorically speaking, will be attending the continent’s largest business-to-business solar trade […]
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Washington state may soon be home to world’s largest PV solar project
About four miles from the town of Cle Elum, Wash., there is a large, flat piece of land surrounded by a ring of 50-foot-tall Ponderosa Pines. The area has been repeatedly logged over the last few decades and is now relatively treeless. But it may soon be home to an entirely different sort of renewable […]
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On the legality of feed-in tariffs in the US
For the past year we’ve been involved in a proceeding before the California Public Utilities Commission on an effort to establish a feed-in tariff, or standard offer contracting program for renewables. We believe it can be a healthy complement to the state’s other renewable energy programs—i.e. the California Solar Incentive for behind-the-meter generation, and the […]
