Tag Archives: policy
Hotels Embrace Solar Across the World
The resort and hotel business is extremely competitive and costly. As more and more hotels become increasingly extravagant, they require evermore energy to run. Many are switching to green renewable energies to cut costs and in theory they could eventually become self-sufficient, or even produce an energy surplus. The easiest way to start to do [...]
Top 10 Ways to Improve Solar Permitting
The U.S. solar industry has reached a point in which the cost of solar is favorably comparable to the costs of retail electricity in many states. The price for photovoltaic (PV) modules have experienced rapid declines due to fierce international competition and subsequent over supply. Still, non-hardware costs such as permitting and inspection have remained [...]
RIP: The Ontario MicroFIT Program?
Time, gentlemen, please. The Ontario MicroFIT program is a keg about to run dry. Nobody knows if there’s another keg in the cellar. The Ontario Power Authority isn’t saying. There are encouraging signs, but past experience has taught us to be pessimistic. We’ve been here once before. In October of 2011, following a provincial election, [...]
2030 EU Sets Energy Efficiency Targets Announced
Yesterday The European Commission took the first step towards developing a 2030 framework for EU climate change and energy policies. It adopted a Green Paper which launches a public consultation on the content of the 2030 framework. The Commission also published a Consultative Communication on the future of carbon capture and storage (CCS) in Europe, [...]
Decreasing Costs of Renewables: Will it Drive Cap and Trade Incentives?
The exponential growth of wind and solar are threatening the business models of coal and nuclear turning them from price-makers to price takers. A viable exit strategy for coal plants may well be to encourage Cap & Trade so they can make a stable exit strategy before the tide of cheap renewable energy washes them [...]
Energy Security Trust Gameplan Announced
During his State of the Union address earlier this year President Barak Obama called on Congress to create an Energy Security Trust Fund to fund research into biofuels, batteries and more, to help wean the U.S. from its oil habit. On Friday the Administration elaborated on how such a system would work. “The Energy Security [...]
2014: The Year of Solar Grid Parity
Because of strong demand for rooftop solar forecast this year in key markets and further drops in pricing, Deutsche Bank believes the solar industry will transition from subsidized to sustainable in 2014. The industry passed the 100 gigawatt (GW) threshold in 2012 and because of strong demand expected this year, the Bank expects solar to grow 20% – to [...]
PV Rebates Ending Soon in California
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), which coordinates California’s solar incentives programs through the California Solar Initiative, said earlier this week that residential solar incentives in an increasing number of utility service areas are reaching fulfillment. And the solar industry and its supporters, like the Vote Solar Initiative say that’s a good thing. But another [...]
Secretary Chu Discusses The State of U.S Solar
Last Friday (Feb. 22) outgoing Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu hosted a Google+ Hangout along with a host of solar experts and discussed the progress that solar has made in the past few years. Particularly regarding the progress that the U.S. has made on reducing the costs of solar power and the trajectory the [...]