Tag Archives: political
Broken Promise? Solar Panels Still Not on White House Roof
It’s the season of campaigns and campaign promises, but for the solar industry, an unfulfilled presidential promise from nearly three years ago is still rankling. In 2011, President Obama announced that he was bringing back solar panels to the White House. Over twenty years before, in 1979, President Jimmy Carter installed a solar hot water [...]
The “No More Solyndras Act” Passes The House
As I expected the “No More Solyndras Act” was just passed in the House: Republicans on Friday pushed a bill through the House shining a campaign-season light on the most conspicuous failure of President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus package. The bill would phase out federal loan guarantees like those that went to the now-bankrupt solar power [...]
Election 2012: Obama (Wind) vs. Romney (Coal)
The election of 2012 offers the stark contrast between fossil fuels like coal and clean renewable energy. Obama Supports wind power while Romney supports energy derived from coal. Each candidate offers a different conception of America’s energy future. Romney wants to see even more fossil fuel being burned while Obama wants to grow renewable sources [...]
Thanks Clean Energy! U.S Power Plant Emissions Down
An analysis of 2010 emissions data from the top 100 US power producers illustrates the positive impact of the industry’s ongoing transition to natural gas and renewable energy sources. Although carbon dioxide power plant emissions rose 24% are up over the benchmark year (1990), they were off 4% from 2008-2010, and preliminary data suggests they [...]
Survey: Latinos Like Clean Energy
A vast majority of registered Latino voters support clean energy innovation, protecting public lands and cleaning up toxic pollution, according to a new national survey. Even more of them believe they have a moral obligation to do something about it. 86% of the 1,131 Latinos surveyed would prefer the US government to invest in clean, [...]
ComEd Smart Grid Legislation Vetoed in Illinois
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn (D) has vetoed legislation that would have authorized a multi-billion investment in modernizing Illinois’ electric grid while maintaining strict regulatory oversight and consumer protections. Along with fellow Democrat Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Governor Quinn formally axed the Energy Infrastructure Modernization Act (Senate Bill 1652) stating that the bill “puts too heavy [...]
Rick Perry: Down with Solar?
One of the fundamental propositions of Rick Perry’s presidential run is that energy policy in Texas has been successful in de-carbonizing our grid. The claim is a pretty big stretch, considering that we still generate more carbon dioxide than any other state and, as far as it relates to our successful renewable energy mandates, he [...]
The Tragic Results of Political Compromise in U.S Energy Policy
The results of political compromise — maybe by definition — areseldom satisfactory to anyone. But hasn’t this whole process recentlygotten worse than ever before? The healthcare reform bill that theObama administration put through was the product of a hammer and tongsfight from the insurance companies, the pharmaceutical industry, and the enormous money and power that they and their [...]
My Open Letter to Fox & Friends
Those silly kids over at Fox & Friends really went on a rant against solar the other day and capped it off by asserting that the German solar industry does so much better than ours here in the U.S. because, after all, Germany gets so much more sun that we do in the States. Here’s [...]