Tag Archives: stories
Energy Questions People Want Answered by Obama and Romney
Tonight’s presidential debate, which takes place in Hempstead, Long Island, is a town hall, where undecided voters get to ask the questions. Unfortunately, the subject matter is limited to foreign policy, so many important questions average voters would ask won’t be allowed (how about their positions on a constitutional amendment to reverse Citizens United?). Is [...]
Joe Biden Calls Out Paul Ryan On Past Green Stimulus Support
Vice President Joe Biden didn’t hold back his disbelief in last night’s debate against his Republican challenger, Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan. Calling Ryan’s comments “malarkey,” Biden smiled incredulously, shook his head, and interrupted with rebuttals throughout the night. Energy didn’t get much play in the debate. But when the topic did come up, it gave [...]
Will California Reach It’s Renewable Energy Goals?
California has the most ambitious renewable portfolio standard (RPS) in the nation, requiring that 33 percent of the state’s energy mix come from renewables by 2020. There are 29 states (and the District of Columbia) with RPS goals in effect, but the average amount of renewable energy required in those states is much less than [...]
U.S Promises $2B in Renewable Energy Loans to South Africa
Eyeing South Africa’s potential as a key export market, the US is coming up with $2 billion in financing for clean energy projects. The agreement signed this week between the US Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank and Industrial Development Corp. (IDC) of South Africa is aimed at supporting solar, wind and other clean-energy projects that use U.S. [...]
U.S Army Pouring $7B into Renewables
The U.S. Army is surging forward in its push for green energy. Today (August 7) the Army held a media roundtable discussing its plans to issue request for proposals (RFP) for a multi-award task order contract (MATOC) for 1 gigawatt of renewable and alternative energy within the next 30 days. It plans to close the [...]
Suntech Achieves 1GW in America
Suntech Americas announced this week that it achieved its first gigawatt of installed solar in the Americas. The global company, with headquarters in China, opened its American branch in 2007 and manufactures 50 megawatts of solar photovoltaic panels at its plant in Arizona. It took about five years to install the first gigawatt on this [...]
Facebook Reveals Its Carbon Footprint
Data from Facebook, published on Wednesday, shows that despite the social networking’s rising star, its carbon emissions are still a fraction of internet rival Google. Facebook’s annual emissions were 285,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalent in 2011, compared with Google’s 1.5m tons in 2010. [Guardian] The data, published on Wednesday, shows that despite the social [...]
The Great California Energy Crash
California, which imports over 25% of its electricity from out of state, is in no position to lose half (!) of its entire nuclear power capacity. But that’s exactly what happened earlier this year, when the San Onofre plant in north San Diego County unexpectedly went offline. The loss only worsens the broad energy deficit [...]
Interactive Map of Los Angeles Electricity Use
A new energy map of Los Angeles developed at UCLA lets residents find how much electricity the average customer in their neighborhood uses, see how a neighborhood’s energy use relates to its average income level and track energy use over time. The map, released by UCLA’s California Center for Sustainable Communities, is the most highly interactive map of [...]