Tag Archives: u.s
California: The Cap-and-Trade Leader
On Wednesday November 14, California held its first auction to sell carbon credits. For six years that state has been working on its cap-and-trade system, more than six years in the making. Finally California has imposed a limit on the amount of carbon emissions and this limit will be reduced over time so that by [...]
Ernst & Young’s Top 5 States for Solar Investment
Ernst & Young released rankings this week that place Nevada and Massachusetts among the top five most attractive states in the country for solar installations. The finance and accounting firm releases a report twice a year evaluating state attractiveness for solar, wind and mixed renewable energy installations. Michael Bernier, senior manager of Ernst & Young’s [...]
Emerging Markets New Priority for SunPower and First Solar
The two biggest US solar companies, First Solar and SunPower, seem to be moving in tandem these days, accelerating development in emerging markets as revenue from more mature markets slows and projects near completion. Because of the difficulties in their traditional solar panel manufacturing business, they have both diversified into solar project development, and SunPower into solar [...]
Climate Change and National Security
An advisory panel assembled by the National Research Council, an independent provider of scientific expertise that’s chartered by Congress, has stated that U.S. intelligence agencies should take climate change and its resulting impacts more seriously. The 14-member panel, which acknowledges that intelligence agencies are already studying how global temperatures will affect national security, advises that intelligence agencies [...]
“Solar” and “Jobs” = BFF
Did you know that for every megawatt of solar power produced and installed, 30 jobs are created worldwide1? The solar industry is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world, making it a tremendous job creator. With coal mines employing a mere 0.18 workers per megawatt2 and wind plants 17, solar energy accounts for more [...]
The Soft Costs of Solar
While module prices plummet, the soft (non-hardware) costs of installing solar systems remain a stubborn barrier to affordability. The difference between the U.S. $4.44 per watt average installed cost for a typical residential rooftop system and the $2.24 per watt figure for comparable German systems, GTM recently reported, is in soft costs like customer acquisition, [...]
Cap And Trade: U.S Bound by 2016?
Think the U.S. could use tens of billions of dollars of brand new revenue to address its budget and debt challenges? And do you think newly re-elected President Obama might take a run at a bonafide climate strategy as part of his legacy by 2016? The answer to the first question is easy. But answering [...]
In Focus: U.S Alternative Energy Subsidies
Subsidies. We’ve all heard about “energy subsidies” and “oil subsidies” but what are they really? Subsidies in a general sense are money given by the government to various industries in order to make their goods more affordable than they would be in the open market. There are agricultural subsidies, energy subsidies, and technology subsidies, [...]
Michigan Votes Against ’25 by 2025′ Renewable Energy Proposal
The ballots have been tallied in Michigan and the state voted against a renewable energy initiative yesterday. By an overwhelming majority (64 percent), Michigan will not be moving forward with its “25 by 2025″ proposal. Prop 3 was a state constitutional amendment that would require Michigan to generate 25 percent of its energy from renewable [...]
Obama 2.0: Delivering Clean Energy Promises?
Whether or not you voted for President Obama, the clean energy-loving part of you must be feeling hopeful that POTUS will deliver in his second term what we would have liked to have seen more of during the first — strong leadership driving forward the clean energy economy. Though I still have a bit of [...]
Obama Win is Good for Clean Energy; Matzah Balls Still Loom
Just because President Obama won four more years, doesn’t mean the next four will be any easier. Sure, it’s now his legacy he is beginning to focus on. But there are tall hurdles even the election results will do to change. Renewable energy developers and suppliers have a few rays of sunshine and a more [...]
Will Arizona’s Solar Energy Zones Be Expanded?
It was just a few weeks ago that the BLM finalized the PEIS creating solar energy zones throughout seven southwestern states, and already the BLM is expanding the solar energy zones. Earlier this week BLM proposed creating an additional Solar Energy Zone in Arizona, which would open up more federal lands to solar development. The [...]