Distributed Renewable Energy Under Fire

Date: 21 Oct 2015 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

This subject has been updated, please read our newest piece: Distributed Generation (Still) Under Fire, published May 2016. Need evidence that utilities are fighting back against their customer’s desire to generate their own power? This map shows where policies like net metering are undermining the ability of utility customers to exercise their desire for self-reliance. I developed … Read More

Report: Hawai’i at the Energy Crossroads

Date: 6 Oct 2015 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

On the one hand: Sky-high electricity prices. A 20th century electricity system burning fuel oil and controlled by large monopoly electric utilities. A proposed utility takeover. On the other hand: A new 100% renewable energy standard. Rooftop solar on one of ten homes, saving each customer hundreds of dollars per year. Cost-effective energy storage. A rising interest in locally controlled utilities. Welcome to Hawai’i at the Energy Crossroads.… Read More

Did FERC Just Smash the Biggest Roadblock to Clean, Local Power for Electric Co-ops?

Date: 28 Sep 2015 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Because they only sell 11% of the country’s electricity and they largely overlap politically conservative areas, electric cooperatives are often the forgotten stepchild of the clean energy movement. But with 7 of the top 10 dirtiest power systems (as measured by carbon intensity) and territory that overlaps some of the best renewable energy resources in the country, electric … Read More

Ever Greater Share of New Power from Distributed Solar

Date: 11 Sep 2015 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Second quarter data from the Energy Information Administration and the Solar Energy Industries Association came out this week and distributed solar continues its surging growth. Over 650 megawatts (MW) of new distributed solar capacity was grid connected between April and June, 10% of new power plant capacity. Even more impressive than the steady growth each quarter … Read More

100% Renewable Energy: Fact or Fantasy?

Date: 28 Aug 2015 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

What would it take to power the entire U.S. economy on renewable resources alone? Three big things: Only build wind, solar, or hydro power plants after 2020 Reduce energy use compared to business as usual by 40% Electrify everything It’s the last that may be the most complicated, since it means a complete overhaul of way … Read More

Questioning Solar Energy Economies of Scale, 2014 Edition

Date: 20 Aug 2015 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

In 2016, ILSR released a new report on solar and wind economies of scale, updating this data. While utilities continue to imply that large-scale solar projects are more economical than small ones, the data is telling another story. In fact, costs for transmission and distribution of utility-scale solar energy may largely undermine the modestly better economics … Read More

If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Own ‘Em—Utilities Muscle in to Rooftop Solar Market

Date: 11 Aug 2015 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

In the past five years, rooftop solar has revealed the limitations of the archaic electric utility business model, as customers have found generating their own power more cost effective than taking 100% of their energy from the incumbent monopoly. For years, utilities have fought back by trying to make competition less cost effective, at a substantial … Read More

Two Decades of Solar Pioneers in Sacramento – Episode 27 of Local Energy Rules Podcast

Date: 7 Aug 2015 | posted in: agriculture | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

The publicly-owned Sacramento Municipal Utility District, or SMUD, had already installed the first utility-scale PV array in the nation back in 1984. By the early 1990s, the utility saw a potential for rooftop solar and launched its PV Pioneer program, placing dozens of solar arrays on their customer’s rooftops, for a fee. The standardized rollout meant … Read More

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