The Incredible Incompetence of Comcast

Date: 22 Oct 2012 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

My colleague writes a good-as-any explanation of why we’re not getting quite as much energy work done in the past week as we’d like. What happens when economies of scale are taken to ridiculous proportions? The wretched customer service of Comcast, AT&T, Etc. We recently had to move our Institute for Local Self-Reliance office within Minneapolis … Read More

Watch: More Clean Energy for Minneapolis

Date: 18 Oct 2012 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Click here for a more detailed article.   ILSR Senior Researcher John Farrell presents to a big crowd at “Green Ideas and Ham,” a breakfast policy forum in Minneapolis, about the opportunity for the city to dramatically increase its control over its energy future.  In a short time, the city’s monopoly energy contracts with its electric … Read More

Treasury Dept. Fingers Solarcity in Exploration of the Dark Underbelly of Solar Leasing

Date: 10 Oct 2012 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 6 Facebooktwitterredditmail

A new government investigation of Solarcity on the eve of its initial public offering (IPO) may explain how solar leasing is fleecing federal taxpayers and making U.S. residential solar more expensive than in other countries. The Treasury Department inspector general is probing solar leasing company SolarCity (and others) for its use of “fair market value” pricing … Read More

Barriers to Distributed Renewable Energy

Date: 9 Oct 2012 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 1 Facebooktwitterredditmail

A presentation by ILSR Senior Researcher John Farrell to a Disaster Law class at William Mitchell Law School on 9/17/12.  It examines the five major barriers to the expansion of community-based and conventional distributed renewable energy, including the tradition of utility control, raising capital, cash flow, legal, and utilities themselves.  View the presentation below: Barriers to Distributed … Read More

Moving Time!

Date: 8 Oct 2012 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

If you’re wondering why there’ less content on Energy Self-Reliant States lately, it’s because our Minneapolis office is moving for the first time in 20 years. Here’s a few photos from our moving preparations. The Minneapolis office “technology history room” with over a decade of old Apple laptops (since recycled): Piles of boxes waiting to depart. … Read More

Watch: Boulder Mayor Tells Minneapolis How They Sought Clean Energy Options

Date: 1 Oct 2012 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 2 Facebooktwitterredditmail

In this video, Mayor Susan Osborne of Boulder, Colo., presents to an audience in Minneapolis, Minn., about why her city opted to take over the electric company, after years of futile negotiations for more local renewable energy.… Read More

Happy Birthday, David Morris!

Date: 24 Sep 2012 | posted in: From the Desk of David Morris, The Public Good | 2 Facebooktwitterredditmail

The fearless leader of our Minneapolis “New Rules Project” celebrates another great year today!  If you want to get in the spirit, check out his recently released Thoughtful Voters Guide to Same-Sex Marriage (available as a free ebook), his oldest online publication (from 1974) – Kilowatt Counter – A Consumers Guide to Energy Concepts, Quantities, and … Read More

Why Are Residential PV Prices in Germany So Much Lower Than in the United States?

Date: 20 Sep 2012 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 5 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Earlier this week, Lawrence Berkeley Labs released a marvelous comparison of residential PV costs in Germany and the United States, finally putting some detail to an enormous gulf in costs (nearly $3.00 per Watt).  The following chart (from page 35 of the presentation) shows the cost difference broken down into 9 categories, with ILSR’s addition of … Read More

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