solar
Renewable Energy in the Southwest
Despite Trump, the needle has kept moving in the right direction.
The sun is intense in the desert Southwest. During the Trump years, the federal government has hard worked to promote fossil fuels. Trump also has been no friend of renewable energy. This has not stopped progress toward a cleaner energy mix in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. Arizona Arizona’s current power mix is about …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate Action in the States
Climate progress continued despite Trump
Trump’s election in 2016 didn’t halt or even slow action in the states on renewable energy and climate change. Things have hit “pause” during the pandemic, but that should be only temporary. All of this ferment at the state level should help lay the groundwork for future federal action. Here’s what’s been happening in some …
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CONTINUE READINGGood News From India
While we’ve been obsessing about Trump, India has made great strides in renewable energy.
We get so focused on the problems in our own country that it’s easy to lose track of what’s happening globally. It turns out that while we’ve been mired in our own travails, India has been making remarkableprogress on renewable energy. What happens in India has tremendous significance. It is now the most populous country …
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CONTINUE READINGFollow the Money
Investment in the World Energy System Still Dominated by Fossil Fuels
Not that money. Not the hush money, the payoffs, the tax and banking fraud. And not the dark money seeking to influence our environmental, climate, and clean energy policies. Nope, I am talking about the actual money invested in the world energy system last year. Granted, this may not be as interesting to many readers …
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CONTINUE READINGRenewable Energy on the Lower Mississippi
From Missouri to Louisiana to Alabama, fundamental similarities but individual differences.
The states in the lower Mississippi basin have a lot in common. From Missouri down to Louisiana and Alabama, they all voted for Trump. These states – Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri, and Tennessee – were all part of the Confederacy. (I’m stretching geography a bit by including Alabama, since only the top of the state …
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CONTINUE READINGGuest Blogger David Spence: Why Some Electricity Markets Will Struggle With Decarbonization
David Spence is Professor of Law, Politics & Regulation at the University of Texas at Austin
Recently the New York Times published an article chronicling the financial problems experienced by one of the world’s premier developers of concentrated solar power (CSP) facilities. The financial headwinds facing CSP are a sign of a more fundamental problem electricity markets face: namely, capturing all of the important values we attach to electricity production. Most …
CONTINUE READINGWhat the Market Is Telling Us About Coal
Dump your coal stocks while you still can!
The market’s message is simple: coal’s day is ending. Three major coal companies (Alpha Natural Resources, Walter Energy, and Patriot Coal) have gone into bankruptcy. The two largest publicly traded companies (Peabody and Arch) are now trading for a dollar a share, down from $16 and $33 within the past year. They, too, may well …
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CONTINUE READINGGreen Industry Growth
Here’s a list of the fastest growing industries from the Washington Post: 1. Generic pharmaceuticals 2. Solar panel manufacturing 3. For-profit universities 4. Pilates and yoga studios 5. Self-tanning product manufacturing 6. 3-D printer manufacturing 7. Social network game development 8. Hot sauce production 9. Green and sustainable building construction 10. Online eyeglasses sales. I’m …
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CONTINUE READINGSharing the Burden of New Transmission Lines to The Sun and the Wind
The sense of urgency for building new electric transmission lines to transport large quantities of solar and wind power has spurred a national debate about the proper role for the federal government and the states in siting those lines. Although land use decisions such as these usually reside in the states, many worry that states …
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