In March 2014, Minnesota became the first state to adopt a “value of solar” policy to set a fair, transparent price on solar energy. It may serve as a national precedent and fundamentally change the financial relationship between electric utilities … Continue reading →
"The Boom: How Fracking Ignited the American Energy Revolution and Changed the World" (Simon & Schuster), by Russell Gold The once-obscure oil and gas drilling process known as fracking has generated hundreds of billions of dollars and considerable dissent, as … Continue reading →
As cities in the developing world continue to grow, so do their traffic safety concerns. Latin America, for instance, now sees three times as many deaths from traffic crashes as Europe, the vast majority of which occur in cities. Vulnerable … Continue reading →
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas environmental agency has frozen funding for a San Antonio area governmental coalition’s air quality improvement work after an official there publicly shared modeling results that suggested fracking contributed pollution to the city. Last summer the … Continue reading →
What might the oil- and gas-rich Eagle Ford Shale region of South Texas look like in 2018? A newly released but largely unnoticed study commissioned by the state of Texas makes some striking projections: The number of wells drilled in … Continue reading →
The residential solar installation and finance market is remaking itself through new alliances, vertical integration and hybrid sales channels, as well as with access to increasingly cheaper capital. We are in a post-CSI era and yet installation prices continue to … Continue reading →
The use of solar power as an alternative energy source is growing at an explosive rate, according to recently released industry reports. In the US, the growth was recorded at more that 40 percent from the previous year, with the … Continue reading →
San Antonio-based self-storage chain Stuff Hotel is spending some $150,000 to expand solar energy systems at its facilities in San Antonio and three other Texas cities. The company installed a 28-kilowatt solar array at its 9018 Poteet Jourdanton Freeway location … Continue reading →
When people say “Keep Austin weird” they really mean keep it small and special. And we’re all for keeping Austin weird as it’s a cool city with awesome music. While utility scale solar finance is still “weird” in that it … Continue reading →
Rozina Kanchwala / 04/02/2014 Many people know that solar photovoltaic (PV) panels emit no pollution while generating electricity and do not use fossil-fuel resources. However, there are some questions about how much energy is required to produce the panels so … Continue reading →
As a municipal utility executive in Austin, Texas, Karl Rábago led a team that came up with the very first value-of-solar tariff, an alternative to net-metering that aims to pay utility customers a rate for solar power that reflects its … Continue reading →
As some states attempt to weaken solar crediting policies, Minnesota looks to make them more effective and fair. Minnesota utility regulators on Wednesday approved the nation’s first statewide formula for calculating the value of customer-generated solar power. The Minnesota Public … Continue reading →
Oil refiners are going through a dark phase, one that has not only taken a toll on their profit margins, but that threatens to extend this harrowing narrative for the foreseeable future — a high crude oil price environment. A … Continue reading →
Iron Edison Battery Company has a cost-effective solution to reducing demand charges using Peak Load Shaving. Iron Edison Battery Company, http://www.ironedison.com, now offers a cost-effective solution to reducing demand charges using Peak Load Shaving. Utilizing the latest in inverter and … Continue reading →
The U.S. residential solar market is growing rapidly and undergoing a major transformation at the same time. A new acquisition, partnership, or project fund seems to be announced every week. But what is the underlying trend here? For a while, … Continue reading →
The White House announced a wide-ranging plan Friday aimed at cutting methane emissions from oil and gas drilling, landfills and other sources, part of President Barack Obama's strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. The White … Continue reading →
This is a story about natural gas leakage, and we’re not talking about what happens after your grandfather says, “Pull my finger!” Recent reports in journals such as Science and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences have carried … Continue reading →
Cheaper batteries will allow mainstream pricing of Tesla’s EVs in six years—and lots more. Tesla’s Giga factory aims to reduce the cost of lithium-ion batteries by 30 percent in three years and 50 percent by 2020. This big, bold move … Continue reading →
The American energy system risks being the thing that time forgot. Our aging fossil-fuel-based system is decaying. And in the absence of a plan, the energy system chokingly chugs along without direction or a full understanding of the challenges ahead. … Continue reading →
A breakthrough in battery technology could make large-scale energy storage practical. Researchers at Harvard University say their organic flow-battery would be affordable and efficient. Professor Michael Aziz tells host Steve Curwood how the technology works and why it could significantly … Continue reading →
