According to a new study from Citizens for Tax Justice, Duke Energy led five other Southeastern utilities in avoiding federal corporate income taxes. Compared to the statutory 35% corporate tax rate, Southeastern utilities paid about 10.5% of pre-tax profits in federal taxes during the 2008-10 time period. Duke’s effective tax rate of -3.9% (that is, [...]
Just a brief update for those who are interested in why Florida is moving so slowly on energy efficiency. As recently noted by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, “regulators in Florida … took actions to render their energy savings target ineffective.” Similarly in response, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy is protesting [...]
For over a decade, states have been coasting along with policies that affect the market for key energy resources: small renewable energy generators and companies that practice cogeneration (also known as energy recycling, or combined heat and power). As advocates for consumer-friendly energy efficiency, we’ve learned that these same policies affect energy efficiency, particularly what [...]
People in the Southeast do want energy efficiency! We had no doubts, but it is great to see strong participation in the first full year of new efficiency programs offered by Progress Energy Carolinas (PEC) and Duke Energy Carolinas (DEC). Our analysis shows that both utilities achieved greater savings and spent less per kWh than [...]
Energy efficiency is under attack. Its opponents want us to believe that energy efficiency does not exist. The battle to stop government from reducing energy waste echoes decades of struggle to stop the environmental assault on public health. Intentional efforts to discredit facts leaves the public in a room that is empty of solutions, where [...]
Recently, we shared the great news that most utility customers across the Southeastern states that we focus on have or will very soon have access to meaningful energy efficiency programs. By 2015, these efficiency programs are projected to achieve energy savings ten times what they were just a few years ago. We’re excited about that [...]
Tuesday’s release of the draft Southern Forest Futures Project (SFFP) report raised an alarm that the South could lose as much as 23 million acres of forest over the next four decades. From the press release: According to the report, urbanization, bioenergy use, weather patterns, land ownership changes and invasive species will significantly alter the [...]
OK, it’s time to come clean. There is, indeed, controversy about the role of human activity in driving greenhouse gas emissions and thus our influence on the climate. Yes, it is still true that 95% of active climate researchers accept the consensus position about the impacts of current human activity on climate change. (Furthermore, there [...]
The long darkness is over! OK, that’s a bit melodramatic but … after many years of very little access to energy efficiency programs, Southeastern households and businesses are finding that their utilities may be offering attractive and comprehensive energy efficiency programs. As recently as 2008, significant energy efficiency programs in the Southeast were limited to [...]
Well, you stop wasting energy! Five months ago, a new tactic in the fight to keep wasting electricity emerged. Simply deny that saving energy saves energy. It completely boggles my mind that anyone would think that the way to build support for clean, cheap energy resource innovation is to insist first that it is a [...]
