“One cool judgment is worth a thousand hasty councils. The thing is to supply light and not heat.” – Woodrow Wilson The past couple of weeks have seen heat grip the nation’s capital both literally and in debate. Unbelievably – and despite growing economic uncertainty, a mounting debt crisis and multiple overseas military operations – [...]
A bill introduced in the North Carolina General Assembly, aptly titled the Solar Jobs Bill, would require utilities to double the amount of solar power sold to customers in North Carolina by 2018. In addition to pushing the solar industry forward in N.C., the bill would also result in continued job growth in the renewable [...]
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 [...]
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy recently underwent a short stint of navel gazing by calculating its annual carbon footprint for the second time, and we took appropriate action to attain carbon neutral certification for 2010. While SACE can still make many improvements, we have taken steps to more accurately measure our carbon footprint than in [...]
This blog was originally posted by the Institute for Southern Studies in their online publication: Facing South and was written by Sue Sturgis. New article on this topic from the Raleigh News and Observer dated March 23, 2011. A Florida lawmaker recently wrote the governor of North Carolina warning her state against adopting a financing [...]
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 [...]
There are persistent myths in the field of renewable energy and energy efficiency. One such myth – promoted by the coal industry and their utility friends – is that the Southeast doesn’t have any renewable energy resources. This myth appears in different forms – from renewable energy resources are too expensive or too diffuse, to [...]
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) issued a January 6, 2011 release that uses a recent study by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to highlight TVA’s successful reductions of dangerous air pollutants. The fact that TVA has reduced its air pollution is, of course, good news. It means that people and the environment in the Southeast are [...]
Visiting with relatives over the holidays, I was asked, “is biomass electricity a smart thing to do?”
Florida Clean Energy Needs Leadership The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA, the U.S. housing finance regulator) recently solidified its opposition to Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing. The lone renewable energy initiative that won support in the 2010 Florida legislature, charting state-wide procedures for PACE, was the only move for clean energy the Florida legislature made since [...]