A new report has been released by the Energy Information Administration (U.S. Department of Energy) analyzing the impacts of a so-called federal “Clean Energy Standard.” But before we delve into the study, a bit of political history is necessary to put the CES and this analysis in context. President Obama jumped onto the CES bandwagon in [...]
In response to a proposed federal natural gas and oil leasing program for the Atlantic, Governor Beverly Perdue of North Carolina created (by executive order) a Scientific Advisory Panel on Offshore Energy in September 2009. The stated purpose of this panel is to evaluate all offshore energy options (wind, tidal, gas, oil, etc.) and develop [...]
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 [...]
Visiting with relatives over the holidays, I was asked, “is biomass electricity a smart thing to do?”
Renewable energy prospects in Florida may be cloudy this political season, but there are some bright rays in the Sunshine State. Jacksonville’s municipal electric utility (JEA) and its project partners, PSEG Solar Source (owner/operator) and juwi solar (original developer), just dedicated a 15 MW solar power generating facility on the city’s west side. This is [...]
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 [...]
To many people, it seemed inevitable that 2010 would be The Year we passed The Climate & Energy Bill to overhaul the way we make and consume energy in this country. The stage was set in 2008 when Democrats gained control of both the Congress and the White House and pledged to reduce carbon pollution. [...]
After decades of scientific data gathering, years of growing public and business support and more than three months of an unmitigated environmental catastrophe, it is reasonable to expect that citizens and leaders would all support a paradigm shift in U.S. energy policy. In fact, even before BP’s Gulf oil disaster began, President Obama and Congress [...]
From SACE’s perspective, the Manomet study of biomass and carbon offers an important new way to describe and think-through the possible impacts on the climate from biomass energy. Although the study’s findings are limited in geographic scope, the methodology can be applied elsewhere to great benefit.
In 2008, Southeastern utilities spent six times more on coal from Colombia (yes, the country in South America) than they did helping their customers cut energy waste at home. In fact, the Southeast spent over $10 billion in 2008 to import coal from other states and countries to fuel power plants, according to a report [...]
