UPDATE: On Thursday, May 15, the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee voted along party lines to approve Gina McCarthy’s nomination (every Republican, including all four Republican Senators from the Southeast opposed McCarthy’s nomination). Up next, McCarthy’s nomination will go before the full Senate for a vote. McCarthy will likely face a tough vote in the Senate. [...]
Today, April 20, marks the 3rd anniversary of the tragic Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil disaster. In spite of how apparent it seemed three years ago that offshore drilling is a bad idea whose time has gone, today we are facing the threat of even more drilling off our beautiful coasts. As we’ve reported before, the [...]
The Southeast utilities are starting to step up their game in energy efficiency. I am pleased to report that three of the major utilities here in the Southeast not only met their 2012 energy efficiency goals, they exceeded them by 2-22%! The idea of energy efficiency goals in the South was just a glimmer in [...]
There’s nothing like a heaping serving of data to really drive a point home – and that’s exactly what the Environmental Protection Agency does with its most recent report of plant-by-plant emissions data. EPA’s 2011 Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program report is loaded with emissions data from 1,594 fossil fuel plants across the nation. The resoundingly [...]
This is a guest post by Institute for Southern Studies Editorial Director, Sue Sturgis. This piece was originally posted on the Institute for Southern Studies’ blog, Facing South. In his first State of the State address this week, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory called for moving forward with oil and gas exploration off the state’s [...]
SACE Renewable Energy Manager, Charlie Coggeshall, and SACE Director of Research, John Wilson, contributed to this post. This week, we celebrate George Washington’s birthday to honor the leadership of our first president in particular, and that of our founding fathers in general. Our founding fathers had a bold vision for the United States–a land of [...]
Today the Union of Concerned Scientists released an important new report entitled “Ripe for Retirement: The Case for Closing America’s Costliest Coal Plants”, which highlights the financial uncertainty of many coal plants around the nation. It turns out that the Southeast is home to a staggering number of inefficient and uneconomic coal plants. As of May 31, [...]
In case the horror movies and Hurricane/Frankenstorm Sandy weren’t enough to scare you this Halloween season, a glimpse at the horrors that are unleashed due to the operation of coal fired power plants should send chills down your spine. Recently, Dr. Avner Vengosh, professor of geochemistry and water quality at Duke University, released a terrifying [...]
The South Carolina wind industry currently contributing an estimated $530 million in total output in 2012, $29 million of revenue for the state government, and $21 million for local governments.
Some of America’s best-known retailers are looking bright when it comes to solar energy. And showing that low costs and high growth go hand-in-hand with solar. Leading the pack in solar energy among retailers is none other than Walmart, whose solar PV panels pack almost as much punch as the entire installed capacity of solar [...]
