January 2013 Archives
Climate Change:
During his second inaugural address yesterday, President Obama said that the country's continued failure to address climate change "would betray our children and future generations." But will his actions match his rhetoric?
Commentary:
Critics of opening up public lands to renewable energy development have been known to refer to the process as "privatization," pointing out that one public land is leased to energy companies, that land is essentially no longer public. ReWire and a handful of citizen activists got a poignant reminder of just how true that is on Thursday.
Government:
During his tenure since 2009, Secretary Salazar green-lighted renewable energy facilities on more than 46,000 acres of BLM lands in California. That's in excess of 72 square miles, about the size of the city of Victorville.
Photovoltaic (PV):
Oakland-based solar leasing firm Sungevity has just gotten hold of $125 million in venture capital funding to expand its leasing program, the firm reported Wednesday.
Government:
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has announced that he'll be stepping down from his Cabinet-level position in March. Salazar, a native of Colorado, has helped push the massive development of renewable energy facilities on public lands managed by his Department.
Utilities:
Though the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power won wide acclaim for approving a plan to buy 100 megawatts of solar power from rooftops and vacant lots in Los Angeles last week, some observers have criticized the program for offering too little cash to too few Angelenos.
Climate Change:
The editors of the MIT Technology Review have a message for President Obama: "You've got four years to set us on track to fix the climate, and your own administration's policy is one of the problems."
Concentrating Solar:
BrightSource Energy, which had called its planned 500-megawatt Rio Mesa solar project a crucial step in developing reliable solar power generation, now says it's putting that project on hold.
Utilities:
The LADWP's Board unanimously approved a plan Friday to buy 100 megawatts of solar power from property owners throughout the city of Los Angeles.
Wind:
A Portland-based wind company is walking away from a controversial project near Joshua Tree National Park, saying that there isn't enough wind to justify building turbines.
News and analysis about renewable energy in California. Blog host Chris Clarke is an environmental writer of two decades standing. He currently lives in Joshua Tree and can be contacted at: rewire@kcet.org.
- Wind Power
- PV and Solar Thermal
- Energy Return on Energy Invested (EROEI)
- Watts and Watt-Hours, Kilo and Mega
- 'Enough To Power X Thousand Homes'
- The Grid
- Distributed Generation
- Conservation and 'Negawatts'
- Grid Storage
- PACE Loans, Feed In Tariffs and Net Metering
- Base Load and Peaking Power
- Capacity Factor
- Renewable Portfolio Standards
- Transportation and Renewable Energy
- Biomass
- Geothermal
