Clean vs. Dirty Energy

What a nice follow up to the story we just posted on the amazing research and report put out by the University of Colorado at Boulder and NOAA.  Given the possibility of cutting 78% of our fossil fuel use in 15 years, how can we not support the President's investments in renewables?

Clean vs. Dirty Energy: Obama Fuels Investor Divide

By Suzanne O'Halloran                                                                                                              

If you didn’t know already, President Obama is on a clean energy kick, weaving the industry’s benefits into his final State of the Union address.

“We’ve got to accelerate the transition away from dirty energy,” he said.

Instead, he praised the clean energy industry as being cost efficient and a creator of jobs: “Solar is saving Americans tens of millions of dollars a year on their energy bills and employs more Americans than coal – in jobs that pay better than average.” He also noted, “wind power is cheaper than dirty, conventional power.”

These remarks may bode well for solar stocks in the coming year. Goldman Sachs (GS) may have gotten a jump on those investments. Earlier this month the firm turned more bullish on First Solar (FSLR), predicting the stock will be a strong performer in 2016. It also lifted price targets on SunPower (SPWE) and 8point3 Energy Partners (CAFD), a limited partnership owned by First Solar and SunPower to own, operate and acquire solar energy generation projects.

Elon Musk’s SolarCity (SCTY) is also favored by the firm despite its ongoing fued with Nevada’s Republican Governor Brian Sandoval. The state’s Public Utilities Commission is cutting rebates to customers. As a result, the company is cutting 550 workers in the state and attempting to relocate affected employees to business-friendly states, according to a company press release.

Earlier this week, Arch Coal filed Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, becoming the 49^th coal company to do so. The filing could be viewed as another ominous warning for an industry that has been crippled by a rash of bankruptcies driven by tougher U.S. regulation and foreign competition.

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“They are going to see their electric rates and all their fuel costs skyrocket,” he said. Murray, who is a vocal critic of the president’s clean energy policies, added he has, “destroyed the American power grid…it is not only a case of cost, it’s also reliability.”

As for corporate America in general, in a departure from last year’s address, the president did not mention specific companies. In 2015, CVS (CVS), UPS (CVS), Alphabet-owned Google (GOOG), Tesla (TSLA) and eBay (EBAY) got a shout out. This year, he kept it sector specific with a nod to manufacturing and autos, noting, “Our auto industry just had its best year ever. Manufacturing has created nearly 900,000 new jobs in the past six years.”

U.S. new-vehicle sales raced to 17.47 million in 2015, besting the previous high of 17.35 million set in 2000. This week the national average for a gallon of gas is $1.956 as tracked by AAA.

Rapid, affordable energy transformation possible

We find this to be an inspiring story as a Boulder-based university and NOAA collaborated on a study, never seen before, that has made amazing predictions about the USA's ability to quickly, incredibly rapidly, cut oil consumption and push at a staggering pace into renewables...while using tools to predict and use weather patterns to manage our energy use.

We can't wait to get them on the radio side.  This is life changing:

A high-resolution map based on NOAA weather data showing wind energy potential across the United States in 2012.  Image by Chris Clack/CIRES



Quotes

“Our research shows a transition to a reliable, low-carbon, electrical generation and transmission system can be accomplished with commercially available technology and within 15 years,” said Alexander MacDonald, co-lead author and recently retired director of NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) in Boulder.

- See more at: http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2016/01/25/rapid-affordable-energy-transformation-possible#sthash.xgtAQ5nX.dpuf

January 25, 2016 • 

Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science (CIRES)

The United States could slash greenhouse gas emissions from power production by up to 78 percent below 1990 levels within 15 years while meeting increased demand, according to a new study by NOAA and University of Colorado Boulder researchers.

The study used a sophisticated mathematical model to evaluate future cost, demand, generation and transmission scenarios. It found that with improvements in transmission infrastructure, weather-driven renewable resources could supply most of the nation’s electricity at costs similar to today’s.

“Our research shows a transition to a reliable, low-carbon, electrical generation and transmission system can be accomplished with commercially available technology and within 15 years,” said Alexander MacDonald, co-lead author and recently retired director of NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) in Boulder.

The paper is published online today in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Although improvements in wind and solar generation have continued to ratchet down the cost of producing renewable energy, these energy resources are inherently intermittent. As a result, utilities have invested in surplus generation capacity to back up renewable energy generation with natural gas-fired generators and other reserves.

“In the future, they may not need to,” said co-lead author Christopher Clack, a physicist and mathematician with the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at CU-Boulder.

Since the sun is shining or winds are blowing somewhere across the United States all of the time, MacDonald theorized that the key to resolving the dilemma of intermittent renewable generation might be to scale up the renewable energy generation system to match the scale of weather systems.

So MacDonald, who has studied weather and worked to improve forecasts for more than 40 years, assembled a team of four other NOAA scientists to explore the idea. Using NOAA’s high-resolution meteorological data, they built a model to evaluate the cost of integrating different sources of electricity into a national energy system. The model estimates renewable resource potential, energy demand, emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and the costs of expanding and operating electricity generation and transmission systems to meet future needs.

The model allowed researchers to evaluate the affordability, reliability, and greenhouse gas emissions of various energy mixes, including coal. It showed that low-cost and low-emissions are not mutually exclusive.

“The model relentlessly seeks the lowest-cost energy, whatever constraints are applied,” Clack said. “And it always installs more renewable energy on the grid than exists today.”

Even in a scenario where renewable energy costs more than experts predict, the model produced a system that cuts CO2 emissions 33 percent below 1990 levels by 2030, and delivered electricity at about 8.6 cents per kilowatt hour. By comparison, electricity cost 9.4 cents per kWh in 2012.

If renewable energy costs were lower and natural gas costs higher, as is expected in the future, the modeled system sliced CO2 emissions by 78 percent from 1990 levels and delivered electricity at 10 cents per kWh. The year 1990 is a standard scientific benchmark for greenhouse gas analysis.

A scenario that included coal yielded lower cost (8.5 cents per kWh), but the highest emissions.

At the recent Paris climate summit, the United States pledged to cut greenhouse emissions from all sectors up to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025. The new paper suggests the United States could cut total CO2 emissions 31 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 by making changes only within the electric sector, even though the electrical sector represents just 38 percent of the national CO2 budget. These changes would include rapidly expanding renewable energy generation and improving transmission infrastructure.

In identifying low-cost solutions, researchers enabled the model to build and pay for transmission infrastructure improvements—specifically a new, high-voltage direct-current transmission grid (HVDC) to supplement the current electrical grid. HVDC lines, which are in use around the world, reduce energy losses during long-distance transmission. The model did choose to use those lines extensively, and the study found that investing in efficient, long-distance transmission was key to keeping costs low.

MacDonald compared the idea of a HVDC grid with the interstate highway system which transformed the U.S. economy in the 1950s. “With an ‘interstate for electrons’, renewable energy could be delivered anywhere in the country while emissions plummet,” he said.  “An HVDC grid would create a national electricity market in which all types of generation, including low-carbon sources, compete on a cost basis. The surprise was how dominant wind and solar could be.”

The new model is drawing interest from other experts in the field.

"This study pushes the envelope,” said Stanford University’s Mark Jacobson, who commented on the findings in an editorial he wrote for the journal Nature Climate Change. “It shows that intermittent renewables plus transmission can eliminate most fossil-fuel electricity while matching power demand at lower cost than a fossil fuel-based grid - even before storage is considered."

CIRES is a partnership of NOAA and CU-Boulder.

Contact:
Christopher Clack, CIRES, 303-497-4296
christopher.clack@noaa.gov
Alexander MacDonald, NOAA, 303-497-6378
alexander.e.macdonald@noaa.gov
Theo Stein, NOAA Communications, 303-497-6288
theo.stein@noaa.gov
Katy Human, CIRES communications, 303-735-0196
kathleen.human@colorado.edu

Additional media: 

• Wind (https://www.flickr.com/photos/cires-photos/23913837263/in/dateposted-public/)

A high-resolution map based on NOAA weather data showing wind energy potential across the United States in 2012.  Image by Chris Clack/CIRES

• Solar (https://www.flickr.com/photos/cires-photos/24458316301/in/dateposted-public/)

A high-resolution map based on NOAA solar irradiance data showing solar energy potential across the United States. By Chris Clack/CIRES

- See more at: http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2016/01/25/rapid-affordable-energy-transformation-possible#sthash.xgtAQ5nX.dpuf

Housing efficiency: Retrofitting offers 'better bang for your buck' than new-build regulations

This is a very important follow up to the global special we broadcast last month on "Designing the Sustainable Future".

At the time we compared new building codes with retrofits.  In New England, where we are based, both the commercial and residential stock is old.  Most is very inefficient.  Upgrading existing inventory has an amazing return.

Yet, you will also see commercial buildings sitting side-by-side, some built only a few years apart, and the building's performance on efficiency is miles apart.  The new standards deliver exceptional results.

However, we do think the big play is on retrofitting.  Getting most of our homes and commercial buildings to a high level of efficiency would drive down the use of energy, in many places, by as much as 30%.  Then we can meet the reduced demand with primarily renewables.  What a win-win.

Housing efficiency: Retrofitting offers 'better bang for your buck' than new-build regulations

by Brad Allen

EXCLUSIVE: Britain should focus its housing energy efficiency efforts on retrofitting existing stock rather than trying to improve new-build performance, a senior building industry executive has claimed.

 

In July last year, the Treasury scrapped the so-called ‘zero-carbon homes standard’

Speaking exclusively to edie, Chris Tinker, an executive board director at Crest Nicholson - one of the largest housebuilding companies in the UK - said that new builds are already very high up on the efficiency curve.

“I think you need to look at what your payback is for every pound you invest”, Tinker said. “New homes are a long way up the curve already and as a country we would arguable get a higher degree of payback from investing in existing housing stock.

“You’d be better to take the same pound and invest in more insulation, more double-glazing and so on.

“That isn’t to say I don’t think new-builds can be improved further, but there is definitely a limit.”

The Government certainly seems to share Tinker’s views on new-builds. In July last year, the Treasury scrapped the so-called ‘zero-carbon homes standard’, and Tinker believes the message now being sent to construction companies is to “deliver as much housing as you can”.

Policy changes

However, the Government has not yet reallocated resources to beef up efficiency measures in existing buildings. A replacement for the Green Deal insulation scheme is yet to be announced, while this year’s Autumn Statement and Spending Review saw Chancellor George Osborne reduce requirements for energy companies to install new boilers and insulation under the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme.

On Osborne’s recent changes, Tinker was close-lipped, saying: “It does feel intuitively not quite the right way to go, but there you go.”

Buildings are responsible for almost 37% of all UK carbon emissions. Last week, the UK housing industry took matters into its own hands by launching a new project to maximise building performance in terms of energy efficiency and overall environmental impact.

Led by the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC), the project will examine the way the industry designs, constructs and operates non-domestic buildings.

London takes just one week to breach annual air pollution limits

So, we put together all of these agreements, with great intentions, but then fail to comply.  Will we see the same coming out of the accords of COP 21.

No, is our answer.  Putting aggressive limits will force aggressive pursuit of the goals.  Our collective acknowledgement of the dire need to cut carbon is a great start.  We know from there we can quickly implement the changes to comply.

Out of the race to cut air pollution levels will come new science, engineering improvements, and new jobs and economic growth.  Quality of life will soar to new heights in the city.  

London takes just one week to breach annual air pollution limits

Adam Vaughan
 

London has already breached annual pollution limits just one week into 2016, and only weeks after the government published its plans to clean up the UK's air.

Parts of the capital have already breached EU hourly limits for nitrogen dioxide pollution which causes thousands of premature deaths each year.

At 7am on Friday, Putney High Street in West London breached annual limits for nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a toxic gas produced by diesel vehicles that has been linked to respiratory and heart problems.

Under EU rules, sites are only allowed to breach hourly limits of NO2 18 times in a year, but this morning Putney broke that limit for the 19th time. Chelsea and Kensington is expected to do the same later today.

Oxford Street has almost certainly also broken the limit already, having breached the hourly level a thousand times last year, but the monitoring station has malfunctioned.

Campaigners said it was “breathtaking” the breach had come so early, though Oxford Street breached the annual limit in two days in 2015.

The UK has been in breach of EU pollution limits for five years now and last spring was ordered by the Supreme Court to publish an action plan on how to tackle the major health crisis. That plan was published in December, but London, Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Cardiff and Edinburgh and other major cities will still be in breach of NO2 limits for at least another five years, despite the measures.

Andrew Grieve, an air quality analyst at King’s College London, which measures London’s air pollution levels, said the early breach was not extraordinary looking at data from previous years.

“It’s just [that] central London, and London as a whole, have a really huge problem with NO2.

Breaching so early in the year really just illustrates how big a problem it is,” he told the Guardian. He added that there were lots of similar roads to those that breached limits earlier but did not have monitors on them.

Campaigners and politicians blamed the government for the breach.

Alan Andrews, a lawyer for ClientEarth, an NGO which warned last month that the action plan was inadequate, said: “This is exactly why we are taking the government back to court. Its failure to deal with illegal levels of air pollution, which causes thousands of early deaths in London every year, is a scandal.”

Simon Birkett, founder and director of Clean Air in London, said: “It is breathtaking that toxic air pollution in London has breached the legal limit for a whole year within a few days.”

Labour MEP, Seb Dance, said the government should ‘put up or shut up’: “Receiving this dubious accolade has become a depressing annual event for London. NOx [which includes NO2] kills thousands of Londoners every year, but the government shows no inclination to take proper action.

“Tory Ministers say the right things, but in reality they have lobbied hard against ambitious new EU air quality targets and have let car manufacturers off the hook after the VW scandal. It’s time for the UK government to put up or shut up.”

A report commissioned by mayor Boris Johnson last year found that nearly 9,500 people die prematurely each year because of the capital’s dirty air. An ultra low emissions zone is due to begin in 2020 in London to help tackle the problem.

BMW investigates solar-harvesting material for windshield de-icing

New tech is one of the key drivers on the road to building a cleaner, brighter future.  Here's another great example of innovation that will have significant economic/environmental benefits.

BMW investigates solar-harvesting material for windshield de-icing

Matt Mace
 

Automotive giant BMW is exploring the potential of a sunlight-harvesting material with the ability to release heat on demand, as an efficient means of de-icing car windshields.

BMW are said to be impressed by the materials ability to release heat on demand

The carmaker is sponsoring researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who have developed a new material – in the form of a translucent polymer film – which absorbs solar energy which can be stored for days at a time before being released.

Produced by MIT professor Jeffrey Grossman, postdoc David Zhitomirsky, and graduate student Eugene Cho, the stored energy can be released by changing the chemical state, likely via a small jolt of electricity.

The report – published in the Journal of Advanced Energy Materials – states: “Photon energy is stored within the chemical conformations of molecules and is retrieved by a triggered release in the form of heat.

“Until now, such solar thermal fuels (STFs) have been largely unavailable in the solid-state, which would enable them to be utilized for a multitude of applications.”



According to professor Grossman, BMW are said to be impressed by the material's ability to release heat on demand. Grossman also claimed that they “did tests to show you could get enough heat to drop ice off a windshield."

The material's transparent film can be sandwiched between two glass layers and could provide BMW with a sustainable means of de-icing cars by taking a small electric jolt from the car to release the energy.

Professor Grossman has also claimed that the new polymer could significantly reduce the 30% driving range reductions that commonly occur in EVs due to devoting energy to heating and de-icing vehicles.

Currently the material, which has a slight yellow tinge, can release energy bursts of around 10 degrees Celsius above the surrounding temperature, which is sufficient to de-ice windshields. Researchers are working to raise the temperature to 20 degrees.

Organic photovoltaics

The drive for increased efficiency in solar is also occurring away from vehicles. Researchers from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have observed the production of organic solar cells- made from plastic bags, cling film and 3D printers.

While not as efficient as silicon solar PV, the newly developed panels are lightweight and flexible lowering both construction and transportation costs and emissions to install them.

The new organically produced cells can also be created in a variety of shapes and colours allowing for non-intrusive installations across an array of structures.

Solar energy capture and photovoltaic modifications form one part of edie’s green innovations list for 2016, which tracks the sustainable methods and models that are set to accelerate over the next 12 months.

Uganda Launches 1st Solar Bus in Africa

Don't we love taking our audience around the world to cover some of the best stories.  We just posted this week's report on Cuba, and follow that with the advent of a solar bus in Uganda.

Pay particular attention to the tremendous pride it seems the whole country took in introducing this innovation to Africa.  It would be great if the whole world equally celebrated new products, start-up co's and any steps that brought us closer to a more sustainable world.  Every step forward is significant.

We've been following the introduction of electric buses in different markets for 3 years.  They seem to perform well.  In Africa the power production of the solar panels would be staggering.

The savings of money and carbon quoted in the story are tremendous.  We hope to see Uganda accelerate their investment in electric buses to replace their old diesel fleet.  Not only would they create many job, clean the air, but their source of power, forever, would be local.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni launches the “Kayoola Solar Bus,” a first of its kind in Africa, as part of the USD 145 Million Kiira Motors Corporation’s investment for vehicle production commencement in 2018.

Congrats to Uganda for moving toward a more sustainable community and showing leadership when it comes to embracing positive change. This is something we'll be watching.

Kampala, Uganda 16th Feb 2016: Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni launched the “Kayoola Solar Bus” model bus that is a first of its kind in the continent, marking the entry of Uganda into the billion dollar global automotive economy.

“We are here to celebrate the Ugandan innovator with a mission to industrialize our nation,” said President Yoweri Museveni, referring to the Kiira Motors team that he commissioned in 2009, through the Presidential Initiative for Science and Technology Innovations.

“The Kayoola Solar Bus has the golden stamp of “MADE IN UGANDA. Our scientists have made us proud, “he added, as he reiterated the Ugandan government’s commitment to the funding required to see Kiira Motors Corporation start manufacturing as proposed in 2018 and establish a sustainable automotive industry in Uganda.

“Uganda is now ready to industrialize. The energy is ready; the infrastructure is ready; the economy is ready; and most important of all, our people are ready. This model bus you see in front of us today is a symbol of our capabilities “.He further stated that the project will create over 12,000 Jobs in the capital expenditure phase and over 2,000 in the operational expenditure phase.

The USD 145 million budget will be used over a period of 5 years (2016 – 2021) to develop key infrastructure at the Uganda Investment Authority’s Jinja Industrial and Business Park that will host the Kiira Motor Corporation, and a research and development program that will equip over 200 key personnel with global skills and exposure required for this visionary project.

The Kayoola Solar Bus, is critical to the achievement of Uganda’s Vision 2040;”A Transformed Ugandan Society, From a Peasant to a Modern and Prosperous Country within 30 Years”. Within the vision, is the National Development Plan II, which seeks to strengthen Uganda’s competitiveness for sustainable wealth creation, employment and inclusive growth, with an emphasis on science, technological Innovation and industrialization.

The ultimate goal is to establish Kiira Motors Corporation as the first Automotive Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) in East and Central Africa producing pick-ups, SUVs, Sedans, light & medium duty trucks and buses.

Speaking during the launch, Kiira Motors Corporation CEO Paul Isaac Musasizi, described the Kayoola Solar Bus development as “An East African Affair”, as he listed the input of Kenyan glass suppliers and experts who manufactured and fitted the glass work. He commended the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), as one of the supporting regional initiatives, that will be used to transport raw materials and finished goods between Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and South Sudan.

Designed as a 35-seater electric solar bus with zero tailpipe emissions, the Kayoola Solar Bus has a powertrain architecture based on two battery banks .The primary battery bank supplies electrical energy to the propulsion motor while the secondary power bank is available for charging, either in real time using the onboard solar charging system or the plug-in charger system. The solar panels are mounted on the roof, taking full advantage of Uganda’s exceptional position at the Equator. The primary and secondary roles are transient from a physical perspective of the electrical installations.

“Beyond local consumption which is in excess of 45,000 vehicles that are imported into Uganda every year, the Kayoola Solar Bus will be exported to markets as far as China, who have a shortfall supply of up to 2 million vehicles per year. “Iron ore deposits, estimated to be over 260 million metric tons and oil deposits in Uganda will be a key source of raw material for the automotive industry in Uganda, “he further explained.

“The savings expected per 100km using the Kayoola Solar Bus, compared to the conventional diesel powered buses is expected to be 63%, providing a lower cost mass transportation solution as well as assuring profitability when in service,” he concluded as he invited President Museveni to officially launch the model bus and take a ride on the bus.

- See more at: http://www.renewablenow.biz/sustainable-mass-tranit.html#sthash.7tMpAiuH.dpuf

Can Cuba be a Model for Sustainability?/From our main network site: Renewable Now.biz

Lot of attention, at least here in the US, being paid right now to Cuba.  We think that is a good thing.

Today we ran this story with this question.  This article would suggest the answer is a resounding "yes".  Let us know what you think.   More info from the week's update coming today.

In this week’s address from the White House, President Obama discussed his upcoming trip to Cuba, a visit that will further advance the progress the United States has made since he announced the new chapter. We’re wondering if there is going to be any discussion on Climate Change and an overall collaboration between the two countries to help advance overall effort in sustainability during his visit. To that extent, we wanted see where Cuba stands with sustainability in its past, present and future as we look at what could be a promising door that is about to open.

According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report in 2006 Cuba was the only country in the world to reach a sustainable development, because the country covers their present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Cuba demonstrates and makes it possible to imagine future radical possibilities that can be used to analyze and challenge the unsustainable paradigm that presently dominates the world. Cuba is a “real world” socialist country that since the 1990s has had a fundamentally different relationship with the environment than capitalist and past “socialist” countries.

Now, with relations between the United States and Cuba defrosting and investment interest building for the island in the U.S. and beyond, Cuba is at a crossroads.

Will its tropical coastlines soon be home to towering cruise ships and sprawling resorts, or is there a more sustainable way forward for a nation that cares deeply about its unique natural heritage? Many Cubans think there is, and we agree.

Cuba’s approach to conservation and environmental protection is already a model for other Caribbean nations. The country is now positioned to be a regional model also for sustainable economic development.

By scaling up its small and exclusive ecotourism industry, Cuba can stimulate investment and create jobs, while preserving the coral reefs and big fish that make it one of the world’s most special places.

Emerging ecotourism industry points the way

Today, Cuba’s pristine Jardines de la Reina National Marine Park – Gardens of the Queen – is home to a sustainable, but small, tourism enterprise that provides badly needed economic impetus for small coastal communities.

Nearly one-quarter of the families in Jucaro – the small fishing village from which trips to the Gardens depart – already have a source of income directly related to the largest marine protected area in the Caribbean.

The current ecotourism operation in the Gardens is tiny still; only 1,500 visitors per year are granted access to this world-class treasure.

But the industry also has a tiny spatial and ecological footprint, which means it could be replicated at broader scales across Cuba’s two southern archipelagos, and become an economic and ecological centerpiece for broader development plans for the region.

There are, of course, challenges associated with building out the ecotourism industry in the Gardens of the Queen, like elsewhere.

Fragile ecosystems and remote natural areas can only sustain a certain amount of infrastructure to accommodate new visitors. A careful assessment of potential environmental impacts, in accordance with existing Cuban law, should precede and guide any new tourism development.

If such precautions are not taken, these special places will disappear along with the tourists who loved them. But we feel hopeful Cuba will choose the right path, because the Cuban people know they sit atop a coral treasure box.

Cuba took bold action to protect reefs

Cuba’s coast is often portrayed as a place frozen in time – a selling point to tourists willing to pay a premium for a unique experience. Of course, there’s more to the story.

The people of Cuba have chosen to protect wide swaths of their most valuable habitats – ocean and land alike – in a national network of parks and other protected areas.

For marine waters and ecosystems, the goal is to eventually protect an astonishing 25 percent of Cuba’s shallow-water area, with a focus on four island arcs each the size of the Florida Keys.

Today, the Gardens of the Queen is among just a few places in the Western Hemisphere where you can still see dense stands of elkhorn corals. They are reminiscent of the reefs that existed in Florida in the 1960s and elsewhere before disease wiped most of them from the map.

The Gardens also boasts many species of sharks – Caribbean reef, silky, lemon, nurse, whale sharks and more – along with large numbers of big groupers, snappers and other reef fishes.

These waters are special in their own right, but they’re also tightly linked to the health of coral reefs in the United States, Mexico, the Bahamas and the rest of the broader West Central Atlantic.

If and when Cuba matches up the ecological values of different areas in the region with their highest and best economic uses, it can create a portfolio of approaches that can serve Cubans – and those of us down-current from Cuba – now and in the future.

Article sources: EDF (Environmental Defense Fund)

- See more at: http://www.renewablenow.biz/environmental-getaways.html#sthash.MDB02P3r.dpuf

Is this sunny state trying to kill solar power?

This is always a very interesting economic argument.  Two camps:  One feel renewables are over supported by government, and want to see many of the incentives dropped;  the other feels as though it is simply utility companies flexing their muscle with regulators and refusing to give up market share.

It is a complex issue as the true cost of fossil fuel, including government support of their R & D and accelerated depreciation bonuses, along with the health cost of carbon should be reflected in the pricing.  We think renewables are a good buy for the consumers and for communities, and we'd continue to push their expansion in every state.

Is this sunny state trying to kill solar power?

By Claudia Assis

Nevada has turned into a sunny battleground for the future of solar in the U.S., with regulators there moving to make solar power less attractive to homeowners and businesses and pitching utilities against solar-power companies.

SunRun Inc.  on Thursday said it was pulling out of Nevada, which the company said will result in “hundreds” of job losses. A day earlier, SolarCity Corp.  announced the same move, saying that about 550 jobs would be lost.

The Solar Energy Industries Association estimates that nearly 6,000 people in Nevada are employed in the solar industry. Besides affecting jobs, the new rules cut down on the savings that many homeowners count on from going solar.

“Three [public-utility] commissioners have decided that 18,000 Nevadans cannot get the same rates they signed up for,” Lisa Kershaw, Las Vegas resident

AdChoices

Just before Christmas, Nevada utility regulators approved higher fees and lower credits for solar-powered homes and businesses, although state regulators may review that decision at a meeting later this month.

“Three [public-utility] commissioners have decided that 18,000 Nevadans cannot get the same rates they signed up for,” said Lisa Kershaw, a Las Vegas resident, who had a leased rooftop solar array connected in June and saw her July bill dwindle to about $120 from about $270 in previous years.

Kershaw doesn’t know yet how much more she’d have to pay if the new rules remain in place.

“I haven’t done that math yet, I was just so outraged,” she said. Las Vegas residents can count on having a sunny day 85% of the time, according to the National Weather Service.

Nevada “will continue to support the renewable energy industry” and assist laid-off workers, Gov. Brian Sandoval said in a statement Wednesday after SolarCity’s announcement. 

A little-understood billing mechanism called net metering is at the heart of the Nevada controversy.

Net metering means that residential and commercial solar customers are billed for their “net” energy consumption. They are allowed to send back to the grid the electricity their solar arrays generate when the supply outstrips demand -- such as during daytime hours, in the case of a home -- and take power from the grid when demand may exceed the system’s output -- such as at nighttime when all the lights are on, or during a cloudy spell.

It’s a system usually based on power-bill credits. How that quid-pro-quo works, varies from state to state and from utility to utility. In Nevada, the utility regulators have decided to pay lower, wholesale prices for that surplus power, not the higher, retail prices they had been paying.

California utility regulators evaluated a similar proposal, but decided against major changes. In Hawaii, regulators approved lower net metering rates, but not higher fees for the most part. Arizona and Wisconsin have imposed higher monthly surcharges for solar customers.

More worrying in Nevada’s case, however, is that regulators made no provision to grandfather in existing customers, said Shayle Kann, a senior vice president at GTM Research, a green-energy consulting firm.

Solar is by nature a long-term investment, since projects last 20 to 30 years or more, and prospective customers want “some degree of certainty regarding the regime under which their solar project will function,” Kann said. That’s crucial to ensure customers aren’t taken by surprise and that financing remains available for new solar projects, he said.

It’s hard to say what the implications are for the broader U.S. solar market, Kann said. Each state has its own web of regulations, but the decision “certainly puts Nevada on the map as the major solar state with the most drastic solar compensation revision, and you can imagine utilities and regulators in other states at least taking notice,” Kann said.

Utilities argue that they must still work and spend money on the infrastructure—workers, grid upkeep, transmission lines and power plants—that are needed for steady, reliable power supply to all, yet they are starting to see less revenue as more customers go solar.

Nevada legislators directed the state’s public-utilities commission “to identify and eliminate any unreasonable shifts in costs from net metering customers to other customers,” the Nevada PUC said in a statement before their decision. The new rules would be implemented over four years.

First Drive: Chevrolet Bolt Is A Shocker That Might Convince You To Buy An Electric Car

One of the cars we profiled on the radio side by talking to GM's design team.  We hope you will consider hybrid/EV for your next car.

First Drive: Chevrolet Bolt Is A Shocker That Might Convince You To Buy An Electric Car

by Joann Muller

The 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV (Photo by Steve Fecht for Chevrolet)

General Motors Wednesday introduced the Chevrolet Bolt, the first long-range, plug-in electric car that real people can afford to drive.

Priced around $30,000 (after government rebates), the five-passenger Bolt has an electric range of around 200 miles, more than enough for families to use as their daily driver without fear of running out of juice. Most people would never need to recharge anywhere but home. But if you do, you can refill the battery to 80 percent of capacity in about 30 minutes.

I got an opportunity to drive an early production version Wednesday morning, before its official debut at CES, the huge consumer electronics show in Las Vegas, and it’s fair to say the Bolt exceeded my expectations. By a lot.It’s peppy and responsive as you’d expect an electric car to be, and handles corners like a little rally car. Braking feels, well, normal, which is somewhat unique for an electric car. In stop-and-go traffic, you don’t even need to use the brake. Shift into low and it’s capable of one-pedal driving. Lift your foot off the accelerator and it stops. Touch the pedal again and you’re off.

The Bolt is cute – it’s designed as a small crossover SUV – but there’s an incredible amount of space inside, thanks to the design of the flat battery pack mounted beneath the floor and thin, sculpted front seats that give rear passengers extra leg room. Even a six-foot-two journalist who climbed in the back had plenty of head- and legroom. Families would have no trouble buckling three car seats in the back.

In the front, a “floating” instrument panel with a huge 10.2-inch-diagonal touch screen provides more knee space for the driver and front passenger and makes the car feel wider. And there are many clever storage spaces, including a deep well under a sliding armrest for a tablet device.