STEPHEN LACEY, - Greentechgrid:
Stephan: This is a really interesting twist in the solar trend. Personally I would prefer a mix of regional and local wind and solar, rather than a big centralized net so I see this as good news.
Click through to see pictures and charts that are very useful.
When Wes Kennedy started engineering solar systems in the mid-1990s, he pretty much had one integration option: batteries.
At that time, Kennedy designed and installed systems for Jade Mountain, a Colorado-based distributed energy retailer that eventually merged with Real Goods Solar. With very little policy support from utilities, the off-grid market was the dominant driver of business in the U.S. and globally. The vast majority of PV was paired with lead-acid batteries and sold to people who wanted to disconnect from the grid, or who had no other choice for electricity.
That’s the way it was from the 1970s onward for a couple of decades, until a steady march of state-level policies and interconnection laws made tying solar into the grid more attractive. In typical first-mover fashion, California offered some of the first U.S. incentives for solar systems connected to utility wires in 1996. A handful of other states followed, extending net metering to solar and creating state rebate programs.
At that time, Germany and Japan also beefed up promotion laws, creating a strong burst of activity for the grid-tied market globally. In 1997, nearly two-thirds of worldwide solar deployment was off-grid. Three years later, grid-tied installations outpaced off-grid installations globally for the […]
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Stephan: If ever there was a cautionary tale, this is it. These are the stories that will increasingly dominate our news as the century goes on.
CNN’s FAREED ZAKARIA GPS features an interview with Anote Tong, President of Kiribati. Tong speaks with Fareed about how climate change is critically effecting the island nation, and what role America plays in the debate.
On the subject of America’s role in the climate change debate, Tong said to Fareed, “Let me make the point that whatever is agreed within the United States today, with China, it will not have a bearing on our future, because already, it’s too late for us. And so we are that canary. But hopefully, that experience will send a very strong message that we might be on the front line today, but others will be on the front line next – and the next and the next.”
TRANSCRIPT:
FAREED ZAKARIA, HOST, GPS: President Obama’s ambitious cap on carbon emissions sparked a lot of debate this week, but for another country, the climate change debate is more than words and policies, it is a matter, literally, of survival. Kiribati, an island nation in the Pacific Ocean that 100,000 people call home, is the canary in the coal mine. It could be uninhabitable just 30 years from now thanks to rising sea level. Understand that […]
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ANNA STAVER, - Statesman Journal (Oregon)
Stephan: I think this will pass in November. And California will follow. At that point the entire chain of Western states from our Southern to Northern borders will have ended prohibition. The Northeastern states will be next. Red value states will be last, if they change at all. Many of the counties in those states still have issues about alcohol let alone marijuana. This is going to become another wedge issue increasing the Great Schism Trend. And I think it is going to be a factor in interstate migration.
Supporters of a ballot measure aimed at legalizing recreational marijuana in Oregon have collected more than enough signatures to qualify for November’s ballot.
“We’re planning to continue signatures until we feel like we have a big enough margin,” said Peter Zuckerman, spokesman for New Approach Oregon.
The group has collected more than 100,000 signatures; it needs 87,213 valid names from registered voters by July 3. New Approach Oregon, like most campaigns, wants a 25 to 30 percent buffer to account for invalid signatures.
The initiative would ask Oregonians whether they want marijuana to become legal for adults 21 and older and to have the Oregon Liquor Control Commission regulate cannabis much like it does with alcohol. A different group failed to pass a legalization initiative in 2012.
More than $620,000 has been spent on the legalization effort in Oregon so far, according to online records from the Secretary of State’s Office.
If passed, the new law would allow a person to possess up to eight ounces and to grow up to four plants. Marijuana would be taxed at $35 an ounce and $5 per plant.
Oregon voters legalized medical marijuana in 1998 for patients with certain medical conditions, such as cancer or severe pain. The Beaver […]
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LOIS BECKETT, Reporter - ProPublica
Stephan: Here is an excellent article on what the industry of data looks like. It provides a serious assessment of what an individual faces. It should give every one of us pause. Is this the way we want to live?
We’ve spent a lot of time this past year trying to understand how the National Security Agency gathers and stores information about ordinary people. But there’s also a thriving public marketfor data on individual Americans-especially data about the things we buy and might want to buy.
Consumer data companies are scooping up huge amountsof consumer information about people around the world and selling it, providing marketers details about whether you’re pregnant or divorced or trying to lose weight, about how rich you are and what kinds of cars you drive. But many people still don’t know data brokers exist.
The Federal Trade Commission is pushing the companies to give consumers more information and control over what happens to their data. The White House released a report this May outlining concerns that these detailed consumer profiles might lead to race or income-based discrimination-what the White House called “digital redlining.”
It’s very hard to tell who is collecting or sharing your data-or what kinds of information companies are collecting. Early this year, Office Max sent a letter to a grieving father addressed to his name, followed by “daughter killed in car crash.”
Here’s a look at what we know-and what we don’t-about the consumer data industry.
How […]
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MARK GONGLOFF, - The Huffington Post
Stephan: I cannot tell you how painful I find these stories. Not only for the people who are made to suffer needlessly. I dislike having my country be second class over and over. It is both absurd and embarrassing. Yet it is the truth as this report, yet again, spells out.
America is treating its low-wage workers so badly that it’s starting to get shamed by the rest of the world.
The International Monetary Fund on Monday cut its forecast for U.S. economic growth this year, warned of sluggish growth for years to come, and made a bunch of suggestions for getting America’s economic house in order — including raising the abysmally low federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.
“[G]iven its current low level (compared both to U.S. history and international standards), the minimum wage should be increased,” the global financial-stability group wrote in its annual assessment of state of the U.S. economy. “This would help raise incomes for millions of working poor and (help) ensure a meaningful increase in after-tax earnings for the nation’s poorest households.”
The IMF didn’t say how much it thought the minimum wage should be, exactly. President Barack Obama has proposed an increase to $10.10 an hour. If the minimum wage had been adjusted for inflation regularly, it would be at least $10.68, according to the National Employment Law Project. Many fast-food workers would prefer $15 an hour. If wage floors had been raised to keep up with productivity, then they would be closer to $22 an hour.
However […]
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