An intense political battle is playing out over rooftop solar power in Nevada, the latest skirmish in an ongoing war between power utilities and a species many of them have recently encountered for the first time ever: competitors.
At issue in Nevada, as in many of these fights, is a policy known as “net metering.” The details differ from place to place, but the basic idea is simple: utilities have to buy rooftop solar power from customers who produce it, at current retail electric rates. If a customer generates as much power as he consumes, he can zero out his utility bill. Currently, 44 states and Washington, DC, have mandatory net metering, and utilities in three of the remaining states allow some form of it.
The program has been extremely popular in Nevada, where it’s helped establish a thriving solar industry. According to the Solar Foundation, solar businesses employed 5,900 Nevadans in 2014 — more solar employees […]
GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA — Residents of the Sunshine State are finding that harnessing Florida’s abundant solar power is no simple task.
With its bounty of sunny days, Florida ranks third in the nation in rooftop solar energy potential but 13th in the amount of solar energy generated, according to industry estimates.
The industry views Florida as a […]
Royal Dutch Shell has been accused of pursuing a strategy that would lead to potentially catastrophic climate change after an internal document acknowledged a global temperature rise of 4C, twice the level considered safe for the planet.
A paper used for guiding future business planning at the Anglo-Dutch multinational assumes that carbon dioxide emissions will fail to limit temperature increases to 2C, the internationally agreed threshold to prevent widespread flooding, famine and desertification
Instead, the New Lens Scenarios document refers to a forecast by the independent International Energy Agency (IEA) that points to a temperature rise of up to 4C in the short term, rising later to 6C.
The revelations come ahead of the annual general meeting of Shell shareholders in the Netherlands on Tuesday, where the group has accepted […]