[Source: Bloomberg] Democratic lawmakers are quietly making plans to use hearings and investigations to focus attention on the Trump administration’s environmental agenda if they win control of the House of Representatives. Because they are less likely to capture the Senate, Democrats would have limited opportunities to enact laws. But they can assert themselves in the Read More…
Tag: renewable energy
Is micromanagement of emissions beneficial to the California economy?
[Source: foxandhoundsdaily.com] Looking back, California’s flagship climate change policy Assembly Bill 32, the Global Warming Initiative was signed into law in 2006 when California was a miniscule contributor to the world’s greenhouse gases. Statistically, the World is generating about 46,000 million metric tons of GHG’s, while California has been generating about 440 million metric tons, Read More…
California revives 100-percent carbon-free energy bill
[Source: Associated Press] California lawmakers on Tuesday revived a long-stalled proposal to set a goal of generating 100 percent of the state’s energy from carbon-free sources. With other controversial and high-stakes energy legislation also moving forward, California lawmakers face an array of decisions with vast implications for the Western energy grid, the future of renewable Read More…
Look in the mirror for climate change
[Source: Fox & Hounds/ Ronald Stein, P.E.] Until the first steam locomotives were invented in the early 19th Century, man could travel as far as he could walk or as far as his horse would take him. Life was dirty, smelly, difficult – and short. Life expectancy was short and human misery was assured. There Read More…
Proposed California solar mandate could add $10,500 to cost of a house
[Source: San Francisco Chronicle] California may soon become the first state in the nation to require that virtually every new home be equipped with solar panels. The California Energy Commission on Wednesday is expected to mandate solar arrays on almost all new single-family houses built after Jan. 1, 2020, as part of the state’s fight Read More…
California warns of a second energy crisis
[Source: Bloomberg] California’s chief utility regulator is warning that the state could find itself in the throes of another energy crisis if it doesn’t address the droves of customers defecting from utilities. The state is going to find it increasingly difficult to ensure it has enough electricity to keep the lights on as more Californians Read More…
Stunning drops in solar, wind costs mean economic case for coal, gas is ‘crumbling’
[Source: Think Progress] Prices for solar, wind, and battery storage are dropping so rapidly that renewables are increasingly squeezing out all forms of fossil fuel power, including natural gas. The cost of new solar plants dropped 20 percent over the past 12 months, while onshore wind prices dropped 12 percent, according to the latest Bloomberg Read More…
Why greenhouse gases are increasing — again
[Source: The Mercury News] After three years of barely budging, fossil fuel emissions are once again climbing, according to new Stanford-led analyses. Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from human activities were nearly flat between 2014 and 2106, despite growth in the global economy, reports the Global Carbon Project, an international team chaired by Read More…
California lawmaker wants to ban gas car sales after 2040
[Source: Capitol Alert] Sales of new gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles would be banned in California after 2040 under a bill that Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, plans to introduce. France and the United Kingdom are doing it. So is India. And now one lawmaker would like California to follow their lead in phasing out gasoline- Read More…