PG&E said the increase is due to rate changes, effective Wednesday, to pay for higher wholesale energy purchase costs and for work to maintain and modernize the utility’s infrastructure.
San Francisco Bay Area hedge fund manager Tom Steyer on Monday launched a statewide campaign, aimed at prompting action by state lawmakers, to impose a new extraction tax on oil produced in California.
Today’s policies to combat climate change cost much more than the benefits they produce. Unfortunately, bad political choices often make these policies even less cost-effective.
A California Greenhouse Gas Inventory Spreadsheet (GHGIS) model was developed to explore the impact of combinations of state policies on state greenhouse gas (GHG) and regional criteria pollutant emissions. . . Results indicate that all three scenarios are able to meet the 2020 statewide GHG targets, and by 2030, statewide GHG emissions range from between 208 and 396 MtCO2/yr. However, none of the scenarios are able to meet the 2050 GHG target of 85 MtCO2/yr, with emissions ranging from 188 to 444 MtCO2/yr, so additional policies will need to be developed for California to meet this stringent future target.
Business associations have recently become so vocal about power costs that Italy’s economic development ministry is scrambling for new ideas. Among them: a proposal to issue bonds to help pay for the 12 billion euros a year that Italy spends on subsidies to the renewable energy industry and that ends up in everyone’s energy bill.
California will fall short of its goal to slash greenhouse gas emissions by midcentury unless it adopts aggressive policies to fight climate change, a new report says.
“U.S. Energy-related carbon dioxide emissions declined 3.8 percent in 2012. The 2012 downturn means that emissions are at their lowest level since 1994 and over 12 percent below the recent 2007 peak. After 1990, only the recession year of 2009 saw a larger percentage emissions decrease than 2012. Energy-related carbon dioxide emissions have declined in 5 out of the last 7 years.”
David Cameron has vowed to cut consumer bills by reining back several green energy initiatives in a move that will set him on a collision course with his Liberal Democrat coalition partners. Mr Cameron, who once declared “vote blue, go green,” has found himself on the back foot amid double-digit-percentage rises in household energy bills and a renewed political focus on the “cost of living”.
Welcome to SolarCity, the latest booming green company that has never recorded a profit. The startup’s stock price has soared by 600% since its IPO last December—it closed on Monday at $57 a share—and spiked after the company announced a couple of weeks ago that it expects business to grow by 70% to 90% next year. Yet the company, based in San Mateo, Calif., and specializing in deploying rooftop panels, ended the first six months this year $61 million in the red. Ordinarily, that sort of number might disconcert investors. But SolarCity’s business model is powered by government subsidies, which also fueled the 500% stock run-up and turn to profit this year of the electric-car maker Tesla. Steering both companies is Elon Musk.
This study evaluates the ratepayer impacts of the California net energy metering (NEM) program and fulfills the requirements of Assembly Bill (AB) 2514 (Bradford, 2012)1 and Commission Decision (D.) 12-05-036 to determine “who benefits, and who bears the economic burden, if any, of the net energy metering program,” by October 1, 2013.
Sacramento, Calif. — California state economic development director Kish Rajan today announced an effort to streamline the permitting process for zero emission vehicle fueling stations and significantly expand California’s hydrogen and electric vehicle capacity.
“Solar power itself is a good thing, but Germany’s pro-renewables policy has been a disaster. It has the absurd distinction of completing the trifecta of bad energy policy:
1. Bad for consumers
2. Bad for producers
3. Bad for the environment (yes, really; I’ll explain)
Pretty much the only people who benefit are affluent home-owners and solar panel installation companies. A rising tide of opposition and resentment is growing among the German press and public.”
“The U.S. is overtaking Russia as the world’s largest producer of oil and natural gas, a startling shift that is reshaping markets and eroding the clout of traditional energy-rich nations.
U.S. energy output has been surging in recent years, a comeback fueled by shale-rock formations of oil and natural gas that was unimaginable a decade ago. A Wall Street Journal analysis of global data shows that the U.S. is on track to pass Russia as the world’s largest producer of oil and gas combined this year—if it hasn’t already. “
“Between August 27 and September 5, Hoover’s Golden State Poll (a joint collaboration of the Hoover Institution and the research firm YouGov) surveyed 1,000 Californians on their confidence in California’s recovery – their job security and pocketbook choices (last October, a Hoover/YouGov survey sampled Californians’ attitudes toward state government and policy choices in Sacramento). . . . Twice as many Californians reported being worse-off financially (33%) than better off (17%) over the last year. . . . Among survey respondents who are currently employed, more than half (55%) said they weren’t confident in their ability to find another job in California within 6 months that pays as much as they are making now.”
The head of Germany’s largest utility has warned it will be years before Europe can hope to counter the US’s growing advantage in energy costs and predicts that the disparity will meanwhile lead heavy industry to abandon the continent.