A year-over-year review by the Union-Tribune of electricity rate charges by the three investor-owned utilities shows SDG&E’s rates are not only higher than their cohorts but they have also been rising faster. Residential baseline rates during the summer months from June 1 through Oct. 1 have gone up 80.7 percent since January 2014. . . […]
It has become raison d’etre to blame President Trump for everything wrong with California; including higher gasoline prices plaguing our state and contributing to a slowing statewide GDP. But in today’s world that is connected via air, land, sea and increasingly cyberspace; globalization and policies knit countries and states together like never before. Many times […]
If you care about global warming, you must like wind power, right? But what if wind power itself ends up contributing to a warmer climate? That appears to be the case, according to a new study.
The advocacy and research group, Coalswarm, which claims to have information on 13,000 existing and proposed coal plants worldwide via its Global Coal Plant Tracker, says satellite imagery shows China is set to add 259 GW of new coal-fired capacity to its grid. In a new report, Coalswarm says the central government in Beijing transferred […]
Authors of a new UN climate report say it is “extremely improbable” that governments across the globe will be able to stop global warming beyond the 1.5C target, the Guardian reported. According to the report, the global population would need to take dramatic action in terms of how it generates energy, and grows food, among […]
U.S. Energy Information Administration releases its online analysis of 2017 energy-related carbon dioxide emissions today. It indicates U.S. carbon dioxide emissions from the consumption of fossil fuels were 5,142 million metric tons carbon dioxide in 2017, a decrease of 0.9 percent from the 2016 level. Energy-related carbon dioxide emissions have declined in seven of the […]
Gasoline prices are climbing toward $4 a gallon in Southern California, boosted in large part by a rise in worldwide crude oil prices. The average pump price for regular gas in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area stood at $3.736 a gallon Thursday, up nearly 60 cents, or 19%, from a year earlier, according to the […]
Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday set the stage for higher PG&E utility bills by signing legislation to ease the impacts from the shutdown of the Diablo Canyon facility, California’s last remaining nuclear power plant. San Francisco-based PG&E intends to phase out the reactors of its Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in San Luis Obispo County […]
The Sacramento Municipal Utility District will launch a new rate system next month that charges residential users higher rates between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. — and lower rates at other times. SMUD, which provides electricity to more than a half-million residences in Sacramento County, has begun notifying some customers. The rate overhaul will phase […]
Had California and Germany invested $680 billion into new nuclear power plants instead of renewables like solar and wind farms, the two would already be generating 100% or more of their electricity from clean (low-emissions) energy sources, according to a new analysis by Environmental Progress. The analysis comes the day before California plays host to […]
California is not an island. Even if we are to succeed in achieving all of our ambitious climate and clean energy goals, we are but one small part of a global problem, with just 1.1 percent of the world’s total emissions coming from our state. If we are to stave off the worst impacts of […]
The state’s solar plants, for example, often pump out more electricity at midday than the grid needs. California still relies on natural gas power plants to supply electricity in the morning and evening, as the sun sets. But low wholesale electricity prices, caused in part by that daily flood of solar production, are making many […]
SB100 requires utilities to receive 50 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by the end of 2026. By Dec. 31, 2030, utilities would need to up that target to 60 percent. The bill passed the Senate 25-13 on Wednesday and the Assembly 44 to 33 on Tuesday. Achieving the bill’s goals, however, won’t be […]
Perhaps the most ignored fact in our energy-environment discussion is the non-stop evolution of fossil fuel technologies, energy sources that have now been somehow deemed Public Enemy #1, despite the fact that they supply over 80% of the energy used in the world’s richest economies with the healthiest people. While it’s indeed true that renewables […]
Germany, the nation that did more than any other to unleash the modern renewable-energy industry, is likely to fall short of its goals for reducing harmful carbon-dioxide emissions even after spending over 500 billion euros ($580 billion) by 2025 to overhaul its energy system. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government is grappling with the implications of failing […]