Solar Leaderboard (solarleaderboard.com) published its January 2017 Solar Index report and initial estimates indicate that installation activity declined by approximately 40% year over year. The Solar Index tracks permits issued in select areas and is meant to be an indicator for activity across the state.
Officials at The Utility Reform Network (TURN), a consumer advocacy group that monitors the state’s utilities and the CPUC, said the proposals represent “laudable goals” but the group doesn’t like the prospect of customers getting billed for projects that may not necessarily lead to “clear and direct benefits” to all ratepayers, especially in low-income communities.
The funds, to be collected from ratepayers over a five-year period, would increase customers’ electricity bills by up to 0.5 percent. The money would support several programs to promote electric vehicle transportation . . .
The investment will bring electric motor and gearbox component production lines for the Model 3 to the Reno-based facility, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval said Tuesday during his State of the State speech, per Fortune. The move will add 550 new jobs at the Gigafactory.
Western states run by Democrats are aiming to use government responses to climate change as the basis for a new economic pitch to show voters the party can manage a transitioning economy.
Her loan is part of a booming corner of the lending industry called Property Assessed Clean Energy, or PACE. Such loans, set up by local governments across the U.S., are designed to encourage homeowners to buy energy-efficient solar panels, window insulation and air-conditioning units. . . Creditworthiness matters little to lenders, because loans are based on the value of a homeowner’s property. PACE loans typically require no down payment, and the debt is added to property-tax bills as an assessment. Ms. White’s annual property taxes soared to $6,500 from $1,215.
Demand for small and midsize passenger cars has collapsed amid a sustained run of cheap fuel, pushing buyers to gravitate toward sport utilities, crossover wagons and pickups. . . Barclays’s Mr. Johnson estimates a “sedan recession” will have companies scrambling to cut about 2 million units of car production annually to make way for more SUVs and crossovers. This trend extends beyond the domestics—last spring, Toyota Motor Corp. retooled a cars-only assembly line at a plant in Princeton, Ind., to be able to build the Highlander SUV, helping notch its best sales month ever.
Five years after arriving in San Diego as an exciting new alternative to car ownership and a weapon against climate change, car2go and its fleet of conspicuous blue-and-white Smart cars will vanish from local streets after today. . . San Diego was billed as a key milestone for car2go, the first North American city where the company would use all electric cars instead of gas-powered vehicles.
Carbon emissions from U.S energy sources in 2016 are expected to be the lowest in nearly 25 years, according to an analysis from the U.S. Department of Energy. . . Most of the increase in renewable power came from wind energy, but hydroelectric power also increased as drought conditions lessened on the West Coast.
“Lithium is a pretty abundant element naturally,” Jamie Speirs, a fellow in energy analysis and policy at Imperial College London, told CNBC via telephone. But, though worldwide production of the metal is increasing year on year, he detailed that “the current supply chain will not match up with lithium demand by, say, 2040.” . . . “China has a stranglehold on lithium production,” Speirs said. “Well organised and professionally run mining companies” make this enterprise profitable, he added.
“Arizona welcomes Uber self-driving cars with open arms and wide open roads. While California puts the brakes on innovation and change with more bureaucracy and more regulation, Arizona is paving the way for new technology and new businesses,” said Gov. Ducey.
The California State Department of Justice has joined the chorus of regulators calling for Uber to halt its self-driving car program in San Francisco, with an order from the Attorney General’s office saying it will seek an injunction to force a halt.
While we support solar power, we are both alarmed by growing concerns about the rooftop solar industry using unscrupulous business practices to reel in new customers. This is something we are seeing in cities and towns all across the nation. In fact, the Attorneys Generals of Massachusetts, Mississippi and other four states have taken actions to warn consumers about scams in the rooftop solar business.
The new monthly charge and interconnection fee kick in whenever the growing amount of rooftop solar power in a utility’s territory reaches a specific threshold, equal to 5 percent of the utility’s peak electricity demand. San Diego Gas and Electric Co. was the first utility to hit that mark, reaching it in June.
California, by far the nation’s leader in use of solar, led the expansion and became the first state to install 1 gigawatt of solar power in a single quarter, according to the Solar Energy Industries Assn.