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California is reconsidering landmark consumer protections and energy conservation measures that were written into residential utility bills during the state’s 2000-2001 energy crisis.

A project that would have included a solar power station and a million-square-foot solar panel factory a few miles from the California state line won’t be built, its backers announced last month. The $5 billion, Chinese-backed ENN Mojave Energy project at the southernmost corner of Nevada couldn’t find utilities that wanted to buy its power, either in Nevada or across the line in California.

When wind or solar energy displace conventional generation, the reduction in emissions varies dramatically across the United States. Although the Southwest has the greatest solar resource, a solar panel in New Jersey displaces significantly more sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter than a panel in Arizona, resulting in 15 times more health and environmental benefits. A wind turbine in West Virginia displaces twice as much carbon dioxide as the same turbine in California.

An effort is under way in the Capitol to require local governments to perform comprehensive economic impact studies of so-called “superstores” before approving the projects.

Starting in the 1970s California’s residential electricity consumption per capita stopped increasing, while other states’ electricity use continued to grow steadily. Similar patterns can be seen in non-electric energy, industry, and transportation. What accounts for California’s apparent energy savings?

Though the Obama administration has recently renewed its commitment to approve more wind facilities on public lands as part of the Climate Action Plan it released this week, a new study indicates that wind development in California has far fewer benefits than it does elsewhere in the United States.

Company: Southern California EdisonCA Net Job Gain/Loss: -600Reason: LayoffCity/Region Losing Jobs: San Clemente, CANotes: Resulting from shut down of San Onofre nuclear power plant

With Friday’s cancellation of one of the biggest solar projects proposed for the California desert, the utility-scale solar boom of 2009 continues to falter. And analysts deep in the energy industry are taking notice.

The developer of a huge proposed solar power project that was once slated to cover 12.5 square miles of still-intact desert habitat has walked away from the idea, according to documents released by the California Energy Commission (CEC). The Calico Solar Project, proposed for land north of Interstate 40 between the hamlets of Ludlow and Newberry Springs, attracted opposition even from die-hard supporters of desert solar projects.

CA Net Job Gain/Loss: 200Reason: Expand, From Out of StateCity/Region Losing Jobs: Batavia, ILCity/Region Gaining Jobs: Moreno Valley, CANotes: Planned regional HQ and warehouse complex for national discount grocery chain

Company: AlbertsonsCA Net Job Gain/Loss: -2500Reason: LayoffCity/Region Losing Jobs: Southern California areaNotes: Job losses from 247 store locations throughout Southern California

The goal of this report is to detail what is needed for California’s transportation system and how we can pay for it.

SACRAMENTO — California lawmakers are pushing an alternative to Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to use new revenue generated by Proposition 39, which changed the corporate tax code when voters approved it in November.

Up and down the Atlantic coast, US ports are abuzz. Dredging machines, tunnel excavators, and highway pavers from Miami to New York are preparing metropolitan economies and their ports for a newly expanded Panama Canal. As the thinking goes, an expanded Canal promises bigger ships, bigger cargo loads–and each metro wants a piece of the bigger business.

The state’s vast transportation system received a major infusion of cash, as the California Transportation Commission (CTC) allocated $878 million in funding to 114 projects that will support job growth, alleviate traffic delays and repair aging roads and bridges.