Ralph Vartabedian | LA Times/L.A. Now Link to article As California pushes forward on its ambitious goal to produce 50% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030, it will confront a wide range of potentially troubling economic, technical and political questions — though there remains strong support among public officials for the state’s climate […]
News Coverage
The western US grid is fragmented. Stitching it together is a no-brainer.
June 2, 2016
David Roberts | Vox Media Inc. / Vox.com Link to article The US electricity sector is a bit of a mess. The deregulation that swept through it in the 1990s and early 2000s was brought to a screeching halt by the Enron debacle. That left about half of US states and three-quarters of US ratepayers […]
Salton Sea geothermal: Cheaper than solar farms?
April 14, 2016
Sammy Roth | The Desert Sun Link to article Building more geothermal power plants by the Salton Sea could eventually save Californians hundreds of millions of dollars per year, according to a new report. The lake is home to one of the world’s most potent geothermal reservoirs, thanks to underground heat that brings salty water […]
Focus: California’s energy and water are in short supply
April 11, 2016
By Kurt Snibbe | OG Register Link to article California needs energy and water equally, and residents are being asked to cut back on both. The state is leading the nation in setting goals for increasing production of renewable-energy sources but has relied on natural gas for the bulk of its energy production. Image from […]
Amid Price Plunge, North American Oil and Gas Workers Seek Transition to Renewable Sector
April 3, 2016
By Candice Bernd, Truthout.com | Link to article Lliam Hildebrand says he had a moment of clarity during an apprenticeship at a steel-fabricating shop in Victoria, Canada. He was learning the metal-working skills he would need to become a boilermaker, to eventually move on to work on the many steel vessels — including furnaces, pipelines, […]
GUEST JUICE: State Regulators Must Level the Playing Field
March 7, 2016
By V. John White, California Current/cacurrent.com | Link to article The California Public Utilities Commission in 2013 and 2014 authorized Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric to buy power to meet local capacity requirements to fill the gap from the retirement of once-through-cooled power plants and the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station […]
High court hands FERC major victory in demand-response case
January 26, 2016
By Rod Kuckro and Ellen M. Gilmer, E&E reporters | Link to article Federal electricity regulators scored a huge win yesterday when the Supreme Court upheld a controversial rule aimed at encouraging energy conservation in wholesale power markets through a practice known as demand response. In a 6-2 opinion (No. 14-840), the high court […]
Why 2015 may be remembered as a transformative year for how we get energy
December 24, 2015
by Chris Mooney, The Washington Post | Link to article The United States is on track to shut down a record amount of coal-fired power plants in 2015. At the same time, it has installed a record amount of new solar energy capacity. The past year, in other words, hints at a historic transition for […]
Paris pact: Only a first step
December 15, 2015
by DanJacobson, Capitol Weekly | Link to article As the pixels settle on the agreement reached at COP 21 — the United Nations’ effort to stave off the worst impacts of global warming by getting countries to limit the man made pollution that accelerates — there is a lot to learn and a roadmap of […]
