Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have told federal regulators and plan to release additional guidance indicating that the senior lien status of PACE liens is not acceptable. This declaration comes despite recent articles highlighting the minimal impact of PACE liens on the lenders’ balance sheets, White House and DOE support for the program, and the 23 states who have enabled Property Assessed Clean Energy Financing.… Read More
A new study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) reinforces the findings of a 2009 report by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR). The ILSR report, Energy Self-Reliant States, concluded that all 50 states could generate at least 25 percent of their electricity needs from in-state renewable energy while 31 could generate over 100 percent. … Read More
On episode 24 of This Week in Energy, John Farrell discusses PACE, oil spills and smart grids with hosts Bob Tregilus and Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield.… Read More
A legislative proposal in Connecticut would cut their existing renewable portfolio standard nearly in half but prioritize in-state generation. Backers of the rollback say that renewable energy is mainly bought from outside the state to meet the current standard. The change in the RPS boosts financing tools for in-state power as part of the plan. One interesting quote, "we want projects, not simply percentages."
A coalition of utilities have announced their opposition to a series of 765-kilovolt transmission lines, more than double the capacity of the current 345-kilovolt lines. The lines are proposed as a way to send electricity from the Dakotas, Iowa and Minnesota to Chicago and points east. "If Iowa wants to build a transmission line for their energy, we have no objection. But Iowa or the Midwest should pay for it," said Ian Bowles, secretary of energy and environmental affairs in Massachusetts. New England states want to produce their own wind energy from offshore farms.… Read More
Five Midwest states (Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio) could get nearly all their electricity from wind, according to updated maps from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR). New data from Wind Powering America mean that 32 states could get all of their electricity from in-state resources, even more than initially revealed in ILSR’s ground-breaking report last fall, Energy Self-Reliant States. The revised estimates come from the National Renewable Energy Lab’s Wind Powering America project and are the first nationwide update since the early 1990s.… Read More
The Obama administration’s energy policy jumps the shark: why nuclear isa bad deal and carbon-captured coal is anything but clean. Senior Research John Farrell discusses this and the smarter strategy of a decentralized renewable energy future with KBOO host Bill Resnick.
The rules we make now will decide our energy future. Listen to the interview here.
In a truly groundbreaking move for the English-speaking world, Britain’s Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) has released a full suite of renewable energy tariffs that go into effect in April. Britain will become the first country in the world to offer a comprehensive system of tariffs for renewable heat, including tariffs for solar domestic hot water and ground-source heat pumps among others.
