Enabling Municipal Energy Financing – Colorado
Colorado’s municipal finance law allows for property-tax based public financing of renewable energy and energy efficiency for all cities and counties.
HB 08-1350 – May 2008
“Buy Local” Helps Main Street Merchants and Other Independents Survive Recession
A growing body of evidence suggests that public enthusiasm for all things local and independent is on the rise, providing locally owned businesses with a measure of insulation from the worst effects of the recession, even as some of their biggest competitors teeter and collapse.… Read More
Obama Administration’s Data.gov Aims for Transparency
The Federal Government collects a lot of information that impacts all of our lives – from information about pollution to disease outbreaks to how our money is spent. Data.gov may be a model for how any government can make public information more accessible to citizens.
Wired.com interviewed the U.S. government’s first CIO (Chief Information Officer) – Vivek Kundra to understand his thoughts on how to accomplish this task. One of the main issues was making raw data available and letting users add tags to classify it.
Grassroots Stimulus Boosts Local Economies
Communities devise creative strategies to protect local businesses from the worst of the recession.… Read More
How the Obama Administration Dismantled the Public Interest Provisions of the Broadband Stimulus
ILSR’s MuniNetworks.org has published a story explaining how the Obama Administration ignored Congress to favor private companies over public networks when distributing the broadband stimulus.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which is now accepting applications for its broadband stimulus program, has crafted rules that benefit private companies at the expense of the public interest.
Municipal Property Tax Financing for Solar Energy and Efficiency – Sonoma County, CA
In March 2009, Sonoma County became the first county in California to pursue public financing of distributed solar energy and energy efficiency improvements under AB 811… Read More
Starbucks Goes Stealth with Unbranded, “Local” Cafes
In one of the more brazen attempts by a corporation to disguise itself as a locally owned business, Starbucks is un-branding at least three of it Seattle outlets. … Read More
Tax-based incentives are the enemy of sustainable renewable energy development
A reliance on tax-based incentives for renewable energy industry has led to boom-and-bust cycles for years, the Atlantic explains. The New Rules Project has several suggestions for solving this system of Byzantine incentives.… Read More