Ontario’s Premier, Dalton McGuinty, has directed the Ontario Power Authority and the Ontario Energy Board to prepare a standard offer approach by the end of the year for distributed generation projects under 10MW. The new rules will be designed to encourage homeowners, farmers, schools and community co-ops to build renewable energy systems and sell excess clean electricity back to the grid at standardized prices.
The multi-year legislative effort to establish the nation’s most agressive solar power initiative was killed in committee on the last day of California’s legislative session. Early, broadbased support for 3,000 MW of new photovoltaic capacity and bi-partisan votes wasn’t enough to overcome some sensitive last-minute amendments to the original proposal.
The Oregon Department of Energy (ODE), in an effort to help local and county governments, has drafted a model ordinance for siting energy projects that are not subject to state-level review. Although still a work in progress, the model ordinance’s concepts could serve the interests of cities and counties nationwide.
A new report from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance offers a scathing critique of a 2005 study by biofuels critics, Professors David Pimentel and Tad Patzek. David Morris, ILSR’s vice president and author of the study, The Carbohydrate Economy, Biofuels and the Net Energy Debate, stresses that “A carefully designed biofuels strategy may be the answer not only to our energy problems but to another global dilemma as well: the plight of agriculture.”
More than a dozen states along with New York City have banned together and filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Energy for falling 6-13 years behind in adopting efficiency standards that were mandated by Congress.
The suit was filed September 7, 2005, and is being led by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. The suit maintains that DOE has failed to set new energy standards for nearly two dozen common appliances.
In some of the first research to examine the effectiveness of buy-local campaigns, surveys in two Philadelphia neighborhoods, conducted at the end of a month-long pilot Buy Local Philly program, found that one in six people were aware of the initiative. Of those, 40 percent said they had been motivated to patronize an independent business as a result.… Read More
In an ironic turn of events, Wal-Mart has called on the British government to intervene in the growing market dominance of rival retailer Tesco. … Read More
Airline deregulation wasn’t cure-all by David Morris Originally published in Minneapolis Star Tribune, August 28, 2005 Two weeks ago I was searching online for a nonstop flight from Albany, N.Y., to Washington, D.C. United’s flight was full, but a direct flight was available from a company called Independence Air, and it was $100 cheaper. I was … Read More
David Morris, Vice-President of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance gives a presentation on energy and biofuels to the National Press Club on August 23, 2005.… Read More
