How and Why Utilities Make Solar Look Expensive

Date: 11 Feb 2015 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

I’m visiting the wonderful folks from Sustainable Tucson in Arizona next week to talk about the opportunities that solar and clean energy offer their local economy. In preparation, I’m looking at their current monopoly electricity provider, Tucson Electric Power. Remarkably, the utility acquires just 4% of its electricity from renewable resources (and over 70% from coal), … Read More

Are We Sunk? The Electric Utility’s Titanic Problem

Date: 6 Feb 2015 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

In my recent report on the utility business model of the future, I laid out 5 pillars of a democratic energy system. It’s hard not to notice the contrast between this vision of the future and the 15-year business plan laid out by Xcel Energy in Minnesota, the incumbent monopoly serving about half the state’s electric … Read More