Coal and gas-fired power stations release toxins into the air, increasing rates of asthma, respiratory diseases, and heart attacks. In this post, ILSR estimates the portion of electricity prices covered by the public health benefits of renewable energy alternatives. … Read More
6 gigawatts of new power generation capacity came online in the second quarter of 2019 — 15 percent of which from small-scale solar installations — in the latest update from ILSR’s Energy Democracy Initiative.… Read More
Nearly 7 gigawatts of new power generation capacity came online in the first quarter of 2019 — 13 percent of which from small-scale solar installations — in the latest update from ILSR’s Energy Democracy Initiative. Renewable resources claimed a majority share of new power generation for the second quarter in a row.… Read More
New power plant capacity expanded across the country in 2018, but steady growth in local, small-scale solar and other renewables was overshadowed by a significant jump in new gas plants. Our latest annual and quarterly updates illustrate these trends and provides a few timely examples of how communities can keep utilities accountable to clean energy commitments, rein in new centralized fossil fuel infrastructure, and support local, renewable energy, instead.… Read More
In this episode of the Local Energy Rules podcast, John Farrell interviews Lena Entin about an inspiring and successful community-driven campaign in Holyoke, Mass., to shut down an aging coal plant operated by one of the world’s largest multinational electric utility companies. The two discuss the campaign’s efforts to replace the dirty plant with clean energy to improve health outcomes for the community and provide a just transition for the power plant’s workers.… Read More
Roughly 5 gigawatts of new power generation capacity came online during the third quarter of 2018, as illustrated in a new quarterly update from ILSR’s Energy Democracy Initiative. Our updated chart of new power plant capacity illustrates how growth in natural gas capacity slowed, while new distributed solar and wind saw steady growth.… Read More
A large amount of new power generation capacity was added during the second quarter of 2018, but not in the form renewable or distributed generation advocates might hope, according to the latest update from ILSR’s Energy Democracy Initiative. Our updated chart of new power plant capacity illustrates how growth in renewable energy is overshadowed by an increase in natural gas capacity and how distributed solar in particular stacks up.… Read More
Using the latest available national data on new power generation through the first quarter of 2018, this recent analysis from ILSR’s Energy Democracy Initiative illustrates how renewable energy and small-scale, distributed solar stack up against utility-scale and fossil fuel power plants in supplying the new electricity capacity for the nation.… Read More
The U.S. experienced relatively sluggish gains in total new power plant capacity in 2017, when compared to 2016, but it also saw another, more positive outcome: a notable surge in distributed solar. Using the latest available national data on power generation, this most recent look at data on annual and quarterly electricity generation nationwide from the Energy Democracy Initiative at ILSR illustrates how small-scale, distributed solar energy stacks up against its big, fossil fuel and utility-scale renewable energy competitors.… Read More
