Category Archives: wind energy

Meet the Republican Senator Who Wants to Fight Global Warming

by ChristoRivera Posted on October 27, 2015

Mother Jones

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This story originally appeared in the Huffington Post and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) came out in favor of the Obama administration’s effort to cut carbon pollution by power plants on Sunday, bucking Senate leadership that has worked to derail the emissions plan.

The Obama administration announced final regulations on emissions from both new and existing power plants in August. Dubbed the Clean Power Plan, the rules are part of the administration’s larger push to curb emissions that cause climate change. The Clean Power Plan has faced opposition from many conservative politicians.

In supporting the rules, Ayotte cited the work her state has already done to reduce emissions.

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Meet the Republican Senator Who Wants to Fight Global Warming

Posted in Anchor, FF, GE, LAI, LG, Northeastern, ONA, Radius, Uncategorized, Venta, Vintage, wind energy | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Meet the Republican Senator Who Wants to Fight Global Warming

How to live and farm in an old volcano

by ShantaeCarrera6 Posted on October 26, 2015

green4us

Codex: Tau Empire (Tablet Edition) – Games Workshop

A dynamic race whose technology eclipses anything their foes can muster, the tau use speed, strategy and overwhelming firepower to win their battles. Guided by the mysterious Ethereal caste, all tau strive for the Greater Good of their empire, forging ever onward into the stars to assimilate or annihilate everything that stands in their path. […]

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The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up – Marie Kondo

This New York Times best-selling guide to decluttering your home from Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo takes readers step-by-step through her revolutionary KonMari Method for simplifying, organizing, and storing. Despite constant efforts to declutter your home, do papers still accumulate like snowdrifts and clothes pile up like a tangled mess of noodles? Japanese cleaning consultant […]

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Codex: Tau Empire (Enhanced Edition) – Games Workshop

A dynamic race whose technology eclipses anything their foes can muster, the tau use speed, strategy and overwhelming firepower to win their battles. Guided by the mysterious Ethereal caste, all tau strive for the Greater Good of their empire, forging ever onward into the stars to assimilate or annihilate everything that stands in their path. […]

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How to Raise the Perfect Dog – Cesar Millan & Melissa Jo Peltier

From the bestselling author and star of National Geographic Channel's Dog Whisperer , the only resource you’ll need for raising a happy, healthy dog. For the millions of people every year who consider bringing a puppy into their lives–as well as those who have already brought a dog home–Cesar Millan, the preeminent dog behavior expert, […]

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White Dwarf Issue 91: 24th October 2015 (Tablet Edition) – White Dwarf

The Patient Hunter strikes! White Dwarf 91 is here, and with it the Tau take their fight to the Imperium once more, with the release of War Zone Damocles: Kauyon, a brand-new campaign supplement detailing the next stage in the Tau’s Third Sphere Expansion. And, what’s more, the Tau are bolstered in their efforts by […]

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The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo – A 15-minute Summary & Analysis – Instaread

PLEASE NOTE: This is a  summary and analysis  of the book and NOT the original book.  The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo – A 15-minute Summary & Analysis   Inside this Instaread: Summary of entire book, Introduction to the important people in the book, Key Takeaways and Analysis of the Key Takeaways. […]

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War Zone Damocles: Kauyon (Enhanced Edition) – Games Workshop

The Tau have invaded the ancient fortress world of Prefectia in force. They seek to harness the planet’s immense geo-electric potential to power their latest expansion into the domain of the Imperium. The Adeptus Astartes, hell-bent on stopping them from subsuming another Imperial world, launch a devastating planetstrike that soon becomes a world-spanning war. In […]

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Codex: Space Marines (Enhanced Edition) – Games Workshop

The Space Marines are the Angels of Death, humanity’s finest warriors. Clad in the greatest armour and armed with awesomely destructive weapons, they defend the Imperium of Mankind from the alien, the traitor and the daemon. Codex: Space Marines is the most comprehensive guide ever to these superlative warriors. It contains all the rules and […]

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War Zone Damocles: Kauyon (Mobile Edition) – Games Workshop

The Tau have invaded the ancient fortress world of Prefectia in force. They seek to harness the planet’s immense geo-electric potential to power their latest expansion into the domain of the Imperium. The Adeptus Astartes, hell-bent on stopping them from subsuming another Imperial world, launch a devastating planetstrike that soon becomes a world-spanning war. In […]

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The Art of Raising a Puppy (Revised Edition) – Monks of New Skete

For more than thirty years the Monks of New Skete have been among America's most trusted authorities on dog training, canine behavior, and the animal/human bond. In their two now-classic bestsellers, How to be Your Dog's Best Friend and The Art of Raising a Puppy, the Monks draw on their experience as long-time breeders of […]

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How to live and farm in an old volcano

Posted in Anchor, aquaponics, Custom Quest, eco-friendly, FF, G & F, GE, Hagen, LAI, Monterey, ONA, organic, solar, solar power, Uncategorized, wind energy | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on How to live and farm in an old volcano

This Deadly Hurricane Is the Strongest Ever in Our Hemisphere

by Myrna Posted on October 23, 2015

Hurricane Patricia will make landfall today. The strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere is barreling toward Mexico’s Pacific coast, where it is expected to make landfall later Friday. According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), Hurricane Patricia now has maximum sustained wind speeds near 200 miles per hour and even higher wind gusts. That makes it a Category 5 storm—the highest rating on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale. Hurricane warnings are currently in effect for much of the Mexican states of Nayarit, Colima, and Jalisco, including the resort city of Puerto Vallarta, whose metropolitan area is home to 380,000 people. Tens of thousands of people are being evacuated, according to the Vallarta Daily. National Hurricane Center Category 5 hurricanes are terrifying. According to the NHC, during a typical storm of this strength, “a high percentage of framed homes will be destroyed, with total roof failure and wall collapse. Fallen trees and power poles will isolate residential areas. Power outages will last for weeks to possibly months. Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks or months.” The NHC is predicting that Patricia will make a “catastrophic landfall,” dumping up to 20 inches of rain in some areas, which will likely result in “life-threatening” flash floods and mud slides. There will also be an “extremely dangerous” storm surge that will cause substantial coastal flooding “accompanied by large and destructive waves.” The remnants of the storm could even help produce heavy rainfall along the Texas coast in a few days. Hurricane Patricia’s incredible power may be part of a disturbing pattern. As Chris Mooney reported for Climate Desk a couple years ago, a number of the world’s major hurricane basins have set (or have arguably set) new hurricane intensity records since the year 2000. Just yesterday, #Patricia was a tropical storm. Now it’s the strongest hurricane in E Pacific history. A reminder of our weird new normal. — Eric Holthaus (@EricHolthaus) October 23, 2015 See the original article here: This Deadly Hurricane Is the Strongest Ever in Our Hemisphere ; ; ;

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This Deadly Hurricane Is the Strongest Ever in Our Hemisphere

Posted in alo, eco-friendly, FF, For Dummies, G & F, GE, LAI, Monterey, ONA, OXO, solar, solar power, Uncategorized, Vintage, wind energy | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on This Deadly Hurricane Is the Strongest Ever in Our Hemisphere

We Were Blown Away By This Beautiful Wind Map

by JoyceEngland Posted on August 8, 2015

Mother Jones

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This story was first published by CityLab and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

Though software engineer Cameron Beccario did it first with “Earth,” now NOAA has launched its own real-time wind model displayed over the gorgeous backdrop of the world at night.

Or day—you can change the time to see current and future conditions, and even watch the sun line swoop across the globe. (The model is refreshed with new forecasts every six hours.) This is North America with the day-night terminator halfway across the continent:

Winds are displayed as blue lines bunching in tight swirls in low-pressure areas. Shown above is Typhoon Soudelor menacing Taiwan on Thursday, and here are gusty ocean breezes flowing down the California coast:

The temperature filter transforms the world into a seeming lake of fire. Look at the hot weather in the South and cooler conditions in the mountainous West:

Typhoon Soudelor again, looming like a humongous, ghostly whirlpool in the model’s moisture filter:

And here is the equator’s famous rain band, which is predicted to shift north as the climate warms, screwing up farming for millions of South Americans:

Originally posted here – 

We Were Blown Away By This Beautiful Wind Map

Posted in Anchor, Everyone, FF, GE, LG, ONA, Radius, solar, The Atlantic, Uncategorized, Venta, Whirlpool, wind energy, wind power | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on We Were Blown Away By This Beautiful Wind Map

Offshore wind power is finally coming to the U.S.

by AngelitEhj Posted on July 24, 2015

A wind in the waters

Offshore wind power is finally coming to the U.S.

By on 24 Jul 2015commentsShare

Clean energy advocates aren’t usually excited by the sight of energy infrastructure off their coastlines, but the barges floating beyond Block Island, R.I., are different. The envoy of crane ships and flatboats are preparing the site of a new offshore wind farm, set to launch after the turbines are installed next summer. Though it will be small by wind farm standards — only five turbines — it will power 17,000 homes when complete.

The Block Island project, by offshore wind developer Deepwater Wind, follows on the heels of Fisherman’s Energy breaking ground on a wind farm off the coast of Atlantic City, N.J., last December. While Scandinavian countries like Denmark and Norway have recently proven the viability of the technology and infrastructure necessary to build an offshore wind farm, there are currently no permanent offshore farms in the United States. One of the problems: the price tag.

The New York Times reports:

“There are many good reasons why offshore wind has not been yet developed while other renewables have in the U.S.,” chiefly its high cost, said Paul Bledsoe, an energy consultant based in Washington and former climate adviser in the Clinton White House. “However, we’re still at a point where we have less than 10 percent renewable energy and if we are going to increase that number dramatically to somewhere near some of the major European countries, offshore wind will almost surely be part of that mix.”

That will take time. When the first offshore farm was built, in Denmark in 1991, developers were not thinking that it would suddenly become a mainstream form of energy, said Michael Hannibal, chief executive of the offshore division at Siemens Wind Energy, which supplied the turbines for that first plant. It took about a decade of testing and planning — and putting in place a set of programs and generous subsidies — for the market to begin taking off in Europe.

The U.S. mostly subsidizes wind energy via a mechanism called the production tax credit (PTC), which, unsurprisingly, provides tax breaks for wind farm production. Offshore farms are especially expensive, though: The radically different infrastructure can cost up to twice as much as onshore wind. The Block Island farm, then, will offer a case study in whether or not the ostensibly sustainable offshore energy can in fact be sustainable in the U.S. regulatory environment. Either way, Obama administration targets state that we’re supposed to hit 20 percent wind energy by 2030. Time to get those turbines turning.

Source:
Offshore Wind Farm Raises Hopes of U.S. Clean Energy Backers

, The New York Times.

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Offshore wind power is finally coming to the U.S.

Posted in alo, Anchor, FF, GE, LG, ONA, oven, Radius, Uncategorized, wind energy, wind power | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Offshore wind power is finally coming to the U.S.

Jeb Bush Wants to Eliminate All Energy Subsidies

by TereseHeathersha Posted on July 23, 2015

Mother Jones

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The federal government spends several billion dollars each year subsidizing the oil and gas industry. These tax breaks are extremely unpopular with the American public, but they have considerable support from congressional Republicans, who have opposed the Obama administration’s efforts to eliminate them. So it was a bit surprising when video surfaced yesterday of GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush calling for an end to all energy subsidies, including for wind, solar, and oil and gas. You can watch it above. As the National Journal reported:

“I think we should phase out, through tax reform, the tax credits for wind, for solar, for the oil and gas sector, for all that stuff,” Bush said in New Hampshire on Wednesday, according to a video recorded by grassroots environmental group 350 Action.

“I don’t think we should pick winners and losers,” Bush added, saying: “I think tax reform ought to be to lower the rate as far as you can and eliminate as many of these subsidies, all of the things that impede the ability for a dynamic way to get to where we need to get, which is low-cost energy that is respectful of the environment.”…

When pressed by the activist on whether he would get rid of all fossil-fuel subsidies, Bush replied: “All of them. Wind, solar, all renewables, and oil and gas.”

Eliminating fossil fuel subsidies has long been a goal of environmentalists and climate activists, but if Bush’s proposal were to become law, the subsidy-dependent renewable energy industry would take a hit as well. Quantifying energy subsidies is a bit complicated, but according to one measure from the Energy Information Administration, renewables received upward of $15 billion in government support in 2013, compared to just $2.3 billion for oil and gas and $1.1 billion for coal. The wind and solar power industries received $5.3 billion and $5.9 billion, respectively.

As Andy Kroll explained in a Mother Jones magazine story last year, the relatively recent clean energy subsidies are much more defensible than the oil tax breaks, which have been enshrined in the tax code for decades. “The difference is that renewables are at the stage where oil was a century ago: a promising yet not fully developed technology that needs a government boost to come to scale,” Kroll wrote. “That’s what motivated the original tax giveaways to what would become Big Oil.” The wind industry in particular has relied on a federal tax incentive called the Production Tax Credit. Congress has allowed it to expire several times in recent years, and in each instance, wind investment has plummeted. The PTC expired again at the end of last year.

Michael Dworkin, an environmental law professor at Vermont Law School, praised Bush’s comments. “If he really means it, great,” said Dworkin in an email. “Just lets be sure that it’s ALL of the traditional energy subsidies, not just a few symbolic ones.”

I also reached out to various energy industry groups to get their reaction. The American Wind Energy Association, which is calling for the PTC to be renewed, declined to comment. But the Alliance for Solar Choice, which represents rooftop solar companies such as SolarCity, embraced Bush’s proposal. “Bush is right—we shouldn’t pick winners and losers,” said TASC spokesperson Evan Dube in statement. Of course, the solar industry isn’t ready to disarm unilaterally. “We would welcome the phase out of all energy incentives,” added Dube, “but until that happens, the solar ITC Investment Tax Credit goes a small way to level the playing field against decades of fossil fuel subsidies.”

The American Petroleum Institute didn’t respond to requests for comment.

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Jeb Bush Wants to Eliminate All Energy Subsidies

Posted in Anchor, FF, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, Radius, solar, solar power, Uncategorized, Venta, wind energy | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Jeb Bush Wants to Eliminate All Energy Subsidies

Shell gets the final go-ahead to drill in the Arctic

by CharlotMps Posted on July 23, 2015

Shell gets the final go-ahead to drill in the Arctic

By on 22 Jul 2015commentsShare

Shell has cleared its last regulatory hurdle before beginning drilling in the Arctic. And while that fact has ticked off environmental groups, Shell did not end up receiving the free pass it had been hoping for … at least, not yet. From FuelFix:

Under the limited Interior Department drilling permits, Shell can only focus on one well at a time, and it cannot penetrate potential oil- and gas-bearing zones some 8,000 feet underground, at least until a damaged company-contracted icebreaker returns from repairs in Oregon.

That ship, the MSV Fennica, is meant to keep ice from encroaching on Shell’s drilling operations and is designed to install critical equipment on top of a damaged well in an emergency.

Shell had hoped to exploit multiple wells at the same time during the short July-to-September window when drilling is viable in the Arctic. It had also hoped to drill multiple wells within nine miles of one another, but the Department of the Interior decided that wells would have to be 15 miles apart, in the interest of wildlife protection.

Then, earlier this month, one of Shell’s two icebreakers, the MSV Fennica, ended up with a crippling gash in its hull and had to dock in Portland, Ore., for repairs. It was a setback for the company, and environmental groups argued it was proof that Shell is not competent enough to manage the task of extracting oil in harsh Arctic conditions.

Shell’s past exploits in Arctic drilling have been a less-than-humorous comedy of errors. One of the company’s contractors ended up being fined $12 million after one of its ships ran aground in 2012. Environmental groups suggested that this year’s renewed efforts would lead to a similar outcome, and, when the MSV Fennica ended up hitting an uncharted rock, they redoubled their argument. The ship was carrying equipment to help the company deal with an oil spill — an eventuality that, according to DOI, is not unexpected. A February analysis found that there’s a 75 percent likelihood that Shell’s efforts in the Arctic will result in one or more spills of more than 1,000 barrels of oil during its 77-year lease.

“Today’s approval ignores Shell’s dismal record of safety violations and undermines President Obama’s pledge to combat climate change,” said Marissa Knodel of Friends of the Earth. “With this decision, President Obama has given Shell an open invitation to turn the Chukchi Sea into an energy sacrifice zone, threatening both the resilience of the American Arctic Ocean and his climate legacy.”

Even though the company will not be able to drill as many wells as it had hoped, any drilling at all is bad news for the climate. A January paper in the journal Nature concluded that, if the world is to avoid the nastier effects of global warming that come with a rise in average global temperatures of more than 2 degrees Celsius, then all of the oil in the Arctic will have to stay put. Shell, however, has different ideas — and now the company has the go-ahead to act on them.

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Shell gets the final go-ahead to drill in the Arctic

Posted in alo, Anchor, FF, G & F, GE, LG, Monterey, ONA, Radius, Uncategorized, wind energy, wind power | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Shell gets the final go-ahead to drill in the Arctic

Wind power could get its tax breaks back

by JayMaselli Posted on July 22, 2015

Wind power could get its tax breaks back

By on 22 Jul 2015commentsShare

The GOP-controlled Senate Finance Committee did right by the clean energy industry yesterday when, as part of a big package of tax break extensions, it cleared the way for the renewal of a key tax credit that supports wind power.

The wind credit was effectively killed last year when an entire $85 billion package of tax breaks failed to make it through the Senate — in part because of GOP opposition to this particular wind energy credit.

In yesterday’s Senate Finance Committee vote, the tax credit package was approved by a vote of 23-3. GOP Sen. Pat Toomey (Penn.) was one of the naysayers on the wind credit, arguing that the it meddles with the energy economy. “We are simply picking winners and losers,” he said during a debate last year on the topic. (Fossil fuel companies get many more billions in tax credits and deductions, but whatever.)

Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, however, pushed for the wind credit extension. Iowa produces quite a bit of wind power. “I’ve worked to provide as much certainty as possible to grow the domestic wind industry,” Grassley wrote in a letter to the committee chair earlier this month. “I know firsthand the boom and bust cycle that exists for renewable energy producers when Congress fails to extend these critically important tax incentives.”

Tax breaks like these, which legislators don’t want to make permanent but also don’t want to eliminate altogether, often get renewed en masse in a vote that proves controversial every year. It creates quite a bit of uncertainty for affected industries; investors, for example, are more hesitant about putting their money into wind energy when they aren’t sure how taxes will affect wind producers’ bottom lines.

The package also includes tax credits for a range of industries, including some for big banks and one for Broadway musical producers. The credits would be assured through 2016, when the fight to renew them would begin again.

What’s next for this package of tax breaks isn’t clear. The full Senate has to vote on the package approved by the Senate Finance Committee. The House is considering a similar bill, but may end up doing it’s own thing: The Republican majority there wants to make some breaks permanent, but the wind energy tax credit, opposed by many conservatives, likely won’t be one of those. So who knows if the wind credit will ever make it into law again. Regardless: Progress!

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Wind power could get its tax breaks back

Posted in alo, ALPHA, Anchor, Broadway, FF, G & F, GE, LG, Monterey, ONA, Radius, Uncategorized, wind energy, wind power | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Wind power could get its tax breaks back

The South still doesn’t have any wind farms — but that’s about to change

by EdwardoIks Posted on July 13, 2015

The South still doesn’t have any wind farms — but that’s about to change

By on 13 Jul 2015 2:48 pmcommentsShare

How can we make wind power work in the Southeastern U.S.? By reaching higher up into the sky. That’s the strategy Spanish energy developer Iberdrola took with a large-scale wind project in North Carolina that at one point looked like it would have to be nixed.

The project will be the first major wind farm in the South, and, according to The Associated Press, will bring power to 60,000 homes:

After a years-long regulatory process that once looked to have doomed the plan, Iberdrola spokesman Paul Copleman told The Associated Press that construction is to begin in about a month.

Right now, there’s not a spark of electricity generated from wind in nine states across the Southeast from Arkansas to Florida, according to data from the American Wind Energy Association, an industry trade group.

But taller towers and bigger turbines are unlocking new potential in the South, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, and the industry is already looking to invest.

And with the electricity system in the region undergoing a period of change as coal plants are phased out, some experts believe the door is open for renewables like wind.

Wind power, which already accounts for 5 percent of the electricity generated in the U.S., is getting increasingly affordable — and, because of new technologies like larger turbines, viable in regions where it wasn’t before. Many utilities are eyeing wind and solar as alternatives to coal and even to natural gas, long celebrated by the energy industry as the cheapest thing around. “We used to say some day solar and wind power would be competitive with conventional generation,” George Bilicic, an energy expert with the financial advisory firm Lazard, told the Financial Times last year. “Well, now it is some day.”

But Southern states have been slow to adopt renewables. In North Carolina, a renewable energy mandate encourages projects like the Iberdrola one by requiring utilities to draw a certain share of their electricity from clean sources. But that mandate has faced fierce pushback from conservative groups, which have also fought to keep similar green initiatives from expanding to other states. (The irony here is that Southern states build a large number of turbines — but then ship them to other regions.)

And it’s not just wind — the South has lagged on solar too, despite the fact that the region has far more sun than much of the U.S. But that also might be changing — we wrote last week about how a coalition of groups from across the political spectrum is fighting back against anti-solar interests in Florida, one of the only states where citizens are not allowed to buy solar electricity from third parties that install panels on their roofs. At the very least, the campaign seems to be putting solar, and its potential, in the spotlight.

It’s too early to tell whether these small changes in the South amount to any kind of trend. But the Department of Energy believes that 20 percent of America’s power could come from wind by 2030, and that target goal will be a lot easier to hit if the region starts chipping in by greening its energy economy.

Source:
South getting its first wind farm soon as bigger turbines make the region viable

, The Associated Press.

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The South still doesn’t have any wind farms — but that’s about to change

Posted in Anchor, Citizen, FF, G & F, GE, LG, ONA, Radius, solar, solar power, Uncategorized, wind energy, wind power | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The South still doesn’t have any wind farms — but that’s about to change

Enviros, Tea Partiers, and the Christian Coalition all agree: Florida needs more rooftop solar

by LynwoodDevlin Posted on July 10, 2015

Enviros, Tea Partiers, and the Christian Coalition all agree: Florida needs more rooftop solar

By on 10 Jul 2015 3:26 pmcommentsShare

There’s an increasingly energetic fight brewing in Florida — one that has odd battle lines, bringing Tea Party activists and environmentalists together against monopoly utilities and big-money right-wing groups like Americans for Prosperity, and turning city governments against neighboring city governments.

The issue at stake? Whether state law should be amended to allow organizations other than utilities to sell electricity, which would clear the way for more rooftop solar power.

Florida is one of only five states in the country that actively bars third parties from selling electricity. (Another 20-plus states don’t explicitly bar it, but don’t allow it either — what this means for solar companies is unclear, one group that tracks the issue told PolitiFact.) So Floridian homeowners aren’t allowed to buy energy from companies that install solar panels on their roofs.

The state’s utilities, at the moment, only draw 1 percent of their electricity from solar, despite the fact that the state ranks third in the country in terms of potential to generate solar energy, and despite the fact that solar energy has become cost competitive with fossil fuels and is often a safer investment for utilities.

A growing coalition — including environmentalists, the League of Women Voters, the Christian Coalition, and Tea Party activists who see the ban as meddling in the free market — is pushing to get rid of the third-party electricity ban. They’ve been gathering signatures to put an initiative on the 2016 ballot, called the Solar Choice amendment, that would allow businesses and individuals to sell up to two megawatts of solar power.

The utility companies have asked the Florida Supreme Court to throw out the ballot amendment, even before signature gathering is done. They have found allies in shadowy out-of-state, pro-big-business groups, but also recently won the support of the Florida League of Cities, a group of municipal governments. Last month, the league filed a brief with the Supreme Court in support of the utilities’ position, arguing that member cities would lose tax revenue.

But then a number of members of the league dissented, calling the brief “alarmist, unsupported and speculative” and asking for it be withdrawn. These dissenting city officials wrote:

The substantive arguments in The League’s brief are aggressive, speculative, and some are well outside the League’s scope or expertise. For instance, the brief argues that the amendment might create inequitable rate structures between solar and non-solar customers. When did the League’s interest include utility regulatory ratemaking design and policy?

“There’s a number of city leaders who are pretty disgusted with the league,’’ South Miami Mayor Philip Stoddard told The Miami Herald. “It feels like a really parochial organization that’s been co-opted by Florida Power & Light.”

One side effect of all this is that Florida’s utilities, which had seemed content to shrug off the state’s solar potential, are announcing new solar projects. But leaders of the rooftop solar movement told the Tampa Bay Times back in May that this was a cynical move aimed at quieting their rising voices.

The next big development in this saga will come when the state Supreme Court rules on the ballot measure. The court has scheduled a hearing on the issue for Sept. 1.

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Enviros, Tea Partiers, and the Christian Coalition all agree: Florida needs more rooftop solar

Posted in Anchor, FF, GE, LG, ONA, Radius, Safer, solar, solar panels, solar power, Uncategorized, wind energy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Enviros, Tea Partiers, and the Christian Coalition all agree: Florida needs more rooftop solar