Posts Tagged ‘Electric Utilities’
It’s Solar Day, So Why is Duke Energy So Sour?
Today is Solar Day. But unfortunately, the solar industry in North Carolina might be growing to quickly for big daddy Duke Energy to keep in check. As the News & Observer and other sources are reporting, Duke wants to reduce the value of the renewable energy credits North Carolina households that have installed rooftop solar receive for generating electricity that is fed into the grid.
Hannah Wiegard: Binge-watching “Doctor Who” and Bettering Virginia’s Energy Options
I joined Appalachian Voices to help steer Appalachian Power and Dominion Virginia Power toward clean energy. Over the recent winter break, I got a jump on this massive undertaking in what may seem an unusual way: by becoming utterly engrossed in a “Doctor Who” marathon. I maintain that it was time well-spent in the fight for clean energy sources and efficiency for the Old Dominion.
A Successful First Energy Savings Session in Sugar Grove, N.C.
On Jan. 9, Watauga County residents left the Sugar Grove Community Center equipped and inspired to make their homes more energy efficient. We’re excited to continue hosting Energy Savings Information Sessions throughout western North Carolina and East Tennessee.
However Long Overdue, Our Energy Efficiency Opportunity Is At Hand
Today’s Bloomberg View editorial bears a headline at once forehead-slapping simple and frustratingly complex: Energy Efficiency Is Long Overdue. “On a global scale, we humans are becoming more energy efficient with each passing year,” the Bloomberg piece begins. “Even so, we’re exploiting only a fraction of the technological opportunities to use energy more cost-effectively.”
Read MoreOn Heels of USDA Energy Efficiency Loan Program, Appalachian Voices Launches the Energy Savings Action Center
On Dec. 4, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan Program (EECLP), a new loan program that will provide at least $250 million to rural electric cooperatives each year to develop or expand energy efficiency loan programs for residential and business customers. To encourage rural electric cooperatives across Appalachia take…
Read MoreBill Howley: Making Electricity Local
By Harrison Dreves In 1974, a trip to West Virginia changed the course of Bill Howley’s life. The recent Yale graduate was immediately entranced by the taste of blackberries, the view of receding ridgelines and the smell of Appalachia in June. Three years later, he purchased 46 acres in a West Virginia valley and made…
Read MoreTennessee Valley Authority Announces Major Coal Cutbacks
By Brian Sewell After more than 50 years of supplying most of its power plants with coal, the Tennessee Valley Authority announced it will idle 3,308 megawatts of capacity at eight coal units in Kentucky and Alabama — approximately half of its coal-based generation. Citing market factors, declining demand and stricter environmental rules, board members…
Read MoreMore clean energy and less coal ash waste ahead for Asheville
Asheville, N.C., harbors a lively community that has united to push for clean energy and to put an end to Duke Energy’s polluting ways. Two wins came this week for Asheville residents when the City Council voted to increase investments in clean energy and, the next day, the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources…
Read MoreAppalachian Coal Losing Another Customer: High Prices Push Utilities to Competing Reserves
We posted a piece yesterday about the retirement plans for Brayton Point Power Station in Massachusetts – the most modern coal-fired power plant in New England – and how some are calling its eventual closure a death knell for coal in the Northeast. Or, as Jonathan Peress of the Conservation Law Foundation said in a…
Read MoreAppalachian Coal Losing Another Customer: New England’s Largest Coal Plant to Close
The Brayton Point Power Station, a 1,600-megawatt power plant in Massachusetts and New England’s largest coal-burning facility, has been in operation for nearly 50 years. But recently it started to seem like no one wanted to be responsible for the aging plant. Yesterday, the plant’s owner announced plans to retire Brayton Point by May 2017.…
Read More