Posts Tagged ‘Renewable Energy’
Your comments needed to chart Virginia’s energy future
Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe signed an executive order this month to create an energy council tasked with assisting in the development of a comprehensive energy strategy for Virginia. For those who would like to see robust investment in efficiency and renewables as part of this strategy, the task before us clear: make sure the energy council hears from us at every opportunity.
The River City is set to soak up the sun
Solar energy is no longer a thing of the future — it makes sense right here, right now. That’s the spirit of Virginia’s newest residential renewable energy initiative, SolarizeRVA, which was launched on Tuesday in celebration of Earth Day.
Rural Electric Co-ops Can Renew Community Spirit
Guest Contributor Brian Depew: The cooperative spirit that brought electric service to rural America represents the community-driven values of small towns. Today, more than 900 rural electric co-ops serve 42 million people in 47 states. Co-ops remain democratically controlled, run by elected customer-members. But they have drifted from their community-oriented mission.
Virginia Power Shifters intend to organize and win on climate
Building community and standing up to polluters with grassroots strength: these were among the themes of Virginia Power Shift, which took place in Richmond last weekend. Students worked tirelessly to involve campuses from all over the state, and delegations traveled from across Virginia to join in the hard work that constitutes this amazing young leaders’ summit.
McAuliffe can pave the way for a cleaner future for Virginia
In almost every campaign speech, Terry McAuliffe told the story of how he started a driveway-paving business in his neighborhood when he was 14 to earn money to help pay for his college education. Now Virginia’s 47th governor, McAuliffe should apply these values to his gubernatorial agenda and there’s no better place to start than by investing in a strong clean energy sector for the commonwealth.
Energy Industry Overstated Predictions of Price Spikes
By Brian Sewell The energy industry’s record of overestimating electricity price spikes as a result of pollution controls dates back 40 years, according to an analysis by the Center for American Progress. As a result of the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments, the Edison Electric Institute, an association of investor-owned utilities, estimated double-digit rate increases…
Read MoreAdvancing Community-owned Energy in Blacksburg
If you’ve ever wished that purchasing a solar array for your home could be more like shopping for food in bulk at a big box store, then the new program Solarize Blacksburg is right up your alley. For the next three months, Blacksburg, Va., is using financial tools and focusing the public’s interest in clean energy to encourage scores of potential rooftop solar customers to sign up all at once.
Virginia Legislature Ends with Modest Progress on Solar
Guest post by Virginia writer and lawyer Ivy Main: Advocates of enlightened energy policy march into session every January bright-eyed and optimistic, only to become mired in the slough of despond. We watch the best bills die, while bills we thought too backward to survive the light of day flourish like an invasive species. Yet even in Virginia, the past few years have produced glimmers of hope that suggest a slowly shifting mindset among legislators.
Patriot Coal CEO: Ending Mountaintop Removal Mining a “Win-Win”
After emerging from bankruptcy, Patriot Coal CEO Bennett Hatfield said in an interview with SNL Energy that the 2012 settlement over selenium pollution that forced the company to begin phasing out mountaintop removal proved to be a “win-win.” Even before the settlement, Hatfield said, Patriot was finding it “increasingly undesirable to deploy mountaintop removal operations…
Read MoreCommon Sense, Nonsense, and a Climate Fight in the Making in Richmond
The 2014 session of the Virginia General Assembly is underway, and state lawmakers are wasting no time. Legislation this session falls into two categories: the bright ideas that bring Virginia closer to a future of safe and reliable clean energy, and the downright crazy bills that do the opposite and must be stopped. Here is the breakdown.