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Category Archives: Renewables
Germany’s Power Play: Book Review of Clean Break
There’s a positive review of Clean Break in the current issue of The Washington Spectator (reviewed by Kate Gordon, Vice President and Director of Energy & Climate at Next Generation).
Gordon raises an issue I didn’t directly address in the book: The potential effect if inexpensive natural gas becomes available to Germany through newly discovered deposits in Poland.
“If it’s cheap and plentiful enough,” Gordon warns, “natural gas can undermine the renewable-energy sector just as it’s getting off the ground.”
She raises an interesting issue. And while I don’t have a definitive answer, I do have a couple of first-thoughts about this. German’s renewable-energy industry is well-established and enjoys broad political support — unlike its U.S. counterpart. That support, and the fact that the economic benefits of renewables are spread throughout German society, may protect the sector from a flood of cheap gas.
Also unlike in the U.S., the EU has a carbon permit trading program. The system is flawed, but there is pressure to make the cost of emitting carbon conform better to the economic and social consequences of climate change. Will that be enough to stop a surge in artificially cheap natural gas? I don’t know and Gordon’s point deserves serious consideration.
The U.S. suffers from climate-denial disorder. Fortunately, it hasn’t gone viral—or global. Osha Gray Davidson’s refreshing Clean Break: The Story of Germany’s Energy Transformation and What Americans Can Learn From It tells the story of how one rich country has committed to transforming its economy into one powered by low-carbon renewable technologies.
Renewable Energy Under Attack in Two Dozen States
Recent attacks on state support for renewable energy in solar-rich Arizona are part of a nationwide trend.
Solar panels cover the roof of a parking garage at Arizona State University in Tempe. (Photo by Osha Gray Davidson)
At InsideClimate News today, Maria Gallucci writes:
Over the past few years, a rising tide of legislation has sought to repeal or weaken renewable portfolio standards RPS, which require a certain share of a state’s electricity supply to come from sources like solar and wind. Lesser known are the few lawsuits filed to challenge the constitutionality of these laws.
Many of these attempts have fizzled, but some are being revived this year. In total, 42 efforts are wending their way through legislatures and courts in more than two dozen states, according to the North Carolina Solar Center, a clearinghouse for state renewable energy policies.
“The danger of some of these [RPS laws] being repealed is a little bit greater this year than it was last year,” said Justin Barnes, a senior policy analyst at the center.”
While Republicans are behind most of these anti-renewable attacks (unsurprisingly), Gallucci points to a more specific source.
The biggest push is coming from the American Legislative Exchange Council ALEC, a 40-year-old industry group with free-market views that drafts and pushes legislation and that sees renewable energy mandates as an overreach of government authority.
via Renewable Energy Standards Target of Multi-Pronged Attack | InsideClimate News.
