How California Blackouts Will Make Solar and Batteries A National Story Triple Pundit, April 18, 2016. Image credit: Life-Of-Pix Imagine islands of light fueled by solar connected to batteries Here’s how solar and distributed generation could become national news this summer. It is 7 p.m., and Los Angeles is blacked out. It’s the third day of … Read more
ENERGY EFFICIENCY: Power-use scorecards help building managers cut usage The Press Enterprise, April 9, 2016. Image credit: skeeze Hooper manages San Francisco’s five-year-old building-efficiency ordinance, created to measure wasted energy in the city’s largest structures, give them a score the public can see and prod owners to lower the lights and thermostats. San Francisco’s ordinance is … Read more
California Energy Commission Considers Bill to Mandate Energy-Efficient Computers Government Technology, April 11, 2016. Image credit: Simon All computers sold in California could be required to adopt stricter state energy standards by 2018, cutting computer energy consumption by as much as half, according to new regulations being proposed by the California Energy Commission. The commission’s latest … Read more
Gas-to-electricity plant debuts at Irvine’s Bowerman Landfill LA Times, March 30, 2016. Image credit: Alexas_Fotos The proverbial link between trash and treasure has evolved into a symbiotic relationship between energy and efficiency with the coming of a renewable-energy power plant to Irvine’s Bowerman Landfill. [bctt tweet=”The Bowerman Power Project is capturing methane gas from trash and … Read more
Dreamers of the Golden Dream: Does California Have a Blueprint to Fix Global Warming? Mother Jones, March/April. Image credit: werner22brigitte [bctt tweet=”California can claim first place in just about every #renewable #energy category.”] Today, California can claim first place in just about every renewable-energy category: It is home to the nation’s largest wind farm and the … Read more
California’s Revolution in Western Energy Markets T&D World, March 9, 2016. Image credit: blickpixel The Energy Times’ recently talked with BPA Administrator Elliot Mainzer on the regional impact of bold new renewables and storage initiatives in California ahead of the landmark California Renewables Rush conference in San Francisco April 6 supported by virtually all major utilities … Read more
Ryan Pollin for Zondits, February 23, 2016. Image credit: gr8effect California is a national leader in clean tech across the board, and the California Public Utilities Commission’s plans for grid modernization are getting only bolder. Increasing volumes of electric vehicles, full-size acquisitions of behind-the-meter batteries, new solar inverters, and other new grid widgets are all converging … Read more
Ryan Pollin for Zondits, January 15, 2016. Image credit: Jeremy Levine Utility-scale solar has been growing like a weed in California, and their latest milestones are in the CA Independent System Operator’s 2015 year-end figures. More energy was provided by solar than by wind sources in the state (a first) or by hydroelectricity (also a first). … Read more