The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has issued its Fifth Assessment Climate Report that says the effects of climate change are already occurring on all continents and across the oceans. The report finds in many cases the world is ill-prepared for risks from a changing climate. The report also concludes that there are opportunities to respond to such risks, …
Georgia Tech Students Win ACC Clean Energy Challenge
A team of four students from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) have taken the $100,000 grand prize in the ACC Clean Energy Challenge hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy. The team won with its electrical power grid technology that features an Internet-like control architecture. The $100,000 prize and ACC Clean Energy Cup were presented by Dr. Darryll …
New Budget Would Roll Back Oil Subsidies
The recently proposed Obama administration Fiscal Year 2015 Budget includes $4 billion a year in cuts to oil industry subsidies, notes Americans United for Change (AUFC), which calls that “a big win for taxpayers and consumers.” Under the Department of Energy section, the budget calls for elimination of “Unnecessary Fossil Fuel Subsidies” stating that as “the Nation continues to pursue …
Clean Jobs Increase 19% in 2013
The Clean Jobs Index shows 2013 ended with a 19 percent increase in clean jobs. The study also shows more than 3.5 million clean jobs were available in 2013 with a 57 percent increase in solar jobs. Published by Ecotech Institute, the Clean Jobs Index was created to provide objective job information about the renewable energy industry. In addition, the …
Camp Releases 2014 Tax Reform Draft
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) has released draft of the “Tax Reform Act of 2014,” which he says will spur stronger economic growth, greater job creation and put more money in the pockets of taxpaying Americans. Camp’s goal is to fix America’s broken tax code by lowering tax rates and making tax policy simpler and fairer for …
Cali Drought Intensifies, Climate Action Calls Heat Up
As California battles the worst drought the state has seen in centuries, calls for climate action are heating up. During the U.S. Climate Leadership Conference taking place this week in San Diego, California, more than a dozen businesses including Apple, SolarCity, San Diego International Airport, Sapphire Energy and Sungevity signed the Climate Declaration. The declaration urges federal and state policymakers …
GreenTECH Provides Youth with Green Education
MOUSE and Solar One have launched GreenTECH, a program that provides youth with an opportunity to positively impact the greening of their schools and communities. GreenTECH, funded by a three-year, $1.08 million grant from the National Science Foundation to Solar One, MOUSE, and the NYU Wallerstein Collaborative, is an initiative to boost youth interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and …
U.S. Utlility-Scale Solar 60% to Goal
The U.S. solar industry is more than 60 percent of the way to achieving cost-competitive utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity – only three years into the Department’s decade-long SunShot Initiative, reports the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). To help continue this progress, the DOE announced $25 million in new funding to strengthen U.S. solar manufacturing for photovoltaic and concentrating solar …
Clean Energy for Resilient Communities
“Resilient communities need resilient power. Without dependable power, a community can be brought to its knees, and the most vulnerable will suffer the most,” was written in a new report, Clean Energy for Resilient Communities. Based on the success of Baltimore, the report is a blueprint for how a city could become more “power resilient” and details how cities use …
Study Finds U.S. Solar Jobs Grew 20% in 2013
The Solar Foundation (TSF) has released its fourth annual National Solar Jobs Census, which found that the U.S. solar industry employed 142,698 Americans in 2013. This figure includes the addition of 23,682 solar jobs over the previous year, representing a 19.9 percent growth in employment since September 2012. Solar employment grew 10 times faster than the national average employment growth …