August 30, 2010
This year’s Congressional elections are officially of the “off-year” or “mid-term” variety, which I find a little disappointing, since without a presidential race I will not have the opportunity to root for my longtime presidential candidate of choice, Vermin Supreme.
Not that there aren’t plenty of incumbents and candidates this election cycle whose positions and prejudices are in the same league of wackiness as would-be President Supreme; and in their case, it’s a more worrying phenomenon since they are actually serious candidates and don’t seem to be aware of the outlandlishness of their platforms.
However, absent the distraction of an overarching presidential contest, we can focus our attention on the senators and representatives and their challengers who’ll be on the soapbox this Fall. And it behooves us as responsible voters to know as much as possible before November about their positions on the issues that matter to us.
Here, for those of you who want to hunt down and compare the official statements and independent evidence of contestants’ positions this election season, are several useful resources:
The Solar Nation advocacy page:
- Go to http://capwiz.com/re-action/home/
- Click on Find Election info and Candidates
- Use the ‘My Races’, ‘Find a Candidate’, or ‘Browse Races by State’ box to locate the relevant candidates and incumbents.
- Click ‘On the issues’ (opens in a new tab); this will take you off the Solar Nation site to the candidate’s site.
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August 30, 2010
Plus if you act now……
We thought we’d get your attention with that headline, but in some parts of America it’s an accurate statement.
Warning: math. follows.
Here’s the Washington D.C. home of Russ Gaskin and Bernadette Morales Gaskin and their family, with its newly installed 7-kW PV array.
The installation is expected to cover 60% – 80% of their electrical needs. Total dollar hit? According to the Gaskins’ numbers (see below), around zero…
Project cost (inc. installation, permitting, etc.) $36500
less 30% Federal investment tax credit $10950
less DC Renewable Energy Incentive Program rebate $17260
Net cost $ 8290
Have I got a deal for you…
As for that eight thousand dollar balance, the Gaskins will be able to recoup that by selling the Solar Renewable Energy Certificates (SREC)* they will earn from their generation of clean energy. While they could do this in a somewhat speculative way by finding buyers on the spot market and taking advantage of variable SREC prices, they’re also thinking seriously about locking in this income stream by entering into an agreement with an SREC aggregator, Sol Systems LLC. (more…)
August 30, 2010
If you haven’t already heard it, you will likely hear a great deal in the run-up to November’s elections about what a dismal failure the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA – aka ‘the Stimulus’) has been. Pundits, pandits and would-be’s of all stripes are lining up to point out how few of the many billions of dollars allocated by the federal govenment have actually been spent.
This was actually fairly close to the truth until a few months ago, but for that we should, perhaps, be grateful. Because the ARRA funds were never meant to be loaded onto dump trucks in small bills and emptied out on the lawns of statehouses, no questions asked. At a briefing held by the National Association of State Energy Officials in the U.S. Capitol in July, it was pointed out that the ‘watchdog’ provisions of the act meant that each state had to have approval processes, permits, contracts and other legal provisions completely in place, and work satisfactorily completed, before any money percolated down from Washington to state programs. And it’s highly appropriate that this briefing focused on the use of ARRA funds for energy-related programs, since it was followed a month later by a very encouraging report by Vice President Biden on the impact of ARRA funds on energy innovation. (more…)
August 30, 2010
Interest in the National Solar Tour, staged by the American Solar Energy Society every year, has rocketed upward in the last twelve months. At time of writing, this year’s event will feature well over 600 tours – an amazing increase from last year’s total of less than 250.
The ASES National Solar Tour is the world’s largest grassroots solar event, in which homeowners and businesses invite visitors into their living or working spaces to see how they are using solar and other sustainable technologies. It’s estimated that more than 160,000 participants will visit some 5,500 buildings in 3,200 communities across the U.S. this year.
Most of the tours will take place on Saturday October 2nd. You can find details of tours near you here.
Richard Burns, National Solar Tour Director, says: “the ramp-up in interest from tour organizers in recent years is stunning. This, and the increase in visitors to solar homes on the tours, seem to confirm what we’ve felt at ASES for a long time – that there’s a great thirst in this country for practical information about solar solutions. People go on solar tours to find out what works and doesn’t work, what systems might cost, what financial help they might get from government bodies, and what cost savings they might enjoy.” (more…)
August 30, 2010
…might not stay in California. Back in May, we told our Californian readers about the bald-faced attempt by (mainly) out-of-state oil companies to overturn the Golden State’s anti-pollution law, AB32.
It’s time to spread the word around a little, in case this particular plague starts coming east. Forewarned is forearmed.
AB32, known as the ‘Global Warming Solutions Act’, enjoys broad bipartisan support in the Golden State. It aims to reduce California’s carbon emissions by some 15% by 2020, without – contrary to the propaganda issuing from the ballot initiative orchestrated by those oil companies – costing businesses or individuals thousands of dollars more on their electricity bills.
That ballot initiative, by the way, is known as Proposition 23, the ‘California Jobs Initiative’. Catchy title, but you wouldn’t expect it to have a name like ‘Oil Company Profits Retention’ or ‘Pollution Maintenance’ initiative, would you? And the organizers’ tactic – a proposal simply to put the law on hold until unemployment in the state drops and stays below 5.5% – would sound reasonable were it not for the fact that the law is expected to lead to substantial growth in clean energy jobs. But why 5.5%? Perhaps it’s because that figure has only been reached three times in the last thirty years, which would effectively put AB32 into abeyance for years to come. (more…)
