October 25, 2010
If you’re reading this, you almost certainly have an interest in solar issues and, in all likelihood, climate concerns. You’re almost sure to have heard about California ‘s Proposition 23, the ballot initiative that’s intended to kill that state’s Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, and that’s being massively financed by mainly out-of-state fossil fuel companies.
Here are the ugly details of this fight, which we told you about back in May.
Ready for some irony? The fossil fuel backers of Prop 23 – Texas-based Marathon Oil, Tesoro Corp. and Valero Corp., and Kansas-based Koch Industries – characterize it as a ‘pro-Californian jobs’ proposition, somehow ignoring the fact that clean energy jobs are one of the few robust and growing areas of the state’s economy. If Prop. 23 passes, it will put a severe crimp in clean energy businesses and kill jobs wholesale in the Golden State.
As if that’s not enough, Prop. 23 could have a knock-on effect in a couple of ways:
- On the last day of its last session the state legislature failed to pass SB 722, a bill that would have raised the state’s renewable energy requirement from its current target of 20% (to which utilities have already committed) to 33% by 2020. Governor Schwarzenegger has signed an executive order that raises the requirement to 33%… but uses AB 32 authority to do so. If Prop 23. passes, AB 32 will effectively be dead, and so will the 33% renewable energy requirement.
- What happens in California, given the size of our economy and our leadership in clean energy issues, affects the whole of the country. If well-heeled out-of-state oil and coal companies, whose operations in California are the most polluting on record, can use their war chests to overturn legislation that’s all-around good news for our state, they can do it anywhere. We will have given our country back to the corporations.
So all eyes are on the Golden State on election day, November 2. The No on Prop 23 campaign has been working hard to let Californian voters know the truth, and the latest poll information we have tells us that the voters are getting the message.
For all our sakes, we hope so.
October 25, 2010
The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research have released a report that shows significant growth in the U.S. solar industry for the first half of 2010 and projects a total for the year that could, for the first time, reach 1 gigawatt installed – enough to power 200,000 homes.
The report, the inaugural U.S. Solar Market Insight report, shows that 341 megawatts of solar electric capacity were installed from January to June, with over one-third of the total being built in California, distantly followed by New Jersey, Arizona and Florida.
The report’s forecast range for 2010 runs from a baseline figure of 944 megawatts of solar electric capacity, of which 866 megawatts are PV, to a high of 1.13 gigawatts. This represents an increase of between 114% and 156% of the 2009 figure of 441 megawatts.
The solar hot water market also grew, with 2010 showing the sixth consecutive year of growth (16%). Market leaders in this segment are Hawaii, followed by Puerto Rico and California.
At the top end of the report’s longer-term outlook, market demand is projected to continue through 2015, and may even approach SEIA’s goal of 10 gigawatts per year of solar electric installations by that year – enough for 2 million homes per year. (more…)
October 25, 2010
The employment figures in the above story may represent a bright spot in the U.S.’s lackluster job market, but we are badly trailing China in this area, according to another report, the Clean Tech Top Trends 2010 report* from Clean Edge.
As reported in the UK’s Guardian, the Clean Edge report says that clean energy is spawning millions of high-paying green jobs worldwide, with China accounting for 700,000 of the three million jobs recorded in this sector in 2009. (more…)
October 25, 2010
Two steps forward, one step back.
Yes, sometimes it feels like we’re competing in a three-legged race with someone who’s been placing bets on the opposition. But this is not a race we can afford to give up – not if we truly want clean energy and a stabilized climate to characterize our age and future ages.
So we still find ourselves fighting entrenched interests for whom energy and climate considerations come a very distant second to quarterly profits and re-election.Solar Nation monitors activities and developments both in Congress and at state level to find suitable openings for advocacy actions on energy and climate bills. It’s at the state level where many renewable portfolio standards and emissions limits first become law, and also where some of the fiercest fights to advance clean energy occur.
We know that timely, focused action at this level can reap great rewards. In California recently, we’ve helped alert voters to the heavily funded attempt by out-of-state fossil fuel companies to neutralize that state’s Global Warming Solutions Act. The latest we hear is that public opinion is weighing against the ‘bad guys’ funding Proposition 23.
But the good guys still need some help to keep going and keep the bad guys off-balance. Can you make a donation to help us help America to become a solar nation? It’s tax-deductible, and easy to do. When you click on the DONATE button, you’ll be directed to our secure giving site, and your donation will keep us working for America’s future.
With thanks, from Solar Nation.
