Policy

One of my key motivations in buying a Tesla was reducing my footprint on the planet. 2 years, no gas. I can't get solar panels (issues beyond my control). I've replaced some meat in my diet with vegetables. What other ideas do you have that I can incorporate in my life, without compromising...

I'm shopping for rooftop solar, but I don't want to slightly clean up my local environment at the expense of polluting the environment where the panels are made. I have found this page with some good information, but neither the best-performing Panasonic nor its predecessor Sanyo is listed...

I was surprised to come across this organization who seems to be doing excellent work providing solar for those who can not afford it. It is a 501c, I threw a bit of money their way. Something they provide is solar installation training for the volunteers who may be interested in entering into...

I received a letter in the mail stating that my Solar Installer, Heliopower is declaring Chapter 11 and I am listed as a creditor of this debtor. My system is installed and running. But I of course am concerned about worthless warranties and support going forward. Any advice or guidance on...

I'm happy to let you know that we save a little with our electricity and water costs in our vehicle company . However, as an operation manager, I still need to improve in other energy management and plan some positive changes. We actually had set a budget for those things. We want to minimize...

Generating 1kWh emits ~1.3lbs if generated from natural gas and ~2lbs if generated from coal Something as simple as swapping out a 60w incandescent bulb can easily save >50lbs of CO2 emissions per year. An 8kW solar array ~20k lbs of CO2 per year. What do you think planting a tree does? This...

Two EPA science board members resign in protest ... presumably to be replaced by Industry Reps. Are the fools who tried to defend trump as not a disaster for the environment still around these boards, or did they collect their money and disappear into the woodwork ?

Operation is supposed to start in 2018 and ideally the ship will be fully autonomous by 2020. The route looks fairly short, only about 30+ miles, but as the Tanchurian candidate would say, this is huge! The first ever zero emission, autonomous ... | Yara International I wouldn't be surprised...

This topic was prompted by someone I met with an EV making snotty remarks about ICE cars and how they are polluting the earth. I suggested he do more research about how his own EV is built and runs. Yea, this will make some people upset who think our EVs are perfect alternatives to ICE cars on...

Massive news out of Nevada last week as the state legislature has put the final touches on a complete 180 for residential solar in the state. Germany tells the story of the current global solar renaissance, but IMO Nevada tells the story of residential solar in the US. Not long ago Nevada's...

Is Al Gore A Hypocrite? I see this type argument a lot. Most often, it is used as an attempt to discredit people who advocate for environmental protection. Al Gore lives in a large home that uses a lot of energy but preaches for renewable energy and energy efficiency. Leonardo DiCaprio flies...

Step 1 is making solar and wind production cheap. (check0 Step 2 is creating a blockchain style marketplace for energy. (starting) Step 3 is making energy storage cheap. (2-5 years out) The Germans continue their efforts to single-handedly save the world. Germany Will Use Blockchain to...

This article attempted to identify opportunities for smart meter enabled appliance throttling to avoid overloads in the transformer network. The focus was on the last transformer before a home, and I was surprised to read that 3-7 homes are on a 25 kVA transformer. Presuming I am not too far off...

Anthropogenic CO2 emissions are now ~40B tons/yr. The number is a bit difficult to comprehend... Scientific American had a recent article putting that in some context. The crazy scale of human carbon emissions. If you wanted to release 40B tons per year with a forest fire you would need to...

This cropped up on my Facebook feed... not sure if it was intentional but it looks like they're fishing for prospective model 3 owners... What really irritates me is how they take advantage of general ignorance around water heaters. 99% efficient sounds good to the lay person but that's a COP...

In California, during hot summers we often get alerts from utilities asking to reduce electricity usage With electric cars you can charge at night and everything will be ok, but what if Tesla's semi is extremely popular with large fleets. They can't put off charging or only charge at certain...

I realize this is pretty off topic for this forum, but I know there are also a number of smart people on here who know a lot about solar energy, so I'm hoping someone can at least help me figure out solar might make sense for me and point me in the right direction for some further research:)...

I'd like to know if anyone would like to discuss the idea of a public organization that uses it's funds specifically for building renewable energy infrastructure. There are plenty of organizations that educate, lobby, and promote renewable energy. But how much of the funds they receive...

It has long been my position on renewable energy that the only way it will become a truly dominate energy form and not just a niche player is to have large scale energy storage solutions in place. Personally, I stand behind Tesla, Gigafactories, and the Tesla Energy grid storage products...

I interviewed a few Tesla owners and other green energy enthusiasts at the Earth Day festival in Santa Cruz, CA last weekend. Also, the March for Science came through with all kinds of awesome signs and costumes. Here's the full video:

Bloomberg has another great piece, they really excel in this area. It discusses how renewables are disrupting the power grid, in a good way, and how family could use a service like Griddy to become wholesale power buyers. If I had a Tesla in TX I'd be signing up this weekend. Anyway, look...

Since I like to post a bunch of stuff about CAISO, and sometimes I'm stretching to post it in other threads, I'll just make a new thread. I'll start with some web sites: California ISO California ISO - Todays Outlook California ISO - Renewables Reporting Smartphone App...

Was thinking today about how confusing the march to decentralized energy has been for me. The idea that rooftop solar is now so cheap and yet people are hesitant to adopt is leaving my brain in tatters. Freedom from half the most annoying facts of life is within reach, people are essentially...

Like many people who follow EVs and batteries I have a certain degree of skepticism whenever I read about a new battery design that claims to offer major advantages over existing in-production batteries. But when I read about this new battery design I took it more seriously than I usually do...

Pining for cleaner air in the Norwegian fjords - BBC News Norway continues to pioneer in the transition to zero emissions transportation of all kinds...

I was pleased but not too surprised to find Tesla on the list of automotive manufacturers that have adopted the new refrigerant. I've been concerned about the high GWP (Global Warming Potential) of refrigerants for a while now. While researching CO2 as a refrigerant I stumbled across another...

Trump is truly an idiot. I am a republican but can't believe this country elected this POS excuse for a human being. In executive order, Trump to dramatically change the U.S. approach to climate change - CNNPolitics.com

Oncor proposes $317M rate hike, solar fees

What about a gaming interface for middle school kids to coordinate and optimize their local and regional energy infrastructure? Due to the public utility structure, the vast majority of data inputs are openly available. Utilities could be forced into facilitating direct link supply/demand data...

Of course, the following is not all good news; perhaps this should be filed under every silver lining having a cloud around it, as Argonne Nat'l Lab is under the budget-cutting knife. But: Read the following and esp. watch their demonstration video. ANL has developed a way to infuse a fairly...

Hi all, Led by Executive Director Mike Green with support from me and Alan (@Pollux), Climate Xchange (Climate XChange - Carbon Pricing Research and Beyond) will soon launch its second Tesla raffle (officially the Carbon Pricing Awareness Raffle) in early April, with prize drawing on July 4...

The NY Times has an interesting article on a network of home solar installations which trade their power with their neighbors. Solar Experiment Lets Neighbors Trade Energy Among Themselves "The project is still in its early stages — it has just 50 participants thus far — but its implications...

China’s Coal Consumption Declines Despite Increasing Energy Consumption Unlike the US where a large fraction of the reduction in coal was due to NG, China's is due to efficiency and clean energy. Good for them, and once we rid ourselves of the monkey in the white house, the US can joint the...

Selfishly looking out for CA but perhaps broader long-term impact for EVs nation-wide. Excerpt below. Full article can be found on Vox... Monthly sales of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and battery electric vehicles in the US, 2010 to 2016. (Argonne National Laboratory) If the ZEV rules...

New session of legislature has a new transportation bill which propose a tax on EVs. SB 1 and AB 1 both propose a tax on Electric Vehicles. This is a regressive tax which will discourage adoption of clean EVs. Fossil fuel vehicles already receive may subsidies (from fossil fuel production...

I'd like to start a discussion about what kind of assistance should be in place for coal miners and coal industry workers as coal is phased out. First, let me postulate that it is undesirable to continue using coal for power plants, and that we should continue to phase it out down to a minimum...

Blowers, edgers and lawn mowers can put out pollution. It seems like with their tiny engines, they must not have much filtering. Google quickly brings up a comparison that a single lawn mower today puts out as much pollution as 11 cars per same amount of time used. That's 11 hours of driving...

A sign of discontent outside Tesla

Overview | Kauai Island Utility Cooperative Like many islands, Kauai has been dependent on imported oil for electricity generation for decades. But an understanding of climate change and a desire to lower costs and volatility have pushed the island to embrace a heterogenous mix of clean energy...

No more pesky "Sound, science based standards" but we now have "economically and technologically achievable standards"... Trump's EPA deletes 'science' from Science Office mission statement The Ministry of Truth will pave the way to a better future without science. It's the real life...

So it looks like we are getting on the EV world map here in Sweden as well. Former Tesla executives plan their own Gigafactory in Sweden to bring battery cost down below $100/kwh Question is if there is a viable business for just producing the batteries for other manufacturers, but I would...

Abu Dhabi to Build World's Largest Solar Power Plant 1177 MW 872 Million USD I presume this is PV although the article did not specify. Amazing, really.

I have not found a thread addressing this likely court battle. California has retained Eric Holder to defends its position to set its own standards for emissions and EV requirments. This from today's LA times: EPA to reconsider vehicle fuel standards, may move against California targets...

The new PG&E Energy Usage Detail on their customer portal is worse. The old one had per-hour energy cost per tier, and the new one doesn't. The old one had per-hour energy use bar graph that included negative usage below the 0, and the new one hides it in a flat "0" with a popup, so there is no...

The oil giant Shell issued a stark warning of the catastrophic risks of climate change more than a quarter of century ago in a prescient 1991 film that has been rediscovered. However, since then the company has invested heavily in highly polluting oil reserves and helped lobby against climate...

This is the second time this has occurred... can't wait until it's a common event :) On 2/13/17 wind hit ~52%. We're likely to exceed that tonight.

Bill Text - SB-584 California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program. Quote: "the goal of the program is... for all electricity sold at retail to be generated by eligible renewable energy resources by December 31, 2045." Very ambitious. But achievable.

Bill Text - SB-584 California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program. Quote: "the goal of the program is... for all electricity sold at retail to be generated by eligible renewable energy resources by December 31, 2045." Very ambitious. But achievable.

From here in SW Washington I have a bit of a rant about our Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler (Republican). I got a call out of the blue last night asking if I wanted to join a virtual town hall she was doing. I'm not sure how they got my number, but I tuned in. My SO wanted to ask a question...

It's not just Beijing and New Delhi: New York Times: https://nyti.ms/2lsAZ2S ^ London smog in January. Matt Dunham/Associated Press It would appear that London needs more electric cars and fewer diesel ones. As a bicycle commuter since 1978 I have a particular hatred of diesels. Around...