Most Americans are unaware of the true financial value of solar today. Seen by many as a technological luxury, solar energy is not seriously considered as an option by most homeowners in the U.S. However, our analysis shows that, in 46 of America’s 50 largest cities, a fully-financed, typically-sized solar PV system is a better investment than the stock market, and in 42 of these cities, the same system already costs less than energy from a residential customer’s local utility…So why aren’t more Americans investing in solar? There is a clear information gap, and with this report, we intend to open the eyes of average homeowners by showing that solar can generate both significant monthly savings and long-term investment value, and not infrequently, cost less than energy from some of America’s largest electric utilities.
View this complete post...Archive for the ‘Sustainability’ Category
Going Solar in America: Ranking Solar Value to Consumers
Monday, January 26th, 2015ASCE Sustainability Music Video
Monday, January 19th, 2015A sustainable civil engineering-themed parody of the song “Young, Wild and Free,” performed by the Los Angeles Younger Member Forum of ASCE. “ASCE Sustainability” was awarded an honorable mention in ASCE’s 2014 Student and Younger Member Music Video Contest.
View this complete post...Connectivity of Streams and Wetlands to Downstream Waters
Thursday, January 15th, 2015UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (EPA) General Information The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Research and Development (ORD) has finalized the science report, Connectivity of Streams and Wetlands to Downstream Waters: A Review and Synthesis of the Scientific Evidence. The purpose of this report is to summarize the current scientific understanding about the connectivity […]
View this complete post...Wind Energy Saves Consumers Money
Monday, January 12th, 2015AMERICAN WIND ENERGY ASSOCIATION
Wind energy’s consumer benefits stem from wind energy’s fuel price stability. Wind is one of the few energy sources that offers perfect fuel price stability that can be locked in up front, as wind’s fuel cost will always be zero. For all other major conventional sources of electricity, fuel prices cannot be locked in for the long term and are often set by the spot market. The costs of these fuel price increases and risk are passed directly on to consumers through their electric bills. In contrast, wind energy is more like a fixed-rate mortgage, locking in the fuel price for the life of the power plant.
Can Nuclear Energy Save the World?
Thursday, January 1st, 2015Nuclear engineers Leslie Dewan and Mark Massie share their progress on creating safer and more efficient nuclear energy technologies to power the world and address the looming threat of climate change.
View this complete post...Twin Cities, MN: Water Sustainability in the Northeast Metro Area
Thursday, January 1st, 2015METROPOLITAN COUNCIL
The primary objective of this study is to understand the relative costs and implementation considerations of different approaches to water sustainability. The northeast metro provides a study area for this evaluation. The Minnesota Legislature requested this part of the metro area to be studied specifically, given the continued concern over lake levels and the interaction of groundwater and lakes in the area, especially White Bear Lake. The study area includes 13 communities. The results will be incorporated in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area Master Water Supply Plan. The study will be referenced to support future planning of metro area water supplies and water sustainability practices.
Department of Energy: Top 5 Maps and Interactive Graphics of 2014
Friday, December 26th, 2014UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Written by Daniel Wood, Data Integration Specialist Hi all, it’s your friendly neighborhood cartography and interactive graphics engineer here at Energy.gov. It’s been a fun year for us building maps and graphics that we hope have helped you explore new ideas (and age-old ones). Here are the top five maps and interactive […]
View this complete post...More Wind, Less Warming
Wednesday, December 17th, 2014ENVIRONMENT TEXAS
American wind power is already significantly reducing global warming pollution. In 2013 alone, wind power averted 132 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions – as much as would be produced by 34 typical coal-fired power plants. But with the United States and the world needing to move toward a future of 100 percent clean energy in order to prevent the worst impacts of global warming, America must do much more.
Freeing the Grid: Net Metering & Interconnection Best Practices
Tuesday, December 16th, 2014INTERSTATE RENEWABLE ENERGY COUNCIL
VOTE SOLAR
One significant lesson that is apparent upon reviewing the wide variety of existing state standards is that inconsistency is the nemesis of clean energy development. It creates confusion among consumers, undermines the ability of businesses to operate efficiently across utility service territories or state lines,
and increases costs to all program participants — utilities, consumers, businesses and commission staff — by forcing these stakeholders to master the idiosyncrasies of each individual state’s programs.
The Impacts of EPA’s Clean Power Plan on Electricity Generation and Water Use in Texas
Tuesday, December 9th, 2014CNA CORPORATION
To determine how Texas could be affected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Clean Power Plan (CPP), we applied CNA’s Electricity-Water-Climate power sector model to evaluate the potential impacts. We find that under the CPP, the state will save water and reduce levels of conventional air pollutants. In addition, the state will be able to meet the policy’s targets with modest incremental effort even though electricity demand is expected to increase by 25 percent.
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