It’s been 60 years in the making and it’s finally here: America’s power generation fleet has changed so much since the 1950s, and especially over the last decade, that the amount of carbon we emit per megawatt-hour of electricity produced has dropped to its lowest point in recorded history. In fact, 2015 could be the… Keep reading →
India’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set ambitious new targets for reducing coal consumption and scaling up renewables. India will double the tax on coal production, promote renewable energy projects and electric vehicles to balance out emissions from coal-fired power plants. “With regard to coal, there’s a need to find a balance between taxing… Keep reading →
Another axe has fallen in Europe over renewable energy subsidies. Just last month, Italy announced that it will cut its feed-in tariffs (FIT) for certain renewable energy plants – not only for future plants, but also for existing plants with valid FIT guarantees. German lawmakers also recently approved an extensive revision of the country’s renewable… Keep reading →
Maria van der Hoeven, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) spoke last week at the two-day Energy Information Administration (EIA) conference in Washington, D.C. expressing her view – as reported by Jennifer A. Dlouhy for fuelfix.com – that “ending ‘wasteful fossil fuel subsidies’, which may encourage overconsumption of oil and gas, particularly in… Keep reading →
Yesterday the 37th annual International Association for Energy Economics International Conference kicked off in New York. Renewable energy is not only a hot topic in the media but also a frequent topic of discussion among experts at this year’s highly interesting sessions. Issues addressed range from impacts of steadily rising shares of renewables on the… Keep reading →
How much will Senator Grassley’s plan to extend the Wind Production Tax Credit (PTC) add to the national debt we are passing along to our children and grandchildren? On Thursday, April 3, 2014, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee is expected to consider and report out to the full Senate a bill that would extend various… Keep reading →
A bipartisan coalition of 144 House and Senate members have written to the House Speaker and Senate Finance Committee urging extension of the wind energy production tax credit. On March 21, 2014, a group of 118 House members led by Reps. Steve King (R-IA) and Dave Loebsack (D-IA) wrote to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)… Keep reading →
Shifting the United States’ energy sector to cleaner, more energy efficient systems is a long process and one that has been tackled in many ways throughout the years. In December, Senator Max Baucus, outgoing Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee released a staff discussion draft on proposed energy tax reform. There is a long history… Keep reading →
Spain’s recent history with solar power has been nothing if not tumultuous. Generous subsidies created a booming market in 2008, but the economic crisis brought a quick end to that. And now the country is pulling the rug out from under thousands of solar producers, many of them small, whose financing depended on the promise… Keep reading →
The concept of grid parity is the following: the point at which the cost of producing electricity from an energy source is less than or equal to the price of purchasing power from the grid. In theory, when solar energy reaches grid parity it will be cost-competitive with conventional fuels, making it viable for widespread… Keep reading →
