Want open space? Don’t go wind or solar!
By Robert Applegate Amid the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL) latest report1 on the land requirements of solar power generation, others are taking a look at what is really required to power homes using solar and wind and comparing that to another carbon free source, nuclear power generation. A nuclear power plant, the biggest reactors […]
Want open space? Don't go wind or solar!
By Robert Applegate Amid the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL) latest report1 on the land requirements of solar power generation, others are taking a look at what is really required to power homes using solar and wind and comparing that to another carbon free source, nuclear power generation. A nuclear power plant, the biggest reactors […]
More problems Abound
Lux Research, a self-described “independent research and advisory firm providing strategic advice and ongoing intelligence on emerging technologies” including solar, predicted that 2012 will not be kind to Colorado’s Abound Solar. Lux’s Matt Feinstein wrote in PV Magazine: Abound. One of the more prominent CdTe start-ups, Abound has been plagued recently by several departures from its […]
NREL: Energy Sec Chu’s laughable statement on renewables
Secretary of Energy Steven Chu toured the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden on Friday. Fresh from his Thursday testimony on the Solyndra scandal before the House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, Chu continued to touted the cost effectiveness of renewables despite millions of taxpayer dollars lost on failed investments. The NREL […]
Solar Power: economically and environmentally unsound
This column appeared originally in Townhall Finance. Solar energy is neither economically nor environmentally sound By Amy Oliver Cooke and Michael Sandoval We live in the state that is ground zero for absurd energy policy, also known as the New Energy Economy. In a recent Denver Post house editorial, Colorado’s self-described “newspaper of record” was […]
Gross Dereliction of Duty at the PUC
Under Colorado’s green energy production quota, also known as a Renewable Electricity Standard, the cost of acquiring renewable energy like wind and solar power is limited to 2 percent of annual electricity sales. The rules are very clear on this matter. According to the Public Utilities Commission’s Rule 3661(h)iv, “to the extent the RES plan […]
Preview of PUC Deliberations on Solar*Rewards Program
At 11:00 AM this morning, the PUC will take up Docket No. 11A-135E, “In the Matter of the Application of Public Service Company of Colorado for Approval of a Reduction in the Standard Rebate Offer.” In less lawyerly terms, the hearing is on Xcel’s request to lower solar subsidies. The issue is a political hot-potato […]
Colorado Solar Industry’s Insatiable Appetite for Subsidies
With a quivering voice, Jim Walsh, owner of Bella Solar Energy, described his business troubles to the Senate Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Energy Committee. His message, if not his tears, was repeated yesterday morning by six other solar power representatives. They presented a compelling case that “the New Energy Economy is dead,” in the morbid […]
How Xcel Avoids the Rate Cap on Green Energy
The problem with “green” energy is that it costs more than conventional energy. We can all agree that a solar powered future would be great, but most of us also agree that we’re not willing to pay five to ten times what we pay now for energy in order to try to achieve that future. […]
