Fortnight Editorial: The Solar Foundation Responds
132 thousand residential solar jobs with caveats
The president and executive director of The Solar Foundation addressed the questions we raised in our Jan 27 editorial.
Elizabeth Warren's Article in PUF
Senator Warren gets her start in Public Utilities Fortnightly
It was mid-July 1980, and Elizabeth Warren was busy. She both submitted her article to Public Utilities Fortnightly, and married a fellow law professor.
Iran held our hostages, and we led a boycott of the Moscow Olympics (following the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan). Her article, “The Regulatory Lag Fallacy,” was published in the mid-August 1980 issue.
Electricity's Revenues Down in 2015
Revenues in industrial and commercial sectors down four billion and one billion
Revenues from sales of electricity were down three billion dollars, nationally, 2015 through November, per the Energy Department. Unadjusted for inflation. That’s a decrease of nine tenths of a percent from the prior year.
The prime driver was sales to the industrial sector. Revenues from industrial companies were down over four billion dollars. As a percentage, that’s a drop of 6.7 percent. Not a typo, 6.7 percent!
With November, 2015 Residential Rates 1.2 Percent Over 2014
Residential rates 15 hundredths higher, commercial rates 14 hundredths lower
Average residential rates were 12.7 cents per kilowatt-hour nationally in 2015 through November, per the Energy Department. That’s slightly above what rates were in the prior year, by 1.2 percent. Unadjusted for inflation.
November Electricity Sales Soft
Residential sales down 7 percent from November 2014, 6 percent from November 2013
Electricity sales were soft last November, per Energy Department data released last week. A combination of mild weather and a disappointing economy led to overall sales off 4 percent from November 2014 and 3 percent from November 3013.
Singing Electricity
David Bowie, Boz Scaggs, Ray Charles, Laurie Anderson, Dolly Parton, Damian Marley, Jimi Hendrix
Music itself is going to become like running water or electricity. So it's like, just take advantage of these last few years because none of this is ever going to happen again. You'd better be prepared for doing a lot of touring because that's really the only unique situation that's going to be left.
- David Bowie
Solar Number One
Solar reached one percent share of the nation’s generation in November
From the Energy Department data released last week, around 3.8 billion megawatt-hours of electricity were generated last year through November. All but three-tenths of a percent was utility-scale. The small remainder was produced by commercial and residential distributed generators using solar.
Gas Blew Away Coal
Gas now pulling way ahead in electric generation, coal’s lead razor-thin for the year
Energy Department data through November 2015 was released last week. It’s stunning how far coal has fallen.
In November, coal’s share of the nation’s electricity generation fell to 29 percent. That’s right, a number starting with a 2.
Government Works Better Pulling than Pushing
As we drive toward cleaner air, government should set standards, not interfere with practices
Opening a new front in its war on coal, the Obama administration is halting new coal leases on federal lands. But attacking coal isn’t the way to achieve what the government is after: a reduction in carbon emissions.
Net Metering Skirmishes in Hawaii, California, Mississippi, Nevada
Customer-sited solar makes it increasingly difficult for utilities to integrate excess generation and ensure all ratepayers benefit
Electric utilities have petitioned their respective regulatory agencies to revise existing net metering requirements.