The market has spoken – clean energy just became the cheapest source of electricity
Spreadsheets, analysis, and predictions are all great. But nothing compares to the free market if you want to really understand the trajectory of clean energy pricing. A recent bidding process for utility giant, Xcel Energy, just rocked the industry. Bids for clean energy projects including solar, wind, and batteries, came in lower than anything ever […]
Highlights from Drawdown, the most comprehensive plan for reversing climate change
If you want to understand the causes of global climate change and what can be done to reverse it, you should start by reading Drawdown – The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming. This book is part of a broader project led by famed environmentalist, speaker, entrepreneur, and activist, Paul Hawken. He […]
An interview with Georgia Power’s CEO Paul Bowers on renewables and the future of utilities
Utilities are an essential part of our clean energy future. Whether the future grid sees a rise in interconnected microgrids or centralized solar/wind/battery farms or a combination of both, the utilities’ wires and infrastructure are foundations upon which much of it will be built. Navigating the fastest path to clean energy requires the active, engaged […]
Clean energy seems obvious so why haven’t utilities embraced it more quickly?
Have you ever wondered why utilities don’t embrace clean energy more aggressively? While it’s true that some of them are resistant to change, there’s a bigger and more practical reason: energy from the sun and wind make managing the grid a whole lot harder. Let me use a little metaphor to help explain the why […]
The Trump administration slaps a 30% tariff on all imported solar
After months of paralyzing uncertainty, President Trump’s staff announced their decision on solar tariffs today. Here is a high-level overview: Quick Facts Imported solar is subject to a 30% tariff The tariff amount will reduce 5% per year over 4 years to 15% The first 2.5 GW of solar cells imported each year will not […]
Local Energy can be expensive and hard today but so were websites in 1998
(Reading time: 4 minutes) Ask most experts and they’ll tell you that local energy systems like microgrids and community solar can be expensive and tough to build. If this is true, can local energy really be a faster path to cleaner energy? As with most things, the real answer is never simple. Local energy champions, like […]
Clean Energy Tech Conferences for 2018
The clean energy industry has A LOT of conferences. A LinkedIn post from my friend Georges prompted me to merge my list with his (and other sources) and post for others. Please leave a comment below (or email me) if you see anything needing corrections, updates, etc. [gdoc datatables_paging=”false” datatables_searching=”false” datatables_buttons=”%5B%5B %5D%5D” datatables_page_length=”20″ datatables_info=”false” datatables_usecache=”no” […]
How New York is once again leading the local energy revolution
After years of relentless toil in his New Jersey laboratory, Thomas Edison created one of the most celebrated inventions in history: the first commercially practical light bulb. But it was just across the Hudson River, in Manhattan, that another Edison invention made his iconic light bulb available to the masses. See, in the late 1800’s, […]
Three steps that will help Puerto Rico’s grid survive the next hurricane
On September 6, 2017, Hurricane Irma hit Puerto Rico and left a million people without power. Two weeks later, on September 20, Hurricane Maria finished off the job and destroyed nearly 100% of the island’s grid. In early October, the governor, Ricardo Rosselló, optimistically predicted that 95% of the power would be restored by mid-December. But, […]
Bloomberg New Energy Finance Founder and Chairman Michael Liebreich shares his views on nuclear, solar, and the politics of energy
Michael Liebreich is a really smart guy. He grew up in London and attended Cambridge University to specialize in thermodynamics and nuclear engineering. After graduating in 1984, he became a member of the British Ski team and went on to compete in the world cups and the 1992 Olympics. Along the way, he got an […]
Can community-scale solar become the Model T of clean energy?
Every single solar project, big or small, gets assembled one at a time on a roof or in a field. But what if you could pre-manufacture solar projects in a factory, instead? Could you do to solar what Henry Ford did to cars and make solar even more affordable and available to virtually everyone? What […]
Can we make solar installations 3-times cheaper in the next 3-4 years?
In mid-November, forty of the brightest minds in solar gathered just outside New York City. Their goal was simple yet audacious: find a way to dramatically reduce the cost of solar installations by re-inventing how they are designed and built. The cheaper we can make solar, the faster we accelerate the shift towards clean energy. […]
The biggest business opportunity in history
Clean energy is the biggest business opportunity in history. Let me explain. To put this in perspective, look at the first bar above (1). The creation of the US interstate highway system is often cited as the largest infrastructure project ever. Between 1954 and 1991, the US invested $468 billion to create it (that number is […]
Why are the lights still out in Puerto Rico?
Puerto Rico has become an island of generators. Almost 10 weeks after Hurricane Maria tore across the island, more than 40% of Puerto Rico still lacks access to grid electricity. Actually, this number is the power company’s (PREPA) self-reported electrical generation capacity. No one really knows the number of people still without power so it’s […]
A TED talk on accelerating the shift to clean energy
Electricity powers nearly every aspect of our modern, convenient lives. It’s so pervasive and easy that most of us take it for granted. But just behind the common electric outlet lies a system that is expensive, insecure, and, worst of all, dangerously dirty – the grid. For example, clean energy from the sun and wind […]
Off-grid insights and innovations changing the face of rural Africa
Local Energy The vision behind the Freeing Energy Project is simple: electricity is moving away from fossil-fuels toward cleaner, cheaper and more resilient sources of power. One of the most exciting catalysts for this epic change is Local Energy. Much like the farm-to-table movement, Local Energy is about creating electricity and consuming it in the […]
Four takeaways from the Microgrid 2017 conference
Microgrid 2017 is a 3-day, deep dive trade conference attended by equipment companies, operators, universities, government officials, researchers, financiers, regulators and just about anyone else thinking about the cutting edge of the power industry. Up from last year’s attendance of 150 people, this year’s event was sold out at 460 people. While the attendance is […]
How an Entire U.S. Town Became Battery-Operated
What if I told you the U.S. city blazing the local energy trail has a population of 2,800 and relies on sheep to cut the grass around its solar panels? It‘s time to turn our heads from the energy trailblazers in New York and California to the industrious and economically savvy Village of Minster, Ohio. […]
Net Impact conference 2017 – how technology is impacting Africa
Net Impact is an annual conference dedicated to helping students and professionals create careers that make a positive impact on the world. Thousands of people from across the US come together to for three days to learn and collaborate on topics ranging from social justice and clean energy to sustainable agriculture and civic engagement. When I […]
Solar irrigation transforms small African farms
Kenya is a nation of farmers. About two-thirds of the country support themselves by tilling the ground, planting seeds and harvesting crops. Despite having mild year-round weather, the dry climate only supports two annual growing seasons, the “long rains” and the “short rains.” These limited seasons mean many Kenyan farmers can barely grow enough to […]