Solar

Solar Provides More Jobs Than Oil and Coal

February 7, 2014 Christina Sarich, www.nationofchange.org Educate! Energy, Environment, Nuclear Energy, Oil and Gas, Solar, Worker Rights and Jobs

Solar employs and nuclear destroys; we have ample evidence of that now, and with the annual U.S. solar jobs census we now have proof that solar power isn’t just providing energy, without destroying our oceans and contaminating the earth and air with strontium, caesium and barium, among other chemicals, it is providing more than 143,000 Americans a paycheck. Since 2012, that’s nearly a 20 percent increase, says The Solar Foundation, which conducts the census. An additional 23,682 jobs have been added – 10 times the rate of employment growth as the national average of just 1.9 percent. In the past four years, 50,000 well paying jobs were added – many of them building and installing solar panels, and this employment rate is expected to continue growing at a steady pace. Solar installers also make an average of $20 – to $23.60 an hour – compared to the wages of a coal miner, that isn’t bad especially considering the payout to workers with black lung disease amount to billions, and the detrimental affects to a worker’s health are almost irreversible.

Solar Producing Too Much Energy In Hawaii For Power Company

December 27, 2013 Mark Karlin, www.truth-out.org Create! Energy, Environment, Solar

Let's try to summarize this astounding Scientific American article that symbolizes the tentacles of the fossil fuel industry and utility companies in perpetuating destructive climate change. Actually, the header and sub-headline of the piece sum it up nicely: "A Solar Boom so Successful, It's Been Halted: Photovoltaics proved so successful in Hawaii that the local utility, [the Hawaiin Electric Company] (HECO), has instituted policies to block further expansion." Hawaiian Electric Co., or HECO, in September told solar contractors on Oahu that the island's solar boom is creating problems. On many circuits, the utility said, there's so much solar energy that it poses a threat to the system and a safety issue. Studies are needed on whether grid upgrades are necessary. If they are, residents adding solar must foot the bill. And starting immediately, contractors and residents would need permission to connect most small rooftop systems to the grid. The result is that an alternative renewable energy source that could help save the planet and reduce energy costs dramatically (in the long run, particulary as solar technology becomes less expensive) is dead in its tracks in Hawaii: The policy change halted what has been a solar surge in Hawaii. Installations there jumped 169 percent last year from 2011. More than 4 percent of households have photovoltaics. Hawaii last year led the nation in the portion of its electricity that comes from solar, with 2.6 percent.

Solar Installations Soar

December 15, 2013 Brandon Baker, www.ecowatch.com Create! Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Solar

The U.S. solar energy industry set a record for new residential projects in the third quarter of this year and nearly set a new one for overall installations. Data released today by the Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA) shows that there were 930 megawatts (MW) installed from July to September. That’s the second-best quarter in the country’s history, behind the fourth quarter of 2012 (1,311 MW). This year’s third-quarter numbers represent a 20-percent increase from the second quarter and a 35-percent improvement from the same period of 2012 The residential sector finished at its highest level of all time, with 186 MW.

New Economy Week — October 12-18, 2013

October 10, 2013 Staff, www.neweconomyweek.org Create! Cooperatives, Education, Energy, Environment, Finance and the Economy, Food and Agriculture, Public Banking, Solar, Worker Rights and Jobs

It’s becoming clearer every day that something is wrong in America. We see symptoms of a deeper problem through our own experiences with growing inequality, chronic unemployment, financial instability, undemocratic consolidations of power, environmental crisis, and the declining well being of communities, families, and individuals. Many of us have come to the realization that our economy is out of control; undermining many of those things we hold most dear. For some this leads to despair or resignation, for others it inspires activism, and for increasingly more Americans it leads to a desire and a commitment to innovate and build something that works better for the people, planet, and places we love. New Economy Week is a celebration of this innovative spirit, an opportunity to shine a light on the thousands upon thousands of things that everyday people are doing right now to build a new kind of economy.

Are Utility Companies Out to Destroy Solar’s ‘Rooftop Revolution’?

October 10, 2013 Jon Queally, www.commondreams.org Create! Energy, Environment, Solar

In the nation's largest state, California, the major utility companies are trying to limit growth . . . of rooftop solar panels, that is. According to reporting by Bloomberg, the state's three largest utilities—Edison International, PG&E Corp. and Sempra Energy—are "putting up hurdles" to homeowners who have installed sun-powered energy systems, especially those with "battery backups wired to solar panels," in order to slow the spread of what has become a threat to their dominant business model. “The utilities clearly see rooftop solar as the next threat,” Ben Peters, a government affairs analyst at solar company Mainstream Energy Corp., told Bloomberg. “They’re trying to limit the growth.” According to Peters, as the business news outlet reports, the dispute between those with solar arrays and the utility giants "threatens the state’s $2 billion rooftop solar industry and indicates the depth of utilities’ concerns about consumers producing their own power.

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