There’s no doubt about it. June was HOT. And while extreme temperatures in both summer and winter can make outdoor activities unbearable, they can also send electric utility bills skyrocketing across most of North Carolina and place high demands on the state’s … Read more
As the nation struggles to repair, maintain, and expand its infrastructure, public-private partnerships are gaining traction as a strategy for delivering traditionally “public” services. Public-private partnerships (or P3s) are touted on the idea that public projects can benefit from the … Read more
On Monday, June 8, 2015, Hawai’i Governor David Y. Ige signed into law four energy bills, including House Bill 623, which will “strengthen Hawaii’s commitment to clean energy by directing the state’s utilities to generate 100 percent of their electricity sales from renewable energy resources by 2045,” according to the press release by the Governor’s office. This remarkable measure will make Hawai‘i the first state in the country to have a 100 percent renewable energy portfolio standard (RPS) for the electricity sector.
The core of our work at the Environmental Finance Center at UNC is helping communities tackle the challenges of paying for environmental services. The environmental finance issues that we address are as complex as they are varied, and as an organization … Read more
Last month on a sunny day in Raleigh, North Carolina, Governor Pat McCrory extended the state’s 35 percent renewable energy tax credit for one year, pushing its expiration to January 1, 2017 instead of the impending December 31, 2015 deadline. As solar installers across the state breathed a small sigh of relief, many potential solar investors were left wondering, “What does this really mean to the cost of solar PV for me?” A few months ago, I was asking myself this very same question. Today, I have a beautiful residential solar PV installation on my roof. Here is my story.
It was a beautiful morning as I made the one hour drive from Reno, Nevada to the small rural mountain valley community of Portola, California. Each turn brought increasingly picturesque views of mountains, forests and lakes. As I started my descent into the city, I noticed a slight haze in the valley. Could it be fog? Was it an oncoming storm? Perhaps a forest fire? At another time of year, it might have been any of these natural causes. But at this time of year – early March, temperatures in the 30’s, no wind – it was none of these. What I was seeing hovering in the valley was a layer of smoke and I was going to be spending my day discussing the environmental, economic and health benefits of reducing it.
In North Carolina, and around the country, growth in the deployment of solar photovoltaic (PV) power has accelerated dramatically in recent years. However, from the standpoint of financing the provision of electric power to customers, this growth in solar deployment presents … Read more
This guest post was written by Steve Wall, Research Associate/Project Director of the Environmental Resource Program at the UNC Institute of the Environment. On February 19th and 20th leaders in the clean technology sector will gather in Chapel Hill, NC for a … Read more
It’s the environmental equivalent of the chicken and egg conundrum. Which comes first? The energy efficiency retrofit (the plump chicken full of opportunity) or the capital (the very large egg) with which to fund it? The answer is “it doesn’t matter.” … Read more
By David Tucker and Lexi Kay In June 2014, the U.S. EPA proposed the Clean Power Plan rule for the regulation of existing electric power plants under Section 111(d) of the federal Clean Air Act. A comment period for this proposed rule will … Read more
