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Los Angeles air pollution

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa intends to sign two agreements that will get the city off of coal-generated electricity entirely by 2025[read more]

"A Great Aridness:  Climate Change and the Future of the American Southwest", the recent book written by William deBuys, is getting some attention. The NYTimes summed up the book by quoting the author:  "The story of the West is essentially a story about water".  The reporter paused then quoted deBuys again:  "and its...[read more]

A new study on the impact of regional temperature differences on solar generating potential arrives at some surprising conclusions about the world's best locations for solar power. While the US desert southwest still ranks high, as you'd expect, it turns out that some of the best sites may be in places most of us would never suspect,...[read more]

Yesterday the staff of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Az) conducted a “Solar Summit” in Washington, D.C. You can watch all three hours of the program here, or maybe you’d rather read the overview provided by Phil Riske at the Rose Law Group Blog, “Mayes, Spitzer bemoan congressional Republicans ‘retrenching’ against renewable energy funding...[read more]

Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) has released its latest report which showed that U.S. electric utility providers are including more and more solar power generation in their portfolios and much of this increases is happening outside of California. (Click here for the Executive Summary of the report)The Solar Electric Power...[read more]

Arizona has quickly becoming one the best states in the U.S. for solar power. Currently, Arizona ranks as the fourth highest in installed solar PV capacity among U.S. states. In fact, the Arizona solar market made substantial strides in 2010 by installing over 54 megawatts of solar power, doubling its 2009 output of 21 megawatts, again...[read more]

Michael Giberson The Arizona Court of Appeals has ruled that the Arizona Corporation Commission was acting within its authority when it decided to require utilities to secure a portion of their electric power from renewable resources. The Goldwater Institute had argued that the Commission’s authority was limited to setting rates and that...[read more]

Arizona solar made substantial strides in 2010 by installing over 54 megawatts of solar power, doubling its 2009 output of 21 megawatts, ranking it fourth in the U.S. According to a study by the Solar Energy Industries Association and GTM Research, 878 megawatts (MW) of photovoltaic (PV) capacity and 78 MW of concentrating solar power (...[read more]

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced a $1.45 billion loan guarantee has been finalized for Abengoa Solar Inc.'s Solana project, the world's largest parabolic trough concentrating solar plant. Located near Gila Bend, Arizona, the 250-megawatt (MW) project is the first large-scale solar plant in the United States capable of...[read more]

Solar panels on ASU parking garage, Tempe, AZ Regular readers of The Phoenix Sun know how important the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) has been to the growth of clean and renewable energy in this sun-drenched state. For example, under the leadership of outgoing chairwoman Kris Mayes (who is term-limited out this year), the ACC...[read more]

I recently ran across a story indicating that regulators in Arizona are considering implementing a feed-in tariff (FIT) for solar power in that state. This is somewhat ironic, coming as it does amidst a wave of hotly-debated reductions in European solar FITs, in response to the burden they've imposed on electricity customers and the...[read more]

Contentious immigration issues are flashpoint for Senate Republicans A top priority for President Obama suffered a severe setback over the weekend as Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham withdrew his support for climate change legislation which was to be introduced in the Senate this week.  His action came as Democrats prepared to change...[read more]

Yesterday morning, NPR had a segment discussing the controversy over protecting certain portions of the Mojave Desert from solar energy development. It describes how one project developer was planning to grade and level 5500 acres of land and then cover that cleared area with a quarter of a million truckloads of gravel to form the...[read more]

Arizona wants to grow its solar industry. And it’s no secret where the best place in the country is to find fast-growing solar companies ready to expand their operations: California. So it is there that Barry Broome, Chief Executive of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, recently traveled to meet with various Golden State solar...[read more]

Colorado Governor Bill Ritter has made it official: By 2020, utilities in that state must generate 30% of their electricity from renewable sources such as wind and solar power. As reported here recently, the Colorado legislature passed HB 1001 to upgrade its Renewable Energy Standard (RES) on March 8th, with strong public support. Only...[read more]