Over the next 15 years, Duke Energy plans to increase how much it relies on renewable energy only modestly—from 1 percent next year to just 2 percent in 2028… Jim Warren of environmental group NC WARN says that is too little.
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Will Solar Save the Planet? — The Nation
Danny Kennedy, a former top Greenpeace activist who helps run the global solar company Sungevity, says that solar and wind power are growing so fast worldwide that they will displace fossil fuels much sooner than usually thought.
Will Duke’s Upcoming Solar Power Plan be Good for North Carolinians or Drive Rates Even Higher? — News Release from NC WARN
When might NC WARN – a vigorous promoter of solar power for many years – NOT support a plan to add solar to North Carolina rooftops? Answer: If Duke Energy’s upcoming solar proposal, previewed in April and due to be filed any day, is used cynically to mask – and amplify – its plans to keep building nuclear and fracking-gas plants, and to keep its coal giants running for decades.
On Rooftops, a Rival for Utilities — The New York Times
For years, power companies have watched warily as solar panels have sprouted across the nation’s rooftops. Now, in almost panicked tones, they are fighting hard to slow the spread. Alarmed by what they say has become an existential threat to their business, utility companies are moving to roll back government incentives aimed at promoting solar energy and other renewable sources of power. At stake, the companies say, is nothing less than the future of the American electricity industry.
Industry Report Suggests Duke Energy May Be Facing Corporate Death Spiral
In January 2013, the Edison Electric Institute published a report titled Disruptive Challenges: Financial Implications and Strategic Responses to a Changing Retail Electric Business. It states: “…the pace of [electric industry] change is increasing and will likely increase further as costs of disruptive technologies” continue to decline.
Examining the feasibility of converting New York State’s all-purpose energy infrastructure to one using wind, water, and sunlight — Energy Policy
This study analyzes a plan to convert New York State’s all-purpose energy infrastructure to one derived entirely from wind, water, and sunlight.
Duke Energy CEO calls for competitive bids for NC solar sales — Charlotte Business Journal
Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers talks in this week’s print edition of the Charlotte Business Journal about allowing commercial subsidiary Duke Energy Renewables to compete with solar developers in North Carolina to sell power to Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress.
Climate Change: No Breakthroughs Needed, Mr. President — Huffington Post
In his recent New Republic interview, President Obama said we “need some big technological breakthrough” to tackle climate change. Mr. President — our nation already has the technologies to protect the climate while advancing prosperity. Your National Renewable Energy Laboratory showed just last June how to produce 80 to 90 percent of America’s electricity from proven, reliable and increasingly competitive renewable sources like the sun and wind.
Duke Energy Monopoly Must Use Wasted Resource Instead of Building Power Plants, says Watchdog Group — News Release from NC WARN
Recent advances in a decades-old energy-saving technology could allow thousands of North Carolina facilities such as grocery stores, schools and hospitals to save over 30 percent of their annual energy usage. The energy savings from combined heat and power (CHP) at facilities in North Carolina could be roughly equal to the electricity from ten large power plants.
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Solar energy is ready. The U.S. isn’t. – Bloomberg Businessweek
Clean energy has become a dirty word in presidential politics….The candidates’ coolness to renewable energy comes at a time when the domestic supply of traditional energy sources, such as oil and natural gas, is at an all-time high. And yet this failure to make the promise of renewables a keynote in the debate is a huge missed opportunity. In particular, it ignores the dramatic reduction in the cost of photovoltaic solar power worldwide and the considerable benefits to U.S. consumers and the environment.