After record solar-plant approval in 2010, the California Energy Commission believes its "big push" in solar-thermal projects is over.
This past year represented a "sea change" as regulators ended a 20-year dry spell and fast-tracked solar-thermal plant approval, spokesman Adam Gottlieb told Reuters yesterday, helping drive the state's and nation's broader renewable-energy goals.
But because so many developers were rushing to meet a December 31 deadline for federal incentives, CEC staff are expecting a slower year in 2011. In hindsight, the rush was overdone, given that Congress has now extended that deadline for federal … Read more
SANTA CRUZ, Calif.--When I lived in this beach town on the central California coast in the early 1990s, I loved visiting a stunning local state park where each winter you could find more than 120,000 monarch butterflies swarming, clustering, and flying everywhere you looked.
It was an awesome sight.
Today, a visit to the monarch grove at Natural Bridges State Beach reveals a much grimmer situation--just 2,000 monarchs during the peak of their "overwintering" season, the period from late October through early March when the colorful butterflies rest in the trees here, protected from the … Read more
NRG Solar and SunPower said today they expect to begin construction on a large 250-megawatt solar installation next year in California's central coastal region.
The project would be one of the largest solar plants in the U.S., the companies said. NRG Solar, a subsidiary of utility NRG Energy, is purchasing the project from SunPower for about $450 million over four years.
The California Valley Solar Ranch plant will use SunPower's solar photovoltaic panels, which are mounted on trackers that position the panels to follow the sun to optimize power output. SunPower will build and operate the plant. … Read more
I woke up this morning thinking about Meg Whitman. You see, I'm finding hard to come to terms with the fact that my campaign to become customer of the week at my local Starbucks was successful and Whitman's quest to be governor of the week was not.
Should you have been unaccountably unaccounted for during World Series celebrations, you might have missed that the former eBay CEO failed in her grandiloquent bid to become CEO of California, or whatever they call that position in which everyone who tries fails.
Some have put this abject calamity down to a … Read more
Over the last decade or two, the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly extended the First Amendment's formidable legal shield to the Web.
In 1997, the justices tossed out the Communications Decency Act, saying Congress could not outlaw making "indecent" material available on the Internet. Last year, the law's benighted successor met the same fate, as did a law targeting animal cruelty videos that the court rejected in April.
Today the Supreme Court hears oral arguments on whether to grant video games the same favored kind of laissez-faire treatment.
SAN FRANCISCO--California unveiled its final draft of a market system to curb greenhouse gases, relaxing expected rules in the face of a weak economy in a measure that could set the tone for the nation's climate policy.
By agreeing to give away virtually all necessary permits to factories and power plants when the scheme starts in 2012 rather than sell them at auction, the state with the biggest economy and population is acknowledging the challenges of double-digit unemployment--and the reality that pollution decreases as the economy slows.
California aims to cap total emissions of gases linked to global warming and let factories and power plants trade for an ever-decreasing number of permits to emit gases. In theory, market forces will drive efficiency in the system, known as cap and trade.
There is still a debate about the economic merits of the plan, which planners in the Friday draft (PDF) estimate will shave about 0.1 percent from annual state growth.
Many Californians see such environmental regulation as positive for the economy by spurring "green" jobs. Voters on Tuesday could put on hold a climate change law, including the emissions market, but polls show the Proposition 23 challenge to the state's climate change law is set to be rebuffed.
After the failure of federal climate legislation, the fate of California's law and the details of its cap-and-trade plan are seen as a U.S. turning point--either away from addressing climate change or toward stronger action.
The state's 2006 law requires it to return to 1990 levels of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, and the hobbled economy has produced fewer greenhouse gas emissions than expected, making the goal less onerous.
The state agency planning cap-and-trade has responded in part by ignoring a suggestion by a panel of economists last year to auction off the emissions permits. … Read more
When you're running for governor and suggesting that perhaps your expertise in having run eBay will be much needed to sort out California, it is good to ensure that you have your tweets all in a row.
Some were frightfully amused that, Sarah Pompei, a spokeswoman for Meg Whitman, sent out a tweet that purported to link to an endorsement from the Deputy Sheriffs' Association of San Diego County but instead linked to the clip I have embedded.
Her tweet had read: "SD Cnty Sheriff Assoc says @Whitman2010 4 gov! RT: @Murphy4MegNews: CA Cops get it: Jerry Brown … Read more
California collegians may be getting a lesson on the limits of sharing.
Students at California state universities are expressing frustration following news that the university system sent a cease-and-desist letter to a new Web site that lets pupils sell their class notes--in violation of California law, the chancellor's office says.
On NoteUtopia, students from about 100 colleges and universities around the country can buy, sell, or simply share their original class notes and reports, as well as handouts, exams released by the professor, and completed study guides. Students, who can join the 2-month-old site for free, can also collaborate … Read more
Instead of heavy textbooks, your school backpack could one day carry equipment that instantly maps out your environment in 3D. The Air Force recently announced that a portable laser backpack for 3D mapping has been developed by researchers at the University of California at Berkeley.
While bulky, the prototype backpack has already been used to map out two stories of Cory Hall, an electrical engineering building on the UC Berkeley campus. It rapidly gathers data while the user walks around inside a building. The information can be put together into a detailed, photo-realistic 3D map.
California's energy regulatory agency on Wednesday approved plans to build a 250-megawatt solar thermal farm near the Mojave Desert.
The Beacon Solar Energy thermal solar plant would be built at the western edge of the Mojave Desert, roughly 15 miles north of the town of Mojave itself. It would cover about 2,012 acres in Kern County, Calif., according to the California Energy Commission.
And it may just be the first of many to be approved by the CEC before the end of this year.
The Beacon project is being touted by many as the first solar thermal project … Read more
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