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Massachusetts aims to ‘adapt with the times’ with updates to solar incentive program
Massachusetts officials, advocates, and businesses are hoping proposed changes to the state’s solar incentive program will help reinvigorate a flagging market and give more disadvantaged residents access to the benefits of renewable energy. “The program has been pretty set in stone since it first launched,” said Katie Moffitt, project...
New Hampshire law provides new solar incentives for cities, drops ineffective consumer rebate program
A recently signed New Hampshire law makes significant changes to the operations of the state’s Renewable Energy Fund, directing money to help towns and cities develop municipal solar projects and ending a residential solar rebate program that was generally viewed as deeply flawed. “The previously existing program had sort...
Conservative clean energy advocates keep Trump’s rhetoric at arm’s length
Editor’s note: No Republicans voted for the Inflation Reduction Act. A previous version of this story incorrectly reported that fact. Nestled under a glass dome between a humid tropical jungle and a surreal cactus landscape during the Republican National Convention last week, Republican leaders extolled a glowing clean energy future for America, and avoided mentioning nominee Donald J. Trump.
Software aims to help local governments standardize, streamline solar permitting
The small southeastern Minnesota city of La Crescent receives just a handful of permit applications each year to install solar panels on homes. Despite the small volume, it’s still important to city sustainability coordinator Jason Ludwigson that it’s a smooth process for homeowners and installers. That’s why the...
Before key hearings in North Carolina, Duke Energy makes tiny concessions to big gas ambitions
Before pivotal hearings that begin Monday, Duke Energy has made a few small concessions to its plans for a giant fossil fuel buildout in North Carolina, winning over the once-skeptical state-sanctioned ratepayer advocate. Duke’s proposed settlement with Public Staff and Walmart needs approval from the state’s Utilities Commission to take...
Upcoming Ohio Supreme Court decisions could make it even harder to develop solar power in the state
A pair of upcoming decisions by Ohio’s top court could further empower local opponents to block clean energy in what is already one of the hardest states to site new renewable projects. Two cases before the Ohio Supreme Court ask whether local opposition is enough for the Ohio Power...
Offshore wind port siting raises new conflicts for coastal Mainers, environmental activists
This story was co-published by Energy News Network, the Maine Monitor, and Grist. Ron Huber rifled through a thick folder full of decades of state environmental records outside a community hall in the tiny coastal Maine town of Searsport. For the longtime local conservation activist, the scene inside was a familiar one: dozens of neighbors, workers and environmentalists mingled over pizza and coffee, discussing the merits of a proposed industrial project that has potential to transform the local economy, but at the expense of a locally beloved natural area.
Can a long-planned Duke Energy gas plant in North Carolina be defeated?
Duke Energy has been laying the groundwork for a new gas power plant in North Carolina’s Person County for years, touting it as the “next generation” of electricity production and lining up support from local politicians eager to hold on to the utility’s tax dollars. With...
Minnesota solar rebate extension gives installers longer runway to reach lower-income customers
The “solar-coaster” is about to get a little smoother for Minnesota solar installers. State lawmakers this spring extended funding for a rooftop solar rebate program through 2035, bucking a trend of two-year renewals that caused uncertainty for installers every couple of years. Solar industry leaders say the additional...
Counting trucks, demanding change: Chicago project aims to quantify heavy-duty vehicle impacts
On June 7, 2023, exactly 2,206 large trucks and buses passed through the intersection of Kedzie Avenue and 31st Street in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood. That’s an average of 1.5 heavy-duty vehicles per minute — much more in the morning and afternoon — rumbling through this crossroads in a dense, residential neighborhood near multiple parks and schools.
In Twin Cities and beyond, district energy systems see pressure to cut carbon emissions
The operators of the decades-old energy systems that heat and cool buildings in downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul have ambitious plans underway to reduce emissions. The mostly hidden networks of insulated pipes connected to centralized heating and cooling equipment are known as district energy systems. They’ve long been championed as an energy efficient way to heat and cool campuses or downtowns, especially in cooler climates.
Minnesota highway projects will need to consider climate impacts in planning
The recent expansion of a groundbreaking transportation law in Minnesota means all major highway projects in the state will soon be scrutinized for their impact on climate emissions. A year ago, the state legislature made headlines with a new law requiring the state transportation department and the Twin Cities’ regional...
Massachusetts is expanding its pathbreaking vehicle fleet electrification program
Massachusetts is in the process of tripling the size of its first-in-the-nation vehicle fleet electrification program following a recent influx of federal money. “We are really looking at the barriers, the challenges, the things that we need to figure out to get decarbonization to happen at scale,” said Emily Reichert, CEO of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center.
Study: Vermont’s warming winters ‘not the whole story’ for declining fossil fuel use
A new analysis says Vermont is not on track to meet its 2025 target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, with declines in thermal fossil fuel use driven mostly — though not entirely — by warming winters. The study, released last month by the Vermont nonprofit Energy Action Network,...
Data centers offer energy peril and promise, with the Midwest increasingly in the crosshairs
Southeastern Wisconsin and the Chicago area are emerging as major players in the national data center explosion, most notably with Microsoft’s $3.3 billion planned data complex near Racine, Wisconsin. Clean energy advocates in the region say data centers pose both a risk and an opportunity, as they can put...
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