Author Archives Laura Arnold

Tipton County (IN) BZA shuts down hearing on Prairie Breeze Wind Farm proposed by juwi Wind

Posted by Laura Arnold / August 29, 2013 / Posted in Uncategorized, wind / No Comments

Photo taken by Laura Ann Arnold with an iPhone.

August 29, 2013

Prairie Breeze fate unknown

BZA limiting of testimony halts meeting.

By Ken de la Bastide, Kokomo Tribune Kokomo Tribune

TIPTON – It appears likely the next battle over construction of the proposed Prairie Breeze Wind Farm in northwestern Tipton County will be in a courtroom.

The Tipton County Board of Zoning Appeals meeting Wednesday came to an abrupt end when BZA President Jerry Acres announced he was limiting testimony on a proposed property value guarantee.

The BZA granted a conditional use permit to juwi Wind in March for the Prairie Breeze development but added the requirement of a 1,500-foot setback from property lines and creation of a property value guarantee.

Acres said the board would only hear testimony concerning a property value guarantee and whether or not it was accessible to the BZA.

Mary Solada, attorney for juwi Wind, said the company was prepared to go forward with the plan they submitted, but also wanted to present testimony that a property value guarantee would not benefit the citizens of Tipton County.

Solada responded to a question from Acres that one of the options that would be presented was that a property value guarantee was not necessary.

“We’re prepared to explain why a property value guarantee does not benefit the citizens of Tipton County,” she said. “If we can’t present that testimony we’re being denied due process.”

Acres said the rules of the meeting were to hear testimony on a property value guarantee.

None of the four other BZA members commented in agreement or against Acres stance during the meeting.

Phil Ochs, the attorney for lease holders, objected to the limitation of testimony as denying his clients due process.

“Are you prepared to move forward with a property value guarantee?” Acres asked.

Solada said the bottom line is the company was prepared to present testimony on the rationale that the guarantee was not needed.

With that, Acres closed the meeting.

More information on the BZA meeting will be available in Friday’s Kokomo Tribune and the newspaper’s website at www.kokomotribune.com.

HEC Hosts PACE Webinar 8/29/13, noon to 1 pm EDT, Register at http://www.hecweb.org/news-events/webinars/

Posted by Laura Arnold / August 28, 2013 / Posted in Uncategorized / No Comments

Several attempts have been made during the past few years to get a PACE bill enated by the Indiana General Assembly. PACE stands for Property Assessed Clean Energy. So far these efforts have fallen short. The Hoosier Environmental Council (HEC) is making another attempt to rally support for an Indiana PACE bill.

A status of state PACE bills can be found on the DSIRE website. See http://www.dsireusa.org/documents/summarymaps/PACE_Financing_Map.pdf

Also see http://votesolar.org/policy-guides/rooftop-solar-policy-guides/pace-financing/

If you are interested in learning more about proposed PACE legislation that may be introduced in the Indiana General Assembly, please contact me: Laura.Arnold@IndianaDG.net or call (317) 645-1701.

A national webinar on Commercial PACE Programs was held earlier this month. See

Commercial PACE: Program Development and Implementation

ICLEI- Local Governments for Sustainability, in collaboration with The Solar Foundation, will

present a free webinar on “Commercial PACE: Program development and implementation” as

part of the U.S Department of Energy SunShot Solar Outreach Partnership.

This webinar will inform participants of the important aspects of Commercial PACE programs

that make them viable financing tools for state and local governments looking to support clean

energy use in condominiums, retail spaces, warehouses, and other commercial properties.

Speakers from Lean County, Florida, and Washington, DC, will discuss what logistical and

political obstacles they faced in developing their programs, how best to work with local

contractors, and what benefits can be derived from pursuing a Commercial PACE Program.

Speakers includeed:

Kristin Dozier, County Commissioner, Leon County, FL

Maggie Theriot, Director, Office of Resource Stewardship, Leon County, FL

Dave Good, District Department of Environment, DC

This webinar covers the important aspects of Commercial PACE programs that make them viable financing tools for state and local governments looking to support clean energy use in condominiums, retail spaces, warehouses, and other commercial properties. Speakers from Lean County, Florida, and Washington, DC, will discuss what logistical and political obstacles they faced in developing their programs, how best to work with local contractors, and what benefits can be derived from pursuing a Commercial PACE Program.

Speakers include:Kristin Dozier, County Commissioner, Leon County, FL Maggie Theriot, Director, Office of Resource Stewardship, Leon County, FL Dave Good, District Department of Environment, DC

View the Webinar (.wmv, 70MB)

View the Presentation Slides (.pdf)

News Release

Indianapolis, Ind. -- Business owners, operations and energy managers, clean energy component manufacturers and installers, and clean energy advocates across Indiana are invited to attend a free online workshop to learn more about ways Hoosier businesses can reduce their company’s rising energy costs and create new job opportunities in the clean energy sector. The midday workshop takes place Thursday, August 29, 2013 from noon to 1:00 p.m. (EST), with registration open now through the morning of the webinar at: http://www.hecweb.org/news-events/webinars/

Indiana has seen its energy costs rise significantly in the last ten years, from being among the lowest in the country to now in the middle of the pack. Webinar participants will learn about the tools -- current and prospective -- that will help lower their energy bills and also pave the way for more jobs in the clean energy sector in Indiana.

The online workshop will feature speaker Kris Wheeler, J.D., Energy Policy Adviser to the Hoosier Environmental Council, who has had more than 15 years of experience in the energy industry. Wheeler and other clean energy experts will particularly talk about Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) bonds, a way for commercial, agricultural, and industrial property owners to finance energy efficiency upgrades and on-site renewable energy projects with low interest rates and favorable terms. More information can be found at: www.PACEIndiana.org

"With rising energy costs and an unemployment rate that needs to be brought down, Indiana is a prime destination for greater investment in clean energy. Energy retrofits, in particular, will improve a company’s bottom line and differentiate a company from its competition, while creating more jobs in our state. This webinar will increase awareness of private sector and governmental tools available to Hoosier businesses for such retrofits along with highlighting a new financing tool, PACE, that’s available in all states in the Midwest other than ours."

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, buildings alone consume over 40% of the energy we use. And between 2001 and 2010, the average retail price of electricity in Indiana rose by almost 50%.

This free webinar is being sponsored the Hoosier Environmental Council and the Indiana Association for Community Economic Development.
Interested participants can register for free online at: http://www.hecweb.org/news-events/webinars/

###
About Hoosier Environmental Council:
Founded in 1983, the Hoosier Environmental Council (HEC) is the largest statewide environmental policy organization in Indiana. HEC aims to foster solutions that simultaneously improve environmental quality and economic well-being. Visit hecweb.org for more information. You can also follow HEC on Twitter: @hec_ed, or like us on Facebook: facebook.com/hecweb.

Source: Hoosier Environmental Council

Geostellar Solar Index, Q3; How does your state rank? Indiana is ranked 49th and that’s not good! What can we do?

Posted by Laura Arnold / August 26, 2013 / Posted in solar, Uncategorized / No Comments

Geostellar Solar Index, Q3

THE SOLARCOASTER

The Geostellar Solar Index, a quarterly economic analysis of residential solar energy installations across the 50 United States and Washington DC, provides a means of measuring and comparing the profitability of residential solar energy installations to other investments, such as stocks, bonds and certificates of deposit.

About the Geostellar Solar Index

One of the key insights the Geostellar Solar Index provides is the fact that local, state and federal tax credits and other incentives are the largest factors in determining the profitability of solar for the homeowner. Because incentives change rapidly, the profitability of solar energy across the country often fluctuates.

How the Geostellar Solar Index was Generated

The Q3 2013 Geostellar Solar Index Press Release

Satirical Video: “Southern California Eidson Hates Rooftop Solar”; Watch if you need a good laugh!

Posted by Laura Arnold / August 26, 2013 / Posted in solar, Uncategorized / No Comments

You can also watch this video on YouTube. See http://youtu.be/8ZeYOtEMTIA

UTILITIES

SoCal Edison Not Laughing at Rooftop Solar Satire Video

by Chris Clarke

on August 19, 2013 5:35 PM

A screenshot from the Save Rooftop Solar video satirizing SCE | Photo: Save Rooftop Solar

A satirical video intended to poke fun at alleged utility obstruction of rooftop solar in California has attracted the ire of Southern California Edison (SCE), which has sent a letter demanding the creators take the video off the Internet.

The groups Presente.org, the Sierra Club's My Generation Campaign, and the Other 98% released the satirical video last week on their joint website Save Rooftop Solar in an attempt to call attention to what they call a campaign by California's investor-owned utilities to court Latino legislators in the state to restrict rooftop solar.

The groups' press blitz during the release stated that the video focused on SCE as a "proxy" for all of California's investor-owned utilities, but apparently SCE is feeling singled out. On August 16 the utility sent a "cease and desist" letter to Presente.org, demanding the groups responsible remove the video from its website and from YouTube.

In the letter, SCE's attorney Janet Combs spells out the utility's objection to the satire:

Specifically, the video, entitled Edison Hates Rooftop Solar, misrepresents itself as an Edison video and claims that Edison wants to "keep solar panels" off customers' roofs through a "business plan" to "force" customers to buy "dirty energy" from "dirty power plants" that "poison poor communities." The video claims that Edison is "spending big on Latino politicians" to make installing solar panels on customers' roofs more expensive and discourage customers from installing solar panels.

Of course, due to the provisions of Internet Law concerning the Streisand Effect, ReWire is obligated to embed that video for you here again. Listen, we don't make the rules.

Combs' letter threatened further legal action if the groups fail to respond within 14 days. And respond they have. "Southern California Edison's threats against us are a joke," said Arturo Carmona, Executive Director of Presente.org, in a press release. "Instead of trying to divert the public's attention by threatening to take legal action against our video parody, Edison and other utilities need to tell the public why they've spent nearly $900,000 lobbying Latino legislators." Carmona added that the legal threat has inspired his group to try to get the satire aired on television stations in the state's Latino districts.

"The use of corporate logos for satire is standard practice recognized by law. But Southern California Edison obviously doesn't care for the satirical message of this video," added John Sellers of The Other 98%. "They're mad as hell that we've exposed their lobby's calculated attempt to squelch the state's rooftop solar economy."

About the Author

Chris Clarke is a natural history writer and environmental journalist currently at work on a book about the Joshua tree. He lives in Joshua Tree. MORE

How One Organization Is Making Solar Energy Available To Those Who Can’t Afford It

Posted by Laura Arnold / August 25, 2013 / Posted in solar, Uncategorized / No Comments

How One Organization Is Making Solar Energy Available To Those Who Can’t Afford It

BY KATIE VALENTINE ON AUGUST 22, 2013 AT 2:29 PM

Michael Bennet, Jarret Esposito, Jake Torwatzky

CREDIT: AP/Ed Andrieski

Rick Lopez said he felt like he’d won the lottery.

Lopez, a 63-year-old Vietnam veteran and Denver, CO resident, had a 3-kilowatt solar system installed on his house by a group of volunteers on Wednesday, completely free of charge. The project was initiated by GRID Alternatives, a nonprofit organization whose story was highlighted in the Denver Post this week. Lopez’s new system should provide power for 60 to 100 percent of his home’s electricity, and will save him hundreds of dollars in electricity costs each year.

“We would never have been able to do this on our own,” Rick’s wife Roberta Lopez told the Denver Business Journal. “We take it as a blessing.”

California-based GRID Alternatives installs solar systems on low-income households in California, Colorado and soon, in New York and New Jersey. The organization has installed 3,500 solar systems in California so far, projects that according to the organization have saved the homeowners $80 million in energy costs and will result in the reduction of 250,000 tons of greenhouse gasses over their lifetimes.

Once the solar system is installed, the homeowner pays GRID two cents for every kilowatt-hour that the solar panels produce, which typically results in energy bill savings of 80 percent. If the system produces all the household’s energy, a homeowner in Colorado would pay just $13 per month to GRID, compared to the state’s average $75.67 electricity bill.

“It’s really just a huge relief for those families,” Julian Foley, GRID Alternative’s communication manager told Denver Westword. “They can spend money on other things they need… That’s spending money that goes back to the community.”

And the free installation is key — though the price of installing solar in the U.S. has fallen to record lows, it’s still out of reach for many Americans. The solar systems GRID installs can cost up to $17,000, but grants bring the cost down to about $5,000.

GRID depends on volunteers to complete the installations, a setup which, along with donated equipment and corporate backing, helps make the organization’s work possible. But job trainees also work on installations — the organization partners with local community colleges and organizations like Veterans Green Jobs to provide job training for the clean energy sector. Through these partnerships, the organization also finds people who are eligible to receive free solar systems — those at an income level of 80 percent or below their area’s median level.

In California, the work GRID does also gets state funding through the Single-family Affordable Solar Homes Program (SASH). The program provides up-front rebates for low-income families who want to install solar systems, and GRID is the program manager for SASH’s $108 million in funds. The program will run until December 2015 or until the funding runs out — and as the demand for SASH and its counterpart, the Multi-family Affordable Solar Homes Program, which provides rebates for affordable housing projects, grows, the second scenario is looking more realistic. A bill has been taken up in the California Assembly to extend funding of the program to 2021.

Though it might be one of the most extensive, GRID isn’t the only group that aims to bring clean energy and energy efficiency to low-income Americans. Washington, D.C. provides a low-income option for its renewable energy incentive program, and in New York City, Enterprise Community Partners is building super-efficient affordable housing buildings — a new 197-unit development New York City is LEED and Energy Star certified and has 214-kilowatt solar system on its roof. A New York state program provides free insulation, draft reduction, high efficiency lighting and appliance upgrades to low-income residents, and Vermont has a similar program.