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by Ashira Morris, ODP Staff Writer In the United States, there’s a growing need to scale up high-speed broadband and clean energy infrastructure. A new housing initiative in New York City will take on both with a single project: setting buildings up for solar power, then using the energy cost savings to bring high-speed internet […]
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by Amy Lupica, ODP Contributing Writer There is a new obstacle in the push for clean energy: there’s just not enough glass. The world’s largest solar power company, Longi Green Energy Technology Co., says that a glass shortage is stymieing China’s renewable energy goals. The price of the glass that coats photovoltaic panels has increased […]
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As we have reported, the clean energy sector is down more than 620,000 jobs thanks to the coronavirus pandemic and the industry is now pushing hard for relief from Congress in the form of tax credits that companies would receive as cash payments (a deal Congress gave some companies) and delaying the phase-down of other tax incentives.
Why This Matters: While there may be some overcounting in jobs lost or undercounting of the number covered under the generic PPP stimulus program, there is no doubt the sector has been “decimated” as the clean energy industry claims.
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Using the latest Labor Department data, E2 (Environmental Entrepreneurs), the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE), and other analysts reported on Wednesday that 594,347 workers in clean energy occupations, representing 17.8% of the industry’s workforce, filed for unemployment benefits in April and March.
Why This Matters: The oil and gas industry really is the squeaky wheel getting the grease. The number of jobs lost in that sector is likely only a fraction of those lost in the renewable energy sector.
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Earlier this week the Trump Administration took a break from its boosting oil and gas (they announced yesterday they are going to buy 1 million barrels of oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as a “test”) to give final approval to the Gemini Solar Project – a massive $1B solar array and battery storage project situated on federal land near Las Vegas.
Why This Matters: The project went through a streamlined environmental review process, but the final development and operations plan will minimize and mitigate impacts on visual resources, cultural and tribal resources, recreation access, air quality, native vegetation and wildlife such as the desert tortoise, a “threatened” species.
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Virginia will close all its coal-fired power plants by 2024 and its electricity will all come from renewable sources by and be 100 percent carbon-free by 2050 under a new law the Governor signed yesterday, with penalties imposed on the utilities that fail to meet these deadlines.
Why This Matters: State government elections matter too. This is the most ambitious clean energy program enacted by a Southern state (yet).
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