For the World and California by Robert Freehling In the early 1950s, scientists at Bell Laboratories invented the first modern silicon photovoltaic cell - a semiconductor crystal that could convert sunlight directly into electricity, using one of the most abundant materials on the earth.1 Some time either this year or next (2022 or 2023), the … Continue reading Solar Photovoltaics in the Energy Transformation
In the Face of Uncertainty
What Have We Learned - What Lies Ahead by Craig Deutsche Environmentalists and scientists understand that time is running short if an ecological disaster is to be avoided. We must immediately limit the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and there have been many proposals on how this is to be done. Although some … Continue reading In the Face of Uncertainty
A Costly Omission in Planning for Climate Change
How Wide-scale Desert Soil Disturbance Releases Stored Carbon by Robin Kobaly Most people are not aware of the vast amount of carbon that is captured and stored underground in desert soils. When comparing carbon storage in desert landscapes to that in forest landscapes, for example, it is easy to underestimate carbon stocks in the desert, … Continue reading A Costly Omission in Planning for Climate Change
Scraped Earth and Desert Winds
A Disregarded Consequence of Solar Photovoltaic Construction by Pat Flanagan Several other articles in this issue have described the damage done when undisturbed desert lands are utilized for energy generation at large scale photovoltaic installations. Damage to the biotic community when the surface is scraped clean is obvious. A less obvious consequence is the release … Continue reading Scraped Earth and Desert Winds
Solar Energy that Spares the Land
Multiple Benefits are Possible with Photovoltaic Panels by Dustin Mulvaney Energy sprawl from utility scale solar projects is a leading cause of land use conflict across the American West. These projects can be very large facilities with footprints on the order of square miles; the Desert Sunlight Solar Farm in Desert Center California is six … Continue reading Solar Energy that Spares the Land
Torn between Two Solar Pathways
California Must Embrace the Best One by Laura Deehan Putting solar on rooftops is the best way to protect our public lands and the environment In 1976, Mary McGregor's "Torn Between Two Lovers" hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. As we move toward an increasingly solar-powered future, you could say California is … Continue reading Torn between Two Solar Pathways
The Utility “Cost Shift” Fallacy:
The accounting methods behind the utilities' claims about rooftop solar by Dave Rosenfeld The continued growth of rooftop solar and battery storage is key to a successful clean energy transition, one that puts the needs of the public at the center, with lower costs, protection from blackouts, and quicker pollution reductions. Because remote, industrial scale … Continue reading The Utility “Cost Shift” Fallacy:
Transmission-independent Renewable Energy:
Parking Lot Shade Structures, Commercial and Industrial Rooftops by Bill Powers State planners assume California will reach its ambitious decarbonization targets by developing remote, utility-scale solar and wind farms dependent on new transmission lines to reach urban centers. It is a largely unquestioned article of faith that the cheapest solar and wind power is generated … Continue reading Transmission-independent Renewable Energy:
Distributed Energy Resources in Urban Load Centers
Benefitting Local Users and Protecting Remote Deserts by Jay Powell California renewable energy expansion is the primary driver behind new renewable energy project development in the West. A primary benefit of prioritizing a Distributed Energy Resource (DER)1 future in California, is its potential to minimize remote renewable energy generation and transmission, and thereby alleviate or … Continue reading Distributed Energy Resources in Urban Load Centers
The Electrical Industrial Complex
California Regulators' Scheme to Kill Rooftop Solar Supports Utility Profiteering by Loretta Lynch I headed the California Public Utilities Commission 20 years ago, at the dawn of California's rooftop solar revolution. We opened the doors for families and businesses to go solar to grow the amount of clean, local-solar electricity produced in California. We knew … Continue reading The Electrical Industrial Complex