Via Renew Economy, an interesting report on a new utility business model that embraces efficiency and solar without sacrificing revenue: A few weeks ago the city council in Fort Collins, Colorado, unanimously voted to accelerate the city’s climate action goals to achieve an 80-percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050. The […]
Read more »Via The Wall Street Journal, commentary on how market incentives could reverse the economic logic that drives local farmers to plant more water-intensive crops: While the recent rains in California are welcome, they’ve barely made a dent in the enduring drought, now in its fourth year. Solving the state’s water problem will take radical solutions, […]
Read more »Via ThinkProgress, a report on a new Chinese plan to create a national carbon market: On Wednesday, a Chinese government official said that China plans to launch the first stages of a national carbon market next year. According to the South China Morning Post, Jiang Zhaoli, a senior official with National Development and Reform Commission’s […]
Read more »Via The Motley Fool, a look at Google’s plans for the energy business, in particular its Rush Hour Rewards program: Google (NASDAQ: GOOG ) has been trying to get into the energy business for years. In 2007, it set a goal of making renewable energy cheaper than coal, and as part of the campaign it invested […]
Read more »Via Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, some recent research on the development of market-based mechanisms for water resource allocation in China, with particular focus on water rights trading (WRT): Water scarcity is an issue of growing concern for China, particularly in the north, where a combination of limited water sup- plies, economic growth, and population […]
Read more »Via Renewable Energy World, an interesting look at the difference between what many call the transition to Utility 2.0 and what others call energy democracy: The transformation taking place in the electricity system is enormous, and the prescribed solution — a version 2.0 electric utility — offers a way for utilities to remain financially solvent, […]
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