The Renewable Fuel Standard (“RFS”) Program is an EPA program promulgated under the Clean Air Act which mandates that certain “obligated parties” must sell gasoline containing a certain percentage of renewable fuel. To ensure that sufficient volumes of renewable fuel are produced in and imported into the U.S., companies in the gasoline business are required (more…)

On January 24, the California Public Utitlies Commission will vote on an important precedent for using renewables to enhance grid reliability.

Grid reliability requires that there be a certain amount of local generation–known in wonkspeak as ‘local capacity requirements’, or LCR. (more…)

Preserved natural lands are a national treasure that protect wildlife and allow us to see and enjoy the natural landscape of our beautiful country as it has existed for millenniums, without human “improvements”. But there are lots of areas in national parks, monuments, and wildlife areas that are not pristine. These areas are targeted for low-impact energy development by (more…)

A previous post reported on a declaratory judgment action brought by DuPont-owned biopharmaceutical company Danisco against Novozymes. The two companies are both Danish and appear to be arch rivals. As the court described it, they are “reputedly the two major competitors in the field of developing and supplying industrial enzymes used in (more…)

For years, we’ve been making the case that in addition to the environmental benefits, solar also adds value to the grid.

How much value? Today, we released a report that we commissioned to look at both the costs and benefits of net metering in California. The study was done by Tom Beach of Crossborder Energy, who used actual data from 10,000 solar systems (more…)

A group of prominent U.S. investors, including Google, is expected to announce today that it is moving forward with construction on the first leg of an ambitious $5 billion undersea transmission line that will connect future offshore wind farms along the mid-Atlantic coast, a project they say will avert the regulatory hurdles required in connecting each (more…)

Google kicked off 2013 with an announcement about a new, $200 million equity investment in a wind farm in west Texas. The wind farm can generate enough electricity to power 60,000 average U.S. homes.

The Spinning Spur Wind Project is located in Oldham County, which is about 35 miles from Amarillo. The 161 megawatt facility was built by (more…)

UK officials are underestimating the vast energy potential of marine tides, a renewable and reliable energy source that could meet 20 percent of the nation’s electricity needs, according to a new report.

Writing in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, researchers explain that while the process of exploiting tidal energy remains (more…)

A lot of people have been waiting to get behind the wheel of an electric vehicle since the 1980s. But what was once promised to consumers as an extremely economical way to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and help conserve the environment turned into another green movement pipe dream. While the talk about electric vehicles was full of hope, (more…)

We’re thrilled to see that the LA Department of Water and Power (LADWP) adopted a Feed-In Tariff (FIT) program last week.

We’d like to congratulate all the folks who, after three years of hard work testifying and developing the research and policy, made this victory possible (looking at you, LABC, Environment California, Sierra Club, Global Green, and many many more). (more…)