Contract lobbyist Jason Rooks is getting plenty of credit from Georgia solar entrepreneurs for working a renewable energy tax credit through the state Legislature in waning hours of the lawmaking session. But one solar leader stressed late Friday that the industry’s united, pro-business message played a big role in its ability to work an environmentally…
A state clean energy tax credit — thought to be on its death bed a month ago — gained final approval last night during the waning hours of the Georgia Legislature’s 2011 session. Read update here. Seeds for the dramatic turnabout were planted earlier this week when four Republican senators and one Democrat amended a…
Wall Street is putting its money where its mouth is when it comes to Norcross, Ga., solar manufacturer Suniva Inc. So reports online news service citybizlist New York today in an article today on $94.4 million in private equity recently raised by the silicon cell and module making company. The investment, which comes on top of $130.5…
The amount of residential electricity used by appliances and electronics has nearly doubled over the past three decades, from 1.77 quadrillion Btu to 3.25 quads, even as federal energy efficiency standards have been placed on every major appliance, according to the U.S Environmental Information Administration. At the same time overall household energy consumption decreases slightly, mainly because the…
While the Georgia Legislature appears ready to allow the state’s popular renewable energy tax credit to expire, North Carolina lawmakers are considering a plan to expand their most aggressive measure in support of clean energy. And that existing law — a renewable energy portfolio standard — already goes well beyond anything seriously considered in Georgia….
Cobb residents have been finding yellow hang tags on their doors over the last couple of weeks informing them that smart meters were installed on their homes. In all, the Cobb Electric Membership Corporation projects that it will install 190,000 of the smart meters at homes and businesses by May 2012. The utility estimates that…
Last Sunday evening, in a nondescript Midwestern subdivision backing up to an Interstate highway, the sun carved an unfamiliar path past an unusual looking house. It was spring equinox all across the northern hemisphere, and for the first time since Deb and Ty Newell moved in just before Thanksgiving, the sun was setting behind their…
A bill that would have restored Georgia’s clean energy tax credit appears to have died for the year in the state House Ways and Means Committee. The bill’s primary sponsor says there’s an outside change the same provisions could become law by piggybacking as an amendment to another bill. “It’s possible — although unlikely,” Rep….
As I interviewed Mandy Mahoney and two of her colleagues yesterday about her impending departure from city government, a couple of updates on other Atlanta-centric stories tumbled my way and are worth mentioning: Sustainable Atlanta: It sounds as if the nonprofit set up during the Franklin administration to help the city with its sustainability efforts…
Mandy Mahoney not only wrote the blueprint for the Atlanta Mayor’s Sustainability Office. For three years, she’s been its director. Now, Mahoney’s leaving her city job to become director of management and strategy at the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance. Mahoney’s departure comes only five months after she helped Mayor Kasim Reed unveil an ambitious sustainability…
