Green Options » Vote Solar

Green Jobs: So Attractive, So Few, So Far

Jennifer Kho — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 06:17:39 +0000

The prospect of green jobs has proven very attractive to Californian job seekers. According to a survey released this week by the Vote Solar Initiative, a solar advocacy group, more than 5,400 people are participating in solar job training programs this year in the state.

“It is clear that Californians of different economic and educational backgrounds are all looking to solar to provide much-needed career opportunities, and the state’s training institutions have stepped up to meet that rising demand,” said Claudia Eyzaguirre, the author of the report, in a press release.

But it’s not clear whether the state will have enough jobs to support these trainees. Part of that will depend on the kinds of jobs they are training for.

Is a Feed-In Tariff a good FIT for the U.S.?

Jennifer Kho — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:30:08 +0000

As U.S. policymakers debate the best renewable policy for the country, many German experts are already convinced they know the answer: a feed-in tariff. Germany’s feed-in tariff, which offers generous set prices for renewable electricity fed into the grid, stimulated 1.5 gigawatts of new solar capacity last year, and similar programs also have boosted markets in countries such as Spain, Greece, Italy, Turkey and South Korea. All the fastest-growing solar markets in the world today have feed-in tariffs.

Gainesville, Fla., and Ontario, Canada, also recently created German-style feed-in tariffs, but the policy hasn’t yet taken hold as a U.S. state or federal policy. I recently wrote a post for Earth2Tech about the difficulties of implementing a German-style feed-in tariff in California: the policy isn’t responsive to market signals that would encourage electricity generation when and where it’s most needed, it’s more challenging to make work in places with lower conventional electricity prices and widely varying utilities with different restrictions, and it doesn’t address retail electricity or encourage customers to use less energy.

Solar Suspense Continues in LA

Jennifer Kho — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 08:02:14 +0000

Last night was a long one for Los Angeles solar aficionados, and the wait’s not over yet. The fate of Measure B, which calls for the LA utility to install 400 megawatts of solar power on city-owned property, is still too close to call after Angelenos cast their ballots Tuesday.

At last count, the measure appeared to be on the verge of failing, with the “No” votes ahead by 1,322 votes — a narrow 0.6 percent — and only one precinct, with about 156 ballots, left unreported. But supporters still have a chance, as thousands of late, provisional and write-in ballots have yet to be tallied.

At stake is the only piece of Solar LA, an ambitious 1.3-gigawatt solar plan that newly reelected Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa unveiled in November, put to a public vote.