Tag Archives: renewable energy

How your behind-the-meter solar system can lower electricity bills for your whole neighborhood

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EnergySage note: this article is a guest post and the views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author, and not to EnergySage. 

It’s well known that the behind-the-meter (BTM) solar on your rooftop can reduce the demand for grid-scale electricity: every megawatt-hour (MWh) produced from BTM solar is one fewer MWh that needs to come from the grid (often from a dirty coal or natural gas power plant). Lesser known, however, is the “price effect” of BTM solar. When BTM solar lowers the amount of electricity that expensive power plants need to produce, it also reduces the price that all utilities pay for that electricity. This means that BTM solar can both avoid the creation of dirty electricity, and lower the price that everyone in a region ultimately pays for electricity.  As a result, when you install BTM solar, it benefits you and your neighbors.

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small_wind_turbines

Home wind turbines: are they right for you?

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Not every property is suitable for solar panels. However, that does not mean that you won’t be able to generate clean energy on your property. One renewable energy technology that’s becoming an increasingly popular alternative for homeowners looking to generate their own clean electricity is small wind turbines.

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long duration storage

Long duration storage: what you need to know 2021

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As states and cities throughout the country embrace the renewable energy transition, setting and committing to 100 percent clean energy targets, one crucial gap remains in ultimately meeting those targets: how do you stretch the production from renewable resources like wind and solar to keep powering the country even when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing? Enter long duration storage, the promising broad category of technologies that can fill this gap.

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LMI community solar

Low to moderate income community solar: what you need to know

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For many electricity users across the country, rooftop solar panels don’t make sense – there are physical reasons (i.e. roof availability, home size), personal reasons (i.e. aesthetics), and financial reasons. Specifically for individuals who classify as “low to moderate income” (LMI), there are several reasons why community solar can be a great way to benefit from solar energy while not needing the traditional financial resources to install your own solar panels.

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corporate renewable procurements

Corporate renewable energy procurement: an overview

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In today’s current era of renewable energy targets, action is not just limited to political entities such as the federal government, states or individual cities. In fact, many corporations are getting in on the act by promoting corporate sustainability programs or contracting directly with renewable energy developers to build solar and wind farms specifically for their company. As the solar and wind industries continue to grow, corporate renewable procurement and targets will play a substantial role in driving renewable energy to greater and greater heights.

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CCA vs CS

Boston’s new CCA program: how does it compare with community solar?

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Earlier this year, Boston rolled out their new community choice electricity (CCE) program, the largest community choice aggregation (CCA), or municipal aggregation, initiative in New England. Given the availability of local community solar projects in the Greater Boston area–and given that Boston is EnergySage’s home city!–we get a lot of questions about how some of these subscription options compare to this new program. In this article, we’ll discuss the major differences and similarities between the two options.

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renewable portfolio standards by state map

Renewable portfolio standards explained

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Following the 2018 elections, there was a flurry of state-level action on climate change and clean energy to begin the new year. Outside of proposals at the federal level for a Green New Deal, many states proposed and passed a suite of climate-related legislation, from emission reduction goals to clean energy procurement targets. Perhaps the most common policy instrument for growing clean energy at the state level is the renewable portfolio standard (RPS).

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green jobs program new york

The Green Jobs – Green New York Program

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As clean energy policies and programs begin to stack up throughout the country, one major question remains relating to how states will use any revenues collected from policies like a carbon tax. Will they use the money to incentivize growth in renewable energy, to pay for retraining for employees of the fossil fuel industry, to redistribute as a credit to all taxpayers in the state, or for some other purpose altogether? The Green Jobs – Green New York program provides a great case study for a successful, long-lived program that effectively uses the revenue from a carbon tax to further the state’s economic growth and environmental actions. 

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renewable energy sources

Renewable energy examples: five alternatives to fossil fuels

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Technologies like solar and wind power are becoming more common across the globe, and are both examples of renewable energy sources. There are several ways to generate power from renewable sources. These alternatives to fossil fuels will become an even more important part of our power generation mix in the years to come.

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