Rooftop solar power appears poised to move into the mainstream of US energy infrastructure as creative financing options, such as solar leasing, community solar and feed-in tariffs are gaining traction and building upon huge increases in solar photovoltaic (PV) production capacity and ongoing technological advances.
The multiple, cross-cutting benefits of spurring on local solar, wind and other renewable energy system installations aren’t lost on most Americans, or on some politicians. Los Angeles is due to hold its mayoral primary March 5. Significantly scaling up LA’s pioneering (at least in the US) solar energy feed-in tariff (FiT) is the centerpiece of mayoral hopeful Eric Garcetti’s campaign.
A city councilman representing LA’s 13th District, Garcetti says that he’ll scale up the Department of Water & Power’s (DWP) 100 megawatt (MW) FiT by a factor of 12 and bring 1.2 gigawatts (GW) of clean, renewable, locally produced rooftop solar energy to the City of Angels, according to a report from KCET’s Rewire. Read More→
Driven forward by Obama Administration actions on energy policy, the US is finally beginning to try to tap into and harness the tremendous clean and renewable energy of its offshore ocean winds and waters in earnest. On January 3, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced it is seeking to determine whether or not there’s competitive interest in leasing an area offshore New York that the New York Power Authority (NYPA) has proposed as a site for an offshore wind power farm. The request also seeks to gather public comments on the proposed project’s environmental impacts and consequences and how the area is being used at present.
With a December 31 deadline looming, Congress remains sharply divided over extending the federal 
