In a word?
Yu Becha! ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Keith Addison" <ke...@journeytoforever.org> > To: sustainablelorgbiofuel@lists.sustainablelists.org > Sent: Friday, October 11, 2013 8:41:54 AM > Subject: [Biofuel] Are Utility Companies Out to Destroy Solar's 'Rooftop > Revolution'? > > http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/10/09-0 > > Published on Wednesday, October 9, 2013 by Common Dreams > > Are Utility Companies Out to Destroy Solar's 'Rooftop Revolution'? > > In California, customers who install solar systems and battery arrays > are finding themselves cut off from grid > > - Jon Queally, staff writer > > In the nation's largest state, California, the major utility > companies are trying to limit growth. > > Of rooftop solar panels, that is. > > According to reporting by Bloomberg, the state's three largest > utilities-Edison International, PG&E Corp. and Sempra Energy-are > "putting up hurdles" to homeowners who have installed sun-powered > energy systems, especially those with "battery backups wired to solar > panels," in order to slow the spread of what has become a threat to > their dominant business model. > > "The utilities clearly see rooftop solar as the next threat," Ben > Peters, a government affairs analyst at solar company Mainstream > Energy Corp., told Bloomberg. "They're trying to limit the growth." > > According to Peters, as the business news outlet reports, the dispute > between those with solar arrays and the utility giants "threatens the > state's $2 billion rooftop solar industry and indicates the depth of > utilities' concerns about consumers producing their own power. > People with rooftop panels are already buying less electricity, and > adding batteries takes them closer to the day they won't need to buy > from the local grid at all." > > Citing but one example, Bloomberg reports: > > >Matthew Sperling, a Santa Barbara, California, resident, installed > >eight panels and eight batteries at his home in April. > > > >"We wanted to have an alternative in case of a blackout to keep the > >refrigerator running," he said in an interview. Southern California > >Edison rejected his application to link the system to the grid even > >though city inspectors said "it was one of the nicest they'd ever > >seen," he said. > > > >"We've installed a $30,000 system and we can't use it," Sperling said. > > The utilities argue that customers with solar energy-storing > batteries might be rigging the system by fraudulently storing > conventional energy sent in from the utility grid, storing it in the > batteries, and then sending it back to the grid for credit. The solar > companies say there is no proof that this is happening. > > What environmentalists and solar energy advocates see is the utility > companies putting barriers up to a decentralized system they will not > no longer be able to control or profit from. > > As Danny Kennedy, author of the book "Rooftop Revolution" and > co-founder of solar company Sungevity in California, said in an > interview with Alternet earlier this year: > > >Solar power represents a change in electricity that has a > >potentially disruptive impact on power in both the literal sense > >(meaning how we get electricity) and in the figurative sense of how > >we distribute wealth and power in our society. Fossil fuels have led > >to the concentration of power whereas solar's potential is really to > >give power over to the hands of people. This shift has huge > >community benefits while releasing our dependency on the > >centralized, monopolized capital of the fossil fuel industry. So > >it's revolutionary in the technological and political sense. > > As this Sierra Club video shows, the idea of a 'rooftop revolution' > is fundamental to what many see as the most promising development in > terms of undermining the dominance of the fossil fuel paradigm in the > U.S.: > > The tensions between decentralized forms of energy like rootop solar > or small-scale wind and traditional large-scale utilities is nothing > new, but as the crisis of climate change has spurred a global > grassroots movement push for a complete withdrawal from the fossil > fuel and nuclear paradigm that forms the basis of the current > electricity grid, these tensions are growing. > > As this segment from a PBS profile of the work of Lester Brown shows, > a future of a society based on renewable energy shows what's possible: > > But the resistance to these changes is coming strongest from those > with a vested interest in the status quo. With most focus on the > behavior of the fossil fuel companies themselves, the idea that > utility companies will be deeply impacted by this green energy > revolution is often overlooked. > > Earlier this summer, David Roberts, an energy and environmental > blogger at Grist.org, wrote an extensive, multi-part series on the > role of utilities in the renewable energy transition, explaining why > understanding the politics and economics of the utility industry > (despite the grand "tedium" of the task) would be essential for the > remainder of the 21st century. Roberts wrote: > > >There's very little public discussion of utilities or utility > >regulations, especially relative to sexier topics like fracking or > >electric cars. That's mainly because the subject is excruciatingly > >boring, a thicket of obscure institutions and processes, opaque > >jargon, and acronyms out the wazoo. Whether PURPA allows IOUs to > >customize RFPs for low-carbon QFs is actually quite important, but > >you, dear reader, don't know it, because you fell asleep halfway > >through this sentence. Utilities are shielded by a force field of > >tedium. > > > >It's is an unfortunate state of affairs, because this is going to be > >the century of electricity. Everything that can be electrified will > >be. (This point calls for its own post, but mark my words: > >transportation, heat, even lots of industrial work is going to shift > >to electricity.) So the question of how best to manage electricity > >is key to both economic competitiveness and ecological > >sustainability. > > _______________________________________________ > Sustainablelorgbiofuel mailing list > Sustainablelorgbiofuel@lists.sustainablelists.org > http://lists.eruditium.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel > _______________________________________________ Sustainablelorgbiofuel mailing list Sustainablelorgbiofuel@lists.sustainablelists.org http://lists.eruditium.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel
