CLEAN ENERGY:
• In setting the stage for a new rooftop solar, efficiency and other initiatives, President Obama Monday accused critics of his energy policies of trying to restrict consumers from accessing renewable sources of energy. (The Washington Post)
• Federal energy and housing agencies are rolling out a new home energy efficiency scoring program called “Home Energy Score.” (Climate Central)
• Some barriers to popularizing the property-assessed clean energy (PACE) program across the U.S. would be cleared under an initiative unveiled Monday by President Obama. (Greentech Media)
• Advocates are pushing Nebraska lawmakers again to pass a production tax credit for wind and solar to help the state meet its federal emission requirements. (Associated Press)
SOLAR:
• U.S. Sen. Harry Reid says a Nevada utility needs to “get real” about rooftop solar. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
• The Interior Department approves a 485 MW solar plant in the California desert. (TakePart.com)
• An analysis finds New York City rooftops could host 4.7 gigawatts of “high yield” solar panels. (Treehugger)
COAL:
• The Kemper “clean coal” project in Mississippi shows the costly perils of being “first of its kind.” (EnergyWire)
• A Pacific Northwest tribe is sending a totem pole to Montana to protest proposed coal export terminals. (Al Jazeera)
• Protesters in New York state push for the shutdown of a coal plant near Ithaca. (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)
• A power plant near Buffalo, New York appears to have shut down following default on a loan, the latest in a string of financial crises for the facility. (Buffalo News)
OIL AND GAS:
• California Gov. Jerry Brown says he has “no intention of backing down” on the state’s plan to cut gasoline consumption in half. (Los Angeles Times)
• A Hawaii utility pushes forward with its plan to import liquefied natural gas to the state despite opposition from Gov. David Ige. (Pacific Business News)
• Iowa regulators receive nearly 4,000 letters objecting to a proposed oil pipeline across the state, many against the developer’s request to use eminent domain. (Associated Press)
NUCLEAR:
• Exelon says three of its nuclear plants failed to clear the PJM Interconnection’s capacity auction, putting their financial viability in question. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
• Cost overruns at nuclear plant expansions in Georgia and South Carolina “will likely keep a cap on U.S. nuclear development.” (SNL)
BIOFUELS: Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory hope to convince farmers that growing feedstock plants on land that doesn’t support commodity crops will be economically beneficial. (Midwest Energy News)
ADVOCACY: Large-scale solar and wind projects have created unexpected and unsettling fault lines within the American environmental movement. (Yale Environment 360 blog)
COMMENTARY: The Clean Power Plan “is poised to be a game-changer” for clean energy. (Huffington Post)