Get Energy Smart! NOW!

In seeking to legislate paths to achieve a “clean economy”, one thing legislators do not lack are substantive and thoughtful roadmaps to look at and leverage. As per a post the other day, For decades, people have been working on and considering how to get Virginia on the path toward a clean energy future. And, […]

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For decades, people have been working on and considering how to get Virginia on the path toward a clean energy future. And, with plunging prices for clean energy paths (solar, wind, storage (batteries), efficiency (think LED lights), electric transportation, etc) with increasing climate impacts and understanding of climate risks along with increased business pressure for […]

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Jay Rosen serves as a voice of sanity when it comes to journalism and journalistic practices. He, often at PressThink, delivers knowledge and insight with passion and eloquence. Rosen’s latest piece focuses on Chuck Todd’s Christmas Eve claimed of “naivete” (what Rosen makes clear is an admission of journalistic malfeasance) in not recognizing, as he […]

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Washington Post (and other news organizations) all too often seem to fall back to ‘both sides’ discussions that foster misunderstandings and implicitly undermines truthful discussion. And, far too often this ‘bothsiderism’ combines with, it seems, fear of angering Trump (or, at least #Cult45 devotees) to create misrepresentations. A story discussing political implications of Trump’s ignorant […]

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There are several legislative initiatives to lay down a path forward to modernize Virginia’s electrical grid with co-benefits of boosting the Commonwealth’s economic performance, creating jobs, reducing environmental injustice, improving health (economic, environmental, human), and putting Virginia on a path to address meaningfully the Commonwealth’s climate impacts. These initiatives do not align in many ways […]

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Last week, a broad environmental coalition and multiple Virginia state legislators coalesced for the announcement of the “Virginia Clean Economy Act” (VCEA). When one sees organizations like CCAN and its climate hawk founder/director Mike Tidwell pushing hard to build momentum for the VCEA, the presumption has to be that this is serious action that would […]

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The Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) targets having 60 percent of Virginia’s electrons ‘clean’ (e.g., low-to-no carbon emissions on generation) by 2036 and 100 percent by 2050. While finally, if passed, legislating a clean power (more prosperous and resilient) future for the Commonwealth, this bill would still leave Virginia a middling player (not a leader) […]

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Wind expert Paul Gipe has calculated that Afghanistan and Iraq war costs could have paid for the United States to have, already, a fully renewable power sector: wind, solar and batteries. If we had instead invested the $6 trillion we squandered on war in the Middle East, we would, two decades later, have made our […]

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Virginia Governor Ralph Northam has announced his proposal for a significant bump in the Commonwealth’s education investment. The budget includes the single-largest increase for at-risk schools in Virginia history, raises teacher salaries 3 percent, funds more school counselors and new staff supports for English language learners, and makes significant new flexible funds available for local […]

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Not that long ago, electric buses (EBs) were marginalia, an expensive, niche option that required enthusiastic and unyielding proponents to get them deployed into actual operations with robust analysis considering all benefit streams enabling justifying their purchase to green-eye-shade-dominated financial officers. Today, that equation has changed, significantly.  Literally 100,000s of EBs are now deployed around […]

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