QUICK NEWS, April 17: The Work Ahead On Climate Change; More Installer Bids=Lower Home Solar Cost; Why Investors Should Still Think New Energy

The Work Ahead On Climate Change More people than ever are worried about climate change, but it won’t last; The relationship between weather and public opinion is complicated.

Jeremy Deaton, April 14, 2017 (ThinkProgress)

“…[A] record number of Americans are worried about global warming [according to a recent Gallup poll]…[but] over the last year, social scientists have] found that a stray heat wave or über-powerful storm can drive interest in climate change, but the effects vary — and they don’t last…This means that scientists and advocates can’t wait for the weather to change attitudes about the carbon crisis. They have to do the hard work of educating the public themselves…When the environmental movement flexes its muscle, it can move public opinion…This is where advocates should focus their attention: on well-defined battles where it is possible to shift public opinion. Environmentalists can’t assume Americans will come around as the mercury rises. They have to rouse the public and pressure politicians, just as fossil fuel interests have done for decades…” click here for more

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More Installer Bids = Lower Home Solar Cost Electrek green energy brief: More quotes means better solar pricing...

John Fitzgerald Weaver, April 17, 2017 (Electrek)

“Big installers charge more, some people are ok with that, the solution is to get multiple quotes…[according to] Using Residential Solar PV Quote Data to Analyze the Relationship between Installer Pricing and Firm Size…Large installer quotes are $0.33/W (about 10%) higher, on average, than non-large installer quotes offered to the same customer…The difference falls to $0.21/W after controlling for systematic differences between large and nonlarge installer quotes…[$0.21/W of the install price is significant] for installs that cost between $2.75-4.50…[It] is a 4-7% difference in pricing. The report suggests that some people simply want to buy from larger, more well-known name brands – and that they will simply pay more. Others within the research group would have benefited from connecting with local installers…[Using online solar shopping tools] was shown to lower costs $.30/W – for an average system that’s $2,000 that could be put toward a battery system…” click here for more

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Why Investors Should Still Think New Energy Investing in Solar and Wind in a Coal and Oil Moment

Norm Alster, April 15, 2017 (NY Times)

“Alternative energy investments like wind and solar power have not performed well in recent years. To make matters worse, the Trump administration has opted for a resurgence of coal and other carbon fuels, not an emphasis on alternative energy…Yet there is a reasonable argument that the outlook for investing in renewable energy may actually be quite good…For one thing, wind and solar power have been rapidly winning market acceptance…[W]ind is now being harnessed to produce 5.5 percent of America’s electricity…And the solar industry now employs over 260,000 workers nationwide…The reliance of [and increasing number of red states] on wind and solar could foreshadow continuing support for alternative energy within sectors of the Republican party, despite the pro-fossil-fuel stance of the president…the Guinness Atkinson Alternative Energy fund [and the First Trust Global Wind Energy ETF are good places to start]…” click here for more

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