QUICK NEWS, May 13: CO2 Passes 415 PPM, Accelerating Crisis; Solar Loans Take Lead Over Leasing

CO2 Passes 415 PPM, Accelerating Crisis Climate crisis: CO2 levels rise to highest point since evolution of humans; ‘We don’t know a planet like this’

Harry Cockburn, May 13, 2019 (UK Independent)

“Levels of the damaging greenhouse gas carbon dioxide have reached an alarming new milestone at the world’s oldest measuring station in Hawaii…The Mauna Loa observatory, which has measured the parts per million (PPM) of CO2 in the atmosphere since 1958, took a reading of 415.26ppm in the air on 11 May – thought to be the highest concentration since humans evolved…[Mauna Loa, on Hawaii’s largest volcano, tests air quality on the remote Pacific islands because it is far from continents and pollution, while the area lacks vegetation, which can interfere with results…The 1958 readings showed the concentration of CO2 was 313 ppm in March 1958…

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…[This is reportedly the first time in human history earth’s] atmosphere has had more than 415ppm CO2… ‘We don’t know a planet like this,’ [meteorologist Eric Holthouse said of the reading. The] last time CO2 concentrations were this high was during the mid pliocene epoch 2.5 – 5 million years ago…During this period, global temperatures were 2 – 3C higher than they are today, global sea levels were at least 25 metres higher, and sea ice at the Arctic had retreated and given way to forests, where summer temperatures regularly reached 15C…” click here for more

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Solar Loans Take Lead Over Leasing US residential solar finance update: H1 2019

May 2019 (Wood Mackenzie)

“…Solar loans now claim a 45 percent share of the residential market, while third-party ownership (TPO) has fallen to its lowest point since 2011 at a 33 percent market share…[and] Mosaic maintained its position as the top solar loan provider last year, claiming a quarter of the loan market…[The ITC stepdown is expected to] give TPO providers an edge in the early 2020s and likely foster increasing competition in the solar loan market as loan structures simplify…Last year’s stagnation in the TPO market can be attributed largely to Tesla’s changing customer acquisition tactics, which led to a decline of overall installation volumes in 2018…The rise of smaller solar installers worked in favor of loan providers in 2018 as those local installers turned to loan providers for consumer financing…

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Other sources of consumer finance are usually unavailable to those installers…Strong residential solar growth in Texas and Florida last year also played a part in the relative ascent of solar loans, as third-party-ownership is currently limited in those states…The growing solar loan industry is characterized by very thin margins. Lenders felt pressure to raise prices incrementally last year, with some eliminating low interest products or raising dealer fees. Some solar loan providers are also expanding into verticals such as storage and home improvement where margins may be higher…[Though the elimination of the ITC will boost leasing, solar] loans will also become simpler, enabling traditional commercial banks to offer direct to consumer loans…Dedicated solar loan providers will likely still have a competitive advantage…[because] of large installer networks…” click here for more

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