In Hawaii, The Solar Energy Boom Has Been So Successful It's Been Halted

In Hawaii, a solar boom so successful, it's been halted. "Hawaiian Electric Co., or HECO, in September told solar contractors on Oahu that the island's solar boom is creating problems. On many circuits, the utility said, there's so much solar energy that it poses a threat to the system and a safety issue. Studies are needed on whether grid upgrades are necessary. If they are, residents adding solar must foot the bill. And starting immediately, contractors and residents would need permission to connect most small rooftop systems to the grid...The policy change halted what has been a solar surge in Hawaii. Installations there jumped 169 percent last year from 2011. More than 4 percent of households have photovoltaics. Hawaii last year led the nation in the portion of its electricity that comes from solar, with 2.6 percent...The new struggle on Hawaii foreshadows what the rest of the country could face as solar moves closer to the mainstream, several involved in the debate said." Anne C. Mulkern in ClimateWire.

Moniz, a friend of fracking. "Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz is ending the year with a reminder: Carbon dioxide is the biggest enemy in the fight against climate change. Moniz, in a new interview, offers a quick tour of recent studies on methane emissions from natural gas development--a topic that's plenty controversial amid the U.S. fracking boom. "We need more data," he tells the news service Platts. But, he adds, methane is far from public enemy number one. That's carbon dioxide. "We do have, after all, measurements of the methane concentrations in the atmosphere and what they tell us is that the carbon dioxide concentrations remain by far the biggest forcer of climate change," he said in an interview that airedSunday...The comments are the latest sign that Moniz does not see methane leaks undercutting the climate advantages that natural gas holds over coal." Ben Geman inNationalJournal.

TransCanada CEO: Obama will approve Keystone XL. "TransCanada CEO Russ Girling said he is "very confident" the proposed Keystone XL pipeline will be approved by President Obama. Girling said he expects the final environmental review of the pipeline, which would carry crude from oil sands in Alberta, Canada to Gulf Coast refineries, to be released by the State Department in the coming weeks." Laura Barron-Lopez in The Hill