Here are five recommended reads for today (6/26/14).

Reported by: Bridgette N. Borst

David Briggs has long-standing experience in the solar industry, including three years at a cleantech communications firm and three years as Marketing Manager at microinverter manufacturer Enphase Energy. Briggs now works as Director of Marketing at mounting systems provider IronRidge. Recently, Briggs took a few minutes from his busy schedule to talk to us about an important topic for the solar industry: how best to engage and market to your customer base, and ultimately to "truly out-compete traditional energy." We greatly appreciate Briggs' insight-filled responses to our questions.

By Tom Matzzie

Recently, the Association for Demand Response and Smart Grid’s National Town Meeting in Washington, DC, brought together a variety of players including utilities, policymakers, software developers, and energy writers. The three-day conference kicked off with presentations and group discussions on the hotly debated topic of microgrids.

We already know that mountaintop removal coal mining poses a serious threat to human health, with "people living near the destruction are 50% more likely to die of cancer and 42% more likely to be born with birth defects compared with other people in Appalachia." As if that's not bad enough, coal-fired power plants "release at least 5.5 billion pounds of pollution into the nation’s waterways every year, " with most "power plant water pollution permits (188 out of 274) hav[ing] no limits on how much
arsenic, boron, cadmium, lead, mercury, and selenium that these plants can discharge." Then there's the nasty air pollution from coal fired power plants leads to " premature death, heart attacks, lung damage, and a variety of other significant health problems" and "$100 billion in annual health costs." Plus, of course, coal is the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel, which means that coal-fired power plants are a major contributor to global warming.

A few recent news items highlight the absurdity of fossil fuel interests' fight for fracking, and also the media's sometimes less-than-optimal coverage of that fight.

We just wanted to highlight this morning's op-ed in The Hill by Tom Kiernan and Rhone Resch - the leaders of the American Wind Energy Association and the Solar Energy Industries Association, respectively, about how wind and solar are "two affordable, reliable, and business-friendly solutions" for America to meet the proposed new EPA carbon pollution rules. Here's an excerpt from the op-ed, with which we concur 100%.

Just when you think the Koch brothers can't get any more active in their relentless anti-environment and anti-clean energy efforts, they do just that.

This little.

Good news from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Another day, another poll showing the same thing: that Americans overwhelmingly want action to combat global warming and are willing to pay to do so.

Will wonders never cease? Even the generally pro-fossil-fuels Washington Post editorial page is edging towards concern about fracking's negative impact on the environment.

Ragan PR refers us to a new study by The McCarthy Group which demonstrates, yet again, that word of mouth and social media trump paid ads, particularly for young people.

We recently interviewed Paul De Martini of the Newport Consulting Group about the state of the U.S. smart grid market. According to De Martini: