Here are five recommended reads for today (3/24/15).

Another day, yet another strong piece of evidence that sticking with a fossil-fuel-heavy power generation portfolio isn't just bad for the environment and for people's health, it's also bad for the bottom line. This time, it's a study by DBL Investors, entitled "Renewables Are Driving Up Electricity Prices? WAIT, WHAT?" The key takeaway is as follows:

Here are five recommended reads for today (3/17/15).

Even by fossil fuel industry standards, the hypocrisy of groups like the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) talking up solar power and benefiting from it, while simultaneously working to prevent regular people from also benefiting from it, is truly breathtaking. A few points from the recent Washington Post scoop, "Utilities wage campaign against rooftop solar," and a follow-up analysis on Utility Dive, highlights what we're talking about.

Two major studies, one by Deutsche Bank and the other for the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) by the University of Cambridge and PwC, demonstrate something that just a few years ago would have been considered wildly optimistic: solar power rapidly gaining a cost advantage over fossil fuels, with no end in sight to this ongoing, apparently inexorable, trend.  We strongly recommend that you read both reports, as they're chock full of fascinating data and insights. However, the following are nine key findings from the two reports.

Over the past few days, I've run across several articles which really should be must-read for anyone involved in formulating and/or implementing energy policy at the state level.

A letter to the editor in the Wall Street Journal by Citigroup co-president James A. Forese responds to an absurd op-ed arguing that the bank's huge investment in cleantech is "politicized." In fact, as Forese explains, cleantech is simply a good investment, as well as an important contributor to a sustainable future for all of us. There shouldn't be anything "politicized" about any of that.

The current issue of Washington Monthly has an article that's well worth reading, whether you're a player in the cleantech industry, or whether you simply want the cleantech industry to succeed.  In short, the article -- "A New Agenda for Political Reform" -- shows how enormous and pervasive the influence-peddling industry is. The following excerpt gives a feel for what we're talking about, and specifically on how serious the fossil fuel industry is about playing and winning this game.