Energy Efficiency, Energy Procurement, Industrial, Commercial, Solar  -  February 17, 2018

Weekend reads: Energy eBay; What Trump's budget means for RE

Every Saturday, we'll bring you five of the most interesting — or quirky; it is the weekend after all — energy stories from around the web that you may have missed this week. This weekend's reads: 

Here's what Trump's new budget means for renewable energy (Futurism)  The Trump administration’s latest budget proposal released on February 12, 2018 could have major consequences for the future of renewable energy in the U.S. If Congress approves the budget, it would cut the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s funding by more than half, and completely elimination of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) program. 

To ethically mine crypto we need to use renewable energy (QZ)  Blockchain technology and its most popular cryptocurrency, bitcoin, have been called of equal importance to the internet, capable of transforming businesses, government, and social interaction: the entire fabric of modern society. The enthusiasm—and the hype—are both inescapable and infectious. The assumption behind the enthusiasm is that blockchain and cryptocurrencies will change the world for the better. And perhaps indeed they will; I myself am optimistic. 

“Energy eBay” To be operational by June (OilPrice)  A U.K.-based consortium plans to build an “Energy eBay” that should be functional by June, according to emerging reports from the tech sector. Bilateral trading on the site, developed by a company called Electron, will begin in a few months, CEO Joanna Hubbard said. The project will be "a shared marketplace for energy assets to respond to pricing signals," she explained.

2018 Solar Power Rocks report grades every state on solar friendliness (Clean Technica)  How does your state stack up against all the other states in the country when it comes to being solar friendly? Solar Power Rocks, an online solar power resource site, rates every state every year based on 11 criteria, then translates those rankings into an interactive chart. Each state gets an overall grade based on the data. For this year, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maryland, Washington, DC, New York, Oregon, and Connecticut all got an A rating. Louisiana and 8 other states got an F. 

4 Reasons for Optimism in New Sustainable Energy Factbook (NRDC)  The latest Sustainable Energy in America Factbook showed that 2017 was a landmark year in energy efficiency and renewable energy: wind and solar installations surged and greenhouse gas emissions declined to the lowest level that they have been in 25 years. At the same time, the U.S. economy grew by 2.3 percent while total energy consumption declined by 2.6 percent as our energy system became cleaner and more efficient.

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