A Guide to Community Solar: utlity, private, and non-profit project development

From the Department of Energy:

In communities across the United States, people are seeking alternatives to conventional energy sources. Whether they aim to increase energy independence, hedge against rising fuel costs, cut carbon emissions, or provide local jobs, they are looking to community-scale renewable energy projects for solutions. Advances in solar technology, an increase in federal and state tax incentives, and creative new financing models have made solar projects including community solar projects, more financially feasible.

This guide is designed as a resource for those who want to develop community solar projects, from community organizers or solar energy advocates to government officials or utility managers. By exploring the range of incentives and policies while providing examples of operational community solar projects, this guide will help communities to plan and implement successful local energy projects. In addition, by highlighting some of the policy best practices, this guide suggests changes in the regulatory landscape that could significantly boost community solar installations across the country.

Sequestration-Related Budget Cuts; Regional, State, and Local Impacts

C2ER has compiled a brief summary of sequestration-related budget cuts by government agency. These items were chosen specifically for their potential impact on regional/state, and local programs.

Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)

Regional Input-Output Modeling System (RIMS) - BEA eliminated the RIMS II product in FY 2013. RIMS II provides modeling estimates to the private sector, Federal, state, and local governments on changes in economic activity.

Local Area Personal Income Statistics (LAPI) - BEA also eliminated detailed statistics within its LAPI program. This is the only source for county and metropolitan area personal income statistics.

Foreign Direct Investment Analytical Products - BEA eliminated analytical activities related to FDI and the operations of multinational companies (MNCs), affecting some annual publications as well as occasional topical papers. BEA also stopped publishing analytical products that provide insight into offshoring, the impact of MNCs on the domestic economy, and the impact of global value chains for measuring economic activity.

Find more information here.

Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

Measuring Green Jobs - The BLS eliminated the Measuring Green Jobs products. This includes the special employer surveys that provide data on the occupations and wages of jobs related to green technologies and practices, as well as career information related to green jobs.

Mass Layoff Statistics Program - Also eliminates is the mass layoff program that provides information identifying, describing, and tracking the effects of major job cutbacks in the economy.

International Labor Comparisons Program - The International Labor Comparisons (ILC) program has also been eliminated. This program adjusts foreign data to a common framework of concepts, definitions, and classifications to facilitate data comparisons between the United States and other countries.

Find more information here.

Census Bureau

Economic Programs - A six-month delay in the delivery of over 1,600 Economic Census products due to staffing reductions at the National Processing Center and Census headquarters.

2020 Decennial Census Programs - Budget cuts mean that Census cannot carry out the planned research and testing needed for work on design options for the 2020 Census. Reduced funding levels also force the delay of preparatory work related to the FY 2014 field tests, delaying the acquisition of information needed to make design decisions in FY 2015 for the 2020 Census.

Geographic Support Program - Reductions will delay decisions about the viability of cost-saving designs associated with the 2020 Census address canvassing operation, scheduled for later in the decade.

American Community Survey - Cuts to the American Community Survey (ACS) eliminate much needed investments in the ACS processing infrastructure, program management, and research program.

Demographic Programs - Cuts to these programs prevent the implementation of new supplemental poverty measures. These cuts will also delay data releases for the 2014 panel for the Survey of Income and Program Participation.

Find more information here.

Energy Information Administration (EIA)

Annual Energy Review - The EIA has suspended publication of the Annual Energy Review and its companion publication, Energy Perspectives.

Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) - Delayed to FY 2014. It has also delayed upgrades to its critical weekly petroleum and natural gas statistical reports.

EIA's FY 2013 and FY 2014 Budget Requests to Congress can be viewed here.

United States Department of Agriculture

National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) - The National Agricultural Statistics Service is suspending a number of statistical surveys and reports.

Find more information here.

USDA Economic Research Service (ERS)

Agricultural Productivity in the U.S. - Updates of the State-level statistics are suspended.

County-Level Data Sets (“County Look-Up Tables”) - Updates of socioeconomic indicators in this format will be phased out.

Find more information here.

Annual Energy Outlook 2012

The projections in the U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA's) Annual Energy Outlook 2012 (AEO2012) focus on the factors that shape the U.S. energy system over the long term. Under the assumption that current laws and regulations remain unchanged throughout the projections, the AEO2012 Reference case provides the basis for examination and discussion of energy production, consumption, technology, and market trends and the direction they may take in the future. It also serves as a starting point for analysis of potential changes in energy policies. But AEO2012 is not limited to the Reference case. It also includes 29 alternative cases (see Appendix E, Table E1), which explore important areas of uncertainty for markets, technologies, and policies in the U.S. energy economy. Many of the implications of the alternative cases are discussed in the "Issues in focus" section of this report.

Where Does My Gasoline Come From?

The United States consumes over 20 million barrels (840 million gallons) of petroleum products each day, almost half of it in the form of gasoline used in over 200 million motor vehicles with combined travel over 7 billion miles per day.

Can I tell which country or State the gasoline at my local station comes from?

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) cannot definitively say where gasoline at a given station originated since EIA does not collect data on the source of the gasoline sold at retail outlets.

Much more information here.