In this week’s feature report, Environmental Correspondent Zero Roze gets an update from Steven Stewart of the Indiana Forest Alliance on protecting Indiana forests from burning and logging.
Inside Climate Change reports new figures on the cost of solar power. They say your roof isn’t getting any bigger, but the amount of electricity that can be produced by solar panels up there has grown by a lot compared to a generation ago. New figures from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory show how much: The median size of a residential solar system grew from 2.4 kilowatts in 2000 to 7.4 kilowatts in 2023. Size, in this case, refers to the generating capacity of a solar system, not its surface area.
The tripling of median size, despite the surface area of a typical roof not changing much, is a boon for consumers and the grid. Lawrence Berkeley Lab published a trove of data last week as part of the annual “Tracking the Sun” report on customer-owned solar. The report, which looks at data from 2023, shows a continuation of major trends like the growth of panel efficiency, a drop in prices and an increase in solar systems that are paired with battery storage. To get a better sense of progress, it helps to take a longer view.
I asked Galen Barbose, a staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley Lab and co-author of the report, which long-term trends he finds the most striking. He pointed to the growth in system size. “Customers are able to meet more of their load and save more on their bills,” he said. The increase in system size is closely related to improvements in solar panel efficiency, a measure of how much of the solar radiation shining on a panel’s surface is converted to electricity. Last year, more than 90 percent of solar panels had efficiency of at least 20 percent, which is remarkable considering that no residential panels had that level of efficiency as recently as 2011, according to the report.
The rapid shift follows technological change, such as the development of “TOPCon” solar panels, which have a mix of materials that achieve greater efficiency with minimal increase in costs. Even as residential solar prices continue to decline, the United States has high prices relative to peers. Prices in Australia, for example, have fallen to less than $1 per watt. Energy analysts have asked why there is such a large gap between the United States and Australia.
Inside Climate Change reports 28 million acres of Alaska public lands are protected from oil drilling. This is a reversal of Trump policy. After years of review, the U.S. Department of the Interior finalized a decision to retain protections for 28 million acres of public lands in Alaska. The fate of these areas was previously in flux following a Trump-era effort to open them up to development, including oil and gas extraction. On Tuesday, the Interior deemed this attempt “unlawful” because it was not informed by appropriate environmental assessments and input from local Alaska Native peoples, who depend on the land for food and water.
“Tribal consultation must be treated as a requirement—not an option—when the federal government is making decisions that could irrevocably affect Tribal communities,” Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement. “Continuing these essential protections, which have been in place for decades, will ensure continued access and use of these public lands now and in the future.” While many tribal and environmental groups lauded the decision, prominent elected officials in Alaska have opposed these protections, citing the potential for extractive activities to boost the state’s jobs and economy. During Trump’s presidency, he never sought or accepted tribal advice.
Indiana Public Radio at Ball State reports that Equity Alliance identifies locations for EV chargers in Black communities, says the state fails to do so. For two years now, an equity alliance has said Indiana should do more to place electric vehicle charging stations in Black communities. Now the alliance has chosen its own preferred locations for the federally-funded chargers in its Indiana Electric Vehicle Charging Neighbor-Hood Green Book.
The book is a nod to the segregation-era guidebook that listed safe places to stop for Black travelers. It lists 38 locations in under served communities that could host EV chargers that qualify for federal grants through the Biden administration. Jorden Giger co-founded Black Lives Matter of South Bend and is part of the Indiana Alliance for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion of Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure and Economic Opportunities Development.
He said when Indiana first hosted meetings on EV chargers for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, many of them weren’t in areas that were accessible to Black Hoosiers — and a few were in cities the Alliance considers sundown towns. “We want to be able to drive through the state and charge in places that are safe and friendly to us and our families,” Giger said. While the state’s picks for EV charging locations so far are primarily gas stations right off the highway, the Alliance’s choices are mostly churches less than 5 miles away.
Feature ReportEnvironmental Correspondent Zero Roze gets an update from Steven Stewart of the Indiana Forest Alliance on protecting Indiana forests from burning and logging.
Credits:
On Air………………………………….Julianna Dailey
On Air………………………………..Frank Marshalek
Headlines…………………………………..Norm Holy
Feature Report……………………………..Zero Roze
Script…………………………………..Julianna Dailey
Events Calendar……………………….Julianna Dailey
Engineer……………………………..Branden Blewett
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