this post was submitted on 01 Dec 2023
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Discussion of climate, how it is changing, activism around that, the politics, and the energy systems change we need in order to stabilize things.

As a starting point, the burning of fossil fuels, and to a lesser extent deforestation and release of methane are responsible for the warming in recent decades: Graph of temperature as observed with significant warming, and simulated without added greenhouse gases and other anthropogentic changes, which shows no significant warming

How much each change to the atmosphere has warmed the world: IPCC AR6 Figure 2 - Thee bar charts: first chart: how much each gas has warmed the world. About 1C of total warming. Second chart: about 1.5C of total warming from well-mixed greenhouse gases, offset by 0.4C of cooling from aerosols and negligible influence from changes to solar output, volcanoes, and internal variability. Third chart: about 1.25C of warming from CO2, 0.5C from methane, and a bunch more in small quantities from other gases. About 0.5C of cooling with large error bars from SO2.

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California’s rooftop solar policy is killing its rooftop solar industry (www.canarymedia.com)
submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago

AI Summary (TLDR This): The context discusses the severe decline in California's rooftop solar market after regulators slashed compensation for solar power exported to the grid. Data shows residential solar installations dropped 77-85% and utility connections fell 66-83% since the policy change in April 2022. Solar companies are laying off thousands of workers, with an estimated 17,000 clean energy jobs expected to be lost by the end of 2023. This is undermining California's climate goals as distributed solar has been a major source of clean energy growth. Critics argue the policy unfairly shifts costs onto non-solar customers while advocates say it disproportionately impacts lower-income communities. A lawsuit is seeking to reverse the decision but its prospects are unclear.

The key policy change was California's Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) decision in December 2021 to change the state's net metering policy that had been in place for over two decades.

Previously under net metering, customers installing solar systems were paid the full retail rate for any excess solar power they sent back to the grid. But under the new "net billing tariff" implemented in April 2022, customers only receive a fraction of the retail value for most of the solar power they export.

This has reduced the financial benefits and payback period of installing rooftop solar systems by an estimated 75% on average. It has led to a sharp decline of 77-85% in new rooftop solar installations in California since it took effect, according to data from the California Solar and Storage Association.

So in summary, the CPUC decision to significantly reduce net metering compensation rates for excess solar power exported to the grid is seen as the major policy change that has disrupted the rooftop solar market in California.