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I’d honestly buy a T-shirt with this on it.

This would imply the utility requests a rate change (to a lower rate) from the PUC, right? Hard to see a for-profit utility doing that! Are there any time series rate data out there to mine? Could look for dips? (I can only ever seem to find the PUC filings and never any ready-to-use data.)

Oops, forgot #energysky

The data, methodology, assumptions, etc are all detailed in the earlier link. A calculator tool is also included.

The interesting thing is that the percent returns are so attractive (10-16%), they beat a typical college endowment. This implies a donor could fund whatever they are interested in (e.g. a scholarship) by funding solar panels on a college’s campus, essentially funding a scholarship *and* solar.

Together with the cost and the incentives, these savings were used to estimate a yearly return on the investment (annual savings divided by net cost), and I have tabulated all of the results here: ahinkel.github.io/projects/DIRAC

Using national averages for things like the price of solar panels, the price of electricity, etc. and geospatial solar resource data from NREL, I was able to estimate the annual savings for a small/medium solar array on a college campus.

Non-profits in these energy communities are eligible for 40% (!) “rebates” from the US government, while those outside are eligible for 30%. Since I’m in the higher ed space, I plotted all institutions of higher learning within these regions to get a feel for the scale.

I see no red flags there. 🤣

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Always felt like the 1.5/2 C marks lent themselves to binary results / doomism. Is there a particular reason 0.1 degree is often the increment used (for popular communication)? Is there a reason we don’t frame it instead as hundredths of a degree (or even milliKelvin)? Places it more on a spectrum.

No longer live in CO unfortunately but always looked forward to hearing your latest on CPR. Thank you for covering these issues.

Hey all, I’m an assistant professor of physics in the Northern Kentucky area specializing in astrophysics. I have been turning my efforts back towards our home planet lately, including running analyses to help institutions of higher ed see the value in going solar with the help of the IRA.