Clean Energy News December 2024 Archives - Arizona Technology Council

What would losing the EV tax credit mean for consumers and carmakers?

ABC15 Arizona If you’re thinking of buying an electric car in 2025, it may soon cost more. President-elect Trump has indicated he will eliminate the $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicle purchases included in President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. One recent estimate found EV sales could fall as much as 27% if that tax break goes away. Scripps News spoke ...

Northern Arizona solar center to create renewable energy, replace coal jobs

Arizona Family A solar energy center is coming to Northern Arizona just outside of Joseph City as the area moves away from non-renewable energy and looks toward alternative energy sources. The solar farm will allow Arizona Public Service (APS) to improve grid reliability as the state experiences more growth in the future and provides much-needed jobs in Navajo County. The ...

Lawmakers push critical mineral status for copper, a major Arizona export, which would mean green energy tax breaks and less regulation

Cronkite News Roughly 70% of copper produced in the U.S. comes from Arizona. Electric vehicles, solar panels and power cables can’t be produced without it, and for the first time last year, the U.S. government added copper to a list of critical materials. But that designation in July 2023 only applied to a list kept by the Department of Energy. The U.S. Geological Survey ma...

Arizona Corporation Commission upholds contentious APS solar charge

AZ Capitol Times The Arizona Corporation Commission reaffirmed its decision to allow Arizona Public Service to impose a grid access charge on customers who use residential solar energy, despite solar advocates calling the charge discriminatory. Commissioners voted three to one to uphold the charge, known as a “GAC,” with Republican Commissioner Lea Marquez Peterson ab...

Investing in Arizona’s Workforce: Weatherization as a Business Opportunity

inBusiness PHX Arizona is at a crossroads of opportunity. As energy demands rise and sustainability becomes a priority, the Arizona Department of Housing’s (ADOH) longstanding Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) presents a unique avenue for workforce development and business growth. The WAP has been in play since 1977 and has been the driver for energy efficiency ...

Next-Generation Datacenters like Microsoft Consume Zero Water for Cooling

inBusiness PHX This summer, we released our Datacenter Community Pledge, detailing our commitment to the local economies and communities in which we operate our datacenters. Protecting local watersheds is an important part of this pledge — especially in areas where water stress is growing. Beginning in August, Microsoft launched a new datacenter design that optimizes AI wor...

Guest Blog: Let Customers Be Part of Energy Market Decision Making

Amanda Ormond, Author Few would doubt that the high-voltage electrical transmission grid is essential to transmitting power to residential and business consumers. However, having a complete understanding of the grid can be challenging. Decisions on what resources to build, when to build and what future transmission systems should look like are largely made by utilities on behalf of their ...

When will we hit the tipping point for electric vehicles? This expert says it’s a ways off

KJZZ The number of electric vehicles in Arizona has tripled in the last year-and-a-half. But, the number of charging stations hasn’t kept up. Despite the state and federal government putting hundreds of millions of dollars into efforts to catch up, Steven Polzin, a research professor at Arizona State University’s Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering, says we haven’t re...