Displaying items by tag: solar power

Explore how to reduce your monthly power bill and increase the health and comfort of your home.

Federal and local funding opportunities available at all income levels

KNOXVILLE — As the weather turns colder, many Knoxvillians start to worry about home heating bills. Fortunately, energy efficiency incentives and funding programs are available to Knoxvillians of all income levels through federal tax credits and rebates. Free local funding is available for qualifying customers of KUB through the “Home Uplift” program. Many Knoxvillians are unaware of these opportunities or unsure of how to access the funding programs.

Family-friendly Home Energy Expo

The local organizations that cooperate with small local businesses in the Save Money, Save Energy program and the expo and workshop at Ijams are the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE), Knoxville Utilities Board (KUB), Socially Equal Energy Efficient Development (SEEED), Sierra Club – Harvey Broome Group, Three3 (pronounced three cube) and Tennessee Interfaith Power and Light (TIPL).

Home Energy Expo at Ijams Nature Center, 2915 Island Home Ave, Knoxville, TN 37920 — Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Save Money, Save Energy workshop starts at 2:30 p.m. (RSVP recommended to secure a seat)

This view shows the main sanctuary from the side building that hosts Oak Ridge Faith Lutheran Church’s solar panels.  Ben Pounds/Hellbender Press

How two East Tennessee churches went solar, and can help your congregation do it, too

OAK RIDGE — On two church roofs on the same road in this small town that helped harvest the atom, panels catch the sun’s rays for electric power.

Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church at 1500 Oak Ridge Turnpike and Faith Lutheran Church at 1300 Oak Ridge Turnpike added solar energy at different times through different companies using different federal incentives. ORUUC added its panels in 2015; Faith Lutheran added them in March 2022. Members of both churches involved in the solar projects spoke to both the challenges involved and the benefits. They said their churches benefited both financially and spoke of the benefits to the planet.

“I really hope it works well for us as well as for the environment,” said George Smith, associate pastor at Faith Lutheran. “I’m fond of thinking that we’re turning God’s gift of sunshine into a gift of cash for ministry.”

A rainbow pierces gray skies during the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow. United Nations

Climate activists stress positives of Senate climate bill despite its shortcomings 

Amy Rawe is communications director for Knoxville-based Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

KNOXVILLE — The U.S. Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), an estimated $430 billion bill, of which approximately $370 billion will be allocated to investments in clean energy and to address climate change.

It’s the single largest climate investment in U.S. history, and if it passes the House, will put the country on a path to be able to achieve roughly 40 percent emissions reduction from 2005 levels by 2030, reestablishing our influence in meeting the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. 

“Our intelligence and flexibility as a society will be tested as the financial and industrial giants all figure out what they’re going to do.”

The Tennessee Valley Authority intends to phase out its aging fleet of coal plants by 2035, potentially replacing the age-old carbon-rich power source with increased use of natural gas and refreshed, concentrated supplies of nuclear energy as the vast utility moves to drastically reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

The plan emerged Wednesday, about a month after the Biden administration called on the U.S. power sector to eliminate pollutants linked to climate change by 2035.

The Tennessee Valley Authority is the largest public provider of electricity in the United States. It provides wholesale power to every major municipal provider in Tennessee, as well as other metropolitan areas and smaller utility districts and cooperatives within its seven-state service area.

Mayor wants green for green; some otherwise supportive city residents already aren’t pleased with some initiatives.

KNOXVILLE — Mayor Indya Kincannon’s proposed Knoxville 2020-2021 budget commits some $30 million to reduce city climate impacts, expand its use of renewable energy, invest in urban forest preservation and outdoor recreation assets and improve bus and bicycle travel in communities across the city. The budget also provides money for revitalization of the Burlington District, a historic pedestrian center of Black commerce in East Knoxville.

The city’s net budget is $384 million, which includes a $253 million operating fund.

The budget is just a recommendation to City Council at this point. 

Apr 22  ^{1 p.m. EDT}

Socially Equal Energy Efficient Development (SEEED)

In-person event with virtual participation option

SEEED is building a completely solar-powered, energy efficient home, including battery backup, and will sell it at an affordable price to a low-income family. The groundbreaking will take place in the Lonsdale neighborhood, and will also be live streamed through Facebook. If you attend in-person, please wear a mask and practice social distancing in line with guidance from the CDC.

Last year, Knoxville Utilities Board committed to supplying 20 percent of its electricity through solar generation by 2023, through Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) Green Invest program. By 2023, KUB will provide 502 megawatts annually of new-to-the-grid solar power to its customers. This represents the equivalent of enough energy to power 83,000 homes. The $1.63 million cost will be paid by a credit provided by TVA as part of its 20-year partnership agreement with KUB.

The announcement was celebrated by solar energy advocates, including the Tennessee Solar Energy Industries Association, but some environmental watchdogs maintain there are issues with the contracts that local power companies had to enter into with TVA to participate in Green Invest.