By Enrique Dans, Contributor, Forbes
Renewable energy is already the cheapest and most logical way to produce energy without the need for subsidies. By introducing hydroelectric and geothermal energy into the equation, in addition to solar and wind energy, Costa Rica has already managed to go for 300 days in a row without burning fossil fuels to generate electricity. Portugal has managed four days with only renewable energy, the UK, a thousand hours without burning coal, while US states like Colorado are staggered at the cost competitiveness of renewables, even adding a diverse range of storage infrastructure. Within renewable energies, solar stands out for its increasingly lower costs. The goal of generating 100% of the world’s energy from renewable processes is becoming more feasible and cheaper every day. Read more here.
100% RENEWABLE ENERGY NEWS & RESOURCES
- Politics not technology: what must change for the world to go 100% renewable by 2050, Power Technology
- La Crosse Passes 100% Renewable Energy Resolution, Solar Industry
According to the Sierra Club, La Crosse joins Eau Claire, Madison, Middleton and Monona as the fifth Wisconsin city to adopt this goal. - Overcoming Barriers To 100% Clean Energy, Part One: The Electricity Distribution Network, Forbes
MORE RENEWABLE ENERGY NEWS
- The game-changing spark Iowa’s solar industry needs could be in Louisa County, The Gazette
- Why rural Iowa needs empowering, by Sandy Ehrig, economic development administrator for the Iowa Farm Bureau, The Gazette
- Catholic Charities to build D.C.’s largest solar array, National Catholic Reporter
- Georgia commissioners, all Republicans, increase solar power, cut coal, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
- National Grid Acquires Renewables Developer Geronimo Energy, Greentech Media
The $100 million deal adds to the list of U.S. renewables developers bought recently by European energy groups. - How does solar on capped landfills work? Solar Power guest post written by Eric Millard, chief commercial officer, CS Energy
- Utilities Bid to Own Rooftop Solar Even As They Oppose It, Institute for Local Self-Reliance
- What most Americans are looking for in a new home: solar panels, Fast Company
After California passed first-of-its kind legislation mandating solar panels on all homes built starting in 2020, a new poll finds that people across the country want to see that policy go national. - Wind power costs have plummeted. How can they fall even further?, Into the Wind, AWEA Blog
Illinois is beginning to build a robust solar industry in the wake of passing its Future Energy Jobs Act of 2016, and they’re in the process of following it up with a Clean Energy Jobs Act this year. And they’re not the only Midwestern state to join the Solar Revolution. Minnesota is the birthplace of the best community solar program in the nation, and Michigan is (albeit slowly) bringing its solar policies into the 21st century.
Ontario-based Heliene, Inc. has begun operations in a 25,000-square-foot factory in Mountain Iron, a city of nearly 3,000 people on Minnesota’s Iron Range, and it plans to hire 130 employees by September . . . Minnesota’s growing community solar garden program, the largest in the country, has been a boon for the company, and Illinois may represent the next big market for Heliene. 
The U.S. electricity sector is eyeing the developing electric car market as a remedy for an unprecedented decline in demand for electricity. After decades of rising electricity demand, experts say the utility industry grossly underestimated the impact of cheap renewable energy and the surge of natural gas production. For the first time ever, the Tennessee Valley Authority is projecting a 
