Energy equity
Low-income families don't get a fair share of energy-efficiency funds
Utility programs that help residents cut energy costs are leaving out low-income households. What are the fixes?
By Alison F. Takemura .
Alison is staff writer at Canary Media. She authors Electrified Life, a column that demystifies how we can ditch fossil fuels and electrify our homes. She loves making the clean energy transition more accessible and reports on building decarbonization strategies, heat pumps, and training the clean energy workforce.
Alison’s stories have been published by National Geographic, Sierra magazine, the Santa Cruz Sentinel, the NASA Scientific Visualization Studio and others. Currently based in Golden, Colorado, she’s a Japanese-Mexican-American graduate of MIT with a PhD in microbiology, and she has a certificate in science journalism from UC Santa Cruz. She really can’t stress enough how pumped she is about a fossil-free future.
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Canary Media
Are you a fan of Canary Media? Please make a year-end gift!
Canary Media is a nonprofit that relies on readers like you. If you dig what we do, help fund our independent journalism on the energy transition.By Alison F. Takemura .
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Food and farms
Video: How solar panels and crops can thrive side by side
Step into the field to see agrivoltaics up close.By Alison F. Takemura .
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Food and farms
Can agriculture and solar farms coexist? It depends
At a test site in Colorado, researchers and farmers are collaborating to figure out what works — and what doesn't — when it comes to agrivoltaics.By Alison F. Takemura .
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Energy equity
More lower-income US households are adopting solar
A new report finds that rooftop solar is growing among low- and moderate-income households, though the industry still has a wealth gap problem.By Alison F. Takemura .
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Electrification
Lyft, Airbnb and other companies join forces to help you go electric
An unexpected coalition aims to assist Americans in taking advantage of the decarbonization benefits in the Inflation Reduction Act.By Alison F. Takemura .
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Just transition
Who should pay to help coal communities in the energy transition?
Staff at Arizona’s utility regulator say customers shouldn’t be charged more to fund a $144 million just transition package for the Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe and other coal communities.By Alison F. Takemura .
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Guides and how-tos
Electric utilities 101: A breakdown of the basics on US power providers
Utilities and their regulators can be confusing and opaque. Here's a handy introduction for people who want more clean energy in their community.By Alison F. Takemura .
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Just transition
The best policies to help coal towns weather the switch to renewables
A new report singles out Colorado, Illinois and New Mexico as trailblazers in just-transition laws. Could fossil strongholds Wyoming and West Virginia follow suit?By Alison F. Takemura .
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Solar
How solar donors can cut the power bills of low-income families
Boston-based Resonant Energy pioneers a new way to share solar savings with disadvantaged communities in Massachusetts.By Alison F. Takemura .
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