Clean Energy Finance Forum

We wrote last year about Beam, the startup with plans to run electric-vehicle charging stations on on-site solar and pay for itself with advertising. Amid a call for a national mandate that would electrify half of the United States' cars, Beam kept reporting orders from cities and ran a test EV aircraft flight. This July 17 TV dispatch offers some details.

"In Washington and many other states, we are using innovation and cooperation to grow jobs and protect the planet. As Washington’s governor, I know firsthand the obstacles states face when they respond to increasingly devastating floods, wildfires, and earthquakes, and other catastrophes made worse by a changing climate."

In 2015 Hawaii became the first U.S. state to mandate a total transition to renewable energy. With exceptionally high energy prices and an ingrained environmental ethos, Hawaii has positioned itself as a pioneer in the quest to move toward a future free of fossil fuels.

The Aloha State’s GEM$ program enables renters and low-income households to install solar and energy-saving equipment with no upfront costs.

The Green New Deal that some Democrats are now championing is unlike anything this country has ever done before. But scientists have been studying policies like these for decades. And their research can tell us a bit about what might happen if we pass this sweeping new vision for climate action and economic equality.

The Green New Deal means different things to different people. In some ways, that’s part of its appeal. On the other hand, a Green New Deal can’t mean anything anyone wants it to, or it will come to mean nothing at all.