Raising the solar roofs

A big decision is due today from the California Public Utilities Commission that would allow more people to install solar panels on their roof and sell electricity back to their electric utility.

These “net metering” rules are part of the reason why California already gets about 1 gigawatt of electricity from rooftop solar systems and why solar is a growth industry in the state. “California’s solar industry is one of the few bright spots amidst all the gloomy economic news in our state,” said David Hochschild, vice president of the solar manufacturing company Solaria, at a rally last week in support of the rule change. Hochschild credits the California solar industry with about 35,000 jobs.

Under the proposed rule at the PUC, that could rise to more than 4 gigawatts over the next several years. But investor-owned utilities in the state are trying to block the move and keep a cap on the number of customers who can run their meter backward.

“They’re screaming bloody murder, saying we’re going to break the grid. It’s nonsense,” said Danny Kennedy, president of the Oakland-based Sungevity solar company.

The problem is, say utilities like PG&E, that if too many customers take advantage of net metering, and many end up paying nothing for electricity, that shifts the costs of power distribution to “conventional” customers, including those who can’t afford rooftop solar. (Cosmo Garvin)

Bagging Bigfoots

We don’t know if this will change your Memorial Day plans, but just a quick reminder: There is no Bigfoot hunting allowed in California.

That’s according to a Facebook post by the California Department of Fish and Game earlier this month. (Then bagged, tagged and blogged by Sacramento muckracker Dan Bacher over at www.alternet.org.)

“In order to take a nongame mammal legally in our state, the animal would have to be listed in the California Code of Regulations … which Bigfoot is not,” the DFG reasons.

Bacher quotes the DFG further that, “If Bigfoot does not occur naturally in California then it would not be defined as a non-game mammal and could not be taken legally … unless the Bigfoot was causing property damage (in which case it could be depredated) or if a Bigfoot was considered a public safety threat (in which case the animal could be taken).”

The clarification was prompted by an article in Live Science magazine earlier this month, which quoted a Texas game official (of course) saying that since Bigfoot is not specifically protected in Texas law, the cryptid, “may be hunted on private property with landowner consent by any means, at any time and there is no bag limit or possession limit.”

California’s silence on the Bigfoot hunting is probably no big deal, since Sasquatch is, you know, not real. Chupacabras on the other hand … (C.G.)