German Law Gave Citizens a Stake in Clean Energy Switch

"What an eyesore, huh?" the man standing next to me on the beach said, nodding in the direction of a little girl flying a kite. The man, in his mid-40s, seemed to enjoy my confusion. He waited a beat before pointing beyond the girl, far out into the Baltic Sea. "There," he said, smiling to make sure I understood his sarcasm. "The 'ugly' wind farm."

Staring hard, it was barely possible to make out the turbines on the horizon. Ten miles from shore, the Baltic 1 Wind Farm seemed as small and insubstantial as the scruffy grass along the coast. But, in fact, each of the nearly two dozen turbines is as tall as a 27-story building and has fiberglass epoxy blades nearly 150 feet long. Work has already begun on wind farms with even larger turbines that will generate twice the power of those at Baltic 1, enough to supply 250,000 households with electricity.

Massachusetts energy act raises solar net-metering cap

Gov. Deval Patrick, D-Mass., has signed into law the 2012 Energy Act, a comprehensive energy bill that includes several solar-friendly provisions.

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) praised the legislation, noting that, among other provisions, it increases Massachusetts' cap on solar net metering. A previous law, passed in 2008, required the state's major electric utilities to make net metering available to customers until the total program capacity reached 3% of the utility's peak demand.