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Report | Environment North Carolina Research & Policy Center

Growing Solar in North Carolina: Solar Power's Role in a Clean Energy Future

With sunlight on almost 250 days a year, solar energy is a real energy option for North Carolina.  Based on rate of growth in solar installations experienced in other states and countries, North Carolina can install enough solar power over the next two decades to supply 2 percent of the state’s electricity by 2020, and 14 percent by 2030.

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Report | Environment North Carolina Research & Policy Center

Working with the Sun: How Solar Power Can Protect North Carolina's Environment and Create New Jobs

Solar power can curb pollution, protecting public health and North Carolina’s environment. It can also drive North Carolina’s economy forward – creating jobs that can’t be outsourced, and launching new companies to manufacture and install solar power equipment. This report quantifies the benefits of developing North Carolina’s solar resources on a trajectory to supply 14 percent of the state’s electricity consumption by the year 2030. 

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News Release | Environment North Carolina Research & Policy Center

Obama Announces Landmark Mercury Standards

Raleigh, NC – Today, President Obama and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the first-ever nationwide standard for mercury and air toxics pollution from power plants. A record 907,000 Americans submitted comments on the standard, which is expected to cut toxic mercury pollution from power plants by 91 percent.

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Result

Protecting the Outer Banks

In November 2011, President Obama finalized his plans to protect the Outer Banks and the rest of the state’s beaches from offshore drilling until at least 2017.  The public outcry in the aftermath of the Gulf spill hastened the president’s reversal on his plan to open the door to drilling, and some of the loudest voices were from Environment North Carolina members.

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Report | Environment North Carolina Research & Policy Center

America's Biggest Mercury Polluters

Power plants continue to release large amounts of toxic pollutants, including mercury, into our air. In 2010, two-thirds of all airborne mercury pollution in the United States came from the smokestacks of coal-fired power plants. In other words, power plants generate more airborne mercury pollution than all other industrial sources combined.

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News Release | Environment North Carolina Research & Policy Center

Obama Announces Landmark Mercury Standards

Raleigh, NC – Today, President Obama and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the first-ever nationwide standard for mercury and air toxics pollution from power plants. A record 907,000 Americans submitted comments on the standard, which is expected to cut toxic mercury pollution from power plants by 91 percent.

> Keep Reading
News Release | Environment North Carolina Research & Policy Center

Report: Charlotte in country's top ten for smog

Charlotte–The Charlotte area has had more unhealthy air days in 2011 than all but seven other cities nationwide, according to a new Environment North Carolina Research & Policy Center report released today at Plaza Presbyterian Weekday School in Plaza-Midwood.  The analysis, Danger in the Air: Unhealthy Air Days in 2010 and 2011, also showed that under the more protective smog standard President Obama delayed early this month, the number of days officially considered unhealthy to breathe in Charlotte could more than double.

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News Release | Environment North Carolina Research & Policy Center

NC falls short of goal to protect 1 million acres

Raleigh--In ten years, North Carolina has permanently protected more than 640,000 acres of parks, forests, farmlands, and such critical areas as Grandfather Mountain, Chimney Rock, and the banks of the Haw River.  Yet, according to a new Environment North Carolina study, the state fell well short of a goal set by legislators and former Gov. Jim Hunt to reach the million-acre mark by December 31, 2009.

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Result

Protecting the Outer Banks

In November 2011, President Obama finalized his plans to protect the Outer Banks and the rest of the state’s beaches from offshore drilling until at least 2017.  The public outcry in the aftermath of the Gulf spill hastened the president’s reversal on his plan to open the door to drilling, and some of the loudest voices were from Environment North Carolina members.

> Keep Reading
Report | Environment North Carolina Research & Policy Center

Growing Solar in North Carolina: Solar Power's Role in a Clean Energy Future

With sunlight on almost 250 days a year, solar energy is a real energy option for North Carolina.  Based on rate of growth in solar installations experienced in other states and countries, North Carolina can install enough solar power over the next two decades to supply 2 percent of the state’s electricity by 2020, and 14 percent by 2030.

> Keep Reading
Report | Environment North Carolina Research & Policy Center

Working with the Sun: How Solar Power Can Protect North Carolina's Environment and Create New Jobs

Solar power can curb pollution, protecting public health and North Carolina’s environment. It can also drive North Carolina’s economy forward – creating jobs that can’t be outsourced, and launching new companies to manufacture and install solar power equipment. This report quantifies the benefits of developing North Carolina’s solar resources on a trajectory to supply 14 percent of the state’s electricity consumption by the year 2030. 

> Keep Reading
Report | Environment North Carolina Research & Policy Center

America's Biggest Mercury Polluters

Power plants continue to release large amounts of toxic pollutants, including mercury, into our air. In 2010, two-thirds of all airborne mercury pollution in the United States came from the smokestacks of coal-fired power plants. In other words, power plants generate more airborne mercury pollution than all other industrial sources combined.

> Keep Reading
Report | Environment North Carolina Research & Policy Center

Danger in the Air

Charlotte–The Charlotte area has had more unhealthy air days in 2011 than all but seven other cities nationwide, according to a new Environment North Carolina Research & Policy Center report released today at Plaza Presbyterian Weekday School in Plaza-Midwood.  The analysis, Danger in the Air: Unhealthy Air Days in 2010 and 2011, also showed that under the more protective smog standard President Obama delayed early this month, the number of days officially considered unhealthy to breathe in Charlotte could more than double.

> Keep Reading
Report | Environment North Carolina Research & Policy Center

Too Much at Stake

In the long debate over management of the outer continental shelf (OCS), the oil industry and some policy makers have claimed that our tax base and coastal jobs rely on expanding oil and gas drilling to new places.

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