Xcel to Solar Users: Pay Up! - Environmental Capital - WSJ

Tom Henley, an Xcel spokesman, says solar customers have been getting a free ride for too long. They’re hooked to the grid, so Xcel is on the hook to provide backup power whenever the solar panels aren’t meeting demand. They pay for each kilowatt hour that they use, of course. But they don’t pay the transmission and generation fees that regular customers do.

“These customers are connected to the grid and yet they’re not paying for the infrastructure,” Mr. Henley says.

New poll is bad, bad news for Obama, Democrats | Washington Examiner

On the related issue of controlling government spending, in July 2007, Democrats held a 16-point advantage. In the new poll, Republicans hold a nine-point lead.

Climate change scientist gets deluge of farmer questions

Almost immediately, Takle was peppered with questions from a skeptic in the front row.
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Global warming might be harder to accept in the Midwest, partly because so far, it has brought almost ideal changes for growing corn, with warmer winters, slightly more rainfall, and a decline in daytime high temperatures in the summer that Takle conceded is a puzzle to climate scientists. The last 10 years have seen fewer days with high temperatures above 95. No one know exactly why that is, he said, but one theory is that because the region is wetter, it might take more solar energy to evaporate moisture.
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So far, the changes for Iowa seem almost benign. Average annual rainfall for the state has increased from 31 inches in 1873 to 34 inches today. The planting season is about eight days earlier than 40 years ago, he said.