August 15th, 2012

Clean energy advocates in Michigan today won the right to put a more ambitious renewable energy standard before the voters in November, a plan they hope will bring jobs as well as green energy to the state.

The proposal by Michigan Energy, Michigan Jobs would increase the state’s standard to 25 percent by 2025. If enacted, the new standard or RES, would require power providers to obtain 25 percent of their energy from renewable sources like wind, solar and geothermal power.

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January 5th, 2011

This week brought news that Texas will likely be opening its nuclear waste dump in Andrews, near the New Mexico border, to radioactive waste from states across the nation.

Meanwhile, China announced that it has developed new technology to reprocess used fuel from nuclear power plants, potentially greatly extending the amount of power that existing nuclear plants can generate, according to an AP news report. The story noted that the U.S. stopped reprocessing nuclear fuel in the 1970s because of fears that freed plutonium would add to nuclear weapons proliferation. (That was a legitimate concern, but no end run around the problem was ever developed in the interest of keeping our nuclear power processes up to date.)

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September 22nd, 2010

Senate energy committee chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico) yesterday introduced bipartisan legislation to create the first-ever national renewable electricity standard (RES). Under the proposal, electric utilities would be required to produce at least 11 percent of their power from wind, solar, biomass and other renewable sources of energy; the remaining 4 percent could be achieved through energy efficiency improvements.

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September 22nd, 2010

Senate energy committee chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico) yesterday introduced bipartisan legislation to create the first-ever national renewable electricity standard (RES). Under the proposal, electric utilities would be required to produce at least 11 percent of their power from wind, solar, biomass and other renewable sources of energy; the remaining 4 percent could be achieved through energy efficiency improvements.

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September 14th, 2010

The Governors Wind Energy Coalition is appealing to Congress to pass a strong Renewable Electricity Standard or RES to “ensure the rapid growth of the nation’s wind and other renewable electricity sources. The coalition, representing 26 Democratic and Republican governors, sees a strong RES as a key way to create jobs and build energy security while also reducing the carbon emissions causing climate change.

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September 10th, 2010

When the boys and girls of Spirit Lake, Iowa, load their backpacks for classes this fall, each child in grades 5 to 12 will be packing a lap top computer provided by the school district.
This bit of good fortune was funded by a special initiative. But it is not the first time Spirit Lake has stepped up to embrace new technology. In 1993 – when “renewable energy” was not widely discussed — it became the first school district in the nation to install a wind turbine, a move that has saved the district some $200,000 in energy costs.
When that pokey Wind World 250 KW turbine, financed by the state and a federal grant, was paid off, Spirit Lake put up another turbine, this one a hefty 750 KW NEGMicon, in 2001.

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August 31st, 2010

Senate leader Harry Reid said today that he would continue to push for a clean energy bill after Congress is back in session, but the shape of such a bill could not be prefigured because Democrats and Republicans would have to reconsider the issues.

“I don’t think we can define where we’re going to wind up because it’s a work in progress,” Reid said at a news conference on Tuesday.
A new Senate energy bill would not, however, contain a cap-and-trade provision, Reid said.

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August 23rd, 2010

ASPEN — For four solid days this past week, the historic Hotel Jerome was packed with academics, Forbes list members, Silicon Valley luminaries, government energy leaders and Hollywood activists attending the 7th annual AREDAY conference which brings business, thought leaders and financiers together to wrestle with how the United States can shift to a renewable energy economy.

This brainy jam session at 8,200 feet above sea level takes place far from Washington, and this year, it seemed farther than ever, kicking off just after Congress had split for the summer holiday, with Senate leader Harry Reid announcing that even his scaled down energy bill would not be taken up until after the holiday. This followed the July anti-climatic squelching of the real deal, the once-ambitious Kerry-Lieberman climate/energy bill. So no climate bill, not even a skinny energy bill, and none expected. See ya in September. No, wait, after the election.

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June 15th, 2010

Well, blow us over, it’s Global Wind Day, a time to celebrate a part of nature that humans have yet to destroy and also the energy potential that rides on the breeze.

This second annual event, begun by the European Wind Energy Association, is being noted in Europe, Asia, Australia and North and South America, where dozens of activities, from workshops to commemorations, are planned.

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April 16th, 2010

From Green Right Now Reports

Solar and wind dominate the clean energy headlines, but the nascent geothermal industry also continues to grow. The U.S. geothermal power sector reported a 26 percent growth in new projects in 2009.

In its April 2010 report, the US Geothermal Power Production and Development Update listed 188 projects underway in 15 states.

The Leathers Geothermal Plant in Calipatria, Calif. (Photo: DOE)

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March 16th, 2010

From Green Right Now Reports

Image: Governors' Wind Energy Coalition

While there is no shortage of hot air swirling around various plans to harness wind energy to power our homes and businesses, a group of United States governors has hammered out a plan and is ready to take it all the way to the top.

On Tuesday, Iowa Governor Chet Culver and Rhode Island Governor Donald L. Carcieri released Great Expectations: U.S. Wind Energy Development, the Governors’ Wind Energy Coalition’s 2010 Recommendations. Culver and Carcieri are the chair and vice chair of the 29-state organization, which is attempting to shape a national policy to make wind power both viable and cost-effective.

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May 15th, 2009

By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

Comments are flying faster than bats heading for a wind turbine in D.C. as all the “stakeholders” queue up to make their case for or against the Waxman-Markey climate legislation being marked up next week.

First, our favorite — and this is a real giggle — from U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, the fast-fossilizing Republican from south of Dallas. He’s suggested that Congress not “cap” industrial emissions per se and that it “exclude carbon dioxide from a list of federal pollutants,” according to a McClatchy-Tribune news service report.

Right. Great answer to carbon pollution.

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