Congress ended a year of wind industry angst this week by renewing for another year the production tax credit program that has helped sustain the growth of wind energy in the U.S..
Tags: · AWEA, Congress, PTC, U.S., Wind energy, Wind Farms, wind manufacturing
A bipartisan coalition of governors has written to Congress to plead for the extension of the Production Tax Credit that has helped fuel the development of wind energy in the U.S..
The PTC, set to expire at the end of December, provides wind developers with a tax break that makes the business more profitable. Proponents say it’s needed to level the playing field for new energy, which must compete against subsidized fossil fuel industries like coal and natural gas.
Tags: · AWEA, clean energy, Congress, Governors, jobs, manufacturing, Renewable Energy, Wind energy, wind layoffs
In an ominous sign that the world economy is dragging on the wind industry, Denmark-based Vestas Wind announced today that it will lay off more than 2,300 employees as part of a reorganization to keep the company competitive.
The lay off of employees — 1,749 in Europe, 182 in the US and 404 in China and elsewhere — will help the company streamline and reduce its fixed costs by more than 150 million Euro, according to a statement.
Tags: · Congress, production tax credit, PTC, US support for wind, Vestas Wind, wind jobs, wind layoffs, Wind Power
Governors representing a majority of the U.S. population have asked Congress to extend tax credits for renewable energy to help keep wind power moving forward in America, and to retain green jobs in the wind sector
Tags: · Congress, governors appeal, Governors' Wind Energy Coalition, tax credits for wind, Wind energy, Wind Power
Rhone Resch, the CEO of the Solar Energy Industry Association is once again explaining the need for certain government subsidies to sustain the growing solar industry, in this case a Treasury grant known as the 1603 program.
Resch calls the program “the single most effective policy driving renewable energy growth during the past two years,” which saw a doubling of solar industry jobs.
Tags: · 1603 program, BarbaraKesslerBlog, Congress, greenrightnow.com, Rhone Resch, SEIA, solar industry employment, Solar Power, Treasury's solar program
Lawrence Bender, Film Producer
Wednesday night, I was honored at the National Wildlife Federation’s Voices for Wildlife gala.
I salute the National Wildlife Federation for its 75 years of tireless effort to help save our wildlife, their habitat, and to fight global warming. They worked with Vice President Gore’s Climate Project, an effort to train thousands to share his message with the public. Since 2006, fellow activists have delivered more than 70,000 presentations reaching a global audience of more than 7.3 million people. The message was clear: the urgency and solvability of climate change is real.
Tags: · Climate Change, Congress, droughts, extreme weather events, Flooding, greenrightnow.com, heat waves, inaction, Inconvenient Truth, OtherVoicesBlog
Congress removed the Rocky Mountain gray wolves from federal protection under the Endangered Species Act yesterday, passing a rider in the budget bill that takes the wolves in Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and Utah off the ESA list.
Environmentalists have been railing against this possibility for days, both on the grounds that the wolves need continued federal protection and that Congress has no right to make changes to the Endangered Species Act without input from scientists.
Tags: · Congress, Endangered Species Act, gray wolves, greenrightnow.com, Rocky Mountain wolves
A waste of water, energy and taxpayer dollars.
That’s how a corporate watchdog group described Congress’ bottled water habit in a report released this week showing that the House of Representatives spent nearly a million dollars on bottled water last year.
It its report, Tapping Congress to Get Off The Bottle, Corporate Accountability International, suggests that this money could be saved if lawmakers made onetime investments in water fountains and water filters instead of buying bottled water year after year.
And once members and staff were back drinking economical tap water, they might pay closer attention to the needs of public water systems across the nation which face “a record investment gap of $22-23 billion per year,” according to the CAI, a non-profit watchdog group based in Boston.
Tags: · Bottled Water, bottled water costs, CAI, Congress, Congressional expenditures, greenrightnow.com, plastic waste, Tapping Congress to Get Off the Bottle
Frugal meet frivolous. But the players are not who you think. Those Washington lawmakers wielding the budget ax have revealed a frivolous underbelly.
And it’s caught the eye of a frugal watchdog group, whose supporters are pushing back at members of the House of Representatives for wasting money on bottled water.
As non-green habits go, bottled water has become a difficult one to defend. Once we Americans thought we needed this purportedly healthier water. Then we found out that most of the water being sold back to us often came from the public tap. It was a marketing, not a health, success. And the whole process was a big energy drain. Bottled water takes an environmental toll at every juncture — when the bottle is made, filled, shipped and then discarded to the landfill. And of all the many green changes we can make, this one is as easy as rediscovering your home’s tap water.
Tags: · BarbaraKesslerBlog, Bottled Water, bottled water costs, bottled water waste, budget cutting, Congress, Corporate Accountability International, greenrightnow.com, House of Representatives, plastic trash, Tap Water
Sadly, as the threat of climate change worsens, U.S. lawmakers move further away from practical solutions.
Last week, NASA reported that 2010 was the second hottest year on record, capping the warmest decade in modern times. Climate change continues, despite our currently frozen fingers as we clear the windshield of ice and snow (these big snowstorms in fact could be part of the pattern of climate change’s more erratic and severe storm systems).
This news of temperatures continue their upward march is no surprise to climate scientists who’ve measured the atmospheric carbon dioxide that’s a key creator of the greenhouse effect here on Earth. Atmospheric CO2 once measured around 250 parts per million before the industrial revolution. Now, after 160 years of burning fossil fuels on an industrial scale, we’re at 390 ppm, well above the comfort zone of 350 ppm and on our way to levels that could be terribly unhealthy for humans. Scientists have set an upper limit of 450 ppm of CO2, above which is a vast unknown and before which, are a series of tipping points that could render the whole discussion moot.
Tags: · BarbaraKesslerBlog, Carbon Emissions, Climate Change, Congress, fast action, Greenhouse Gases
The Center for American Progress Action Fund published an article this week highlighting the millions that energy and utility companies have spent lobbying Congress.
The article contends that this downpour of money into Washington — half of a billion dollars since 2008 — has been the key factor in stalling climate action by Congress.
The chart above shows that the top fossil fuel industries and electric power companies have spent heavily in Washington. What their lobbyists have been saying is not revealed in the dollar amounts, but CAPAF report outlines how most of these companies are on the record as opposing climate legislation, fees for carbon pollution and EPA regulation of greenhouse gases.
Tags: · cap-and-trade, Carbon Emissions, carbon pricing, climate action, climate action opponents, Congress, electric companies, lobbyists, oil and gas industry, politics, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Washington D.C.
America’s public health leaders have raised their voices against Congressional waffling over climate action, releasing a letter today signed by 120 top public health groups that urges Congress not to interfere with the EPA’s plans to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
The EPA’s mandate to regulate carbon emissions has been a lightning rod in Washington, with some in Congress saying the agency does not have the authority to set carbon guidelines and penalize violators. States, such as Texas, have sued over the issue, also trying to stop the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases.
Tags: · American Public Health Association, Carbon Emissions, carbon regulation, climate action, Congress, Environmental Protection Agency, Greenhouse Gases, Public Health
Barbara Kessler
Andrew Winston
Danielle Nierenberg
Anthony Swift