Search Greenrightnow
Environmental Headlines
Home
Tagged : department-of-energy
The Next Decade: Renewable Energy
By Shermakaye Bass
Green Right Now
The clock has just struck midnight on New Year’s Eve, 2020, and your rooftop cocktail party is in full swing. An urban garden, with potted evergreens and fruit trees, carpets the top of your downtown apartment building. The structure itself is vintage – a 1960’s brownstone that’s been retrofitted, by city-wide mandate. It operates on the new multi-source national electrical grid, which is supplied by wind, solar, geothermal power, as well as fossil fuels whose emissions are trapped underground.
[caption id="attachment_7825" align="alignright" width="224" caption="Rooftop Garden (Photo: Adpower99/Dreamstime.)"]  [/caption]
[Read more →]
Tags: · 2010, 2020, Al Gore, Alan Nogee, American Wind Energy Association, clean energy future, Department of Energy, Elliot Nagin, Evaluating the Feasibility of a Large Scale Wind, future energy sources, Geothermal Energy Association, Geothermal Energy Expo, geothermal power, Mark Z. Jaconson, reducing carbon emissions, Renewable Energy, Solar Energy Industries Association, Solar Power, Sopogy, Union of Concerned Scientists, Water and Sun Energy Infrastructure, Wind Power
Cash rebates for appliances to begin around the country
By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
Got a refrigerator that’s not so chillin’ anymore? A washer that’s approaching its last spin? When that appliance goes kaput, or maybe beforehand, you’ll want to check out your state’s federally funded appliance rebate program.
[caption id="attachment_7818" align="alignright" width="113" caption="Energy Star Front Load Washer by Whirlpool"]  [/caption]
That’s right, you may be able to get a federal kickback, courtesy of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, just for replacing that old appliance with a new Energy Star one. But you’ll have to check your state’s guidelines.
Under the $300 million U.S. Department of Energy appliance rebate program, each state was
[Read more →]
Tags: · air conditioner, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, appliance rebates, clothes washer, Department of Energy, heat pump, hot water heater, refrigerator
DOE funding solar projects in 16 cities
From Green Right Now Reports
The Department of Energy announced $10 million has been awarded to 16 cities for 40 new Solar America Cities Special Projects. The funds, made through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will enable the cities to increase solar energy use in their communities through innovative programs and policies that the government believes can be replicated across the nation.
The cities chosen for these awards came from the group of 25 large U.S. cities that are part of the DOE’s Solar America Cities program, which recognizes the participating cities as partners highly committed to solar technology adoption at the local level. Those cities already have been given millions of dollars in funds and technical assistance to accelerate solar adoption.
[Read more →]
Tags: · Austin, Berkeley, Boston, Department of Energy, Madison, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York City, Portland, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Rosa, Seattle, Solar America Cities Special Projects, Tucson
U.S. to fund geothermal and solar power projects
From Green Right Now Reports:
Geothermal and solar energy projects will be getting a financial boost from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.
President Obama announced that more than $467 million will be devoted to speeding the development of these technologies, which will support green jobs and provide low-carbon energy for decades.
“We have a choice. We can remain the world’s leading importer of oil, or we can become the world’s leading exporter of clean energy,” said President Obama in an Energy Department news release. “We can hand over the jobs of the future to our competitors, or we can confront what they have already recognized as the great opportunity of our time: the nation that leads the world in creating new sources of clean energy will be the nation that leads the 21st century global economy. That’s the nation I want America to be.”
[Read more →]
Tags: · clean energy, Climate Change, Department of Energy, energy security, Geothermal, low-carbon energy, Solar
Find your car’s emissions and greenhouse gas ratings
From Green Right Now Reports
How do cars pollute? In two main ways, through inefficient mileage (guzzling a gallon of gas every eight or 10 or 14 miles) and through tailpipe emissions.
There’s the pollution associated with manufacturing, also, but to keep it simple let’s stick with emissions and mileage. Obviously, both affect the air. Think of mileage as a measure of your car’s pollution volume over time – if a gallon of gas doesn’t take you very far, you have to burn a lot more gas — and emissions as the chemistry of that pollution; if the mix is particularly noxious, your car will be a bigger offender than one with better tailpipe controls.
So if you want to buy the cleanest car you can — in the price range you need — you’ll look at both factors. Fortunately, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has already done this work, assigning a “greenhouse gas” score to most models. Find it at the EPA’s Green Vehicles website.
[Read more →]
Tags: · Air Pollution, Cars, Department of Energy, Emissions, Environmental Protection Agency, Fuel Efficiency, greenhouse gas rating, Greenhouse Gases, taipipe exhaust, Trucks
Obama tells DOE to set efficiency standards
By John DeFore
Green Right Now
Last week the Obama administration took one of the steps environmentalists have been hoping would follow closely after Inauguration day: More or less, he told the nation’s bureaucracy to start following the law when it comes to energy efficiency.
[Read more →]
Tags: · Appliance Standards Awareness Project, appliances, Department of Energy, Energy Policy and Conservation Act
Let your local utility help you power down on energy costs
By Harriet Blake
Northerners dread opening up those utility bills this time of year. On the flip side, Southerners hate seeing theirs in summer. The local utility company is their arch nemesis. …Or is it?
 More and more utility companies are working to help customers save money when it comes to energy — even though it’s counter-intuitive because when customers trim their energy bills, utility companies collect less money.
Setting up a less profit-bound system involves a concept called “decoupling,” in which states step in to help the power companies become agents for change. Typically, the state offers incentives to companies to help customers become more energy efficient. When electricity demand falls, the state might replace profits or extend other financial assistance to the power company, thereby “decoupling” the profits from usage.
[Read more →]
Tags: · California Energy Commission, Con-Edison, Department of Energy, Energy Conservation, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Energy Star appliances, Florida Power Light, FPL, Pacific Gas & Electric, TXU Energy
|
