Tag archives for Renewable Energy
Posted by A debate is in full-swing in northwest Washington state about the energy, economic, and environmental future of the region, where coal export terminals have been proposed to send U.S., and potentially Canadian coal to Asia. A plan to build a sprawling $665 million coal terminal northwest of Bellingham, Washington has been the focal point of…
Posted by History suggests he’s wrong.
A lack of wind won’t stall our future renewable energy economy, but Congress might. Debunking the Myths That Take the Wind out of Wind Energy’s Sails Wind has its downsides. It’s intermittent; it’s too expensive. Fair points, but there are ways around them. For example the whole intermittency issue could be handled now by using…
How do Obama’s words on energy compare to Team Romney’s? Last week, while the Republicans were celebrating the Romney-Ryan ticket in Tampa, Florida, we posted a count-the-words analysis of their energy plan. The plan’s overall aim is to achieve energy independence for North America. The numbers told us the path to independence for the Romney…
Oil, gas, coal, nuclear, wind, solar, efficiency. Which are the Republican hopefuls’ priorities? This week, it’s convention time for the Republican presidential and vice presidential nominees. Last week, the Romney-Ryan team rolled out its energy policy [pdf] for the nation. Entitled “The Romney Plan For A Stronger Middle Class: ENERGY INDEPENDENCE,” the new plan, running…
Posted by It’s a sad fact of modern politics that what politicians don’t say is as significant as what they do. That certainly seems to be true on energy and climate change in the 2012 campaign, where both sides seem to be ducking the issues as best they can. Unfortunately, that’s not much help to the voters.…
Posted by Delegates gathered this week in Rio de Janeiro at the 20th anniversary of the historic Earth Summit affirmed that climate change “requires urgent and ambitious action,” in an agreement that commits them to no new steps toward meeting that goal. But while nations are as far as ever from putting a global price on carbon…
Alexandra van Huffelen, vice mayor for sustainability for the city of Rotterdam, discusses why her city is an appropriate host for the Powering Progress business forum on the linked stresses that the world faces in meeting its water, food, and energy needs.
Keystone Pipeline Debate Reopens with Submission of New Application
Posted by Tim Profeta of Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, Duke University on May 10, 2012 The U.S. Department of State has received a new application from TransCanada—the company behind the controversial Keystone XL project—to ship crude oil via a proposed pipeline running from the Canadian border to existing infrastructure in Nebraska. TransCanada had its initial application rejected by the Obama administration in January. The reapplication to the U.S. State Department…
Posted by The leadership of the solar industry let out a collective gasp of relief Tuesday. While it seems that tariffs will be imposed on China’s exports of photovoltaic cells, at least for now they are relatively minimal. Yet it’s still a fragile time for the industry and anything that raises cost within the supply chain or to the…
Ireland Works For Cleaner, More Efficient Energy; A St. Patrick’s Day Recipe for a Greener Future
Posted by Amy Sinatra Ayres on March 14, 2012 
Ireland has always been known for its lush green landscape. But turning its energy a matching shade has been a longer road. The country long relied heavily on peat, its only domestically produced source of “fossil” fuel. Peat is a partially decayed plant matter that grows in bogs on that familiar countryside, and it takes…
Over the past decade, plans for 160 new coal fired power plants in the United States have been scrapped, largely due to rising costs and an inability to compete in today’s energy markets. That’s because the cost of once-“expensive” clean energy has fallen dramatically, while “cheap” fossil fuels are increasingly expensive in economic, health, and…
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The recent plummet of the natural gas spot price to a 28-month low has stirred discussion about implications for renewable energy—the majority electrical generating component in RMI’s vision of the 2050 U.S. energy economy. Since mid-2009, it has been increasingly clear that the amount of natural gas supplied via hydraulic fracturing (popularly known as “fracking”) will create…
It could easily have been one of the most fossil fuel-intensive Super Bowls ever. Not only did the New York Giants and the New England Patriots face off in Lucas Oil Stadium, named for a petroleum motor lubricant company, but the facility’s bright stadium lights, signature retractable roof and giant screens all draw energy from…
As Eurozone Crisis Deepens, Fight to Save Emissions Trading Scheme Begins
Posted by Mason Inman on December 22, 2011 Prices in Europe’s carbon emissions trading scheme have collapsed this year, in part because there were too many allowances in the system starting off, threatening the future of the whole market. “Without intervention … Europe’s climate policy is over,” one analyst said. Some of Europe’s biggest energy and manufacturing firms also wrote a letter to…
The Solyndra uproar and the recent International Trade Commission decision to investigate Chinese solar panel manufacturers threaten to distract us from what we need most: a proactive, long-term clean and sustainable energy strategy. If you look beyond the partisan politics that have recently engulfed the solar industry, two irrefutable facts stand out. First, the solar…
A sign on Paquet Hall boasts that it is “the first and still the finest berthing” at Pearl Harbor. The three-story Bachelor Enlisted Quarters, built in a U-shape to enclose a palm-lined courtyard, survived the December 7 surprise attack 70 years ago to become a cherished part of the base’s history. This year, the 1927…
Pleas, Hard Lines, and Accusations of Bad Faith Negotiations at Climate Talks
Posted by Mason Inman on December 1, 2011 In Durban, South Africa, the latest round of United Nations climate negotiations opened with a plea from South Africa’s president, Jacob Zuma, for countries to look beyond national interests. So far, however, the talks have been marked by many of the same divisions that plagued earlier meets. A coalition of environmental groups—including the Natural Resources…
First Commercial U.S. Biofuel Flight Takes Off
Posted by Amy Sinatra Ayres on November 7, 2011 Biofuel saw another first on Monday as United Airlines made the first passenger jet flight in the United States using a blend of petroleum and fuel made from algal oil. But how does the airline industry feel about getting a government push to go green? Amid plenty of celebration over biofuel demonstrations – which have…
California Adopts Cap-and-Trade System, Serves as Greenhouse Guinea Pig
Posted by Mason Inman on October 27, 2011 After a unanimous vote by the California Air Resources Board, the state adopted the most comprehensive cap-and-trade system in the country, a key part of a 2006 global warming law that had yet to be implemented. The system will cover 85 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the state, and allows businesses to counterbalance up…
What can be done to diversify our clean energy technology options? In recent years we have seen a number of seemingly “old” technologies undergo a reassessment, and a reinvention. Geothermal power, once assessed as “an excellent source of baseload energy, but likely limited in commercially exploitable capacity” has undergone a renaissance. Here’s the new view…
Energy Corridors and the Turkish Zeybek Dance
Posted by Serkan Oral on October 24, 2011 
In the past, people appreciated the importance of the sun only when they were drying tomatoes and eggplants. Vegetables were hung on strings and left to dry under the sun. The sun in Turkey’s Anatolia region is bringing welfare and prosperity to its people more than ever these days. Solar energy will be the most…
Big Businesses’ Call for Climate Action: Strong Treaty, More Aid
Posted by Mason Inman on October 20, 2011 A group of 285 large investors, representing more than $20 trillion in assets, urged world governments to forge a binding treaty at upcoming climate negotiations in Durban, South Africa, and said global spending has not been nearly enough to keep warming below 2 degrees Celsius. The call came from a coalition of four green investment…
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Rumors are swirling about the next shoe to drop in the campaign against renewable energy. A handful of struggling solar manufacturers are expected to announce they are joining a petition to the International Trade Commission and the US Department of Commerce (DOC). The petition is expected to allege China unfairly subsidizes solar manufacturers and is…
Posted by Brazil has suddenly realized the attractiveness of its immense wind power potential. Once deemed too expensive and small-scale, unable to meet the country’s power needs, it is now braced to grow sevenfold to 2014. Brazil has today a dismal 1 gigawatt of wind power installed capacity. But the government’s regulatory agency has already approved an…
