Tag archives for renewables
Renewable Energy Not Growing as Fast as Necessary, Reports Say
Posted by Dan Stone of National Geographic Magazine on April 17, 2013 On the road to more sustainable, clean energy, the ride has been bumpy. That’s the message to two reports this week—one from the International Energy Agency and one from the Pew Environment Group—that measured progress on transitioning from fossil fuels to clean energy. Renewable energy has stalled, both analyses point out, for a few different…
Focusing on Facts: Can We Get All of Our Energy From Renewables?
Posted by David Bergman on February 21, 2013 
In my recent post, “The Limited Vision of the Pro-Nuclear Energy Argument,” one of the commenters wrote: “it is a fact that only carbon-based energy and nuclear have a high enough energy density to meet our world’s demands. None of the renewables come close.” I responded, “It is far from ‘fact’ that only carbon-based…
Posted by Italy’s attempt to drive growth in its renewables sector has given rise to a new line of business for the Mafia, and the government is trying to crack down, according to a fascinating report in The Washington Post. Italy, along with many other countries in Europe, has been ramping up the development of renewable energy…
Posted by History suggests he’s wrong.
Wind Industry Fights to Save Tax Credit Before Its Expiration Date
Posted by Amy Sinatra Ayres on November 13, 2012 Advocates scrambling to extend subsidies for renewable energy have wind back in their sails after the re-election of President Barack Obama and Congress’ return to Washington. The renewable energy production tax credit (PTC) gives wind power producers an income tax credit of 2.2 cents for every kilowatt-hour. Without it, wind energy can be too expensive…
Iceland’s Renewable Energy Drive is Full-Steam Ahead
Posted by Paul Gipe on November 8, 2012 Iceland is famous for its breathtaking scenery, its geysers, its Blue Lagoon—and for using its abundant renewable energy, and especially for tapping the volcanic roots of the island in developing its geothermal resources. Iceland today generates 100 percent of its electricity with renewables: 75 percent of that from large hydro, and 25 percent from geothermal.…
Solar Gets Its Due From Energy Number Crunchers
Posted by EarthTechling on November 6, 2012 Solar is getting its due from the Energy Information Administration, which is now reporting customer-sited photovoltaic capacity, in addition to the utility-scale PV total. Earlier this year we reported on research by Michael Mendelsohn, a market and policy impact analyst at the National Renewable Energy Lab in Colorado, that revealed that EIA reports on the state of U.S.…
IKEA Vows All Solar and Wind Power by 2020
Posted by EarthTechling on October 24, 2012 Putting more in than it takes out – across the board, that’s a key aspect of the bold sustainability plan the furniture giant IKEA says it will pursue over the next several years. The company on Tuesday vowed that by 2020 it will produce more renewable energy than it consumes in its stores and buildings. But what…
Wooden Wind Tower Claims Green Edge
Posted by EarthTechling on October 24, 2012 The tens of thousands of massive towers around the world that hold megawatt-plus turbines hundreds of feet high, where the wind blows unimpede,d are fashioned of multiple steel plates rolled into a cylinder or conical shape, welded into sections of tower, and then bolted together onsite. Except for one. In Germany, the company TimberTower announced it had…
On the Island of Bonaire, Views of a Potentially Rich Renewable Energy Resource
Posted by Joshua Howard on October 1, 2012 The Caribbean island of Bonaire has been on a pretty interesting path energy-wise since 2004, when the island’s sole power plant burned to the ground. Given an opportunity to rebuild literally from the ground up, the government decided to create a plan that would lead them to 100 percent sustainable energy generation by the end…
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 I’ve begun thinking that one of the defining questions for clean energy is, “What’s the plan?” Not a company plan, but a country plan — one that realistically maps us to an economy that gets the vast majority of its energy from wind, solar, geothermal, and that has us drastically minimizing waste. Amory Lovins has taken a…
After Record Growth, Renewable Energy to Face “Very Difficult” Year
Posted by Mason Inman on June 11, 2012 Despite sluggish growth in most developed countries and the on-going debt crisis in Europe, renewable energy investment showed solid growth of 17 percent in 2011 over the year before, says a new status report on renewable energy. In 2011, renewable energy investment hit a new record of $257 billion, according to “Global Trends in Renewable…
Nicaragua Looks to Geothermal for Energy Independence
Posted by Natalia A. Bonilla on June 7, 2012 Stretching across Nicaragua’s west coast, the Maribios volcanic chain may harbor a solution to the country’s energy crisis. The power embedded in those volcanoes is being harvested through geothermal projects, which could help Nicaragua wean itself from its dependence on imported fossil fuels and meet more of its energy demand. A report released by the…
Posted by U.S. Navy veteran Elmer Rankin, 71, has a failing heart, prostate cancer and arthritis that keeps him in a wheelchair. Last year, Rankin, who survives on his Social Security checks, could no longer afford the mounting costs to heat his home and power the oxygen tank he uses every night. He turned down the heat…
Calling on Humanities Thinkers to Change the Energy Discussion
Posted by Chad Lipton on May 17, 2012 “This is not an engineering discussion. It is a humanities one,” Bruce Oreck, U.S. Ambassador to Finland, told an auditorium full of engineers this week at the World Renewable Energy Forum in Denver. Paraphrasing great thinkers such as Aristotle, Einstein, and Newton, Oreck said, “Words don’t just describe what we think. They shape what we…
U.S. Wind Energy Industry Confronts Squalls
Posted by Amy Sinatra Ayres on April 12, 2012 Wind energy in the United States faces strong cross-currents—some blowing in from overseas, and others being stirred up right at home. The nation that comfortably led the world in wind power (in both installed capacity and growth) as recently as three years ago saw a 17 percent increase in wind capacity to nearly 47,000 megawatts…
Chilean Court Stops Wind Farm Plans
Posted by Jimmy Langman on March 28, 2012 Plans for a controversial wind farm on Chiloé Island in southern Chile ran aground last Friday when Chile’s Supreme Court halted the project. Many scientists and environmental groups had expressed concern that the Chilean-Swedish-owned Ecopower’s plan to construct 56 wind turbines on Mar Brava beach at Chiloé could threaten one of the most important habitats in the…
A look at things a year after one of the world’s worst nuclear accidents. On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake erupted some 50 miles off Japan’s Tohoku coast. The ensuing tsunamis set off by the quake devastated communities up and down the Japanese coast, killing some 20,000 people. The one-two natural-disaster punch also…
Posted by Sometimes the decisions we make are less decisive than they seem. Last week, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued its first license for a new plant in forty years. But that decision, significant though it is, doesn’t do anything to settle the major questions we face on energy. Here’s three points to consider when you think…
Steady as we go with energy but definitely not on our climate target. Presidential Disconnect? A little more than two years ago in Copenhagen President Obama committed the United States (in a non-binding pledge) to work with the international community to prevent global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.5 degrees Fahrenheit) above…
Posted by 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…
Solar Power Puts a Little Green in Kleenex
Posted by EarthTechling on December 27, 2011 If you look closely, that box of Kleenex just got a slight touch of green. Prologis and Southern California Edison recently partnered with Kimberly-Clark, owner of global brands including Kleenex, Scott and Huggies, to install one of the country’s largest single rooftop solar arrays on Kimberly-Clark’s distribution center in Redlands, Calif. The 350,000-square-foot installation expanded…
Nuclear Generation Capacity Drops in 2011
Posted by Mason Inman on December 7, 2011 
After reaching an all-time high in 2010, this year the nuclear power capacity—the amount of electricity that all the world’s nuclear power plants can produce—took a dip. (Related: World Electricity Mix Interactive) The earthquake-tsunami disaster at the Fukushima power plants in Japan, which are still being cleaned up, led many to sour on nuclear energy.…
