Alternative Clean Energy Roundup: 25 November 2014

Congress must not let wind energy jobs blow away

November 20, 2014 - The winds that froze Americans a week after the midterm elections could help solve the problems voters told pollsters most concerned them – jobs and the economy.

Those winds that whipped snow across the country’s midsection could be harnessed to create clean electrical power and family-supporting jobs across the country.

Wind energy provides a powerful success story. In 2012, wind was our nation’s fastest-growing source of new electrical capacity. Wind power is a clean, renewable energy source that produces no greenhouse gases or air pollution and consumes virtually no water. As its share of our nation’s energy mix increases, we’re also protecting our planet. read more>>>

10 Ways to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint This Thanksgiving

11/20/2014 - Thanksgiving is a favorite holiday for many. It's a time to eat, indulge and spend uninterrupted time with family.

It's also a time for reflection. A time to think about what we're thankful for and a time to think about how the choices we make impact our families and the planet.

Although every day provides an opportunity for reflection and change, Thanksgiving stands out as the perfect day to kick off a few new habits that will effect the longevity of our planet. If each of us revamped our consumption and waste habits by slightly adjusting what's already in place, the overall impact could be huge.

Here are a few tips for the Thanksgiving holiday that will reduce our carbon footprint and help keep the planet healthy for generations to come. read more>>>

Obama's Climate Deal in Beijing Makes a Global Agreement in Paris Likelier

November 20, 2014 - When Presidents Barack Obama and Xi Jinping announced a pact on Nov. 11 to control their nations’ pollution, they answered long-standing calls from other countries for leadership in global warming diplomacy. Obama pledged that the U.S. will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to at least 26 percent below its 2005 levels by 2025. China said it expects its emissions to peak by 2030, and it will increase the share of power produced from noncarbon sources such as nuclear and solar to 20 percent. Critics were quick to call their actions insufficient or superficial, but the move signaled each nation’s commitment to steps they’ve already taken on their own—and trust that each will continue to make progress.

Both leaders had more than their own emissions in mind. read more>>>

The Ohio green-energy jobs report that, shamefully, stayed buried until now: editorial

November 20, 2014 - If you believe coincidence explains how the Statehouse works, there's no mystery about the bureaucratic stall given to a $435,000 report on green energy jobs in Ohio. But you also have no sense of smell.

The Columbus Dispatch revealed Sunday that a report commissioned in 2012 by the state's Development Services Agency, finished early in 2013, found Ohio had more than 31,000 "alternative energy economy jobs." That's 25 percent more than the 25,000 jobs that clean-energy proponents cited last spring in a losing fight to keep clean-energy standards on schedule. read more>>>

Wind energy provides more than 2/3 of US capacity in October

November 24, 2014 - According to the latest "Energy Infrastructure Update" report from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) Office of Energy Projects, wind power provided over two-thirds (68.41%) of new U.S. electrical generating capacity in October 2014. Specifically, five wind farms in Colorado, Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska, and Texas came on line last month, accounting for 574MW of new capacity.

In addition, seven "units" of biomass (102MW) and five units of solar (31MW) came into service accounting for 12.16% and 3.69% of new capacity respectively. The balance came from three units of natural gas (132MW - 15.73%). read more>>>

Podesta: Next president could make or break US climate plans

21 November 2014 - The next US president needs to be an Obama-style climate hawk for the country to have any hope of controlling its carbon emissions.

That’s the warning of John Podesta, one of Obama’s senior advisors and likely manager of Hilary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Podesta, who is widely believed to be the brains behind White House plans to cap greenhouse gas emissions of power plants, made the warning in an interview on Bloomberg TV. read more>>>

Report: Wind power saves $1.2 billion each year

November 22, 2014 - A trade association says that wind power saved electricity customers in Oklahoma and surrounding states more than $1.2 billion last year.

The American Wind Energy Association analyzed hourly data from the Southwest Power Pool in 2013 and calculated when wind turbines were used to generate electricity, The Oklahoman reported. The pool operates the electric grid and plans transmission for 6.2 million households in parts of nine states.

Since wind is free after the turbines are installed, most of the consumer savings came from avoided fuel costs at coal or natural gas plants. But the association says wind power also saved water and reduced emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. read more>>>

Solar and Wind Energy Start to Win on Price vs. Conventional Fuels

NOV. 23, 2014 - For the solar and wind industries in the United States, it has been a long-held dream: to produce energy at a cost equal to conventional sources like coal and natural gas.

That day appears to be dawning.

The cost of providing electricity from wind and solar power plants has plummeted over the last five years, so much so that in some markets renewable generation is now cheaper than coal or natural gas.

Utility executives say the trend has accelerated this year, with several companies signing contracts, known as power purchase agreements, for solar or wind at prices below that of natural gas, especially in the Great Plains and Southwest, where wind and sunlight are abundant. read more>>>

Smart grid technology business booming

November 19, 2014 - The smart grid is becoming big business, driven by the need for a more responsive, automated global power grid. With the past two years seeing rapid technological advancements and shifting priorities among industry players, as well as a clearer picture of the quantifiable benefits of smart grid technology like improved grid reliability and economics, business is booming.

In fact, Navigant Research predicts that worldwide revenue from smart grid technologies is expected to grow from $44.1 billion in 2014 to $70.2 billion in 2023. read more>>>

Energy storage clusters driving CA clean tech sector

November 19, 2014 - Northern California is leveraging its forward-looking policies and innovative clean tech entrepreneurs to drive clean tech innovation and build the state's clean economy, with certain regions carving out specialized niches in the global clean tech sector, according to research from nonpartisan nonprofit Next 10.

For example, the San Francisco Bay region's culture of innovation and entrepreneurship is sparking a revolution in clean transportation and energy storage, with the area leading the nation in electric vehicles and cutting-edge energy storage technologies, according to the group. read more>>>

Renewable Energy Helps Older Adults Live a Better Life

12 November 2014 - I used to think about aging as something that happened to other people, but it would never happen to me, at least not for a long time. But time passes so quickly when you are raising a family and establishing a career, and now I suddenly find myself in my 60s and eligible for social security payments. Where did the time go?

As a bona fide older adult, I have taken a new interest in the challenges facing retired people and whether renewable energy can help us live a better life. One difficulty facing older adults is the high cost of maintaining a household, including utility bills. This is a particular problem in the U.S., where nearly 10 percent of adults age 65 and older live below the poverty level, and many others have incomes not much higher. read more>>>

Smoke and Mirrors

September 2014 - We've all passed them on the highway: towering oil refineries, their smokestacks billowing gray smoke, looking both majestic and ominous against the sky. With his recent series Land Scape, artist and commercial photographer David LaChapelle departs from his trademark portraits of celebrities and models to focus on our national dependence on oil, featuring representations of these mammoth structures in his signature glossy, color-saturated style. "The refineries are these things—these symbols of our use of fossil fuels—that have allowed the population and the planet to grow, but to a point where we are not really sustainable," says LaChapelle.

Land Scape grew out of an earlier series focusing on gas stations. For that project, the artist hand built models of the structures and photographed them in the Maui jungle. read more>>>