OCT. 30, 2014 - Gov. Rick Scott of Florida, a Republican who is fighting a Democratic challenge from former Gov. Charlie Crist, was asked by The Miami Herald if he believes climate change is significantly affecting the weather. “Well, I’m not a scientist,” he said.
Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who is locked in a tight re-election race, was asked this month by The Cincinnati Enquirer if he believes that climate change is a problem. “I’m not a scientist,” he said.
House Speaker John A. Boehner, when asked by reporters if climate change will play a role in the Republican agenda, came up with a now-familiar formulation. “I’m not qualified to debate the science over climate change,” he said. read more>>>
November 7th, 2014 - A new study conducted by the Minnesota Department of Commerce in coordination with the Midwest regional independent grid operator Mid-continent Independent System Operator (MISO) has found that the state of Minnesota could obtain 40% or more of its electricity from wind and solar energy without suffering any grid reliability issues.
The report, which builds on real-world situations like the states of Iowa and South Dakota generating more than 25% of their energy from wind during 2013, is another splash of cold water in the faces of those who attempt to dismiss renewable energy as being somehow impractical. read more>>>
November 10, 2014 - On paper, the Department of Energy's (DOE) Better Buildings Challenge is rather modest. Gently push U.S. industrial and commercial building owners to commit to cutting energy consumption 20 percent or more over 10 years — a very small drop in the global carbon bucket. But the program is turning out to be much more transformative, by driving building owners to reach for deep decarbonization goals rather than just the low-hanging fruit.
Homes, offices, universities and industrial facilities consume a third of all the energy in the world. In the United States alone, these buildings account for over $400 billion a year in energy consumption. Without a doubt, buildings are one of the largest sources of energy demand in the world and a key component of any climate mitigation strategy. read more>>>
November 13, 2014 - On the evening of April 17, 2013, a massive blast at a fertilizer company in West, Texas, killed 15 people and injured hundreds more. The explosion shattered windows seven miles away, and damaged or destroyed nearly 150 buildings, including three unoccupied schools.
Now, a Washington, D.C.-based research group has released a new report that lists chemical facilities in Northeast Ohio that store toxins which, if released in an accidental explosion or leak, could directly impact hundreds of thousands of students throughout the area. read more>>>
November 13, 2014 - As gridlock in Washington, D.C., stalls progress on clean energy policy at the federal level, states are “leading the charge toward a new energy economy,” former Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. said.
“The American public doesn’t understand how broken the system is,” said Ritter, speaking at the 25th annual SRI Conference earlier this week in Colorado Springs, Colo. Nearly 600 financial professionals attended.
Ritter, who heads the Center for the New Energy Economy at Colorado State University, said a lack of leadership in Washington is causing governors from both red and blue states to focus on developing clean, affordable energy, while trying to reduce the impact of climate change, create jobs and keep the U.S. on the cutting edge of global competition. read more>>>
November 13, 2014 - Today’s climate models predict a 50 percent increase in lightning strikes across the United States during this century as a result of warming temperatures associated with climate change.
Reporting in the Nov. 14 issue of the journal Science, UC Berkeley climate scientist David Romps and his colleagues look at predictions of precipitation and cloud buoyancy in 11 different climate models and conclude that their combined effect will generate more frequent electrical discharges to the ground. read more>>>
Report on ‘green’ energy jobs was put on ice during debate
November 16, 2014 - A state agency paid almost $435,000 for a survey to tally clean-energy jobs in Ohio but never released the results.
The Ohio Development Services Agency says the study went unused because it was based on dubious methods and came to flawed conclusions.
Others, including experts in survey methods, disagree with this assessment and are perplexed by the criticism. read more>>>
11 November 2014 - HUNDREDS of new jobs could be created in Hampshire and millions saved in electricity bills if a scheme to encourage green technology wins local authority backing.
The jobs promise came as business leaders from across the region converged for the Future Solent 2014 Conference yesterday.
The all day event held at a venue at Portsmouth's historic dockyard was held to discuss the future direction of the local economy and the benefits of a lower carbon economy - especially in reducing our electricity bills. read more>>>
November 10, 2014 - Strong statewide and federal clean-energy policies have positioned California as the nation’s solar energy leader in terms of generating new, well-paying construction and permanent jobs while working to curb climate change, according to a new report by UC Berkeley.
The Donald Vial Center on Employment in the Green Economy at Berkeley found that California’s use of electricity from renewable sources increased from 11 percent in 2008 to nearly 20 percent in 2013. The center’s report, “Environmental and Economic Benefits of Building Solar in California,” released today (Monday, Nov. 10), notes that more than 15,000 new jobs have been created over the last five years by California’s solar-farm construction boom, with workers building solar arrays earning on average $78,000 a year plus health and other benefits. read more>>>
November 10, 2014 - The largest municipally owned electric and natural gas utility in the United States, CPS Energy, is working with the Advanced Energy Economy Institute, a nonprofit educational affiliate of Advanced Energy Economy (AEE), to make San Antonio a "Smart City" through new technologies and services connected by the city's power grid.
A Smart City results from a convergence of advanced energy and advanced digital technology where city services are optimized by instant communication and coordinated response, according to a definition by AEE.
"The Smart City movement is about connecting households with information and services that put them in control of their energy use and giving businesses tools to make them more productive," said Graham Richard, CEO of Advanced Energy Economy and the AEE Institute. read more>>>
November 10, 2014 - Q: I recently heard that Sweden is the greenest country in the world. Is this true and, if so, by what standards? And where does the U.S. rank?
— RAUL SWAIN, NEW YORK CITY
A: It’s true that Sweden came out on top in the recently released ranking of 60 countries according to sustainability by consulting firm Dual Citizen Inc. in its fourth annual Global Green Economy Index. Norway, Costa Rica, Germany and Denmark rounded out the top five.
The rankings take into account a wide range of economic indicators and data sets regarding leadership on climate change, encouragement of efficiency, investing in green technology and sustainability, and management of ecosystems and natural capital. read more>>>
November 8, 2014 - With the GFC becoming a distant memory and the job market gradually improving, concerns about the environment will come more to the fore and there will be a renewed focus on "green jobs", but what exactly are green jobs, and are they growing in number?
Green jobs fall under five categories; jobs producing energy from renewable resources such as wind and solar power; products and services that improve energy efficiency; jobs producing energy-efficient equipment, building and vehicles; jobs in pollution reduction, or its removal and recycling, and jobs in natural-resource conservation, environmental compliance, education and training. read more>>>
November 5, 2014 - One of the smallest utilities in the United States is being recognized as a solar leader. Kalona, Iowa's 650-member Farmers Electric Cooperative has become a model for simple, hands-on business programs that have made 20 percent of its members solar owners, according to the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA), which has published a case study on the co-op.
Nov. 7 2014 -
Two slim towers rise from the fields 20 miles west of Seville, each bathed in the rays of an otherworldly glow. Though they look like portals to another dimension, they serve a much more practical purpose: They are the "power towers" of Solucar, the largest solar energy complex in Europe.
November 3, 2014 - Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have received a $1.2 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy's SunShot Initiative to develop a technique that they believe will significantly improve the efficiencies of photovoltaic materials and help make solar electricity cost-competitive with other sources of energy.
Nov. 4, 2014 - Universities and hospitals are installing larger and more self sustaining electric generation facilities to lower their utility costs, increase their renewable portfolios and provide greater independence from the power grid.
November 5, 2014 - When Department of Energy and Oak Ridge National Laboratory researcher Yan Xu talks about "islanding," or isolating, from the grid, she's discussing a fundamental benefit of microgrids -- small systems powered by renewables and energy storage devices. The benefit is that microgrids can disconnect from larger utility grids and continue to provide power locally.
11/03/14 - In early 2013, engineering students at Rhode Island’s Tiverton High School were given an ambitious project by their teacher: build a fully-functional electric vehicle with virtually nothing by way of a budget. What they came up with is pretty extraordinary: first they created The Endurance, a $1000 single-person PiEV, followed by The Apotheosis, a $1500 solar-powered EV that achieves a phenomenal 1552 MPGe.
03.11.2014 - SolarWorld AG from Bonn has announced that it is increasing the capacity of the production site for photovoltaic modules and cells in Hillsboro, Oregon. This will bring SolarWorld AG's future capacity up to a total of 1,300 MW.
November 3, 2014 - Computers consume significant amounts of energy even when they are not in use, and computer users don't even realize it, meaning lost opportunities to save energy, according to the results of two studies commissioned by the California Energy Commission (CEC) and conducted by the California Plug Load Research Center.
3 November 2014 - Green buildings can reduce energy use by between 30 and 50 percent while only costing between three and five percent more thean conventional buildings to construct.
11/2/2014 - If you spend enough time in the environmental movement, you'll undoubtedly get wrapped up in the philosophical discussions of what is the most “green.” Paper, or plastic? Off-grid, or grid-tied? Such debates are naturally going to arise in a movement whose goal is to improve the way people live on this planet, because the act of living affects our natural world many varied ways. Sometimes, improvement in one aspect of environmental impact has unintended consequences in another.
November 2, 2014 - I recently heard that Sweden is the greenest country in the world. Is this true and, if so, by what standards? And where does the U.S. rank?
Nov 1, 2014 - “Time is running out. If we don’t really change we will be in real trouble in the next 10 years.” That was the stark warning from Dr Arab Hobdallah from United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) at the Emirates Green Building Council’s (EmiratesGBC) Congress on 20-21 October.