December 7, 2014 - By the time the 2016 presidential election formally gets underway, pundits are likely to debate the climate change gap in the same breath as they argue over the gender gap.
Voters already have telegraphed elected officials that they need to take global warming seriously, because they do. Or face the consequences at the ballot booth if they don't.
Buried in an avalanche of election exit-poll data are these nuggets: read more>>>
December 6, 2014 - Congress should vote to strengthen wind power, which is especially important in the Coachella Valley.
During the lame-duck congressional session last week, it appeared the Wind Production Tax Credit would be revived. The PTC for windmills was established in 1992 as part of the Energy Policy Act, a 2.3-cent-per-kilowatt-hour benefit for the first 10 years of operation. It was strengthened by President Obama’s stimulus initiative in 2009. The PTC was set to expire in 2012, but Congress extended it for another year. read more>>>
12/05/14 - Green groups submitted roughly 3.7 million comments to the administration in support of its signature climate rule on carbon pollution from power plants this week, according to a memo.
The memo, circulated by the Climate Action Campaign (CAC) communications staff, chides the oil and gas industry, arguing “they have long been in denial” over public support for cutting carbon pollution.
According to the memo from the Washington, D.C.-based coalition of national green groups, they turned in 3 million comments backing the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal.
That adds to the 1.9 million comments the EPA told the Climate Action Campaign the official count has now reached, and it's still counting. read more>>>
12/8/2014 - Third-Party Benchmark Designed to Help Reduce Public Health & Environmental Risks from Chemical Exposure for Health Care Industry, Retail Stores, Socially Responsible Investors and other Stakeholders
A group of corporate and NGO leaders today released a new tool for assessing leadership in corporate chemicals management. The Chemical Footprint Project (CFP) provides the first-ever common metric of its kind for publicly benchmarking corporate chemicals management and profiling leadership companies.
“You can’t manage what you don’t measure,” said Dr. Mark Rossi, Co-Director of the nonprofit Clean Production Action and Chair and Founder of BizNGO, who released the Chemical Footprint Project today with the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production and Pure Strategies. “The CFP finally establishes a meaningful measurement of overall corporate performance to safer chemicals in products and supply chains. We look forward to engaging business leaders in tracking and disclosing their Chemical Footprints.” read more>>>
December 8th, 2014 - Maine is one of eight states chosen for a study of clean energy.
The decision comes from the Pew Charitable Trust which did research indicating Maine has an abundance of renewable resources.
The trust is also impressed with our state’s long-term commitment to the clean energy industry.
“What we found is Maine really is leading in terms of the amount of biomass and wind power that it’s using, it’s creating economic opportunities,” said Tom Swanson manager, clean energy, The Pew Charitable Trusts. “And the University here is really playing a huge role in helping push these new innovative technologies toward commercialization and helping drive down the cost of these technologies.” read more>>>
8/12/14 - Invenergy Clean Power has closed financing and started commercial operation at the 6.3MW Desert Green concentrated solar project in Borrego Springs, California.
The facility is sited in San Diego County, some 90 miles north-east of San Diego. Output is being sold to San Diego Gas & Electric under a long-term power purchase agreement.
Invenergy acquired Desert Green from Soitec Solar Development and the plant features more than 3500 Soitec CPV modules manufactured in San Diego. read more>>>
9 Dec 2014 - Jackson, Miss.: Not exactly the eco-capital of the world. The city’s wastewater disposal has the attention of the EPA, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant is a big fracking supporter, there’s no glass recycling within city limits … and so on. But longtime organizer Kali Akuno has a vision: He and 100-plus volunteers want to turn the hardscrabble city of roughly 170,000 into a marvel of sustainability and social justice.
Akuno is a co-founder of Cooperation Jackson, a community network that aims to solve the city’s most intractable issues — poverty and unemployment, racial and economic injustice, food access and industrial pollution — through developing a series of cooperatives that radically re-imagine how people live and work. Cooperation Jackson, less than a year old, is one of the pilot communities of the Our Power Campaign, an effort launched by the Climate Justice Alliance (CJA). And its end goal, like CJA’s, is to transition out of fossil fuel dependence by supporting localized economies, low-income communities of color, and the planet all at once. read more>>>
December 12, 2014 - Montana is bursting with opportunity in the clean energy sector. A recent report by Synapse Energy Economics for the Montana Environmental Information Center showed we can create thousands of jobs by developing our vast renewable energy resources and helping people make their homes and businesses more energy efficient.
An energy efficiency consulting firm commissioned by NorthWestern Energy found that energy efficiency programs save customers about $20 million each year. In terms of job creation, renewable energy in Montana is responsible for creating over 1,300 construction jobs, nearly 100 permanent jobs, and generating over $6 million in tax revenue and over $1 billion in new investments. Clean energy is not just good for the environment; it’s good for the economy. read more>>>
December 12, 2014 - Colorado's 300 days of sunshine are helping nourish a new Fort Collins crop that should keep growing.
A handful of solar gardens set to produce enough electricity to power thousands of homes are planned or under construction in Larimer County, thanks to a favorable economic climate, maturation of the solar industry and increased support among municipalities and utilities.
The additional electricity generated by the sun, coupled with what wind and water already deliver, is increasing the region's renewable energy portfolio while decreasing its reliance on fossil fuels, a mandate from an increasing number of cities and residents. read more>>>
11 December 2014 - The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Lima, Peru, is wrapping up Friday after 12 days of negotiations on global carbon emissions.
Yet, even as we work through the complexities of an international agreement, it would be a mistake to miss the extensive change that's already taking place here on North America's Pacific Coast. Last year, our four governments — the states of California, Oregon and Washington and the Province of British Columbia — reached a landmark agreement to align climate and energy strategies for 54 million Americans and Canadians. read more>>>
December 12, 2014 - California’s booming clean energy industry currently employs nearly 450,000 people and is tipped to reach the half million mark within a year, according to a first-of-its-kind survey of America’s advanced energy sector.
The current number is more than the film, TV, radio, semiconductors and aerospace industries.
The survey, released by the Advanced Energy Economy Institute, found that 431,000 Californians (2.4 per cent of the state’s workforce) are involved in servicing advanced energy technologies, such as solar and wind power, electric vehicles and energy efficiency.
Advanced energy jobs grew five per cent in the past year – more than double the overall state job growth rate – and based on employer hiring plans is on track to grow 17 per cent in the coming year read more>>>
Dec 11, 2014 - Oregonians strongly support renewable energy, according to a poll commissioned by A Renewable America, a project of the Wind Energy Foundation.
The poll, released Tuesday, found 82 percent of Oregonians support renewable energy and a sizable population sees wind and solar as a key toward energy and economic independence.
The poll was conducted in November by Winston Group, which surveyed 750 registered voters, with an oversample of 285 registered voters in the 2nd Congressional District, Oregon's most conservative. read more>>>
November 30th, 2014 - Florida’s state regulators have approved the previously put forward proposals to completely gut the state’s energy efficiency goals and to end its solar rebate programs by the end of 2015, according to recent reports.
11/30/14 - The GOP is preparing to mount a full-scale assault on President Obama’s regulatory agenda, using the party’s strengthened hand in Congress to delay, soften or block contentious administration rules at every turn.
November 28th, 2014 - Both the severity and frequency of extreme weather events are likely to increase because of climate change, according to a report from the Royal Society. The study argues that action needs to be taken now to reduce future vulnerabilities.
Nov. 30 2014 - China has emerged as the leader in the race to dominate the fast-growing, global clean-energy market, an economic strategy that promises to deliver huge dividends as world governments work toward an agreement to rein in greenhouse gases in the battle against climate change.
November 19, 2014 - Idaho Power is adding a lot of solar to its renewable energy portfolio lately. Idaho regulators okayed two contracts Friday and neighboring Oregon approved three that will generate 60 megawatts of electricity the utility will buy.
25.11.2014 -
Just in time for the fourth Renewable Energy Industry Day, the consulting firm Rödl & Partner (link is external) has published a study on financing renewable energy in international markets. The study explains how the underlying conditions in 17 international markets differ due to legal and economic circumstances.
11/24/14 - Solar and wind energy have long struggled to compete with conventional energy sources on two fronts: dispatch and cost. However, new U.S. industry data outlined in the New York Times reveals the cost of these renewable energy sources has fallen dramatically in the last five years, making them competitive with — and sometimes even undercutting — fossil fuel-sourced energy.
Nov 18, 2014 - There is a general perception that nanotechnologies will have a significant impact on developing 'green' and 'clean' technologies with considerable environmental benefits. The associated concept of green nanotechnology aims to exploit nanotech-enabled innovations in materials science and engineering to generate products and processes that are energy efficient as well as economically and environmentally sustainable. These applications are expected to impact a large range of economic sectors, such as energy production and storage, clean up-technologies, as well as construction and related infrastructure industries.
11/18/2014 - As much as 10.2% of the Italian economy is related to green economy that has provided €101 billion added value together with 234 thousand new jobs in 2014 alone. This data is reported in GreenItaly 2014, the yearly report on green economy prepared by Unioncamere and Symbola Foundation.
2014-11-24 - As far as I’m concerned, the prospect of a planet not wrecked by run-away climate chaos is enough of an incentive to have us move from our existing, dirty, fossil fuel driven economy to a greener, low-carbon alternative.
Nov. 19, 2014 - Despite considerable improvements in the past decades, Europe is still far from achieving levels of air quality that do not pose unacceptable risks to humans and the environment. Air pollution is the top environmental risk factor of premature death in Europe; it increases the incidence of a wide range of diseases and has several environmental impacts, damaging vegetation and ecosystems. This constitutes a substantial loss for Europe: for its natural systems, its agriculture, its economy, the productivity of its workforce, and the health of Europeans. The effects of poor air quality have been felt most strongly in two main areas. Firstly, inhabitants in urban areas have experienced significant health problems. Secondly, air pollution has led to impaired vegetation growth in ecosystems and agriculture, as well as to biodiversity loss, for example in grassland ecosystems, due to eutrophication.