Category Archives: wind energy

Obama moves to block new coal plants abroad

by ncf01r Posted on October 30, 2013

Obama moves to block new coal plants abroad

By

gynti_46

The U.S. is set to virtually stamp out construction of new coal-fired power plants domestically, thanks to proposed climate regulations. And now it’s setting its sights internationally.

The Obama administration said Tuesday it plans to use its influence with international lending bodies like the World Bank to curtail financial support for new coal power plants overseas. From Reuters:

The U.S. Treasury said it would only support funding for coal plants in the world’s poorest countries if they have no other efficient or economical alternative for their energy needs.

For richer countries, it would only support coal plants that deploy carbon capture and sequestration, an advanced technology for reducing emissions that is not yet commercially viable. That essentially means the United States would limit coal funding to only the world’s poorest for now.

The announcement follows the president’s pledge in June that he would call for an “end to public financing for new coal plants overseas unless they deploy carbon-capture technologies, or there’s no other viable way for the poorest countries to generate electricity.”

The New York Times, however, raises questions about America’s ability to actually sway decisions about coal-plant construction abroad:

The United States does not have a veto over which projects in other countries get financed through organizations, and the number of coal plants built overseas with public money is small relative to the number that are likely to be built with private investment.

By leading a coalition of like-minded countries — including several European ones that have already announced similar intentions — officials said the administration would be able to influence the direction of power plant construction.

“We believe that if public financing points the way, it will then facilitate private investment,” [said Lael Brainard, the under secretary for international affairs at the Treasury Department]. …

Treasury officials said the United States would also seek to push private investors to favor energy technologies that are better for the environment.

A test of the new policy is expected next year. That’s when the World Bank, which recently announced it will finance coal power plants only in rare circumstances, is set to decide whether to support a 600-megawatt coal-fired plant in Kosovo.


Source
U.S. Says It Won’t Back New International Coal-Fired Power Plants, New York Times
U.S. lays out strict limits on coal funding abroad, Reuters

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Obama moves to block new coal plants abroad

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Nebraska is a loser in the wind-energy boom

by LucasHarbin Posted on October 29, 2013

Nebraska is a loser in the wind-energy boom

By

Ben Carlisle

It’s hard to find anywhere in America that’s windier than Nebraska, where sweeping flat lands offer little to break up the gusts. So why isn’t the state dotted with turbines?

The AP reports that the Cornhusker State is the nation’s third windiest state, yet it ranks 26th in wind-energy generation. It trails neighboring Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, and Kansas in producing wind power.

But some state lawmakers and officials are trying to do something about that. From the AP article:

Sen. Heath Mello of Omaha said he’s considering wind-energy legislation next year that would provide a tax credit to wind farms, similar to one offered by the federal government and other states.

“The state still has a considerable way to go to become a truly wind-friendly state,” Mello said. “I’m trying to work now to see what can be done with my existing bill to help make Nebraska more competitive.” …

Earlier this month, the Omaha Public Power District said it would buy 400 megawatts of power from a wind farm being built near O’Neill, in northeast Nebraska. The utility’s board voted to approve a 20-year contract for the electricity, which is enough to supply power to 118,000 customers. The utility currently serves about 350,000 customers in and around Omaha.

Lawmakers approved a bill last year that extended new sales-tax exemptions to wind-energy companies, and shelved another bill that would have made it easier for firms to qualify through an existing state program.

Here’s hoping the talk from Mello and his colleagues amounts to more than just hot air.


Source
Nebraska lawmakers look again at wind energy, Associated Press

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Nebraska is a loser in the wind-energy boom

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Why is Antarctic sea ice expanding?

by Shawanna11 Posted on October 29, 2013

Why is Antarctic sea ice expanding?

By

Bryan Kiechle

While ice cover in the Arctic continues its downward spiral, something counterintuitive is happening in the Antarctic.

The thin crust of sea ice floating around Antarctica expanded this year to cover more of the Southern Ocean than ever before recorded: 7.518 million square miles. That broke the previous record of 7.505 million square miles, which was set just last year, according to NASA.

“We set a record high winter maximum,” Walt Meier, a NASA glaciologist, said in announcing the findings. “Even though it is a record high, it is only 3.6 percent above the 1981 to 2010 average maximum.”

NASAClick to embiggen.

This phenomenon is known as the “paradox of Antarctic sea ice.” It’s the kind of thing that delights climate deniers eager to point blindly at things and say they mean the planet isn’t warming, despite all other signs to the contrary. Unfortunately, nice though that would be, the Antarctic sea ice is not expanding because global warming has magically ended. NASA points out that there are many factors at play:

While researchers continue to study the forces driving the growth in sea ice extent, it is well understood that multiple factors — including the geography of Antarctica, the region’s winds, as well as air and ocean temperatures — all affect the ice.

Increasing snowfall and strengthening westerly gusts are also factors, as University of Tasmania sea-ice scientist Guy Williams explains in The Conversation. And as continental ice and icebergs melt, they may be lowering ocean temperatures, helping the layer of ice form on the sea’s frigid surface.

Willians also points out that it actually isn’t even clear whether the total amount of Antarctic sea ice is expanding. Researchers don’t know how think the layer of ice is or how much volume it holds. At least for now, scientists can only reliably measure its surface area.

“While the increase in total Antarctic sea ice area is relatively minor compared to the Arctic, it masks the fact that some regions are in strong decline,” Williams writes. “Given the complex interactions of winds and currents driving patterns of sea ice variability and change in the Southern Ocean climate system, this is not unexpected. But it is still fascinating to study.”

NASAClick to embiggen.


Source
Antarctic Sea Ice Reaches New Maximum Extent, NASA
Why is Antarctic sea ice growing?, The Converation

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Why is Antarctic sea ice expanding?

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Africa’s biggest wind farm starts spinning

by Glory Miche Posted on October 28, 2013

Africa’s biggest wind farm starts spinning

By

Shutterstock

Ethiopia’s infamous droughts don’t just condemn the country to periodic famine; they also deprive it of electricity.

In a major step toward diversifying a power system that’s almost entirely reliant on hydropower, the country has built Africa’s largest wind farm. Power production started at the $290 million Ashegoda Wind Farm on Saturday, four years after construction began. From Reuters:

The 120 MW, 84-turbine farm — straddling a sprawling field of grassland dotted by stone-brick hamlets more than 780 kilometers north of Addis Ababa — is part of a plan to mitigate the impact of dry seasons on the country’s dams.

At present, Ethiopia’s energy resources are almost completely derived from hydropower projects.

“It compliments hydropower, which is seasonal. When you have a dry water season we have higher wind speed,” said Mihret Debebe, CEO of the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation.

“There is harmony between the two sources of energy.”

Last week, Ethiopia also signed a preliminary agreement with a U.S.-Icelandic firm for a $4 billion private sector investment intended to tap its vast geothermal power resources and produce 1,000 MW from steam.

During a speech at the weekend inauguration, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said “there is potential to harness abundant wind energy resources in every region of Ethiopia.”

But Ethiopia is still looking to boost its hydropower generation. The country plans to build a 6,000-megawatt Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on a tributary of the Nile. If completed as planned, it will cost $4.2 billion and be the largest dam in Africa. Downstream neighbors like Egypt would probably prefer a lot more wind turbines.


Source
Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan Mull New Probe Nile Dam Impact, Bloomberg
Ethiopia opens Africa’s largest wind farm to boost power production, Reuters

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Africa’s biggest wind farm starts spinning

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To Expand Offshore Power, Japan Builds Floating Windmills

by Myrna Posted on October 24, 2013

The project’s backers say that offshore windmills could be a breakthrough for this energy-poor nation. More here: To Expand Offshore Power, Japan Builds Floating Windmills Related Articles Koch Brother Wages 12-Year Fight Over Wind Farm 8 States Teaming Up to Support Electric Cars City to Fit All Streetlights With Energy-Saving LED Bulbs

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To Expand Offshore Power, Japan Builds Floating Windmills

Posted in alo, Casio, Citadel, eco-friendly, FF, G & F, GE, LAI, Monterey, ONA, oven, PUR, solar, solar power, Uncategorized, wind energy, wind power | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on To Expand Offshore Power, Japan Builds Floating Windmills

Clock is ticking for Cape Wind project

by mlodyseo7 Posted on October 23, 2013

Clock is ticking for Cape Wind project

By

Shutterstock

The Cape Wind project, which would install 130 wind turbines in Nantucket Sound off the coast of Massachusetts, is in a race against time.

It’s intended to be the first offshore wind farm in U.S. waters, and once it’s up and running, it could provide three-quarters of the electricity used at Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket. But if construction doesn’t start by the end of this year, its backers stand to miss out on a federal tax credit and $200 million worth of investment promised by PensionDanmark, throwing its future into doubt.

What’s the holdup? The project has been besieged by lawsuits, most of them filed by folks who worry that the turbines would interfere with their views and boat outings.

But now Cape Wind executives say they expect to resolve the remaining suits shortly, potentially clearing the way for the project to beat the Dec. 31 deadline. From Bloomberg:

Two legal appeals remain after the company won 13 previous challenges, Vice President Dennis Duffy said [Tuesday] at the American Wind Energy Association’s Offshore Windpower 2013 conference in Providence, Rhode Island.

Cape Wind, based in Boston, has spent more than a decade pursuing the $2.6 billion project in Nantucket Sound, fighting opposition from environmental groups, local fishermen and members of the Kennedy family. …

“We are waiting for those decisions and we think we’ll have them this fall,” Duffy said. “That will give us the opportunity to get the notice to proceed to get the project really going.”

Meanwhile, William Koch, whose billionaire industrialist brothers Charles and David fund so many anti-renewable campaigns, is working as hard as ever to stop the project. Koch owns three mansions with grand views of the sound. Maybe he doesn’t mind fossil fuel pollution, but he’s sure as hell not going to stand by quietly while a wind farm creates what he calls “visual pollution.”

The New York Times reports that Koch has spent about $5 million over the last decade on efforts to oppose Cape Wind. He serves as chairman of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, a “nonprofit environmental organization” dedicated to blocking the wind farm’s construction:

Still, Jim Gordon, Cape Wind’s developer, who has spent $70 million of his own money on the project since 2001, vows that it will go forward. …

“This is a very sophisticated adversary,” Mr. Gordon said. “Koch has already spent a decade trying to push us off the path toward a better energy future.”

The two men have circled each other for a decade in an escalating test of wills. Mr. Gordon has tried unsuccessfully to enlist Mr. Koch, who once financed green energy plants, in his cause; Mr. Koch has successfully delayed Cape Wind for years by tying it up in court. A few lawsuits, some of them backed by the Nantucket Sound alliance, remain to be settled.

The clock is ticking: There are fewer than 70 days left until the federal tax incentives and PensionDanmark’s investment are due to evaporate.


Source
Koch Brother Wages 12-Year Fight Over Wind Farm, New York Times
Cape Wind Offshore Farm Sees Lawsuits Cleared by Year-End, Bloomberg

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Clock is ticking for Cape Wind project

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Fracking won’t fix the climate

by AshleaMelina844 Posted on October 22, 2013

Fracking won’t fix the climate

By

WCN 24/7

The claim that natural gas is saving the climate is revealed as hot air.

Perhaps you’ve heard the claim that the natural-gas boom made possible by fracking is reducing America’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The logic underpinning this claim is that natural gas is a cleaner-burning fuel than coal, and hydraulic fracturing has produced a surfeit of cheap natural gas. Ergo, fracking is helping power plants switch from coal to natural gas, helping the climate along the way.

But that’s only half the story.

A Stanford-led study, which was produced with input from 50 academic, government, and private-sector experts, concludes that natural gas is having only “modest impacts” on carbon dioxide emissions.

Yes, natural gas is helping to dig a grave for coal. It’s the lesser of two fossil-fuel evils. But natural gas’s low price is also slowing down the country’s shift toward climate-friendly solar and wind power. From the Stanford report [PDF]:

Shale development has relatively modest impacts on carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide emissions, particularly after 2020. Since 2006, electricity generation has become less carbon intensive as its natural gas share increased from 16 to 24 percent and its coal share decreased from 52 to 41 percent. Over future years, this trend towards reducing emissions becomes less pronounced as natural gas begins to displace nuclear and renewable energy that would have been used otherwise in new powerplants under reference case conditions.

Meanwhile, the study concludes that fracking is helping to slightly expand America’s economy — but not nearly to the extent that the industry would like us to think:

Shale development also boosts the economy by $70 billion annually over the next several decades. Although this amount appears large, it represents a relatively modest 0.46 percent of the US economy. Today total natural gas expenditures represent about one percent of GDP within this country.

Joe Romm of ClimateProgress points out that the International Energy Agency recently warned that the low price of natural gas is also hampering efforts to improve energy efficiency, which is bad news for greenhouse gas emissions.

“From a climate perspective, then, the shale gas revolution is essentially irrelevant,” argues Romm, “and arguably a massive diversion of resources and money that could have gone into deploying carbon-free sources.”


Source
Changing the game?: Emissions and market implications of new natural gas supplies, Energy Modeling Forum, Stanford University
Major Study Projects No Long-Term Climate Benefit From Shale Gas Revolution, ClimateProgress

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Fracking won’t fix the climate

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Turbine tourism: Bus tours of a wind-energy park are a big hit

by pwbqczv Posted on October 22, 2013

Turbine tourism: Bus tours of a wind-energy park are a big hit

By

Tina :0)

A wind turbine on a Michigan farm.

Michigan now has nearly 900 wind turbines, and that lit a lightbulb in the entrepreneurial mind of retired teacher Gene Jorissen. Last summer, he started leading hour-long bus tours of the turbine-dotted Lakes Winds Energy Park in the western part of the state. From Livingston Daily:

The bus stops 1,000 feet from a turbine, and passengers get out. “People want to know, how noisy are they? So, we sit and listen. We talk about various concerns people have about them,” he said.

Then, the bus stops at his cousin’s house. The cousin has one of the turbines on his property. The cousin lets Jorissen bring his tourists right up to the turbine and stand under its massive 476-foot height to get a feel of just how big it is.

“You can walk around it. But you can’t climb it. You can touch it. But you can’t go inside,” Jorissen said.

This summer, buses were full, and there often were waiting lists, said Jorissen, who is continuing tours through Saturday.

Tours “have become a big hit,” added Dan Bishop, Consumers Energy spokesman. “Eco-tourism, right here in Michigan.”

We told you in April that some Lake Winds neighbors were suing to block construction of new wind turbines. It’s good to hear that others in the area appreciate these revolutionary devices — and are finding novel ways to make a buck off them.


Source
Wind turbines new Mich. tourist attraction, Livingston Daily

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Turbine tourism: Bus tours of a wind-energy park are a big hit

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Party like it’s 1994! America’s CO2 emissions hit 18-year low

by testdonekAQW Posted on October 22, 2013

Party like it’s 1994! America’s CO2 emissions hit 18-year low

By

Shutterstock

The last time America’s carbon dioxide emissions were this low, Nelson Mandela was being inaugurated as South Africa’s president, O.J. Simpson was being chased by police in a white Bronco, and Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin were agreeing to ease up on the whole let’s-point-countless-nukes-at-each-other thing.

U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions steadily rose from the mid-90s until they hit a peak in 2007. Since then, emissions have fallen in five out of seven years. In 2012, emissions were 12 percent below the 2007 level, dipping back to 1994 levels. That’s according to data released Tuesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration:

EIAClick to embiggen.

Let’s celebrate with a trip down memory lane. Here are the reasons the EIA gives for America’s falling emissions, set to a soundtrack of some of the biggest hits of 1994.

Whoomp!

First, let’s note two things that are not contributing to falling emissions. CO2 output is not falling because the economy is shrinking nor because the population is shrinking. The population grew 0.7 percent between 2011 and 2012 and GDP grew by 2.8 percent — yet energy consumption fell by 2.4 percent.

Here Comes the Hotstepper

Americans are turning to their air-conditioners more frequently to help them beat the heat, but they’re not needing their heaters so much. And that’s notable because it takes more energy to heat a home than to cool it. Last year’s winter and early spring were so warm that, by the end of March, there had been 19 percent fewer days that required heating than the 10-year average.

Hero

Americans and their utilities are making strides in energy efficiency. Electricity generation, transmission, and distribution became 1 percent more efficient between 2011 and 2012.

Fantastic Voyage

Americans drove 3.3 percent fewer miles last year than in 2007, and their cars and trucks are becoming more efficient.

Loser

America has lost a lot of factories and factory jobs. That’s pushing industrial carbon emissions to other countries. Industrial output fell 2.7 percent from 2007 to 2012, and manufacturing output was down 5 percent during the same period.

Stroke You Up

Power plants have been abandoning coal, driving the largest drop in the economy’s overall carbon intensity since record-keeping began in 1949.

So celebrate the good news while you can. Going forward, emissions will probably go up again.


Source
U.S. Energy-Related Carbon Dioxide Emissions, 2012, U.S. Energy Information Administration

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Party like it’s 1994! America’s CO2 emissions hit 18-year low

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Power up: California may force utilities to buy big batteries for renewables

by 9ji7g4x Posted on October 17, 2013

Power up: California may force utilities to buy big batteries for renewables

By

Energy Department

The Notrees Wind Storage Demonstration Project in Texas combines wind turbines and advanced lead-acid batteries.

The sun would never set on solar power under an ambitious new proposal in the Golden State.

The California Public Utilities Commission is considering new rules that would require the state’s utilities to spend heavily on large batteries. That would allow wind and solar energy produced during sunny and blustery conditions to be saved and sold even on calm nights.

The proposed rules would help utilities meet California’s ambitious requirement that 33 percent of their electricity come from renewable sources by 2020. They would also help spur a battery industry that’s considered critical for the widespread adoption of renewable energy.

The rules [PDF], which could be approved as soon as today, would require PG&E, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric to install battery systems capable of holding 1.3 gigawatts of electricity by 2020. Once juiced up, that much battery power could be tapped to provide electricity to about 1 million homes.

The San Jose Mercury News reports that the proposal is being cheered by the renewables sector:

“This is transformative,” said Chet Lyons, an energy storage consultant based in Boston. “It’s going to have a huge impact on the development of the storage industry, and other state regulators are looking at this as a precedent.”

Utilities, leading energy companies, Silicon Valley startups and researchers at the nation’s top universities and national labs have been searching for cost-effective ways to store energy for future use. Several different kinds of storage technologies are being developed. Pumped storage projects move water between two reservoirs at different elevations. When demand is low, electricity is used to pump water from the lower reservoir to the upper reservoir; when demand is high, the water is released through a turbine to generate electricity.

Flywheel energy storage accelerates a rotor to high speeds, creating a kinetic battery. And there is a lot of focus on stationary batteries, from lithium-ion to sodium-sulfur.

But the market has been slow to develop. Several utilities have small pilot projects in the works, but nothing on a large scale.

Nobody yet knows what the proposal would cost the state’s electricity customers, if anything. That’s because the new rules would require the utilities to begin a process of procuring cost-competitive battery solutions. ”California is saying that … these new solutions have to be cost-effective,” said Chris Shelton, president of Virginia-based AES Energy Storage. “Which is key if storage is really going to be viable.”


Source
California poised to adopt first-in-nation energy storage mandate, San Jose Mercury News

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Power up: California may force utilities to buy big batteries for renewables

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