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Wind power is a steal: Big deals in Midwest show wind’s affordability

by irj972ys Posted on July 18, 2013

Wind power is a steal: Big deals in Midwest show wind’s affordability

From the Minnesota Star Tribune:

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Doing it on the cheap.

Xcel Energy announced deals this week that will boost its use of wind power in the Upper Midwest by 33 percent, demonstrating that wind is increasingly cost-competitive with fossil fuels, even natural gas.

The Minneapolis-based utility is buying into three 200-megawatt wind farm projects, enough to power 180,000 homes, saying they will save its customers $180 million over 20 years. Xcel already has 1,800 megawatts of wind capacity up and running in the region, but it’s hungry for more. From an Xcel press release:

“Wind prices are extremely competitive right now, offering lower costs than other possible resources, like natural gas plants,” said [Xcel official Dave] Sparby. “These projects offer a great hedge against rising and often volatile fuel prices.”

At the same time, the projects will reduce carbon emissions by 1.2 million tons each year in Xcel Energy’s Upper Midwest service territory, where the company already is on track to reduce carbon emissions by 30 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels.

“It’s a huge announcement,” said Joe Sullivan, a regional policy manager for Wind on the Wires, a St. Paul-based industry group. “What it shows is that when it comes to adding new [generation] resources, wind is floating up to the top. It is beating out other resources in the market.”

Xcel said it will buy power from two planned wind farms near Windom, Minn., and near Jamestown, N.D., being developed by Geronimo Energy of Edina, and take ownership of another wind farm planned by RES Americas Development near Austin, Minn.

Financial terms of the deals were not disclosed, but Geronimo said that each of its 200-megawatt wind farms will cost about $350 million. All three projects are expected to be operating in 2015 or earlier.

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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China plans a major solar spree

by Abby Bath Posted on July 16, 2013

China plans a major solar spree

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It’s time to get these out of Chinese warehouses and put to good use.

A solar-panel manufacturing blitz by Chinese companies has left a glut in the market, driving down prices for photovoltaic systems.

And China thinks that’s a pretty good excuse to throw itself a huge solar party.

The government has announced plans to add 10 gigawatts of solar capacity each year for three years. That would take advantage of cheap prices and help the country’s manufacturers move product in a difficult market. From Reuters:

China aims to more than quadruple solar power generating capacity to 35 gigawatts by 2015 in an apparent bid to ease a massive glut in the domestic solar panel industry.

The target has been stated previously by the State Grid, which manages the country’s electricity distribution, but now has the official backing of the State Council, the country’s cabinet and its top governing body.

The sector has been hit hard by the excess capacity, falling government subsidies and trade disputes. Manufacturers have been hemorrhaging cash and struggling with mounting debts as panel prices fell by two thirds over the past couple of years.

Moving stockpiled panels out of warehouses and putting them to use providing clean energy should be a win-win. And if the move helps alleviate the global panel glut that’s been plaguing the solar industry, then make that a win-win-win.

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.

China plans a major solar spree

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Here’s how the Koch brothers retaliate against journalists they don’t like

by Emily Collins Posted on July 15, 2013

Here’s how the Koch brothers retaliate against journalists they don’t like

By Lisa Hymas

Beware of Koch-fueled vendettas.

The right-wing, oil-baron Koch brothers haven’t yet succeeded in taking over any of our nation’s major newspapers, so in the meantime they’re trying other tactics to influence news coverage of their activities. The Washington Post has a chilling report:

When environmental journalist David Sassoon began reporting about the billionaire Koch brothers’ interests in the Canadian oil industry last year, he sought information from their privately held conglomerate, Koch Industries. The brothers, who have gained prominence in recent years as supporters of and donors to conservative causes and candidates, weren’t playing. Despite Sassoon’s repeated requests, Koch Industries declined to respond to him or his news site, InsideClimate News.

But Sassoon, who also serves as publisher of the Pulitzer Prize-winning site, heard from the Kochs after his story was posted.

In a rebuttal posted on its Web site, KochFacts.com, the company asserted that Sassoon’s story “deceives readers” by suggesting that Koch Industries stood to benefit from construction of the Keystone XL pipeline — a denial Sassoon included in his story. KochFacts went on to dismiss Sassoon as a “professional eco-activist” and an “agenda-driven activist.”

It didn’t stop there. The company took out ads on Facebook and via Google featuring a photo of Sassoon with the headline, “David Sassoon’s Deceptions.” The ad’s copy read, “Activist/owner of InsideClimate News misleads readers and asserts outright falsehoods about Koch. Get the full facts on KochFacts.com.”

Such aggressive tactics have become part of the playbook for Koch Industries and its owners, Charles and David Koch. Faced with news articles they consider flawed or biased, the brothers and their lieutenants don’t just send strongly worded letters to the editor in protest. Instead, the company takes the offensive, with detailed responses that oscillate between correcting, shaming and slamming journalists who’ve written unflattering stories about the company or the Kochs’ myriad political and philanthropic activities.

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You can look forward to more blackouts in a climate-changed world

by Natalia681 Posted on July 12, 2013

You can look forward to more blackouts in a climate-changed world

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Julian Bravo

Climate change can bring with it forest fires, which can threaten power lines.

More global warming will mean a less reliable power system.

That warning comes from the Department of Energy, which released a report [PDF] on Thursday detailing the threats posed to the nation’s power infrastructure by rising temperatures, droughts, storms, floods, and sea-level rise.

“Climatic conditions are already affecting energy production and delivery in the United States, causing supply disruptions,” the report states. “The magnitude of the challenge posed by climate change on an aging and already stressed U.S. energy system could outpace current adaptation efforts, unless a more comprehensive and accelerated approach is adopted.”

Some of the threats listed in the report:

Power plants are threatened by decreased water availability and rising air and water temperatures, which make it harder to keep the facilities cool.
Refineries, oil and gas drills, power plants, and power lines along the coasts are at risk from rising seas, powerful storms, and flooding.
Hydropower, bioenergy, and some forms of solar power can be affected by droughts and rising temperatures.
Power lines carry less current and operate less efficiently in hot weather, and they are vulnerable to damage wrought by storms and forest fires.
Demand for electricity for air-conditioning is expected to rise, though demand for fuel oil and natural gas for heating is expected to fall.

According to The Hill, the release of the report marks the beginning of a larger effort by the DOE to push the energy industry to prepare for the rise in extreme weather events.

The department isn’t just talking in hypothetical terms. Click on the following map of climate-related energy disruptions to open an interactive version on the Energy Department’s website:

energy.gov

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.

You can look forward to more blackouts in a climate-changed world

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The 5 Biggest Bros And 5 Biggest Hipsters in Congress

by LauraFore Posted on July 3, 2013

Mother Jones

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd”>

THE BRO CAUCUS

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.): The former high school prom king, Delta Tau Delta frat boy, Randian, bowhunter, and catfish noodler has led P90X workouts in Congress and sponsored (unsuccessful) tax breaks for brewers, distillers, and boozers.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.): While going stag at a South Beach foam party, Rubio realized his wife-to-be, an ex-Miami Dolphins cheerleader, was his soul mate. During a vodka shot competition on a 1996 Bob Dole campaign flight, he booted in front of future colleague Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.).

Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.): During his 1997 stint on MTV’s Real World, the future tea partier napped while attending a speech by President Bill Clinton and also danced and drank beer atop a pool table in his underwear.

Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.): The first member of Congress to ever bare his rock-hard six-pack on the cover of Men’s Health, Schock once complimented first lady Michelle Obama for her “buff” guns.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.): He’s buds with Van Halen lead singer Sammy Hagar, and his office is lined with surfboards, booze posters, and a bust of John Wayne, who Rohrabacher says taught him how to drink tequila (small glass, ice cube, lime squeeze). He dismissed American interrogators’ use of panties to pressure terrorism suspects as “hazing pranks.”

THE HIPSTER CAUCUS

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.): Her signature look, which has included a Spock ‘do with red streaks, horn-rimmed glasses, and combat boots, inspired the Rosa DeLauro Is a Fucking Hipster Tumblr. Asked about it, the gentlewoman from Connecticut cheerfully replied, “People can call me whatever they want to call me.”

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.): Pro-bike before it was cool, the rep from Portlandia founded the Congressional Bike Caucus in 1996. Trademark look: bow ties and bicycle-shaped, neon-hued lapel pins.

Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.): When Cyndi Lauper stopped by Polis’ office last spring, he served her some of the Colorado-crafted High Country Kombucha his office orders by the case. His 2009 staff retreat included yoga, a scavenger hunt, and a vegan dinner at his home (he and his partner make their own nut cheese).

Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.): A bisexual nontheist who doesn’t own a TV and used to work out of coffee shops before getting elected, Sinema oversold her hipster cred when she dissed stay-at-home moms for “leeching off their husbands…That’s bullshit.”

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.): Then: ironic comedian who mocked earnestness (e.g., Stuart Smalley). Now: earnest wonk who hosts a mildly ironic annual Minnesota hot dish cook-off.

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The 5 Biggest Bros And 5 Biggest Hipsters in Congress

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Supreme Court will hear big clean-air case

by Dedra Temores Posted on June 26, 2013

Supreme Court will hear big clean-air case

Rainforest Action Network

Beware, neighbors.

It’s been a week of refreshing news for fans of unpolluted air. As Barack Obama on Tuesday was calling for greenhouse gas limits on power plants, clean air advocates were also celebrating a decision by the Supreme Court to hear an important case on power-plant pollution.

The EPA’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule was designed to cut down on life-threatening power-plant pollution that blows across state borders. It called for reductions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions at power plants in 28 states in the eastern U.S. The rule would mostly affect coal power plants, the dirtiest of America’s electricity plants. The EPA and supporters of the rule have said it would save tens of thousands of lives every year.

But owners of dirty power plants and some of the states in which they operate argued in court that the rule goes farther than the EPA is allowed to go under the Clean Air Act’s “good neighbor” provision.

Last August, the notoriously conservative U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled 2-1 in favor of the power plant companies, striking down the EPA’s rule.

But now the Supreme Court will hear the case and could reverse the circuit court’s ruling. From Reuters:

At the request of the administration, the American Lung Association and environmental groups, the [Supreme Court] justices will revisit an appeals court ruling that invalidated the Cross-State Air Pollution rule, which the EPA implemented to enforce a provision of the Clean Air Act.

Oral arguments and a decision are due in the court’s next term, which starts in October and ends in June 2014.

“The decision vaults the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule into the top five Clean Air Act cases heard by the Supreme Court,” said John Walke of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The ultimate ruling on this case won’t generate as much press as the Supreme Court’s heartening gay-marriage decisions, or disheartening Voting Rights Act decision, but it could save a lot of lives.

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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Ed Markey, climate hawk, headed for the Senate

by znuojad5 Posted on June 26, 2013

Ed Markey, climate hawk, headed for the Senate

By Claire Thompson

Markey campaign

He’ll soon be the newest member of the U.S. Senate.

Rep. Ed Markey, who pushed climate action and clean energy during 37 years in the U.S. House, is now on his way to the U.S. Senate. As expected, he handily beat Republican businessman Gabriel Gomez in the Massachusetts special election to replace now-Secretary of State John Kerry. With more than 90 percent of the vote counted on Tuesday night, Markey was up 54 to 46 percent.

Backers of Gomez had been hoping for a repeat of Scott Brown’s 2010 special-election upset, but conditions were different then — the Tea Party was on the rise, Obamacare hung in the balance, and the left-wing establishment took it for granted that Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat would stay blue.

This time, even with Markey consistently polling as much as 10 points ahead of Gomez over the course of the two-month campaign, Democrats didn’t assume an easy win. President Obama, Vice President Biden, Michelle Obama, and Bill Clinton all campaigned with Markey in recent weeks, and Markey’s campaign released a flood of ads close to the election, spending $2.6 million total on advertising compared to Gomez’s $1.4 million.

Markey, a committed climate hawk and foe of the Keystone XL pipeline, started with a financial advantage that he maintained throughout the campaign, thanks especially to money from clean-energy interests and environmental groups, reports Politico:

The vast majority of the energy money supporting Markey has come from independent expenditures by environmental groups, which account for more than $2.6 million.

Most of that comes from various branches of the League of Conservation Voters, which have spent more than $1.6 million supporting Markey or opposing Gomez.

Coming in second is the NextGen Committee, a super PAC backed by billionaire Tom Steyer. That group, which spent most of its money on Markey’s primary contest against Stephen Lynch, has spent more than $853,000 so far.

The remainder of the outside spending came from campaigns by the Sierra Club Political Committee, the 350.org Action Fund and Environmental Majority.

Markey received direct contributions from clean energy, environmental, and utility PACs, like the Environmental Defense Action Fund and the American Wind Energy Association PAC, as well as clean-energy companies like SolarCity and NextEra. Markey also got some cash through GiveGreen, a campaign run by the League of Conservation Voters Action Fund, which helps folks donate to lawmakers considered to be environmentally friendly.

Gomez received some contributions from fossil-fuel companies, including ExxonMobil, but Markey led his opponent in energy-money contributions by a factor of 76 to 1. Many of the energy-industry PACs known for supporting Republican candidates neglected Gomez’s campaign, perhaps seeing it as a losing battle.

After all, Gomez was a Republican running in deep-blue Massachusetts, which is perhaps why he made the rare claim of being a “green Republican.” He even declared his acceptance of human-caused climate change. But his green cred stops there, according to Climate Progress:

[I]n almost every instance in which Gomez discusses the environment, it is immediately followed by an equally unwavering endorsement of the Keystone XL pipeline as a job creator, a pathway to lower energy costs, and, alarmingly, environmentally friendly. …

Beyond that, and broad proclamations of support for alternative energy, Gomez has refused to take a position on any substantial climate legislation.

On the same day as Markey’s election, Obama gave his strongest speech yet arguing for climate action, and said carbon emissions would be a key factor in his decision on Keystone XL. It’s a day for climate hawks to celebrate — and then get back to work.

Claire Thompson is an editorial assistant at Grist.

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Oil companies will curb use of air guns that torment marine mammals

by q9v9lw Posted on June 21, 2013

Oil companies will curb use of air guns that torment marine mammals

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Finally, some peace and quiet.

Whales, dolphins, and manatees will finally enjoy some peace and quiet in parts of the Gulf of Mexico following a legal settlement that will restrict the use of oil industry air guns.

As if dodging oil spills and dead zones in the Gulf isn’t bad enough, the marine mammals there are also subjected to deafening pulses of noise fired from boats searching for new oil fields to drill. “These super-loud airblasts hurt whales and dolphins,” said Miyoko Sakashita of the Center for Biological Diversity in a statement. “The seismic surveys sound like an underwater explosion, causing deafness and stress that can disrupt whales’ behaviors and even lead to strandings.”

The legal settlement filed Thursday with a federal court will block the use of the sonar guns in parts of the Gulf until the end of 2015. It will also add manatees to the list of species whose presence requires an automatic silencing of sonar blasts. From the Associated Press:

Oil and gas companies working in the Gulf of Mexico have agreed not to use seismic surveys for the next 2 ½ years in three areas considered critical to whales and along the coast during the peak calving season for bottlenose dolphins.

“The very fact of an agreement on this issue is without precedent. There has not been any settlement made with the oil and gas industry on seismic issues here — or, to my knowledge, anywhere in the world,” said Michael Jasny, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Marine Mammal Protection Project.

He said the surveys, in which ships slowly tow arrays of air guns through the water, firing them every 10 to 12 seconds for weeks or months, can reduce whales’ eating and keep baby dolphins from bonding with their mothers. …

The 30-month period will give the government time for environmental studies and give the industry time for research into alternatives, both required as part of the agreement, said Jasny.

The agreement should help the Gulf’s wildlife hear themselves think — and stay alive.

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.