Florida House committee approves renewable energy bill
A House committee passed a sweeping renewables bill -- but not without criticism.
BY MARY ELLEN KLAS, Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau, Saturday, 04-10-2010
TALLAHASSEE -- A House committee gave approval Friday to a bill that uses tax breaks, government-backed loans and $400 million of electricity rate hikes in an attempt to spark a renewable energy revolution in Florida and drive down the use of dirty fossil fuels - but, not mandate that electric companies lower their fossil fuel consumption.
Environmentalists called it a good first step but lamented the absence of a renewable-energy standard that other states have used to force a clean-up of the way they produce power.
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Renewable Energy Now Growing Faster than Coal in China
April 10th, 2010
New official stats from China show that renewable energy capacity is growing faster than coal now.
By the end of 2010, hydro, nuclear and wind power should account for 26% of the country's electricity generation, providing about 250 GW of capacity. "Thermal power", largely coal-fired power stations, accounts for about 700 GW of capacity. However, 96 GW of the China's 178 GW of new power capacity will be from renewables in 2010, compared to 80 GW from thermal power. So, the tide may be changing.
A record 10,010 megawatts (10 gigawatts!) of new wind capacity was installed in the United States last year, accounting for 39 percent of new electrical generation, the American Wind Energy Association said in its annual report.
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Clean Energy at half the dirty price in Calif.
Calif regulators issue new rules on public power
By JASON DEAREN Associated Press Writer, 04/09/2010
SAN FRANCISCO—State energy regulators have issued new guidelines meant to curb tactics used by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. in its campaign against Marin County's new public power agency.
Among the new rules issued Thursday by the California Public Utilities Commission is one that says utility companies cannot refuse to supply electricity to community choice aggregators.
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Big Energy Firms Blocking Solar Power in Georgia and Washington
ATLANTA, Georgia, Mar 31, 2010 (IPS) The Atlanta Progressive News, updated, Friday, April 9, 2010
As citizens, businesses and non-profit organizations seek to transition to cleaner power sources like solar and wind, some big energy firms whose business models rely on polluting sources are standing in the way.
In Georgia, the energy company Georgia Power has lobbied for, and gotten, public policies at the Public Service Commission (PSC) and State legislature that are making it difficult for the state's residents to transition to solar power. The Dekalb County school system wanted to put solar panels on their schools, but could not do it because of state policies like the Territorial Electric Service Act of 1973 which gives Georgia Power a monopoly over the purchase of energy.
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Koenigsegg CCXR built; 3 Trevitas and 1 Platinuss
2010-03-5 by Simona, Top Speed
2010 Koenigsegg CCXR Platinuss : $2.5 million
Koenigsegg also revealed a new special edition at the Geneva Motor Show. Limited to only one unit and built for a wealthy customer in Brazil, the CCXR Platinuss E100 (named after a Brazilian dealership) had to be customized so it could use bio-ethanol. [instead of the intended bio-diesel]
But despite the modifications the CCXR Platinuss E100 still develops 1018 hp. The customer also wanted a larger front splitter and the color has been custom painted.
2010 Koenigsegg CCXR Trevita : $2.5 million
When sunlight hits the car, it sparkles like millions of silvery white diamonds infused inside the visible carbon-fiber-weave bodywork.
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Bloom Box: Bloom Energy Powers Your Whole House with a Box
The Bloom Box: Energy Breakthrough
March 4th 2010
At a news conference attended by Gov. Schwartzneger and former Secretary of State Colin Powell, K.R. Sridhar, founder of Bloom Energy Inc., launched what he describes as the next generation of electricity, The Bloom Box.
Financial News, Technology by Pradeep Kolla
February 26th, 2010
Bloom Energy Stock and Stock Price Among Bloom Box Buzz: Fuel Cell Energy Technology Explored. Bloom Energy is a Sunnydale, California start up company that just unveiled their brain-child, the Bloom Box. The invention uses state of the art fuel cell technology in order to convert fossil fuels into electricity, allowing a business or homeowner to create their own energy without tapping into the electrical grid.
The servers will not allow you total energy independence, as you will still rely on natural gas or propane to fuel the generator. However, the company hopes that within the next decade they will be able to create a server that uses solar energy to provide electrical services to homes.
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What Arab Nations do when their oil is running out
Arab Nations Want a Piece of the Green Energy Pie, Too
Feb 17th 2010
Europe, North America and Asia have been the primary drivers of the green tech industry thus far, especially in the realm of wind and solar power. Meanwhile, Arab countries have maintained their dominance over oil and gas exports, controlling 45 percent of oil and roughly one quarter of all gas reserves globally. But now, either to claim their stake in a burgeoning industry or to prepare for life after [their] oil and gas [is gone], several Arab states are making aggressive moves to develop their own domestic renewable energy industry.
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Nuclear Loans Have 50 Percent Risk of Default
US Energy Sec Steven Chu Unaware That Nuclear Loans Have 50 Percent Risk of Default
02-16-2010
The Obama administration on Tuesday announced a loan guarantee for the first new nuclear reactor to be built in the US in decades--part of a planned $54.5 billion program to kickstart a nuclear revival using government-backed loans. Yet Chu said he was not aware of a Congressional Budget Office study showing that the chances of default on these loans are "very high--well above 50 percent."
"I don't know of the CBO report," Chu told reporters during a conference call on Tuesday. "We don't believe the chance of default is 50 percent. We believe it's far less than that." The first loan guarantee, worth $8.33 billion, was awarded to two proposed reactors to be built by Southern Company at Plant Vogtle in Burke, Georgia.
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25% US Renewable Electricity Standard Will Create 274,000 Jobs
Washington, D.C., United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com]
Navigant Consulting, Feb. 8th 2010
A new study released by Navigant Consulting finds that a 25% by 2025 national Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) would support hundreds of thousands of new American jobs and prevent a near-term collapse in some industries. Job growth in the wind, solar, biomass, waste-to-energy and hydropower industries would particularly benefit the Southeastern U.S. and manufacturing states whose Congressional delegations have had a history of voting against incentives and other measures designed to support the renewable energy sector.
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White House Readying $5 Billion in Green Tax Credits
tax credits for renewable energy products
DECEMBER 16, 2009
WASHINGTON -- The White House will announce plans Wednesday to provide another $5 billion in tax credits for manufacturers of wind, solar, electric vehicle and other renewable energy products, hoping to leverage at least $15 billion in private investment and create "tens of thousands" of jobs.
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First Solar City in the Sunshine State
A multi-million eco-project stands to transform Florida into the Silicon Valley of solar energy
By Jack Fairweather : Apr 21, 2009
Solar power has been, ironically, slow to catch on in the sunshine state. But developers of a new city aim to catapult Florida to the forefront of solar innovation. Babcock Ranch, a new housing and commercial development on a swath of rich swampland outside Fort Myers promises to be the world’s first city to be powered only by solar energy. Residents will rely for power on a 75 megawatt, $300 million solar-powered generator.
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Wind: Eye-Catching Alternative Energy on Atlantic Blvd
11/20/2009 6:30 PM
the wind spires can save an average of $12,000 to $15,000 a year.
They cost about $10,000 to install, and can last up to 25 years.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- If you've driven down Atlantic Boulevard in the past month, you may have noticed three spinning towers near the intersection of St. Johns Bluff Road. They're a source of energy rarely seen in Florida. The three wind spires were installed by Frank Erickson of Erickson Energy, after he proposed the energy-saving design to PB Management, which owns the shopping center where the spires are located.
Manufactured by Windspire Energy whose corporate headquarters are located in Reno, Nevada (formerly Mariah Power of Michigan), the spires produce 1.2 kilowatts of energy each, stand about 30 feet high and are powered entirely by wind. The Windspire is manufactured in Michigan through a supply agreement with MasTech Wind.
India to Spend up to $20 Billion on Solar Technology
November 20, 2009 - By VIKAS BAJAJ
The Indian cabinet approved a plan on Thursday that sets out to increase energy production from solar technology to 20 gigawatts by 2022, up from six megawatts today. The government will spend about 43 billion rupees ($922 million) in the first of three phases of the program. The total cost for all three phases could approach $20 billion.
The government had signaled its intention to invest more heavily in solar technology earlier this year, but had been reluctant to share details. Its latest announcement comes less than three weeks before world leaders are set to meet at Copenhagen to discuss climate change.
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Jay Leno’s 1964 Chrysler Turbine car
Jay Leno's 1964 Chrysler Turbine car * Jay's Jet
Mopar Action mag. Feb. 2010 (10-27-2009)
by Steve Lehto, an award-winning author from Detroit
After World War II, Chrysler launched whole hog into the field of automotive turbines. They hired as many technological experts as they could find - metallurgists, mechanics, engineers, turbine specialists and started refining the technology to put a jet engine into a car and make it practical for everyday use. That required making the engines smaller, Inexpensive, more efficient and, let's face it, idiot-proof. Have you ever seen the cockpit of a Boeing 727? Could you toss the airliner keys to an average American driver and say, "Hey, drive this thing around the tarmac for a while"?
Iceland Switching from Hydrogen Fuel Cells to Electric Cars
The Driving Sustainability '09 conference and an intimate conversation with Icelandic President Olafur Grimsson.
September 17, 2009 at 10:25AM by Jim Motavalli
The setting was traditionally Icelandic, but the President is quite up to date about the fast-moving efforts--showcased at the "Driving Sustainability '09" conference, where he spoke--to turn Iceland into a showcase for electric cars. Its unique combination of political will, a concentrated population of just 310,000 people and abundant, low-cost geothermal electricity could, in fact, lead to the first national charging network in the world.
Mitsubishi will be one of Iceland's first partners. According to Grimsson, the company's relationship to Iceland goes back to the early 1970s, when it began supplying turbines to the country's emerging geothermal industry. Two years ago, Mitsubishi came to the table to talk about bringing its i-MiEV electric car to Iceland. Examples were brought over last year, their first visit outside Japan. "Given our involvement in clean energy, it made sense," Grimsson said. "And we also had an ideal combination of rural roads, cosmopolitan settings and all kinds of weather for testing."
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contact Obama! 