Category: Blog entry

  • Wind is Successfully Competing

    Conway IrwinDecember 7, 2013 GreenTechMedia Mor­gan Stan­ley is see­ing “vicious com­pe­ti­tion” between coal plants and wind farms in resource-rich regions. More effi­cient tech­nolo­gies, com­bined with low costs and strong wind resources, are mak­ing wind cost-com­pet­i­tive with some of the cheap­est forms of fos­sil ener­gy in the Midwest. “In the Mid­west, we’re now see­ing pow­er agree­ments being…

  • How Deep Do Property Lines Extend

    By JIM MALEWITZ Published: December 5, 2013 The New York Times A case involv­ing the dis­pos­al of indus­tri­al waste­water pits two inter­ests that are dear to many Tex­ans against each oth­er: oil and gas resources ver­sus pri­vate prop­er­ty rights. A deci­sion by the state’s high­est civ­il court could have major impli­ca­tions for both. The Texas Supreme Court is sched­uled to hear argu­ments on…

  • Solar Jobs Could Brighten the Economy

    By Marc Lifsher Novem­ber 13, 2013, Los Ange­les Times Los Ange­les Coun­ty could cre­ate tens of thou­sands of new jobs and reduce glob­al-warm­ing-caus­ing car­bon emis­sions if solar-volta­ic pan­els are installed on just 5% of avail­able rooftops, says a just-issued report. The study by the Envi­ron­men­tal Defense Fund and the Luskin Cen­ter for Inno­va­tion at UCLA, released Wednes­day, pre­dicts that 29,000 installer jobs would…

  • The Sun Shines In Vermont!

    U.S. Solar Pow­er Test­ing Site to Be Built in Vt. Rep­re­sen­ta­tives from San­dia, IBM, and the U.S. Depart­ment of Ener­gy joined Ver­mont Gov. Peter Shum­lin, sec­ond from left, and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, right, to launch the region­al cen­ter to help test solar tech­nol­o­gy on Mon­day, Nov. 4, 2013 in Willis­ton, Vt. Offi­cials announced the Ver­mont…

  • Green Energy In Rutland

    GMP Opens Energy Innovation Center In Rutland VPR Novem­ber 20, 2013 By Nina Keck GMP’s new Ener­gy Inno­va­tion Cen­ter in Rut­land was cre­at­ed out of what had been two blight­ed down­town properties. Green Moun­tain Power’s new $2.75 mil­lion Ener­gy Inno­va­tion Cen­ter opens today in Rut­land.  The facil­i­ty was cre­at­ed out of what had been two blight­ed down­town…

  • Biomass Thermal: The Logs That Break the Forest’s Back

    Bio­mass Ther­mal: The Logs That Break the Forest’s Back A sec­tor of the bio­mass incin­er­a­tion indus­try claims to be turn­ing over a new “green” leaf by build­ing small­er, slight­ly more ener­gy-effi­cient facil­i­ties focused on heat­ing rather than elec­tric­i­ty. Mean­while, behind the smoke­screen, bio­mass ther­mal advo­cates are sup­port­ing much of the same for­est-raid­ing, cli­mate-bust­ing, and lung-sear­ing…

  • Push for Ethanol Production Carries Costs to Land

    - by Dina Cap­piel­lo and Matt Apuz­zo, Novem­ber 12, 2013, Source: AP The hills of south­ern Iowa bear the scars of America’s push for green ener­gy: The brown gash­es where rain has washed away the soil. The pol­lut­ed streams that dump fer­til­iz­er into the water supply. Even the ceme­tery that dis­ap­peared like an appari­tion into a cornfield.…

  • Bills Show Rate Changes from Biomass Incinerator

    - by Christo­pher Cur­ry, Octo­ber 30, 2013, Source: The Gainesville Sun The Octo­ber bills for elec­tric cus­tomers of Gainesville Region­al Util­i­ties show the first of two rate increas­es sched­uled for this bud­get year with the bio­mass plant com­ing online. Bills sent out this month to res­i­den­tial cus­tomers show high­er rates than in August and Sep­tem­ber. Still, they…

  • 250 Scientists Concerned about Post-fire Logging

    250 Sci­en­tists Con­cerned about Post-fire Logging Novem­ber 4, 2013, Source: Yuba.net In an open let­ter to the U.S. Con­gress, 250 sci­en­tists request that Con­gress show restraint in speed­ing up log­ging in the wake of this year’s wild­fires, most notably the Rim fire in the Stanis­laus Nation­al For­est and Yosemite Nation­al Park. The sci­en­tists raised con­cerns that cur­rent­ly pro­posed…

  • $10 Million Taxpayer Money to Convert Beetle-Killed Trees to Biofuel

    $10 Mil­lion Tax­pay­er Mon­ey to Con­vert Bee­tle-Killed Trees to Biofuel - by Ash­ley Sanchez, Novem­ber 6, 2013, Source: ABC Fox Montana The Uni­ver­si­ty of Mon­tana is award­ed part of a $10 mil­lion grant to find ways to turn bee­tle-killed trees into biofuel. Pine bee­tle infes­ta­tions have impact­ed more than 42 mil­lion acres of U.S. forests for more…