Become a Member

Tag: economics

  • Typhoons, Climate Negotiations and a Reality Check

    Typhoons, Cli­mate Nego­ti­a­tions and a Real­i­ty Check - by Rachel Smolk­er, Biofuelwatch The lat­est round of cli­mate nego­ti­a­tions are open­ing just as we are hear­ing the sto­ries and view­ing images on the news cov­er­age of the dev­as­ta­tion wrought on the Philip­pines by Typhoon Haiyan (aka Yolan­da).  Coin­ci­den­tal­ly, the last round of cli­mate nego­ti­a­tions, COP 18 in…

  • False Solutions for Forests: Biomass Energy, Sustainable Timber, and Carbon Markets

    False Solu­tions for Forests: Bio­mass Ener­gy, Sus­tain­able Tim­ber, and Car­bon Markets - by Jeff Conant, Friends of the Earth In the land­scape of glob­al defor­esta­tion, a ten­sion exists between poli­cies and prac­tices aimed at draw­ing a sharp halt to the exploita­tion of forests and for­est peo­ples and those designed to stim­u­late a vague­ly promised mar­ket shift toward…

  • USC Reaches $24 million Settlement with Developer of Closed Biomass Facility

    USC Reach­es $24 mil­lion Set­tle­ment with Devel­op­er of Closed Bio­mass Facility - by Andrew Shain, Octo­ber 4, 2013. Source: Rock Hill Herald The Uni­ver­si­ty of South Car­oli­na has reached a $24 mil­lion set­tle­ment with Wis­con­sin-based John­son Con­trols over a failed bio­mass pow­er plant. The agree­ment calls for John­son to pay the remain­ing $14.4 mil­lion owed on the $19.1…

  • Kentucky Biomass Incinerator would “adversely affect rate-payers”

    Ken­tucky Bio­mass Incin­er­a­tor Would “Adverse­ly affect rate-payers” - By Eri­ca Peter­son, Octo­ber 9, 2013 Source: Ken­tucky Pub­lic Radio Lex­ing­ton-based ecoPow­er wants to build a bio­mass plant in Per­ry Coun­ty. The plant would burn wood scraps to cre­ate electricity. The util­i­ty Ken­tucky Pow­er wants to buy all that elec­tric­i­ty, and the state Pub­lic Ser­vice Com­mis­sion will decide whether to…

  • Biomass Incinerator Noise a Nightmare to Neighbors

    Bio­mass Incin­er­a­tor Noise a Night­mare to Neighbors  A “con­tin­u­ous roar.” Jet planes “revving” up for take­off. Being on an “air­craft car­ri­er dur­ing oper­a­tions.” That’s how neigh­bors of the Gainesville Renew­able Ener­gy Cen­ter (GREC) describe the noise com­ing from the 100 megawatt bio­mass incinerator’s ini­tial test runs. Air pol­lu­tion, cli­mate dis­rup­tion, for­est degra­da­tion, and water con­sump­tion are the most…

  • OSHA: Berlin, NH Biomass Contractors Put Workers At Risk

    OSHA: Berlin, NH Bio­mass Con­trac­tors Put Work­ers At Risk - by Chris Jensen, Octo­ber 21, 2013. Source: New Hamp­shire Pub­lic Radio Fed­er­al offi­cials say six com­pa­nies build­ing a bio­mass plant in Berlin have put work­ers at risk by not fol­low­ing safe­ty regulations. The Occu­pa­tion­al Health and Safe­ty Admin­is­tra­tion pro­pos­es fin­ing the com­pa­nies about $280,000 for thir­ty-one “will­ful, seri­ous and repeat vio­la­tions…

  • Questions Remain About Future of Texas Biomass Incinerator

    Ques­tions remain about future of bio­mass facility - by Rhon­da Oaks, Octo­ber 20, 2013. Source: The Lufkin News Since a judge’s rul­ing in May allowed an out­side man­age­ment com­pa­ny to assume con­trol of the idled Aspen Pow­er plant in North Lufkin, many cit­i­zens have ques­tioned the sta­tus of the 57-megawatt facil­i­ty that was intend­ed to be the…

  • Biomass Energy Takes Share of $7 Billion in U.S. Army Contracts

    Bio­mass ener­gy takes share of $7 bil­lion in U.S. Army contracts - by Anna Simet, Sep­tem­ber 24, 2013. Source: Bio­mass Magazine Out of 52 bids sub­mit­ted to acquire a share of $7 bil­lion in ener­gy con­tracts offered by the U.S. Army, 13 bio­mass com­pa­nies have been selected. Con­tract awardees include Acciona Ener­gy North Amer­i­ca Corp., Chica­go, Ill.;…

  • Speak Up On “National Bioenergy Truth Day” – Thursday, October 17

    Speak Up On “Nation­al Bioen­er­gy Truth Day” – Thurs­day, Octo­ber 17  Please take 5 min­utes of your time on Thurs­day, Octo­ber 17 to make phone calls to select mem­bers of the U.S. Sen­ate Com­mit­tee on Ener­gy and Nat­ur­al Resources (list­ed below with talk­ing points) to voice your oppo­si­tion to the lat­est piece of leg­is­la­tion that would open the…

  • European Biofuels Vote Delivers ‘Desperately Weak Compromise’

    Euro­pean Bio­fu­els Vote Deliv­ers ‘Des­per­ate­ly Weak Compromise’ - by Karl Math­iesen, Sep­tem­ber 11, 2013. Source: The Guardian The Euro­pean par­lia­ment has deliv­ered a “des­per­ate­ly weak com­pro­mise” on the future of bio­fu­els in Europe that indus­try says will “cur­tail jobs and investment”. In a tight vote on the use of bio­fu­els in trans­port fuel, the par­lia­ment approved a 6% cap on the…