Climate Change Preparation Shifts Power To Locals

Climate Change Is Rewiring Government-Citizen Relationships

Alec Applebaum, May 30, 2016 (Newsweek)

“…[Federally funded teams are attempting to learn from [failed urban projects] as they try to protect low-income communities from storm surges and heat waves as the climate continues to change and weather becomes more destructive…To ensure that communities went all-in for [its Rebuild by Design projects started after Hurricane Sandy, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development] upended the normal infrastructure process: Instead of deciding what to build, municipal governments have to earn federal money by presenting ideas developed in close consultation with civic groups representing coastal communities from Connecticut to New Jersey…When the waters subsided, a coalition of 38 groups—including [Lower East Side] residents’ associations, advocacy groups, resource-rich charities like the Red Cross and corporate sponsors like Whole Foods Market—came together as LES Ready to organize immediate aid and develop long-term plans to better prepare the area for future environmental disasters…This approach is a trend around the world…” click here for more

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First U.S. Ocean Wind About To Turn On

Offshore Wind Arrives in U.S. Waters; By the end of this year, the nation’s first offshore wind farm should begin generating electricity

Daniel Cusick, May 31, 2016 (ClimateWire via Scientific American)

“The first offshore wind farm in the [U.S., Deepwater Wind’s 30 MW Block Island project off Rhode Island, will] begin delivering power to Rhode Island’s electricity grid by year’s end, a milestone that could help reshape energy markets from New England to South Florida, experts say…[T]o achieve its full potential, as much as 4 gigawatts of capacity, it will need a major influx of capital and know-how, much of which will come from Europe, where the technology has a 25-year performance record and now accounts for 11 GW of generation capacity on the continent…[Leaders say the] industry should act now to establish the technical, logistical and policy frameworks to build more offshore wind farms…[including] setting up domestic supply chains to serve offshore regions and training a skilled workforce to deploy into the offshore wind environment [that could support hundreds of turbines by 2025]…” click here for more

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Potential Geothermal Buy-Ins

2 Geothermal Pure Plays At Their Turning Points

Simple Digressions, May 26, 2016 (Seeking Alpha)

“…[There are only two pure geothermal plays listed on major exchanges: Polaris Infrastructure (OTCPK:RAMPF) and U.S. Geothermal Inc (NYSEMKT:HTM)…[In 2015, Polaris restructured, reduced] its debt load, issued new shares and changed its management…[It’s one operating plant, San Jacinto in Nicaragua, has a stable] operating revenue of roughly $50 million…[from a contract that] expires in 2029…[The company claims one megawatt of power is equal to $1 million in the annual EBITDA…[U.S. Geothermal operates three [U.S. geothermal plants, two of which are outperforming and one underperforming. The three operating power plants are a source of stable income and cash flows. However, a big part of these earnings and cash flows is utilized by non-controlling interests - earnings and cash flows by Enbridge…and tax credits by Goldman Sachs…[leaving little for] shareholders…Increasing the EBITDA attributable to US Geothermal shareholders from today's $10 million to $16 million could transition US Geothermal into a dividend-paying company…” click here for more

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What New Energy Means To The Military

Honoring Memorial Day With Energy and Climate Security

Chris Carnavale, May 27, 2016 (Southern Alliance for Clean Energy)

“Memorial Day reminds us that those in the military serve and sacrifice every day to keep our nation strong…[and] the military’s work to address the effects of climate change and to advance energy security is a critical part of that strength…[In the 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review, the U.S. Department of Defense] identified climate change as a key security risk facing our nation as well as those around the world…The Department of Homeland Security and top-ranking intelligence community officials agree with the DoD’s assessment…[The recently films The Age of Consequences and The Burden also highlight] the role of climate change impacts in driving resources scarcity such as drought and famine, which then in turn fuel [armed conflict, the depletion of military resources, and lost lives. The] Department of Defense has adopted a goal to source 25 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2025, while the Department of the Navy is seeking 50 percent by 2020. The Navy has installed about one gigawatt of solar already…” click here for more

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How New Energy Saves Military Lives

US Military Taking No Risks by Going Green, Saving Lives and Energy

Ken Silverstein, May 23, 2016 (Energy Manager Today)

“…[The U.S. military is known] for its bravery but it’s now also known for its use of green energy, battery storage and microgrids — that is saving the lives of soldiers in the battle field while also producing cleaner energy…[T]he Defense Department has set a lofty goal for itself to consume 3,000 megawatts from renewable sources by 2025…[and getting] there is an imperative, given that it is now spending $4 billion annually to power its current installations and operations…

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"The major costs are the logistics associated with moving the generators and fuels — items that could eventually be displaced with 21st Century technologies…The military, in fact, is the world’s most voracious consumer of energy. But specifically, it is using fossil fuels on the battlefield that can run low and put people at risk. By carrying sustainable sources of power with them, soldiers are reducing their risks — while also creating fewer emissions…” click here for more

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Arnold Talks Climate To The Troops

Arnold Schwarzenegger visits soldiers in Kuwait for renewable-energy doc

Kevin Lilley, May 2, 2016 (Army Times)

“…Arnold Schwarzenegger visited U.S. soldiers in Kuwait late last month, stopping by camps Arifjan and Buehring to film parts of ‘Years of Living Dangerously,’ a documentary series that will air on the National Geographic Channel in October…[During the workout, he lifted weights with some troopers and talked about] some of Army Central's work toward cleaner energy use, including modular building materials with increased insulation that keeps down power costs, the replacement of diesel-powered light towers with solar power, and a solar-powered, off-the-grid network that can provide the energy needed to run small facilities within a camp…[He also] participated in 10 promotions and one re-enlistment…” click here for more

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Trump Twaddle On Wind Set Straight

Trump allows for renewable energy, but cites bad information

Peter Kelley, May 26, 2016 (American Wind Energy Association)

AWEA is always glad to hear about support for renewable energy, like this statement today from candidate Donald Trump, in a press conference and a speech on energy policy to an oil industry group in Bismarck, North Dakota:

“So we can pursue all forms of energy. This includes renewable energies and the technologies of the future.”

Trump said that includes wind. However he then cited bad information that’s out-of-date, discredited, misleading, and just plain wrong, about the cost of wind, incentives to build turbines, and effects on eagles and birds.

Trump on the cost of wind energy: “Wind is very expensive, I mean wind is, without subsidy, wind doesn’t work.”

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Actually: Wind is already cheaper than fossil fuels in wind-rich areas like Iowa and Texas, a statement Politifact checked and rated “True.” It’s increasingly cost-competitive not counting any incentives. The overall cost of wind-generated electricity has fallen 66 percent since 2009.

Trump on incentives: “You need massive subsidies for wind…The government should not pick winners and losers.”

Actually: All forms of energy have incentives, most of them permanent in the tax code. The only ones preparing to phase out their incentives are wind and the other renewable industries. The wind Production Tax Credit is set to phase out starting next year.

Trump on eagles: “…there are places maybe for wind. But if you go to various places in California, wind is killing all of the eagles.”

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Actually: Publicly available data of all known eagle fatalities shows collisions with wind turbines at modern wind farms are responsible for less than five percent of all documented human-caused golden eagle deaths. Cases are even rarer of bald eagles striking turbines. The numbers of both kinds of eagle are increasing in the Western U.S.

Trump on birds: “Wind turbines kill far more than a million birds a year, far more…so wind is, you know, it’s a problem.”

Actually: Mr. Trump’s numbers are off by orders of magnitude. Wind power has among the lowest impacts on wildlife of any way to make electricity. Leading wildlife groups like the Audubon Society, the National Wildlife Federation, and the World Wildlife Fund support responsibility sited wind turbines. Wind energy is the low-cost solution to carbon pollution in particular which threatens all wildlife. Unlike all other human sources, the wind industry works to minimize and offset the limited impacts it has on individual birds, building on a legacy of care for birds and environment.

Trump ended by saying “Despite that, I am into all types of energy. And by the way, while we’re in North Dakota, I have to say that: I love the farmers.” We encourage Mr. Trump to love the wind farmers, too. In most cases they’re the same people: 98 percent of wind turbines are erected on private land, leased from farmers and ranchers.

So the good news about wind energy is not just it’s good for consumers and the environment, it has also given the farmers in 40 states a valuable new cash crop, as it has in North Dakota.

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Portland, Ore, Bans Climate Change Denial From Science Classes

Portland School System Bans Teaching Materials That Cast Doubt on Climate Change

Eric Chaney, May 23, 2016 (The Weather Channel)

“…Last week, the Portland Public School board unanimously passed a resolution which directs schools to ‘abandon the use of any adopted text material that is found to express doubt about the severity of the climate crisis or its root in human activities.’ …The resolution broadly calls for all Portland schools to ‘develop an implementation plan for climate literacy.’…Climate literacy is essential for the success of Portland Public Schools students, the resolution says, both as members of their communities and citizens of the world…Teaching climate change isn't always easy. A survey conducted by Science Magazine in 2014 found that although more than 95 percent of active climate scientists attribute recent global warming to human causes, only about half of U.S. adults believe the same thing…” click here for more

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Wind Hit 100%-Plus Of Aussie State’s Energy For 10 Hours

Wind energy hits 100% of South Australia demand on Sunday

Giles Parkinson, 24 May 2016 (RE New Economy)

“…[On May 22, the wind energy-generated electricity supply met South Australia’s electricity] demand for more than 10 hours, from 1.40am to just before midday (11.55am), with a peak of 120 per cent of demand at 4.30am…[It is 40 per cent of the state’s installed capacity, but] with more wind energy projects in the pipeline that could more than double the current capacity, [there is a growing] need for more inter-connectors to other states…[W]hat’s interesting to watch is the comparison between South Australia and Queensland, the other state most reliant on gas as the marginal cost of generation…While gas is used to fill in the gaps between wind and solar in South Australia, it is used in Queensland to fill the gaps between the output of coal and system demand, minus the input of 1.5GW of rooftop solar. Queensland, apart from a few biomass power plants, has no large-scale renewable energy generation…In the past two weeks, South Australia’s average daily price has been cheaper than Queensland’s on eight days out of 14…” click here for more

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Human-Caused Changes Threaten A Third Of Bird Species With Extinction

Third of North American Birds Said to Face Extinction Due to Climate Change, Other Man-Made Factors

Michael Edison Hayden, May 22, 2016 (ABC News)

“…37 percent of all migratory bird species on the continent are at risk of extinction due to a myriad of harmful environmental factors including climate change, sea-level rise, land development and oil spills…[including 432 most at risk of extinction without significant conservation actions of the 1,154 native species of birds in Canada, the U.S., and Mexico, as ranked by The State of North America’s Birds 2016 from the North American Bird Conservation Initiative, with a score of 14 out 20 or higher] or with a concern score of 13 and a steeply declining population trend…Some of the birds that received a score of 20, the highest possible, included the California condor, the imperial woodpecker, and the Florida scrub-jay…Concern about a "mass extinction event" as a result of climate change and other man-made factors has risen in recent years…[ A widely cited paper suggests that the Earth had entered a new epoch] causing radical shifts to our planet…” click here for more

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Attack On Wind Linked to Oil Industry Money

Big Oil Cheerleader Robert Bryce Predictably Misleads On Wind Energy And Eagle Deaths In WSJ

Andres Seifter, May 16, 2016 (MediaMatters)

…[A May 6 Daily Kos post warned the Wall Street Journal would soon publish work from oil industry advocate Robert Bryce attacking revisions to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) regulations governing wind energy and bald and golden eagles…[On May 15, Bryce attacked, but] as the Daily Kos piece explained, wind turbines are responsible for only ‘about 3 percent of human-caused eagle deaths’ and that other factors -- including the oil and gas industry and climate change -- are a much greater threat to birds than wind energy…[Bryce is] a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, which has received millions of dollars from oil interests over the years, including $800,000 from ExxonMobil and $1.9 million from a foundation run by the oil billionaire Koch brothers…” click here for more

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Solar Plus Storage Multi-tasking To Cut Costs

Storing The Sun’s Energy Just Got A Whole Lot Cheaper

Joe Romm, May 18, 2016 (Climate Progress)

“With prices dropping rapidly for both renewables and battery storage, the economics of decarbonizing the grid are changing faster than most policymakers, journalists, and others realize…[A solar plus storage system based on lithium-ion batteries makes economic sense through revenue stacking. It can stack or combine multiple revenue sources like frequency regulation for a system operator, adjusting local power quality without other expensive new infrastructure, and reducing peak mid-day demand charges for the customers it serves. Battery prices have come down by a factor of three in the last few years, expanding available opportunities. This is] the dawn of a revolution that will enable lithium-ion batteries to play a larger and larger role in [making New Energy] more unstoppable than ever…” click here for more

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Cruel April The Hottest Month By Record Margin

April breaks global temperature record, marking seven months of new highs; Latest monthly figures add to string of recent temperature records and all but assure 2016 will be hottest year on record

Michael Slezak, 15 May 2016 (UK Guardian)

“...…[Chaucer’s ‘cruelest month’ of April was the hottest on record globally this year] – and the seventh month in a row to have broken global temperature records…The latest figures smashed the previous record for April by the largest margin ever recorded…It makes three months in a row that the monthly record has been broken by the largest margin ever, and seven months in a row that are at least 1C above the 1951-80 mean for that month…[The string of record-smashing months has scientists talking about a climate emergency that] all but assures that 2016 will be the hottest year on record, and probably by the largest margin ever…[It] is being spurred by a massive El Niño…But it’s not the biggest El Niño on record and that spike in temperatures is occurring over a background of rapid global warming...wreaking havoc with ecosystems around the world…” click here for more

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Big Solar Throws Its Weight Around In Maine

Big solar worked to kill Maine solar energy bill; Fearful that the bill would threaten their business model, national companies took steps that helped LePage and Republicans, at the expense of local solar installers and their Democratic allies.

Tux Turkel, May 16, 2016 (Portland Press Herald)

“The Maine lawmakers who last month defeated a landmark bill that would have expanded solar energy had unusual allies: national companies that are the country’s largest installers of rooftop solar panels…[Sunrun Inc. and SolarCity] hired lobbyists to fight the bill, donated money to political action committees that benefit the bill’s opponents and used social media to push an alternative measure that created a smokescreen for the bill’s detractors…The Maine solar bill would have replaced net metering with an innovative but untested alternative credit system that was crafted by a coalition of local solar installers, top Democrats, the state’s public advocate, utility companies and the state’s clean-energy and conservation groups…But the national solar installers, committed to the net metering system, [fought Maine’s alternative proposal because] they were afraid it would catch on in other states where net metering is also under fire…” click here for more

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Big Oil Ready To Move On Ocean Wind

Oil and Gas Giants to Join Wind-Energy Battle, Says Dong CEO; Henrik Poulsen says companies such as Shell and Total are flooding the wind-energy industry with fresh competition

Elina Williams, May 13, 2016 (Wall Street Journal)

“The offshore wind-energy industry will soon be flooded by competition as big oil companies join utilities and small renewable players in the growing sector, said the chief executive of the world’s biggest offshore wind company, Dong Energy…Henrik Poulsen also said some new investment in offshore wind energy was coming from companies primarily associated with traditional oil and gas markets, like Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Eni SpA of Italy and Total SA France…Dong was once one of Europe’s most coal intensive utilities but the state-owned enterprise has steered its business away from coal and oil and gas extraction in the past decade toward offshore wind. The move has helped lift profits thanks to Europe’s significant wind power subsidies…[Dong] has a 26% share of the installed offshore wind-energy capacity in the world, more than twice as much as its nearest rival…” click here for more

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Protestors Defy Police, SoCalGas To Shut NatGas Facility

Protesters call for closure of SoCalGas facility at Porter Ranch gas leak site

Dakota Smith, May 16, 2016 (LA Daily News)

Activists from a coalition of groups opposing continued operation of the Los Angeles natural gas storage facility that released the worst methane leak in U.S. history shut the site down for three hours in an act of civil disobedience.

photo by Ann Bridges (click to enlarge)

The protestors called on California Governor Jerry Brown and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to close the Southern California Gas Company site’s antiquated natural gas containment wells, use other available supplies to local power plants, and turn the disaster into opportunity by moving faster in the state’s transition to New Energy.

photo by Ann Bridges (click to enlarge)

SoCalGas, in an attempt to reduce the impact of the civil disobedience, told the Los Angeles police not to make arrests. In response, the defiant activists escalated their action by expanding the area of the facility’s access they were blocking. Among the onlookers were residents of the surrounding community still displaced and sick from the fumes released in the leak.

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An hour later, with SoCalGas still backing away from a response, the 21 representatives of Food & Water Watch, 350.org, SoCal 350 Climate Action, South Bay 350, Long Beach 350, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the ANSWER Coalition ended the demonstration and called for state leaders to oppose SB 380, a bill that would allow SoCalGas to resume used of the facility if its 115 wells pass rigorous safety tests. click here for more

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Climate Change Could Decide Trump Vs. Clinton

Why this could finally be the election where climate change matters

Chris Mooney, May 9, 2016 (Washington Post)

“…Now that the race appears to have narrowed to [Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton], it sets up a situation that many environmentalists have long hoped for — one in which a sharp contrast on climate change between the two candidates means that it might not only come up prominently in an election, but moreover, actually make a difference. (And if Bernie Sanders somehow racks up hard-to-imagine delegate totals in coming races…that contrast would only be heightened further.)...That would be pretty different from other recent elections. In 2012, President Obama and the media alike were widely faulted for rarely talking about climate change. In the 2014 midterms, meanwhile, billionaire Tom Steyer’s super PAC NextGen Climate Action spent $ 74 million, but saw candidates it was opposing win nonetheless in key Senate races…[T]he issue appears to have grown in public salience since then, and new polling data, in combination with the very clear difference between Trump and Clinton on the issue, suggests at least a chance that things might actually be different this time…” click here for more

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SunEdison Won’t Stop Solar

Solar Energy Will Thrive

David Sandalow, May 3, 2016 (NY Times)

“Solar power is booming…[I]nstallations grew at least 28 percent last year…[The industry now employs more than 200,000 workers – roughly three times as many as the coal mining industry…SunEdison’s troubles were mainly the result of rapid growth and excessive debt. Many solar companies with better managed growth and modest leverage will prosper in the years ahead…The growth of solar energy will be driven by three factors….[First and most important, costs] have fallen roughly 80 percent since 2007 and are projected to keep falling…Second, governments around the world strongly support solar power…[because it] produces neither local air pollutants nor heat-trapping gases…Third, integrating solar and wind power into electric grids is proving easier than many thought…[But the SunEdison bankruptcy is a reminder that because] the solar industry has high capital expenses and low operating expenses, low-cost capital will be especially important to its long-term success…” click here for more

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Why Wind Remains A Best Bet

Wind Energy Still a Promising Investment Despite Uncertainty

May 3, 2016 (Transmission & Distribution World)

“…[T]he decreasing costs and increasing efficiencies of wind energy still make it an attractive energy source for investment…[Downward trending prices mean that even after taking into account historically low prices of natural gas] onshore wind energy can be competitive with other conventional sources [according to Sure as the wind blows: the potential of wind energy in the U.S. from BBVA Reseach]…Prices of turbines have gone down 30 percent since their peak in 2008-2009…[T]echnological advances and fiscal incentives helped lead to a big uptick in wind-generation capacity…[T]he U.S. is still lagging behind countries like Denmark, Spain, Germany and China, which the economists say have a better mix of manufacturing, regulations and adoption rates…” click here for more

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Climate Change And The Middle Class

How climate change will impact the global middle class

John Elkington, May 9, 2016 (GreenBiz)

The evidence suggests that global politics are shifting, driven by climate change and an ‘environmental credit crunch’ that will reach a tipping point when the general population is affected and realizes it is being affected and decide to move on from scapegoat politics, according to UBS Investment Bank economist Paul Donavan. A UBS study of the impact of climate change on the world’s middle class, currently estimated to number around 1 billion people, shows they are far more likely than the world’s poor to take defensive action against any threat to their relative economic and social status. UBS found that by 2050 the average American is likely to experience 27 to 50 days over of over 95 degrees F. temps, a major concern] for an increasingly aging population. Infrastructure will also be stressed: planes cannot take off, rail lines buckle and asphalt melts. Food availability, pricing and quality are potentially huge concerns that will likely lead the global middle class to turn away from Donald Trump’s denial of reality and exert its political muscle. click here for more

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2016 Was U.S. Wind’s Strongest Q1 Since 2012

Wind power off to a good start

Barbara Vergetis Lundin, May 2, 2016 (SmartGridNews)

The U.S. wind industry installed 520 MW of new capacity in Q1 2016, the biggest first quarter the industry has had since 2012. Developers are rushing to take advantage of the 100% production tax credit (PTC), which drops to 80% at the end of 2016. The 2012 Q1 was similarly driven by an expiring PTC. Wind builders began construction on 2,000 MW of capacity in Q1, bringing the total in-construction U.S. capacity to 10,100 MW. There are also 5,100 MW of capacity in advanced stages of development and nearing construction, promising big growth from the current 74,512 MW of installed wind capacity. click here for more

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SolarCity Offers Its Portfolio Of Distributed Resources To Utilities

SolarCity Launches Utility and Grid Services

May 5, 2016 (SolarCity)

SolarCity, the leading U.S. rooftop solar installer, will now offer installation, financing, and consulting services on utility-scale solar and energy storage resource development for utilities and grid operators. SolarCity will manage financing, design, installation, and optimize system operation and maintenance. A new operations software platform can turn a utility-scale solar project with energy storage into a dispatchable resource that provides high-return capacity services and supports utilities in avoiding capacity charges and managing demand peaks more cost effectively than with traditional generation. Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative will be the off-taker and beneficiary of SolarCity capacity services. As grid planners and operators move toward a grid with energy flowing to and from the system, SolarCity portfolios of aggregated DERs will offer increased flexibility. Kauai Island Utility Cooperative is already using SolarCity services. Southern California Edison and four other utilities are partnering with SolarCity on pilots. click here for more

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The Children Win Again In Climate Change Court Fight

Climate Change Litigation - The Children Win In Court

James Conca, May 1, 2016 (Forbes)

“Against all odds, another group of children who are suing the government to protect the environment against the harm of global warming in their future, have won in court…King County Superior Court Judge Hollis Hill ordered [the State of Washington’s Department of Ecology] to promulgate a carbon emissions reduction rule by the end of 2016 and make recommendations to the state legislature on science-based greenhouse gas reductions in the 2017 legislative session. Judge Hill also ordered the Department of Ecology to consult with the young plaintiffs in advance of that recommendation…[The lawsuit] alleges that the Federal Government is violating the Plaintiffs’ constitutional and public trust rights by promoting the use of fossil fuels…[Their basis is that, for over fifty years, the United States Government and the Fossil Fuel Industry have known that carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels causes global warming and dangerous climate change, and that continuing to burn fossil fuels destabilizes the climate system…[Similar cases in Oregon,] North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Massachusetts, all supported by Our Children’s Trust, [are]seeking the legal right to a healthy atmosphere and stable climate…” click here for more

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The Solar Deal Gets Better Every Day

Cost of solar energy falls every time the sun rises

Audrey Hoffer, April 21, 2016 (Washington Post)

“…The increasing ease of the process and the financial returns have made going solar practically mainstream…Nationwide, [solar] grew 10 times between 2008 and 2015…[With net metering, the power from a solar owner’s system that isn’t used onsite goes into the grid and the owner gets bill credit for it. Whatever the amount of credit,] your household remains connected to the grid and you receive an electric bill from the utility…Eventually, the savings on the electric bill will add up to what you paid for the system, which means from then on you’re basically getting free electricity…Tax breaks and other incentives reduce the cost of electricity and cover a large portion of a system’s cost…[The average $16,000 system installed in Washington, D.C., last year was five kilowatts, with 20 panels…After a 30 percent tax credit of $4,800 and [another upfront credit of $5,500, the] cost would be $5,700. This size system typically provides an electric savings of $950 per year at today’s rates…[You can also lease. Solar providers] own the system, so you don’t pay for installation. You pay for the electricity, but at cheaper rate than the utility charges…” click here for more

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New England’s Offshore Wind

Lawmakers seek greater role for wind power

Christian M. Wade, May 1, 2016 (Eagle-Tribune)

“Towering turbines in Maine and New York -- and off the Atlantic Coast -- could ease a looming energy crunch in Massachusetts, and wind energy companies want the state to support their budding industry…Lawmakers are discussing plans to force utilities to enter long-term contracts with clean energy providers to replace the energy created by retiring nuclear and coal-fired power plants, while cutting carbon emissions and potentially lowering electricity prices…The outcome of those talks could affect the state's energy production and electricity costs for decades…Environmentalists want wind -- in addition to solar and hydropower -- to play a major part in the renewable energy mix…The demand for new sources of electricity is drawing some of the world's biggest wind companies to the region, and a range of projects are in various stages of development to feed power-hungry Southern New England…” click here for more

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Millenials, New Energy, And The Vote

Millennials love clean energy, fear climate change, and don’t vote. This campaign wants to change that.

David Roberts, April 30, 2016 (VOX)

“…[Millennials born between 1980 and 2000…are, in many ways, an incredibly attractive political target. There's a lot of them, they lean Democrat, they are more concerned about climate change than older cohorts, and they absolutely love clean energy…The problem is, too few of them vote…[Youth voter turnout in presidential elections has fallen below 50 percent, and Baby Boomers now outvote their children's generation by 30 percentage points. [E]co-billionaire Tom Steyer’s] Super PAC, NextGen Climate, is launching a $25 million [national campaign to register and mobilize young voters in seven key battleground states to help elect climate champions…If recent history is any guide, a swing of a few percentage points in the millennial vote could shift [2016 swing state] senatorial and presidential elections…[And] 76 percent of 18‐29 year olds say climate change is a serious problem facing America…[63 percent call] it a very serious problem…[and] 64 percent say the federal government should do more to address climate change…” click here for more

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The Sun In Brooklyn

Brooklyn residents create solar energy

Joe Mauceri, April 27, 2016 (Pix 11 News)

“…Most of us have no idea whether our energy comes from a power plant or a solar array…[But Bob Sauchelli, the first customer on the Brooklyn Microgrid, knows he] buys power directly from his neighbor's solar panels…Like many green energy customers, Sauchelli was already paying his energy company a premium for a renewable energy source, like wind or solar. The problem is, he couldn't see the positive economic and environmental effects first hand…Which is why Lawrence Orsini and LO3 energy created the Brooklyn Microgrid…In addition to helping keep money in the community, the microgrid could help supply power for local hospitals, fire departments, and grocery stores in the event of an emergency…Sauchelli says while green is good for the environment, he's happy to know he's also helping some green in his neighborhood too…” click here for more

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Record Wind On The Great Plains

Wind energy setting records in Minnesota

Paul Huttner, April 29, 2016 (Minnesota Public Radio)

“...[April winds in the Midwest] have blown harder than average…with average wind speeds ranging from 12 to 15 mph and nearly half the days of the month producing peak wind gusts…[as high as] 40 and 50 mph…[They have been producing] unprecedented power production across the Upper Midwest…[On one November day, more than 50 percent of Xcel Energy’s] total energy output was produced by wind…[due to the strong winds and sophisticated new wind forecasting software allowing siting for increased production. It has allowed the ramping] down of coal plants at times of heavy wind production…[Data on the impact of climate change on wind speeds] seems to be inconclusive at this point…[The] question has not been comprehensively addressed by the atmospheric and climate science community yet…” click here for more

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