Clean energy becoming a needed reality for the Great Lakes

If the U.S. wants wind power, The Great Lakes are definitely windy.

Illinois and four other states came a step closer to offshore wind farms in the Great Lakes (New, April 1), and that is welcome news. Wind farms, once mocked by climate skeptics and opponents of renewable energy, are now a profitable way to generate clean electricity for our homes and businesses. … Continue Reading

Obama announces new limits on carbon pollution from power plants

The EPA seal (Pic via sentryjournal.com)

The EPA today proposed new limits on carbon pollution from new power plants. Environmentalists say the move will be a boon to Floridians, who get about 25 percent of their electricity from coal, but utility reps say the rules will “crush jobs” and arrest America’s economic recovery. … Continue Reading

Winds of change blow through China as spending on renewable energy soars

China's Gobi Desert is becoming a home for its massive renewable energy transformation.

Jonathan Watts (guardian.co.uk) in Jiuquan – World’s biggest polluter spends £4bn a year on wind and solar power generation in single region as it aims to cut fossil fuel use

The remote, wind-blasted desert of northwestern Gansu could be the most unloved, environmentally abused corner of China. It is home to the country’s first oilfield and several of the coalmines and steel factories that have contributed to China’s notoriety as the planet’s biggest polluter and carbon dioxide emitter.

But in the past few years, the landscape has started to undergo a transformation as Gansu has moved to the frontline of government efforts to reinvent China’s economy with a massive investment in renewable energy. … Continue Reading

Renewable Energy Rises 27% Since Obama Took Office, But Clean Car Policy Isn’t Working

Since President Obama entered office three years ago, renewable energy production in the US has climbed 26.9%, according to the Energy Information Agency’s (EIA) latest “Monthly Energy Review.”

For the three years ending November 30, 2011, domestic oil production has also risen, by 13.7%, natural gas production grew 13.4%, nuclear power decreased by 2.8% and coal production plummeted by 7.3%.

For the first 11 months of 2011, renewables accounted for 11.76% of domestic energy production, up from 10.83% for the same period in 2010.

In terms of actual production, renewables rose 13.4% in 2011, with hydropower supplying 34.9%, followed by biomass (26.6%), biofuels (22.0%), wind (12.7%), geothermal (2.4%), and solar (1.3%). … Continue Reading

Why America Is Failing in its Energy Independence and Security Needs

At our current rate do Americans really expect to be “in-charge” of the world for much longer? At its heart, the U.S. is a place for all those who seek freedom. A place where through capitalism, one can achieve a great financial wealth through enormous opportunities. Yet because of politics, and maybe even because of the system we so dearly strive to maintain, we are coming apart at the seams. … Continue Reading

House of the Rising Sun: Why Solar Energy May Power America’s Future

  By Brian Korgaonkar, WG ’12 – With the Obama administration’s increased focus on clean energy, and the recent Solyndra loan scandal, solar energy has come into the public purview like never before. Depending on your worldview, solar energy is either a high growth industry that represents a viable alternative to fossil fuels or a massive waste of taxpayer money and venture capital. What will it take to ensure the former comes to fruition? … Continue Reading

Amory Lovins Lays Out His Clean Energy Plan

For four decades, Amory Lovins has been a leading proponent of a renewable power revolution that would wean the U.S. off fossil fuels and usher in an era of energy independence. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, he talks about his latest book, which describes his vision of how the world can attain a green energy future by 2050.
Amory B. Lovins is fond of referring to the Rocky Mountain Institute, where he serves as chairman and chief scientist, as a “think and do” tank, and it’s clear that to Lovins the doing is every bit as important as the thinking. Hardly lacking in confidence or ambition, Lovins — in conjunction with his colleagues at the institute — has published Reinventing Fire, his step-by-step blueprint for how to transition to a renewable energy economy by mid-century.

Amory Lovins

Impressive in both its scope and detail — Lovins discusses everything from how to redesign heavy trucks to make them more fuel efficient to ways to change factory pipes to conserve energy — the book lays out a plan for the U.S. to achieve the following by 2050: cars completely powered by hydrogen fuel cells, electricity, and biofuels; 84 percent of trucks and airplanes running on biomass fuels; 80 percent of the nation’s electricity produced by renewable power; $5 trillion in savings; and an economy that has grown by 158 percent. … Continue Reading

President Obama Announces an “All-out, All of the Above Strategy” for Energy Security

President Obama made the case Tuesday night for producing more of the United States’ energy supplies domestically in pursuing an “all-of-the-above” approach to further bolster the economy and national security.

President Obama used his State of the Union address last night to again call on Congress to deliver a bill for a Clean Energy Standard. This happens to be the case in the many developed countries around the world. He stated a more effective energy policy that ends subsidies to the oil industry, bolsters US energy security, and steps up support for clean and renewable energy would create thousands of American jobs. … Continue Reading