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New DOE Report Analyzes a Path to 20% Wind Power by 2030 U.S. Wind Power Still Growing at a Record Pace, Says AWEA DOE Chalks Up 500 Energy Saving Assessments at Major Industries Long Island Utility to Launch a 10-Year Energy Efficiency Program Nissan to Sell an Electric Vehicle in the United States in 2010 Minnesota to Require 20% Biodiesel Blends by 2015, with Caveats Oil Producers Head to Deep Water in the Gulf of Mexico New DOE Report Analyzes a Path to 20% Wind Power by 2030 Wind power could provide 20% of U.S. electricity needs by 2030, according to a new DOE report. The report, titled "20% Wind Energy by 2030: Increasing Wind Energy’s Contribution to U.S. Electricity Supply," identifies the steps that need to be addressed to reach the 20% goal, including reducing the cost of wind technologies, building new transmission infrastructure, and enhancing domestic manufacturing capability. Released on Monday, the report was produced by DOE and its National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories with the assistance of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), engineering consultants from Black and Veatch Corporation, and more than 50 energy organizations and corporation. According to […]
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Wind farms, solar plants and who knows what else could benefit from the great American branding machine, bringing advertising dollars to project developers and revenue to communities. We might even see the day when people care more about having their name associated with the environment than a stadium. Companies pay a lot of money to attach their names to prominent places. The future home of the New York Mets will be called Citi Field, after Citigroup, and the Academy Awards takes place in Kodak Theater. It’s not a stretch to conceive of company-branded wind farms. If a company buys the output of a wind farm, why not pay some more and have your name attached to it? That’s what Steelcase is doing with its Wege Wind Energy Farm in Texas. Although marketing experts think Steelcase made a mistake by naming it after Peter Wege, the son of Steelcase’s founder, instead of after the more recognizable company name, you get the picture. Steelcase, a furniture manufacturer, prides itself on being environmentally proactive – its goal is to reduce its carbon footprint 25% by 2012. The company plans to include it in all its promotional materials. It’s unusual for a company to […]
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by Rona Fried Over the course of the past 20 years, the great mystery has been how to get individuals involved and committed to reducing their environmental footprint. Hundreds of websites, countless articles, reports, and books explain the problems, the solutions and the easy things we can – and must – do to become part of the web of life, rather than its enemy. Yet, individuals remain superficially informed and unconvinced that we are truly facing an emergency. The Union of Concerned Scientists says the average American produces about 20 tons of carbon dioxide per year, about four times the rest of the world. 30-40% of total greenhouse emissions comes from homes and transportation. Therefore collective action on the part of individuals is essential in diverting disaster. We recently posted an article, How to Create Change, which pointed to the power of positive feedback and peer influence. RecycleBank is benefiting from using this simple psychology and significantly ramping up recycing rates in towns across America by rewarding people the more they recycle. Individuals often feel what they do doesn’t have much impact, so why bother? We have to give people back the power – they have to know their actions […]
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DOE Helps Greensburg, Kansas, Rebuild as a Wind-Powered City DOE Offers $60 Million for Concentrating Solar Power Research DOE Offers $7.5 Million for Advanced Water Power Technologies Ohio Requires 25% Renewable or Advanced Energy by 2025 Long Island Utility Calls for 50 Megawatts of Solar Power New Jersey Utility Offers $105 Million in Solar Loans DOE Helps Greensburg, Kansas, Rebuild as a Wind-Powered City DOE’s work with the city of Greensburg, Kansas, over the past year is bearing fruit, as the city is now rebuilding with a new emphasis on energy efficient buildings and renewable energy, particularly wind energy. Greensburg was devastated by a tornado on May 4, 2007, after which the city announced its plans to rebuild as a model of sustainability. When Greensburg contacted DOE for assistance, the agency sent a team of experts from its National Renewable Energy Laboratory to conduct studies; develop renewable energy and energy efficient business strategies; and assemble financing and ownership options to produce or procure renewable energy technologies. DOE opened an office in Greensburg and helped the city develop and pass a resolution that all large city buildings achieve LEED Platinum certification, the highest green building rating available under the U.S. Green […]
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Proposed New Standards to Increase Fuel Economy by 25% by 2015 EPA Establishes New Energy Star Criteria for Set-Top Boxes American Architects Name Top Ten Green Buildings for 2008 Los Angeles Approves an Aggressive Green Building Ordinance Maryland Approves Wide-Ranging Clean Energy Bills Austin Energy Maintains U.S. Lead in Green Power Sales Researchers Note Rising Levels of Atmospheric Greenhouse Gases Proposed New Standards to Increase Fuel Economy by 25% by 2015 The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) proposed new fuel economy standards last week that will result in a 25% increase in fuel economy by 2015. The proposed new Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards apply to cars and light trucks-pickups, vans, and sport utility vehicles (SUVs)-starting with vehicles in model year 2011, most of which will go on sale in late 2010. The proposed standards increase fuel economy by 4.5% per year for five years, ending with model year 2015. For passenger cars, the proposal would increase fuel economy from the current 27.5 miles per gallon (mpg) to 35.7 mpg by 2015. For light trucks, the proposal calls for increases from 23.5 mpg in 2010 to 28.6 mpg in 2015. The proposed standards are the first step in implementing […]
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by Rona Fried As we know, the American consumer has yet to embrace the big changes required to halt climate change. We have a big hole to dig ourselves out of and don’t have the time to do it gradually. Americans have demanded everything to be cheap and industry has responded: food, clothes, airline tickets have become inexpensive enough for us to buy pretty much whatever we want when we want it. If we don’t have the cash, we just put it on a credit card or take the retailer’s offer to pay nothing for a year. That also worked for buying houses until recently; we continue to see car manufacturers hawk SUVs the same way in their endless television commercials. This consumer society is completely unsustainable for our environment and our economy. We’ve shipped our manufacturing offshore where it’s cheapest, hurting our economy and making it vulnerable to China’s whims. We are suffering from a severe leadership vacuum that few are willing to fill – utter words that intimate we might have to curtail our excesses and expect to get crushed by the political process and the media. I believe peoples’ attitudes will evolve with time – and strong […]
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Community-based, sustainable forest management creates healthier forests that are less susceptible to wildfires and less likely to be cut down by locales. That’s the conclusion of a recent Rainforest Alliance (RA) study conducted in Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve, which compared the health of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified forests with completely protected forests. For many years, NGOs such as Rainforest Alliance and Conservation International have been preserving forests by giving communities an economic stake in their preservation. The theory is when locales can make a living by preserving forests they are less likely to clear the land for cattle grazing, farming and other less sustainable activities. RA’s study shows the strategy is successful. From 2002-2007, the average annual deforestation rate for the entire reserve was 20 times higher than the deforestation rate for the FSC-certified concessions. Since 1998 the incidence of wildfires in the Reserve has ranged from 7-20%, while wildfires on FSC-certified concessions have steadily dropped from 6.5% in 1998 to 0.1% in 2007. "Nearly two decades ago, the Rainforest Alliance pioneered the strategy of using market forces to conserve forests knowing that economic incentives are key to protecting biodiversity and curbing deforestation," says Tensie Whelan, president of the […]
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"Operation Change Out" Spurs Efficient Lighting at Military Bases Three New Cellulosic Biorefineries to Receive $86 Million from DOE DOE Offers $7 Million for Biomass Pyrolysis Research DOE to Offer $10 Billion in Renewable, Efficiency Loan Guarantees DOE Presents an Earth Day Vision for Today and the Future EPA: U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Dropped 1.1% in 2006 "Operation Change Out" Spurs Efficient Lighting at Military Bases In honor of Earth Day, DOE and the U.S. Department of Defense launched a new Energy Star campaign called "Operation Change Out," which will challenge military bases across the country to install Energy Star-qualified compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) in their on-base housing. Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman announced the new campaign at Camp Lejeune-a Marine Corps base near Jacksonville, North Carolina-as he screwed in the last of the 17,500 CFLs that have been installed in the camp’s military houses. Over their lifetime, the new CFLs at Camp Lejeune will prevent more than 7.5 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, while saving nearly 5 million kilowatt-hours of electricity and at least $500,000 on energy bills. Energy Star is a joint program of DOE and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. There are more than 200 military […]
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DOE Offers Up to $4 Million for Biomass to Biofuel Research Oil Companies, Universities Investigate Alternate Paths to Biofuels Vehicle Built by High School Achieves 2,843.4 Miles per Gallon Boeing Flies First Fuel-Cell-Powered Manned Aircraft Labor and Environmental Groups Launch a Green Jobs Campaign First Large Building-Integrated Wind Turbines Spin in Bahrain Two Proposals Aim to Pipe Natural Gas from Alaska DOE Offers Up to $4 Million for Biomass to Biofuel Research DOE released a solicitation last week that offers up to $4 million for university research into cost-effective, environmentally friendly ways to convert biomass into biofuel, which creating biomass jobs. 12 U.S. universities will be selected for funding, and each of them will contribute a minimum of 20% of the cost share, resulting in about $4.8 million being invested in these projects. The Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) seeks projects that improve the conversion of biomass to advanced biofuels through biochemical, thermochemical, and chemical processes and is focused on lowering production costs and increasing yields and productivity. While the FOA is mainly focused on conventional biomass sources, it also includes the enhanced production of oils from algae. Applications are due on June 2. See the DOE press release and the […]
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DOE Announces New Energy Star Criteria for Water Heaters DOE and EPA Honor Energy Star Partners Large-Scale Solar Thermal Power Projects Planned for California California Utility Inks Deal for Nearly 1,500 Solar Homes Iowa Leads the Nation with 5.5% Wind Power, Says AWEA Scotland Offers $20 Million Prize for Ocean Energy Innovations EIA: Crude Oil Prices to Average $101 per Barrel in 2008 DOE Announces New Energy Star Criteria for Water Heaters DOE established new Energy Star criteria for water heaters last week, setting the wheels in motion for the first water heaters to carry the Energy Star label next year. The new criteria apply to solar water heaters, advanced drop-in integrated heat pump water heaters, and three gas-fired designs: high-performance storage tank, condensing, and whole-home tankless water heaters. The criteria will be implemented across two years, with the first phase being initiated on January 1, 2009. The second phase, introducing stronger standards, will take effect on September 1, 2010. According to DOE projections, these new water heater criteria could, after five years of being implemented, save about $780 million in utility costs, avoid 4.2 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions, and achieve cumulative energy savings of more than 3.9 […]
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