Meet the Super-Efficient LED Light Bulb the Tea Party Wants You to Hate
This LED bulb gives off warm, incandescent-like light, lasts 30 years, and is super-efficient. So why is the Tea Party bashing it?
This LED bulb gives off warm, incandescent-like light, lasts 30 years, and is super-efficient. So why is the Tea Party bashing it?
What if the Wind PTC Expires?
During a March 7 speech, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn) said he plans to introduce a bill to end the Production Tax Credit for wind, calling wind a source that can provide only “puny amounts of expensive, unreliable electricity.”
The credit, which is set to expire at the end of this year, has been extended on four previous occasions and
High-Speed Rail Line Collapses in China
Thankfully it was still under construction and it appears that no one was hurt. But this was luck that it collapsed at this point and not later when passenger trains were active...
Colorful All-in-One Wheel Converts Bike into Electric (Video)
Electric bike conversion kits come in all shapes and sizes, but this one is as simple as changing your front wheel.
Citizens Make an Example of Minnesota "Community Wind" Project
Community wind promises to expand the economic opportunity of transitioning the electricity system to cleaner energy and engage local communities. Unfortunately, there's "community wind" and community wind, as one Minnesota project starkly illustrates.
Goodhue Wind was first envisioned as a 78-MW "community wind" project by National Wind i
Offshore Wind Power: Penny Foolish, Dollar Wise
As I discussed in my article on investing in offshore wind power, Nstar (NYSE:NST) recently agreed to buy 27.5 percent of Cape Wind's 420-MW planned output. Since National Grid (NYSE:NGG) has had a power purchase agreement (PPA) to buy 50 percent of the farm's output since 2010, Cape Wind now has enough capacity contracted to raise money for construction.
Asia Report: After Quake, Japan Pushes for Asia Supergrid
Japan this week marks the one year anniversary of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that has since forced it to re-evaluate its nuclear strategy. In doing so, it also unveiled a plan that could have big implications for renewable energy across the continent.
Cardinal Dolan Rewrites History: Catholic Church Leaders Were ‘Burned’ In New York Marriage Vote
Cardinal Timothy Dolan is still bitter that marriage equality passed in New York last year, telling the New York Daily News that Catholic leaders “got burned” by Senate Republicans they were convinced would oppose the law:
DOLAN: We got burned last year when we were told the redefinition of marriage didn’t have much of a chance — and of course it did. Our Senate leaders, we highly appreciated them being with us all along. When they kind of assured us it didn’t have much of a chance — not that we let up, but we probably would have been much more vigorous and even more physically present if we knew there was a chance. We got a little stung, and it could be as much our fault as anyone else’s.
This is an incredibly smug attitude for Dolan to have, but it reflects the amount of influence the Catholic Church hierarchy expects to have over political discourse. Even though a majority of New York Catholics supported the marriage equality bill months before it came to a vote and continued to afterward, Dolan believes that the bishops could still have changed the outcome if they’d just applied more pressure. But this is a blatant rewriting of history, because Dolan admitted after the law passed that he saw it coming and was “not surprised” that it was successful. Considering the number of anti-gay screeds he published while the legislature was still debating the bill, one wonders what more he would have done had he been “much more vigorous.”
Fortunately, the New York legislature chose to represent all constituents when it decided to expand LGBT equality instead of catering to a select group of Church leaders who refuse to exist in the same universe as married same-sex couples.
Efficiency Standards To Save Americans More Than $1 Trillion By 2035
Sadly, America’s wildly successful energy efficiency standards have fallen victim to politics in recent years. Despite being used over the decades as a way to encourage innovation, increase customer choice, and reduce pollution, efficiency targets have been bizarrely branded as a government tool to control people’s lives.
Well, here’s more evidence that energy efficiency standards for equipment and lighting actually help consumers: A new report from the American Council for an Energy Efficiency Economy shows that these standards reduced energy consumption by 7% in 2010 — and could help consumers save $1.1 trillion in energy costs by 2035.
Assuming that 11 new standards being considered for computer equipment, electric motors, fans, and pumps get established, the U.S. could see a 14% reduction in annual electricity use by 2035 compared with current projections. According to the ACEEE report, assuming household appliances are updated every 15 years through 2040, the average American household could save 180 megawatt-hours of electricity and over 200,000 gallons of water. Translated into understandable figures: Roughly $30,000.
Here are some other interesting factoids on energy savings from these standards:
- Annual natural gas savings in 2035 of about 950 trillion British thermal units (TBtu), or enough to heat 32% of all natural-gas-heated U.S. homes.
- Peak demand savings in 2035 of about 240 gigawatt (GW), saving about 18% of what the total generating capacity projected for 2035 would have been without standards.
- The CO2 savings from existing standards in 2010 were 203 million metric tons, an amount equal to the CO2 emitted by 51 coal-fired power plants. By 2025, the CO2 savings grow to 448 milion metric tons, an amount equal to the emissions of 112 average-sized coal-fired power plants.
- Annual emissions reductions in 2035 of around 470 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), an amount equal to the emissions of 118 coal-fired power plants.
Since they were established in the 80′s, efficiency standards have clearly worked. They are a no-brainer for helping reduce peak demand, save consumers money and reduce global warming pollution. They also help drive innovation in business through consistent national standards.
Why would such common-sense measures get dragged into politics?
Thanks in Part to Technology, ERCOT Wind Power Generation Record Shattered Twice
The grid operator for most of Texas broke its wind power generation record twice this week. But what's almost as notable is what was behind the record—besides the wind, that is.
Thanks in Part to Technology, ERCOT Wind Power Generation Record Shattered Twice
The grid operator for most of Texas broke its wind power generation record twice this week. But what's almost as notable is what was behind the record—besides the wind, that is.
Ontario’s Wind Power Sector at a Crossroads
Despite having Canada's largest population and being home to an energy-intensive manufacturing sector, Ontario was slow to adopt wind power. As recently as 2006, only 10 turbines were spinning in the province. However, the province is currently home to more than 1,750 MW of wind power and plans are in place for this figure to increase to 7,500 MW by 2018.
Fukushima’s Fog: Nuclear Power One Year After Crisis
On the anniversary of Fukushima, we take a look at how the crisis has shaped the role of nuclear power around the world.
