2014-03-27 Energy Week

The show can be watched by following this link:

Energy Week with George Harvey and Tom Finnell, March 27, 2014.

3-21

¶   An NRC official said in a statement that Entergy staff did not follow proper procedures when they “detonated a suspicious item” that resembled a pipe bomb inside the nuclear power plant compound. [Brattleboro Reformer]

3-22

¶   A study published in the journal Energy & Environmental Science concluded it takes more work to make combinations of solar power and storage sustainable than it takes to do the same with combinations of wind power and storage.[RedOrbit]
¶   ”Could a 500-house community go off-grid?” The shift away from a centralised to stand-alone community power solutions could be “quick and dramatic”, with most Australian regional towns able to function economically off-grid as soon early as 2020. [RenewEconomy]

3-23

¶   Two weeks ago, it looked like a record winter was over, and a threatened shortfall in natural gas inventories had been avoided. Now, the key question is whether this can be replaced in time for the next heating season or the ones after that. [Resilience]
¶   The government of Pakistan is in process of implementing around 29 different wind power projects as per its plan to enhance power production in the country. Two projects, with capacity of 106.4 MW are already operating. [Business Recorder]

3-24

¶   California has set new records for solar energy production on March 8, 14, 15, and 16. The state’s grid operator has concluded it has to change its protocol for announcing them, making announcements on 500-MW increments, rather than 50-MW. [Energy Collective]
¶   ExxonMobil will publicize the risks that stricter carbon emissions rules and limits will have on its business. In doing so, the largest publicly traded international oil and gas corporation in the world became the first such company to do this. [Triple Pundit]
¶   The United Nations believes that by 2050, 40% of the world population will be living in areas with severe water stress. The only way they see out is development of alternate energy systems which require far less water than conventional power plants. [GreenPacks]
¶   March 24 marks the 25th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, an event that altered the Prince William Sound ecosystem, perhaps forever. The once-robust herring fisheries remain closed. Exxon’s bill, $92 million, remains unpaid.[Anchorage Daily News]

3-25

¶   Green Mountain Power based in Colchester, Vermont, and California Governor Jerry Brown were among three to receive a national solar energy award, as Vote Solar announced Friday its 2014 Solar Champion Award recipients. [Vermont Biz]
¶   In new estimates released today, WHO reports that in 2012 around 7 million people died – one in eight of total global deaths – as a result of air pollution exposure. This confirms that air pollution is now the world’s largest single environmental health risk. [India.Com Health]
¶   A Federal Energy Regulatory Commission analysis found a fairly easy way for terrorists to knock out all the electric grids in the US. And not just for a short time, but for about a year and a half! Reliance on distributed solar and wind power could prevent this. [CleanTechnica]
¶   The Earth narrowly missed being hit by a massive coronal ejection during the summer of 2012, according to a new study. The effect of such an event could be damage to the electric grid and electronic devices that could take years to repair. [Yahoo News Canada]

3-26

¶   A bill repealing renewable energy standards for utility companies won approval in the Kansas Senate with a vote of 25-15. The bill now goes to the House. The current standard requires utility companies to receive 20% of their energy from renewable sources by 2020. [Kansas.com]
¶   Solar energy now costs the same as conventionally generated electricity in Germany, Italy and Spain, a report has revealed. The research has warned, however, that high installation costs are impeding other countries from achieving grid parity. [RT]
¶   Wholesale power prices in Germany have plunged 34% since 2010 amid record output from renewables, while electricity demand last year slumped to the weakest since 2009, according to energy researcher AG Energiebilanzen e.V. [Bloomberg]
¶   Rail power storage is conceptually simple. During low-demand periods, power is used to pull a chain of weighted train cars uphill. And there they will sit, losing no power to degradation, until needed in a high-demand period, when their return downhill produces power. [Environment & Energy Publishing]

3-27

¶   First Solar expects its average manufacturing cost to fall by nearly half – from an average $0.63/W in 2013, to $0.35/W in 2018. That will bring the total cost of a module (including racking and inverters) from around $1.59/W to below $1/W by 2017. [CleanTechnica]
¶   A measure to repeal the state’s 2009 renewable energy standards for power generation was rejected Wednesday in the Kansas House by a vote of 77-42 despite critics who argued the requirements drive up utility bills and unfairly push one industry over another. [Greenfield Daily Reporter]
¶   Pacific Gas and Electric Company announced an important milestone for California’s Renewables Portfolio Standard – the utility delivered 22.5% of its power from eligible renewable resources in 2013 and is on track to meet the state’s clean energy goals for 2020. [AZoCleantech]

2014-03-20 Energy Week

3-14

¶   City-owned Austin Energy is about to sign a 25-year PPA with Sun Edison for 150 megawatts of solar power at “just below” 5¢ per kWh. The power will come from two West Texas solar facilities. [Energy Collective]

¶   The Vermont Senate has voted to support a House-passed bill that would nearly quadruple the amount of power utilities could buy from customers with solar or other renewable energy systems. [WPTZ The Champlain Valley]

¶   New York’s clean energy policies, such as the Zero Emission Vehicle program, are significantly cutting emissions of carbon pollution – the leading cause of global warming – according to a new report by Environment New York Research & Policy Center. [Long Island Exchange]

3-15

¶   ”How Risky Is It To Invest In Oil Stocks?” Oil — the energy king… of the 20th century. But what about the 21st century? Purely from a financial point of view, would oil stocks be a good way to invest your money? [CleanTechnica]

¶   To put Austin Energy’s recent deal to buy power from a solar farm into perspective, we can compare its price of just under 5¢ per kWh with costs from other power sources, including wind, natural gas, coal and nuclear. Spoiler: Renewables win. [Treehugger] (Austin could have paid 7¢ for natural gas, 10¢ for coal, or 13¢ for nuclear. From a wind power plant, the estimate was 2.8¢/kWh to 3.8¢/kWh. Solar without subsidies might have cost 8¢. Five years ago, solar cost 16.5¢.)

3-16

¶   Average temperatures this winter were among the top 10 coldest in some parts of the Upper Midwest and South. But while East Coast and Midwest were cold, it has not been cold everywhere. In fact, many areas are unusually warm. [Energy Collective]

¶   The massive Cape Wind offshore wind farm scored a huge legal victory on Friday, when a US District Judge upheld the results of a ten-year permitting process and rejected a laundry list of claims brought by opposition groups. [CleanTechnica]

¶   According to a Frost & Sullivan report, the smart grid market worldwide is forecast to witness a compound annual growth rate of 26.6%, reaching $125 billion by 2017, with 75% of Europe anticipated to be smart grid-enabled by 2018. [Utilities-ME.com]

3-17

¶   The Wyoming legislature has blocked educators’ use of new science standards that include the modern understanding of evolution and climate science. The reason appears to be because they do not like the implications of climate science.[Ars Technica]

¶   Part of ending society’s addiction to fossil fuels is ending our addiction to the plastics they are used to make. There are a number of plastics that offer alternative solutions that do not use fossil fuels at all. [Care2.com]

3-18

¶   Dozens of Greenpeace activists sneaked into a nuclear power plant in eastern France at dawn. As a demonstration of weak security, they broke into the Fessenheim plant and hung a banner reading “Stop risking Europe’’ on the side of one of its reactors. [The Daily Telegraph]

¶   Huge losses at star Chinese renewable energy firms are ringing alarm bells as the nation vows to keep its growth momentum by investing in the environmental sector. Some large solar and wind manufacturers had loses, and Suntech filed for bankruptcy. [Chemistry World]

¶   Greenhouse gases must be cut 40% to 70% within 36 years to prevent cataclysmic environmental changes, according to a U.N. panel’s draft report that urges an immediate shift away from coal-fired power plants. [Asahi Shimbun]

3-19

¶   The EPA is seeking stronger standards on the emissions put out by wood burning stoves. New regulations would cause all new wood burning stoves, including pellet stoves, to burn 80 percent cleaner than their predecessors. [The Salem News]

3-20

¶   Goldman Sachs recently released a report that states solar energy is fast approaching grid parity – the moment when electricity from solar power becomes the same price or cheaper than electricity produced by fossil fuels. [inhabitat]

¶   A £1 billion wind farm in ­Scottish waters that would be the third largest in the world has been given the green light. Approval has been granted for up to 326 turbines off Caithness, providing electricity for more than a million homes. [Herald Scotland]

¶   The Australian Senate has voted today to block legislation that would repeal the carbon tax. The Labor Party and the Greens combined to vote against the repeal laws 33 votes to 29. [Australian Mining]

2014-03-13 Energy Week

3-6

¶   Cape Cod is one step closer to getting its first offshore wind farm, a project that’s been trying to get off the ground for more than a decade. Now there are indications that it may be commissioned by 2016. [CleanTechnica]

¶   Chipotle Mexican Grill says guacamole and some salsas could become victims of global warming. The restaurant chain, in an annual report, listed drought and global weather change among a long list of business risks faced by the company.[CNN]

3-7

¶   Iowa, the top state for wind, is edging close to 30%. Last year it got 27% of electricity from wind, followed by South Dakota with 26%. With 5117 megawatts (MW) installed, 1.4 million Iowan homes are supplied by clean energy.[SustainableBusiness.com]

¶   China’s Premier Li Keqiang has declared war on pollution, outlining significant steps the Chinese government will take to improve air quality. China has suffered from truly epic smog over the last two winters. [EconoMonitor]

¶   Green businesses will drive a third of UK economic growth this year, a UK diplomat has predicted. Bharat Joshi said climate-friendly growth “represents one of the biggest opportunities since the industrial revolution” at an industry conference in Chennai. [Business Green]

3-8

¶   More than 90 Illinois cities and towns provide all renewable energy to their utility customers. Five other states allow communities to buy power from sources they choose, but none has matched Illinois for the number buying renewable power. [Herald & Review]

¶   A relatively low-cost means of converting carbon dioxide into methanol has been developed by researchers from Stanford University, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, and the Technical University of Denmark. [CleanTechnica]

3-9

¶   America’s energy infrastructure is dangerously vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, according to a new report released by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office. [De Smog Blog]

¶   Solar PV heavyweight SunEdison is expecting a huge surge in the number of large PV power plant projects completed this year, according to recent reports. The company is predicting a 90% increase in project completions in 2014, as compared to 2013. [CleanTechnica]

¶   The installed capacity of solar PV in North and South America will increase more than tenfold over the coming years, jumping from 13.1 GW in 2013 to 138.8 GW by 2030 – according to a new report from consulting firm GlobalData. [CleanTechnica]

3-10

¶   A decade ago, scientists predicted the specific, unprecedented change in the jet stream that has in fact caused the unprecedented nature of the California drought. Now, they think the actual situation in the next few decades could be even more dire. [Energy Collective]

¶   An ill-advised splurge on large dams across the developing world is likely to saddle countries with big debts, according to Oxford university researchers who have found such projects typically cost nearly twice as much as first estimated and rarely finish on time. [Financial Times]

3-11

¶   At a House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power, one presenter revealed that 36% of the gas by-product from oil obtained by fracking in the Bakken Shale basin was flared off as waste during a brutally cold midwest winter. [CounterPunch]

¶   About 75% of people who want solar can’t get it. They live in multi-unit buildings, rent, or own homes surrounded by shade trees. Increasingly, states are utilizing community solar to solve this dilemma. [Solar Novus Today]

¶   With the launch of a wood-fueled downtown district heating system still six months away, officials in Vermont’s capital city on Monday set the goal of making Montpelier a “net-zero” user of fossil fuels by 2030. [Bennington Banner]

¶   AES Corp says its energy storage division is selling batteries that are actually powerful enough to replace peaking power plants in arrays that range from tens of megawatts to 500 MW, costing $10 million to $500 million.[SustainableBusiness.com]

3-12

¶   The spill that contaminated the drinking water of 300,000 West Virginians has reignited debate in the state, not just over chemical and coal industry regulations but how the state’s reliance on these industries affects its people and environment. [ThinkProgress]

¶   California’s hydro plants generated less power in 2013 than they had in 21 years, but the state’s water crisis hasn’t turned into an energy crisis, thanks to a mix of renewable energy, natural gas, and planning. [National Geographic]

3-13

¶   PJM Interconnection, the nation’s largest power transmission grid organization, announced last week that wind and solar power could generate about 30% of the electricity for its territory by 2026 without “any significant issues.” [Energy Collective]

¶   Three EU countries have already surpassed their renewable energy goals for 2020. Sweden, Bulgaria, and Estonia met their renewable energy goals 8 years ahead of schedule, fueled by substantial growth in wind power and biomass. [RenewEconomy]

2014-03-06 Energy Week

2-28

¶   Tesla has developed a battery to store power for homes, commercial sites and utilities. They have announced plans to invest up to $5 billion in the world’s largest battery factory, and want to cut battery prices by 30%. [Businessweek]

¶   ”An Accident Waiting to Happen” Huge amounts of oil are being transported by rail from the shale oil fields. The probability of an accident with an oil spill over time is close to 100%. The possibility of recovering lost oil before it does heavy damage is small. [Resilience]

3-1

¶   ”Natural Gas Inventories are Headed Toward Zero” We have already withdrawn 2.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas from inventories, and we are likely 4-6 weeks away from the bottom. At this pace, the inventory would reach zero the week of March 28th. [Energy Trends Insider]

¶   Genscape is reporting that renewable generation was up 30 percent for the week ending February 20, 2014, while gas consumption plummeted 35 percent as a result of the increase in renewables and weaker power demand. [Fierce Energy]

¶   When heat waves wracked Australia at the start of the year, driving up electricity demand, the presence of wind power in the country actually kept electricity costs 40% lower than they otherwise would have been, according to a new study. [ThinkProgress]

3-2

¶   The number of very hot days have soared in the past 15 years, according to a study in the journal Nature Climate Change reports. A study from NASA agrees, and one from the World Meteorological Organization puts the increase at 500%.[Energy Collective]

¶   According to Ethan Zindler of Bloomberg Energy Finance, recent price declines for solar energy have been “massive,” while merely “substantial” for wind, meaning that a global shift away from fossil fuels is no longer “theoretical.”[CleanTechnica]

¶   In his annual letter to shareholders, Warren Buffett said Berkshire Hathaway’s utility MidAmerican Energy will have spent $15 billion on renewable energy investments by the time a handful of wind and solar projects are completed in the next few years. [TheStreet.com]

3-3

¶   ”Vt. loves renewable energy, except when it arrives” But strong opposition from citizens’ groups to a variety of renewable proposals have some questioning the state’s willingness to turn talk into action. [Rutland Herald]

¶   A centerpiece of Germany’s new energy agenda is a “relaunch” of the Energiewende, an ambitious project launched in 2003 to produce investments in renewable energy. In the new plan, renewable energy targets remain ambitious.[European Public Affairs]

3-4

¶   Physicists at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences(SEAS) envision a device that would harvest energy from Earth’s infrared emissions into outer space. Recent technological advances can transform the heat imbalance into DC power. [Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences]

¶   German utility RWE posted its first net loss in 60 years, down €2.8 billion for 2013 following €4.8 billion of impairments to its conventional power plant fleet. The operating result for renewables division RWE Innogy was up 7% to €196 million.[reNews]

3-5

¶   US Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz says he expects wind, solar and other renewables to make up 30% to 40% of the country’s energy mix by 2030. He says of nuclear power in the US, “the long term trajectory remains quite uncertain.”[WBUR]

¶   In China, wind power is leaving nuclear behind. Electricity output from China’s wind farms exceeded that from its nuclear plants for the first time in 2012, by a narrow margin. Then in 2013, wind pulled away-outdoing nuclear by 22%.[InvestorIdeas.com]

¶   A report sponsored by the Government of Canada concludes that there will likely be a substantial shortage of qualified workers that threatens the high growth potential of the renewables industry, unless a national HR strategy is immediately implemented. [AltEnergyMag]

3-6

¶   “5 Reasons Solar’s Win Over Gas In Minnesota Is Just The Beginning” If solar trumps gas for peaking power in Minnesota, there’s little reason to be building new natural gas peaking capacity anywhere in the country.  Ever again. [CleanTechnica]

¶   President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget proposal released March 4, calls for extending a tax credit for cellulosic biofuels and puts forward the idea of cutting billions in fossil fuel subsidies. [Biomass Magazine]