2015-12-03 Energy Week

Wednesday, November 25:

• Slide 1: US-based Envirofit was one of the first social enterprises to provide clean cookstoves, and it’s just recently sold its millionth unit. Rocket stoves are wonders of sustainability. They address dangers to human health posed by open-fire cooking; they also burn very small amounts of wood fuel, with low emissions. [CleanTechnica]

Image credit: Envirofit International via Picasa. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0

• An accelerated transition to renewable energy could limit the global temperature rise to below 2° C, says an International Renewable Energy Agency report. It says if renewable energy accounted for 36% of the world energy mix by 2030, half the emission reductions needed to limit warming to 2° C would already be met. [CleanTechnica]

Thursday, November 26:

• Slide 2: German household-scale battery maker Sonnenbatterie will soon provide buyers of the company’s household-scale electricity storage batteries, most of whom also have solar photovoltaic panels mounted on their rooftops, to automatically buy and sell energy from each other directly through a shared online platform. [Deutsche Welle]

German rooftops

• Slide 3: This year will be the hottest on record and 2016 could be even hotter due to the El Niño weather pattern, the World Meteorological Organization said. WMO director-general Michel Jarraud rejected climate sceptics’ arguments, saying, “It’s not about believing or not. It’s a matter of seeing the facts. The facts are there.” [Free Malaysia Today]

How long will it last?

• One significant challenge to lithium-ion EV battery technology is coming from the lithium-sulfur field. A lithium-sulfur battery research project at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has had sufficient success that Oak Ridge announced that it has signed an exclusive lithium-sulfur battery agreement with a startup called Solid Power. [CleanTechnica]

Friday, November 27:

• Slide 4: The Vermont Yankee nuclear plant stopped producing power last year, but security measures, including heavily armed guards in bulletproof towers, will remain in place for decades to protect hundreds of tons of radioactive waste. The spent fuel will stay here until the federal government can determine where to store it. [The Boston Globe]

Dry cask storage was used to store spent fuel at the Entergy Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff

• Slide 5: Enbridge says it has purchased a 103-MW wind farm under development in West Virginia for about $200 million from EverPower Wind Holdings. The Calgary-based pipeline operator, which has been increasing its stake in the clean energy sector, said it is aiming to have the New Wind Creek project in operation by December 2016. [CBC.ca]

Enbridge has been increasingly investing in renewable energy, including two major wind-power purchases in November 2015. (Reuters)

• In a report, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory says, “In just four years, thanks to falling renewable energy technology costs, economic potential has more than tripled.” Economic potential is a metric that quantifies the amount of economically viable renewable generation that is available at a specific location. [pv magazine]

Saturday, November 28:

• Slides 6 and 7: Rising levels of carbon dioxide in the oceans are changing the makeup of plankton. While the shift in numbers could certainly be fortunate for animals that eat one type with a burgeoning population, researchers are unsure exactly which animals those are. That is worrisome because it shows just how little is known about the ecosystems. [Science Recorder]

Recent research shows that higher levels of carbon dioxide may be leading to a rise in the numbers of tiny phytoplankton known as coccolithophores.

Coccolithophore bloom off Brittany, France. Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC. Public domain.

• For more than three decades, people from the Marshall islands have moved in the thousands to the landlocked Ozark Mountains for better education, jobs and health care, thanks to an agreement that lets them live and work in the US. The connection makes it an obvious destination for those facing a new threat: global warming. [Fox News]

Sunday, November 29:

• Slide 8: The California birthplace of a machine that could bring clean power to the developing world and knock a tiny dent in global warming looks like a junkyard. But the Power Pallet, which generates electricity from corn cobs, wood chips, coconut shells and other kinds of cheap, dense biomass is “carbon negative.” [San Francisco Chronicle]

Tom Price, director of strategic initiatives, looks over a PP20 Power Pallet while giving a tour at All Power Labs. Photo: Lea Suzuki, The Chronicle

• New onshore wind turbines are coming to market. Senvion’s 3.4M140 is a 3.4-MW example with 140 meter rotor blades. The turbine should be able to generate 12.2 GWh of electricity annually in locations with wind velocities of 6.5 meters per second at hub height, making capacity factor around 41%. [www.renewablesinternational.net]

Monday, November 30:

• Slide 9: Leaders from 147 nations are addressing COP21 on its opening day. Negotiators from 195 countries will try to reach a deal during the two-week conference aimed at reducing global carbon emissions. Initiatives to boost clean technologies are due to be launched. But the world’s poorest countries say they fear being “left behind.” [BBC]

The Eiffel Tower was lit up on Sunday evening in support of the climate conference. Reuters

• Climate change takes center stage Monday as a global conversation begins in Paris. But it’s not just international politicians who will lead discussions. US cities like Boulder will have representatives there to share their best practices. Now the city’s strategy includes a job many have never heard of: Chief Resilience Officer. [Colorado Public Radio]

Tuesday, December 1:

• Slide 10: Think of cities across the country where solar power is booming, and some obvious sunny spots come to mind: Las Vegas, Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Antonio. There’s another city, however, that beats them in solar energy production. Try sunny Newark, New Jersey, which ranks eighth in a survey of 65 large US cities, per capita. [NJ.com]

A 13-acre solar producing 3 MW in Kearny, New Jersey, has been in operation for about three years. (Aristide Economopoulos | The Star-Ledger)

• As COP21 kicked off in Paris on Monday, a key committee in San Diego pushed ahead with a blueprint for cutting greenhouse-gas emissions and powering the city using only green energy within two decades. Members of the City Council’s environment committee unanimously approved the proposed plan. [The San Diego Union-Tribune]
• The Obama administration is boosting the amount of corn-based ethanol and other renewable fuels in the US gasoline supply despite sustained opposition by an unusual alliance of oil companies, environmentalists and some GOP presidential candidates. The EPA issued a final rule designed to increase use of ethanol. [NewsOK.com]

Wednesday, December 2:

• Slide 11: The impacts of climate change on forests and agriculture were in the spotlight on Tuesday at COP21, as new alliances among organizations and stakeholders were announced aiming to eliminate natural deforestation and forest degradation, and to prevent threats to sustainable farming and people’s livelihoods. [Sify News]

Deforestation and forest degradation

• Slide 12: UK-based activist group Brandalism has peppered the streets of Paris with 600 fake outdoor ads meant to expose the hypocrisy of COP21 Climate Conference corporate sponsors. The fake, unauthorized outdoor ads were strategically placed around Paris this past weekend, and were made to look nearly identical to the originals. [Gizmodo Australia]

Credit: Brandalism

• Justin Farrell, assistant professor of sociology at Yale University, writes inNature Climate Change that semantic analysis and statistical techniques can identify “organizational power” within the contrarian network that has somehow persuaded US voters that scientists are “divided” on the issue of climate change. [eco-business.com]

2015-11-25 Energy Week

Please note that this post is being developed.

Thursday, November 19:

• Ten years ago, Walmart made a pledge to become environmentally clean and shift to 100% renewable power. Now, a report, titled Walmart’s Dirty Energy Secret: How the Company’s Slick Greenwashing Hides Its Massive Coal Consumption, found that the company is “one of the nation’s largest users of coal-fired electricity.” [CleanTechnica]
• Vermont’s Green Mountain Power announced last week that it reached its 112-MW net metering cap for solar power, 15% of their peak load. Now, it has asked state regulators for permission to buy 7.5 MW more of net metered solar power. The net metering cap does not apply to consumers with home-sized solar installations. [vtdigger.org]
• A study commissioned by Massachusetts’ Attorney General concludes that New England does not need additional natural gas pipelines to maintain energy reliability in the coming years. The authors of the report accounted for the recent announcement that the Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Plymouth will close by 2019. [Foster’s Daily Democrat]

Friday, November 20:

• While many countries continue to drag their feet on reducing emissions, individual cities are taking the lead and setting ambitious renewable energy targets. Some have already made the transition to 100% renewable energy. Here in the US, four cities or population centers stand out as having gone 100% renewable. [EcoWatch]
• The world could be powered almost entirely by clean, renewable energy sources in the space of a few decades, and two US engineers say they have figured out exactly how it can be done. One of them, Mark Jacobson, a civil and environmental engineer at Stanford University, has been granted two opportunities to speak at COP21. [ScienceAlert]
• In Australia, a 1320-MW coal-fired power station has been sold by the NSW Government for just $1 million to a former ERM Power chief and a coal mining executive. As an illustration of how cheap this purchase price is, to replace such a coal power plant with a newly constructed plant would cost well over $2 billion. [Business Spectator]
• A Public Citizen report, “Clean Power, Clear Savings,” shows that energy bills will fall in every state by 2030 as a result of the Clean Power Plan compared to a business-as-usual scenario, including the states contesting the plan. The Clean Power Plan, finalized in August, sets targets for reducing carbon pollution in each state. [citizen.org]

Saturday, November 21:

• Spain has made renewable energy a top priority, and the investment has paid off: 42% of Spain’s electricity came from renewable sources in 2013. The majority comes from wind power, but solar provided 13% of the country’s energy and is growing. Spain is also home to the largest solar farm in the world, Andasol. (Photos) [Tech Insider]
• By adopting bicycles and electric bikes for just 10% of urban trips, we would save some $24 trillion between now and 2050, as well as reducing GHG emissions from motor vehicles by about 11%, according to a report from the Institute for Transportation & Development Policy. About 6% of urban trips are already on bicycles. [CleanTechnica]
• The city of Portland, Oregon, has unanimously passed a new resolution to block the expansion of new fossil fuel storage and transport activities in the city. The resolution is the first of its kind to be passed in the US, and represents a pretty big victory for activists concerned about climate change. It can serve as an example. [EV Obsession]

Sunday, November 22:

• Two years ago, a global energy company abandoned plans to build a $120 million pilot wind farm off Maine’s coast following opposition from the Governor Paul LePage. Now it is moving ahead with a similar project in Scotland. The decision is inviting an examination of what Maine may be losing in terms of jobs and investment. [Press Herald]
• The Greens will seek to build momentum for more ambitious action on climate change by calling for the creation of a new government authority to help Australia reach a 90% target for renewable energy by 2030. The party has already adopted the goal, but the new policy document spells out how this could be achieved. [The Guardian]
• Republicans are taking aim at a new “Green Climate Fund,” as they look to weaken President Obama’s hand in global climate talks later this month. The pot of money, a $3 billion climate change pledge the administration made last year, is something officials hope to bring to the negotiating table at United Nations summit in Paris. [The Hill]

Monday, November 23:

• In Climate Science, two of the three Democratic presidential candidates are ‘A’ students, while most of the Republican contenders are flunking, according to a panel of scientists who reviewed candidates’ comments. The climate and biological scientists did the rating at the request of The Associated Press. [Watertown Public Opinion]
• Most people know global oil prices have crashed this year. This was caused by a massive supply glut created by ferocious production from OPEC and near-record US output. The oversupply problem is so bad that oil tankers waiting to be offloaded are piling up off the US Gulf Coast because there’s nowhere to put the crude. [CNN]
• Battery costs are falling to the point that they are becoming increasingly viable as an option for uses such as supporting the stability of power grids. New electricity storage installed on to the grid to support renewables is likely to grow more than 60-fold from 196 MW of capacity now to 12,700 MW in 2025, according to Navigant. [Irish Times]
• For the first time ever, over half of all new annual investment into clean energy power generating projects globally went toward projects in emerging markets, rather than toward wealthier countries. Emerging market investments in renewables hit a record annual high of $126 billion in 2014, up $35.5 billion from 2013 levels. [Jakarta Post]

Tuesday, November 24:

• Sooner than it takes to build a nuclear power station, lithium-air batteries could be helping wind and solar to make coal, oil and nuclear obsolete, according to researchers from the Cambridge University. Five times lighter and five times cheaper than current lithium batteries, Li-air would open the way to our 100% renewable future. [The Ecologist]
• The EU’s renewable energy requirements are forcing coal-based power plants to use biomass fuel. Swaths of woodlands in Southeastern United States are being cut down to fuel the biomass boom across the Atlantic. A report by the Natural Resources Defense Council points out that 15 million acres of unprotected forests are at risk. [Digital Journal]
• Allianz CEO Oliver Baete said the company will no longer invest in companies if more than 30% of sales come from coal mining or if they generate more than 30% of electricity from the fossil fuel. Allianz manages about €1.8 trillion in assets, focusing on the U.S., Germany, France, Italy, Britain and the Asia-Pacific region. [Newser]
• A research study has found that using more solar power in Arizona could save 15 billion gallons of water annually. Most of the water used in Arizona is for agriculture, but another common usage is for cooling natural gas, coal, and nuclear power plants. Obviously, operating rooftop solar power does not require such water use. [CleanTechnica]

(Show is to be recorded on Wednesday, November 20 at 10:00 am. Wednesday’s stories will be covered on December 3.)

 

2015-11-19 Energy Week

Please note that this post is being developed.

Thursday, November 12:

• Around four coal-powered plants are poised to come up every week in China. However, chances are they will remain under-utilised given the existing glut. Around 155 projects with a total capacity of 123 GW got the green signal in 2015 alone. This is despite the fact that China has practically no need for the energy they will produce. [Yahoo News UK]
• German utilities giant E·ON recorded record losses of €5.7 billion ($6.1 billion) for the first nine months of 2015 as its older fossil fuel power plants declined in value amid a switch to renewable energy. There was a write-down of €8.3 billion due to the recent decline in fuel prices, with energy plants barely turning a profit. [Europe Online Magazine]
• The government of the UK gives the fossil-fuel industry nearly £6 billion a year in subsidies, almost twice the financial support it provides to renewable-energy providers, according to a study by the Overseas Development Institute. The study challenges the popular idea that green energy requires extra taxpayer support. [The Independent]

Friday, November 13:

• Two weeks after a developer came to town to disclose details of what would be Vermont’s largest wind-turbine site, the project’s opponents presented an impassioned case against building any wind farms in Stiles Brook Forest. Opponents to the proposal painted a picture of troubles, at a meeting they organized. [vtdigger.org]
• Hillary Clinton outlined a $30 billion plan to help communities and individuals that rely on coal to recover from the industry’s decline. Clinton has said repeatedly she will not forget the coal workers who “kept the lights on” and drove economic growth. Her campaign said the plan fits squarely with her climate priorities. [Rapid News Network]
• The UK’s Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and campaign group Oil Change worldwide (OCI) have now published a detailed analysis of G20 subsidies to oil, gas and coal production. The G20 countries spent around four times as much to prop up fossil fuel production as they did to subsidize renewable energy. [Financial Company Voices]

Saturday, November 14:

• Texas wind farms are generating so much energy that some utilities are giving power away. One example is TXU Energy, which offers a free overnight plan to encourage customers to use less energy when wholesale prices are highest and use more when prices are lowest, 9 pm to 6 am. The plan has slightly higher daytime rates. [HPPR]
• Hawaiian Electric, Maui Electric, and Hawaii Electric Light Company proposed new voluntary time-of-use rates for residential customers that encourage the use of power during mid-day and off-peak hours, or times when solar and wind resources are most productive. Special rates also support the growing EV market. [KHON2]

Sunday, November 15:

• A record oil glut is set to continue into next year, maintaining pressure on prices. According to the International Energy, stockpiles stand at a record three billion. The report follows disappointing eurozone growth figures and a slump in commodity prices on the back of weaker demand from China, all of which sent stock prices lower. [BBC]
• France plans to go ahead with a global climate change summit in Paris at the end of the month, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Saturday, despite a wave of deadly attacks on Friday night that killed nearly 130 people in the capital. The conference “will be held because it’s an essential meeting for humanity,” Valls explained. [The Japan Times]
• Bernie Sanders opened Saturday night’s Democratic debate by vowing to rid the world of ISIS. Following up, the moderator pointed out that during a debate last month, Sanders had identified “climate change” as the greatest threat to national security and asked whether he still believed that. “Absolutely,” replied Sanders. [Grist]

Monday, November 16:

• Human societies will soon start to experience adverse effects from manmade climate change, economist Richard Tol warned. He predicts the downsides of warming will outweigh the advantages at a 1.1° C increase, which we have nearly reached already. He had previously commented on positive effects of climate change. [BBC]
• Apple announced a deal that will see its Singapore operations fully powered by solar energy, expanding on similar efforts in countries like the US and China, and also confirmed an upcoming local Apple Store that will be the first in Southeast Asia. Developer Sunseap Group will supply Apple from panels on 800 roof tops. [Apple Insider]
• Findings from real estate appraisal experts and a researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory suggest that adding a photovoltaic solar power system to a home increases the home’s value across six states. The study looked at markets in California, Oregon, Florida, Maryland, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. [Daily Californian]

Tuesday, November 17:

• A record $391 billion flowed into low carbon and climate-resilient growth in 2014, according to a report released today by Climate Policy Initiative. The fresh figures come just two weeks before the COP21 climate talks begin in Paris, where finance is expected to play a pivotal role in scoring a robust global deal for a safe climate. [The Climate Group]
• The C20 Sustainability Working Group is asking the G20 to stop fossil fuel subsidies. The G20 promised to phase them out in 2009, but they still pump $452 billion annually into exploration for and production of fossil fuels, according to a report from the Overseas Development Institute released last week. [Blue & Green Tomorrow]
• Tesla Motors CTO JB Straubel told engineering students at the University of Nevada that the gigafactory is designed to be a net-zero building with zero carbon emissions. What’s makes this statement more special is that this building will reportedly be one of the largest manmade structures on Earth when it is completed. [ValueWalk]

Wednesday, November 18:

• The Republican-run US Senate adopted two resolutions to shoot down key rules Barack Obama’s administration wants to limit greenhouse gas emissions by power plants. The president will veto the move. The 52 to 46 vote was largely meant to draw attention to the hostility of the Republicans to Obama’s efforts on climate change. [Business Recorder]
• A two-year pilot project will store a tiny bit of Toronto’s excess energy underwater in giant balloons. Local energy firm Hydrostor and Toronto Hydro are partnering on the project. The Hydrostor system is expected to improve power quality for residents of the Toronto Islands while engineers monitor and test its performance. [Toronto Star]
• After a concerted push from the United States, members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development agreed to cut subsidies aimed at exporting technology for coal-fired power plants. The policy would effectively cut off public financing for 85% of coal plants currently in the pipeline, an official said. [Washington Post]
• The Massachusetts House has passed a bill to boost the state’s reliance on solar energy. The measure increases the cap on the state’s net metering program, which allows homeowners, businesses and local governments to sell excess solar power they generate back to the electrical grid in exchange for credit. [wwlp.com]

2015-11-12 Energy Week

Please note that this post is being developed.

Thursday, November 5:

• 50 years ago today, President Johnson’s Science Advisory Committee sent him a report, “Restoring the Quality of Our Environment,” which included a warning on carbon dioxide emissions and climate change. It was written by prominent climate scientists Roger Revelle, Wallace Broecker, Charles Keeling, Harmon Craig, and J Smagorisnky. [The Guardian]
• “How the World Is Saving Itself From Coal Even Without a UN Prod” • The energy industry is easing away from coal and will keep moving in that direction regardless of what happens at the United Nations climate talks in Paris next month. That’s the view of Michael Liebreich, the founder of Bloomberg New Energy Finance. [Bloomberg]
• An 18-state coalition led by New York and California has begun taking on a block of 26 states including Texas and Florida in a court fight over the EPA’s Clean Power Plan. The states defending the federal plan are joined by the District of Columbia, New York City, Chicago, and Philadelphia in seeking intervener status. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

Friday, November 6:

• Two stunning auction results in India and Chile in the last week have underscored the extraordinary gains that large-scale solar has made against its fossil fuel competitors. In both countries, solar is now clearly the cheapest option compared to new coal-fired power stations. In Chile, the auction produced the lowest ever price for unsubsidized solar, 6.5¢/kWh. [RenewEconomy]
• The largest state in Austria now runs on 100% clean and renewable energy, officials have confirmed. The premier of Lower Austria, which has a population of 1.65 million, told a news conference that the state is now generating its electricity solely from renewable sources, led by hydroelectric power, which supplies 63% of the state’s energy. [pv magazine]
• New York’s Attorney General is investigating whether ExxonMobil Corp lied to the public and investors about its knowledge of climate change and its risks. This follows articles published by Inside Climate News and the Los Angeles Times saying their investigations showed Exxon concealed its own scientist’s work on climate science. [The Hill]

Saturday, November 7:

• New figures released quietly by the Chinese Government this week shows that China has been burning up to 17% more coal per year than the government had previously disclosed, laying to rest many hopes that the country was on a fast track to carbon dioxide emissions decline. The extra coal would emit a billion more tons of carbon dioxide each year. [CleanTechnica]
• President Obama took advantage of low gas prices and the resulting decline in US oil production to reject the construction proposal of the Keystone XL pipeline. Since coming into office, Obama has made a strong push for a clean energy future, and shutting down Keystone XL after a 7-year battle could well be the capstone on that effort. [CleanTechnica]

Sunday, November 8:

• The majestic forests that Pennsylvanians are familiar with today won’t be the forests that future generations know because of global climate change according to the Secretary of the state’s Department of Environmental Protection. Several species of trees are likely to disappear from the forests: sugar maple, black cherry, and hemlock. [Citizens Voice]
• The world will pump out 748 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide from 2012 through 2030, the UN said Friday in an e-mailed report that analyzed emissions pledges by 146 nations. The World Energy Council is dismissing climate change plans as not good enough and says it plans to write to all participants of upcoming climate talks in Paris. [TV Newsroom]
• In India, electric transmission and distribution losses, the majority of which pertains to sheer theft of electricity, had been varying between 17% and 35% percent. Financial losses for electricity distribution companies in India reach a staggering ₹3.8 trillion ($58 billion). The states have endorsed a central government plan to deal with distribution. [Greentech Lead]
• Oil companies of all hues loaded up on massive amounts of debt to fund rigs and fancy new drilling equipment. The problem is the companies were banking on oil prices closer to $100 oil when they took on the debt. Now oil is around $45 and no one is expecting prices to hit $100 any time soon. What that means is the likelihood of defaulting has increased. [CNN]

Monday, November 9:

• Legal professionals are warning that ongoing investigations of ExxonMobil practices could drag other oil businesses. The firm is the subject of controversy over allegations it mislead the public about climate change. But prosecutors are thinking about investigating all businesses that chose to fund organizations that promoted climate change denial. [California Turkish Times]
• Coal consumption is poised for its biggest decline in history, driven by China’s battle against pollution, economic reforms and its efforts to promote renewable energy. Global use of the most polluting fuel fell 2.3% to 4.6% in the first nine months of 2015 from the same period last year, according to a report released by Greenpeace. [The Australian Financial Review]

Tuesday, November 10:

• Global temperatures are set to rise more than one degree above pre-industrial levels according to the UK’s Met Office. Figures from January to September this year are already 1.02° C above the average between 1850 and 1900. If temperatures remain as predicted, 2015 will be the first year to breach this key threshold. An increase of 2° C is considered dangerous.[BBC]
• Renewable energy accounted for almost half of all new power plants in 2014, representing a “clear sign that an energy transition is underway”, according to an International Energy Agency report. Green energy is now the second-largest generator of electricity in the world, after coal, and is set to overtake the dirtiest fossil fuel in the early 2030s, the report said. [The Guardian]
• Britain will miss a major legally-binding renewable energy target, Amber Rudd, the Energy Secretary, has admitted in a letter to other cabinet ministers. The letter, however, was leaked to the press. She warned that the “absence of a credible plan” to meet the target could trigger repeated fines from the EU Court of Justice and a judicial review. [Telegraph.co.uk]
• Trident Winds has filed early paperwork with Morro Bay, California, city officials for a plan to install 100 floating turbines, each up to 636 feet tall, about 15 miles off the San Luis Obispo County shoreline. The project would generate 1,000 MW of electricity, enough to power 300,000 homes. It would be the first West Coast offshore wind farm. [Bakken.com]
• After apologizing for two months, Volkswagen is finally putting its money where its mouth is, forking over $500 to VW car owners hit by its emissions cheating scandal. But the payout has not had the intended effect for many owners. Angry VW customers who wrote to CNNMoney used terms like “slap in the face” and “scandalous” to describe the payout. [CNN]

Wednesday, November 11:

• This 17th straight month of low oil prices has remained a boon for drivers, manufacturers and refineries, but the International Energy Agency warned it will also likely force importers like the US, EU, China, and India to rely increasingly on low-cost producers in the Middle East at a scale not seen since the 1970s. [U.S. News & World Report]
• Denmark-based DONG Energy said it plans to build a wind farm with up to 100 wind turbines and capable of generating as much as 1,000 MW of electricity on a leased site, south of Martha’s Vineyard, that the federal government put up for bid in January for development of offshore wind power. [Martha’s Vineyard Times]

2015-11-05 Energy Week

Please note that this post is being developed.

Thursday, October 29:

• UK Prime Minister David Cameron is poised to launch an ambitious project that could see Britain harnessing the power of Iceland’s volcanoes within the next 10 years. The plan would involve the construction of 750 miles of undersea cabling, allowing the UK to exploit Iceland’s long-term, renewable geothermal energy. [The Independent]
• In the first three quarters of 2015, the US wind energy industry has installed more than double the capacity it did in the first three quarters of 2014. There is now over 69,470 MW of installed wind capacity across the US. A near-record of more than 13,250 MW of wind capacity is under construction, with more coming. [Sun & Wind Energy]
• Billionaire Tom Steyer’s super PAC NextGen Climate launched an aggressive campaign against Republican presidential candidates who deny the existence of man-made climate change. Steyer, who spent $70 million on 2014 elections, has pledged to spend “what it takes” to elect candidates that will act on climate issues in 2016. [Greentech Media]

Friday, October 30:

• In a Chilean auction to procure 1200 GWh of power, wind and solar projects took 100% of the contracts even though there were no subsidies for renewable energy. In the prior tender 80% went to fossil fuels. Two thirds of the power under the latest auction will be supplied by two wind farms, and the rest will come from three solar projects. [Courier Mail]
• TDI-New England, which is financing the New England Power Link, received a favorable assessment from federal regulators in their final environmental impact statement. About 98 miles of the power line will run under Lake Champlain and 56 miles will extend overland to grid connections in Ludlow, Vermont. [The Boston Globe]
• After tropical storm Sandy, Hoboken, New Jersey, examined grid security issues. The result was the Resilient Microgrids Toolkit, which provides stakeholders with the resources necessary to establish and maintain a clean and resilient microgrid. The toolkit can be used by any city looking to establish a clean microgrid. [Microgrid Knowledge]

Saturday, October 31:

• An independent examination of two struggling coal-burning power plants in western New York has found that neither is needed to maintain reliability of the electrical grid, which could pave the way for their closure. The state’s Independent System Operator said the plants can be replaced by transmission system upgrades. [Capital New York]
• The UN released its assessment of national plans to limit climate change, submitted by 146 countries. Officials say the submissions, in their current form, won’t keep global temperatures from rising by more than the 2° C danger threshold. However the UN report says the plans are a major step and the 2° C goal is “within reach.” [BBC]
• The United States Department of Agriculture has announced a round of funding, in the form of loans and grants, to more than 1100 rural renewable energy and energy efficiency projects nationwide. These are aimed at helping small businesses and agricultural producers reduce both their energy use and costs. [CleanTechnica]
• DuPont has celebrated the opening of its cellulosic biofuel facility in Nevada, Iowa, with a ceremony including Iowa Gov. Terry Brandstad and many other dignitaries. The biorefinery is the world’s largest cellulosic ethanol plant, with the capacity to produce 30 million gallons per year of ethanol from agricultural waste. [Hydrocarbon Processing]

Sunday, November 1:

• Utah Red Hills Renewable Park is a solar power generating facility being developed by Scatec Solar in Parowan, Utah, with an estimated investment of $188 million. It will be Utah’s biggest power generating facility and will be one of the biggest solar power plants in the country. It should be completed in December of this year. [Power Technology]
• Battery prices are dropping, but utilities aren’t quite fully comfortable with them yet, as revealed by Southern California Edison’s recent proposal to buy electricity from a new natural gas-fired power plant in Stanton, California, rather than install additional battery capacity as ratepayer advocates and environmentalists want it to. [OCRegister]

Monday, November 2:

• Around 8.5 million diesel vehicles sold by Volkswagen over the past few years in Europe will be recalled, following the testing scandal of a few weeks ago, according to reports. A recall timeline has bee approved. The company is apparently currently considering the option of simply buying back affected vehicles in the US. [CleanTechnica]
• The Scottish government has approved Statoil plans for the 30-MW Hywind 2 floating offshore wind project some 25 km off Peterhead. The Norwegian company was issued with a marine licence to build five Siemens 6-MW turbines on spar foundations. Statoil plans for final commissioning of the project before end-2017. [reNews]
• Africa’s largest solar car park opened recently at the Garden City Mall in Nairobi. It aims to cut carbon emissions by 745 tonnes annually from non-renewable energy sources. The car park has a total of 3,300 solar panels, which are capable of generating 1,256 MWh of electricity annually. It also provides shade to the cars. [The Straits Times]

Tuesday, November 3:

• The company behind the Keystone XL pipeline asked the US government to put its review of the controversial project on hold. TransCanada says the pause is necessary while it negotiates with Nebraska over the pipeline’s route through the state. The move came as a surprise as TransCanada executives have pushed hard to get approval. [BBC]
• A study published in Nature by scientists at Stanford and UC Berkeley has made waves for its finding that thus far we have badly underestimated the damage human-caused climate change will do to the global economy. It says wealthy countries are nearly as vulnerable to temperatures warming beyond 13°C as poorer countries. [CleanTechnica]
• Entergy Corp, which owns two nuclear plants in New York, said Monday it will close the James A FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant near Syracuse. Entergy said it would close the Oswego County plant late next year or early 2017. State officials, including Governor Cuomo, vowed to fight the company’s plans. [Rochester Democrat and Chronicle]

Wednesday, November 4:

• As November begins, promises from individual countries to the United Nations have addressed nearly 90% of the world’s current greenhouse gas emissions. The world consensus aims to reduce and stabilize them in order to keep earth’s temperatures from climbing higher than two degrees Celsius by 2100. [CleanTechnica]
• Still reeling from the diesel emissions scandal, VW said it had set carbon dioxide emissions and fuel consumption figures too low when certifying some models. It said about 800,000 mainly diesel vehicles were affected, and put a preliminary estimate of the cost to the company of the new admission at about €2 billion. [CNN]
• US Senators Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have announced the formation of a Senate Energy and Environment Working Group that will focus on ways to protect the environment and climate while backing clean energy innovation that helps drive job creation. [CleanTechnica]
• In Vermont, a solar array proposed for Brattleboro’s closed landfill, an installation that would be Vermont’s largest by current standards, could lead to a big payoff for Windham County municipalities. Estimates show that a typical town signing on to the project could see electric-bill savings of more than 60% by the end of a 20-year contract. [vtdigger.org]