Here’s new on a mixture of different topics, to supplement our own 15 or so stories a day and the solar energy news and clean transportation news roundups I just published. Enjoy!
Politics & Policy
This November, Our Energy Future Hangs In The Balance: “‘I like coal.’ Governor Romney’s love note to the coal industry during the first Presidential debate in Denver gave rise to a tidal wave of Tweets and blog posts. It’s been widely panned by environmental groups and lauded by the fossil fuel industry — in fact, shares in several mining companies actually rose the following day. Governor Romney confirmed his affections during the second debate, declaring, ‘I will fight for oil, coal, and natural gas.'”
The Energiewende Cost Index: Craig Morris of Renewables International writes: “Germany’s Institute of Applied Ecology published two scientific studies this month in German investigating the complicated issue of what renewables actually cost. Here, we take a brief look at a few of the charts and try to explain the findings.”
The Green Take on Elizabeth Warren vs. Scott Brown — And Three More Hot Senate Races: “The presidential race has been sucking up a lot of oxygen (and just plain sucking), but there are in fact other important races playing out across the country. Here are four Senate contests with notable green (or not-so-green) angles.”
Nuclear Energy
Fresh Questions Raised over ‘Blank Cheque’ for New Nuclear: “The government is today facing renewed calls for it to rule out specific subsidies for nuclear plants that would cover construction risks relating to new projects, after a group of leading energy academics warned that taxpayer could end up footing a multi-billion pound bill.”
Climate Change
Winter Wheat Crop Now Feeling Impact of U.S. Drought: “During the past week, drought conditions have improved slightly across the U.S., but the majority of the lower 48 states continue to suffer from what is proving to be a widespread and pernicious drought event, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor statistics, released on Thursday. The drought put a major dent in the U.S. corn and soybean crop, and now it is delaying the emergence of winter wheat, which is grown in some of the hardest-hit drought states, such as Nebraska.”
Other Cleantech News & Opinion
GE Invites You to Build Your Own (Virtual) Wind Farm: “Using Microsoft’s Kinect technology, wind maker GE Energy and software developer Infusion partnered to create a new Xbox 360-type gesture-driven interactive interface and colorful presentation through which users can experiment with some of the choices involved in building a wind project.”
Why You Need An Energy Audit: “As a green home consultant, there are preciously few definitive pieces of advice that I can give all-comers. It seems that I am always qualifying any advice on home upgrades–telling the homeowner that the right choice depends on the location of the home, local codes, whether the primary energy load is cooling or if it is heating, the type of heating fuel used, whether the summers in the area are humid or dry…There is always some qualifier. The advice to seek out a professional energy audit is an easy one. I can say that an energy audit is appropriate for every homeowner and every home, even a brand-new one.”
Explore EIA’s New State Energy Portal: “EIA recently launched a new interactive web portal for state-level energy data and infrastructure overlays. The new web portal includes a profile analysis for each state and allows users to:
- Compare state rankings of energy consumption, production, and prices across fuels and sectors (Pennsylvania/natural gas residential prices selected above right)
- Customize energy maps with over 30 selectable layers (Pennsylvania/coal selected above left)
- Visualize state-level data with graphics and charts (Pennsylvania/prices selected below)
- Analyze key energy facts for each state”
Zero Waste Systems; A Cycle Following Nature’s Design: “I write about sustainable practices and products every article. But the process that needs the most attention for our economy to become truly sustainable is the products’ entire life-cycle process from extraction through production to purchase to use and then finally to its end. The end is the part that we need to really focus on now.”
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