Author: Zachary Shahan

South Africa Can Go 100% Renewable, New Report Shows How

14 years ago Zachary Shahan 2 Comments

South Africa gets a fair share of sun, from what I’ve heard. Also, with good wind resources to boot and technology that is clearly ready to scale, a new report released by Greenpeace South Africa shows how exactly the country can go 100% renewable. The Energy [R]evolution report “is a detailed and practical blueprint for cutting carbon emissions, replacing fossil fuels and nuclear power with renewable energy, and growing the economy,” Greenpeace announced this week. “It is one of the most comprehensive plans to resolve the country’s need for energy security and a sustainable energy future, ever.”

Google Data Center in Finland to be 100% Cooled with Ocean Water {VIDEO}

14 years ago Zachary Shahan 7 Comments

This is pretty cool. You can get much of the story from the video above. But, in summary, by pumping sea water through an existing sea water tunnel (that was put in place by the paper mill that used to live there). The Hamina, Finland site was acquired in 2009 and, from the beginning, Google’s team was very excited about using the unique features of the site to design a more eco-friendly data center — that’s what makes Google great (one of the things).

Huge News: Putting a High & Rising Price on CO2 Could Balance the Budget (New…

14 years ago Zachary Shahan 1 Comment

Yes, it’s more complicated than that — this was a hard story to come up with a title for — but this is the gist of a new proposed plan (or several new plans) for balancing the nation’s budget that would ALSO, by chance, cut CO2 emissions considerably, thus slowing or stopping human-caused global warming and saving us trillions of dollars in damage and health costs in the process.

Renewable Energy in Germany Going to Get a Boost from Wind Energy Superhighway

14 years ago Zachary Shahan 2 Comments

I was in Germany a little more than a week ago and can tell you from what I saw that Germany (or, at least, Northeast Germany) is a wind turbine paradise. Wind turbines are everywhere it seems (between cities that is).

Germany is the clear wind power leader in Europe with 27,214 MW of installed wind power capacity. (Spain is second with 20,676 MW installed.)

But, even in Germany, wind power could benefit from a better transmission network. Of course, German leaders recognize that and are doing something about it — they are planning to build a wind energy superhighway.

Wind Power Needs Long-term Policy Support (Like Fossil Fuels Get), Ted Turner & Others Pronounce

14 years ago Zachary Shahan 2 Comments

Wind power needs to be and will likely be a key source of electricity in the near future (and already is in some places). As legendary business leader Ted Turner said at the U.S. WINDPOWER conference in California yesterday, embarcing renewable energy such as wind, solar, geothermal is an “even more of an obvious business decision for him today than launching eventual cable giant CNN was in 1980.” Turner stated, “I’ve never seen anything more clear as the case for wind, solar, and geothermal.”

U.S. Wind Power Increasingly American-made (Creating U.S. Manufacturing Jobs)

14 years ago Zachary Shahan 0 Comments

It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that wind power is growing fast in the United States (and worldwide). Under the Bush administration, a goal of getting 20% of our electricity from wind by 2030 was set and we are currently ahead of schedule on that. However, a lot of people wonder, where are these wind turbines being made? Is this creating jobs in the U.S. or in China?

Top 10 Clean Energy States (& Bottom 10)

14 years ago Zachary Shahan 1 Comment

Any “top 10” list is going to be a bit ambiguous, unless you’re ranking something that is very simply scored and ranked, like sports teams. Ranking states or countries on cleantech matters, especially cleantech or clean energy as a whole, is a little more difficult. So, I steer away from making such lists. However, if someone else makes one, it’s a fun thing to cover.

Clean Edge recently published its 2nd annual U.S. Clean Energy Leadership Index, which includes critical data and analysis on the nation’s clean energy landscape. Included in the index is a ranking of the states according to their clean energy leadership. Can you guess the top 10?

Offshore Wind Future Looks Bright but Challenges & Uncertainty Remain, New Report Finds

14 years ago Zachary Shahan 1 Comment

A report this month from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC), Offshore Proof, delves into the challenges of offshore wind power, its shortcomings to date, and its potentially bright future. While the report finds that the “offshore wind power industry has some way to go to prove it can take its place as a sustainable part of the energy mix,” 75% of experts in the field project that it will be an important part of the mix in the next 20 years and about 60% believe that it will be economically competitive within 15 years.

3 States Stay in Northeast Cap & Trade Program (for Obvious Reasons) Despite Huge Republican/Tea…

14 years ago Zachary Shahan 8 Comments

I had been worried about two or three states pulling out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI, pronounced “Reggie”), the nation’s first cap and trade program for greenhouse gases, for awhile. It seemed 99.9% sure that New Hampshire would pull out after its House of Representatives voted to pull out of the initiative and its Senate had a clear Republican majority likely to do the same. Even if the Governor tried to veto such a decision, he could be overridden.