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Wednesday, May 09, 2012
Farmers and ranchers already use solar panels to power electric fences, water wells and tank heaters. But two energy workshops held recently in Northeastern Colorado were designed to provide rural residents with information about how to make solar a bigger part of their energy portfolio.
While wind energy makes up a much larger portion of the state and federal renewable fuels standard so far, going solar is an increasingly popular option in sun-drenched states like Colorado.
“Why all the buzz? It’s creating a lot of jobs here in Colorado,” said Rebecca Cantwell, senior program director for the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association based at Boulder. She spoke at back-to-back meetings in Holyoke and Fort Morgan coordinated by the Colorado State University Extension Service. “The fuel is free. And an aspect that is increasingly important in Colorado is that it doesn’t use any water.”
The commercial market for solar energy grew 127 percent in 2011, she said. When it comes to the installation of photovoltaic solar panels, Colorado ranks fifth nationally while New Mexico is fourth.
In addition, Colorado has some of the best solar thermal potential in the country. One system in the San Luis Valley uses mirrors to heat water that creates steam to run a turbine, she said.
Innovation is lowering costs and making installation quicker and easier, she added.
“I think in five years you’ll be able to go to Home Depot and buy a solar system you can plug in at your house. Well, maybe not completely, but close to it.”
posted in: Blogging, Colorado, EmployerNews, News
Wednesday, May 09, 2012
Energy-renewal innovator Beth Thomas is passionate about the possibilities of expanding “green” energy in urban environments, and she sees Chicago as a gold mine.
“We have been treating our environment like a trash can since the Industrial Revolution,” said the Hyde Park resident. “The only way to correct that mistake is to show that renewable energy can make money and be easily incorporated into people’s day-to-day environment.”
Thomas’ penchant for thinking of new ways to go green won an honorable mention in a Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce contest on cutting Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) costs: She proposed installing solar panels on train roofs, replacing their dependence on electricity.
Her latest effort is to see wind turbines built throughout the city, at schools, libraries, Navy Pier, the Tinley Park Metra station and McCormick Place Convention Center, to prevent transporting over an outdated electrical grid energy from far-off wind farms. She has posted graphically enhanced renderings of her visions at http://www.greenenergy-greenmoney.com/.
One example of a communal financing model for smaller turbines is the city of Toronto, where a co-operative sold five shares, at $100 per share, to each downtown resident who chose to become a co-op member to pay to build a turbine, according to media reports. The turbine overlooks the harbor front at Exhibition Place, Canada’s largest trade fair site.
Thomas sent her proposal detailing how wind turbines would save money by replacing electricity expenses to local elected and civic leaders, aiming to inspire them that now is the time for Chicago to take up its mantle as urban history-maker and create local jobs and products. The average ComEd residential customer pays 13.18 cents per kilowatt.
Chicago-based Illinois Wind Energy Coalition Director Kevin Borgia believes the city could purchase the most cost-effective wind power from wind farms operating in open fields in rural Illinois communities.
“Wind turbines already installed throughout Illinois generate 2,742 megawatts of wind power,” Borgia said, noting that another 3,800 megawatts of wind generation are permitted but not yet built statewide.
“These wind projects can be built and create jobs in the near term,” he said.
While Borgia applauds Thomas’ ideas and efforts by the suburbs of Evanston and Lynwood to expand wind-energy development, he said small inland wind turbines cost many times that of large-scale wind farms.
Thomas’ proposal for wind turbines scattered throughout Chicago could serve as a symbol for the Windy City and an honorable demonstration project, Borgia said.
Illinois and other states have set goals to generate 25 percent of their electricity from renewable resources by 2025.
Yet research unveiled last week shows that large wind farms slightly increase temperatures near the ground because the turbines’ blades pull down warm air, leading to questions about what the farms’ long-term impact will be on the environment.
posted in: Blogging, EmployerNews, Illinois, News
Wednesday, May 09, 2012
Author Chris Turner calls it “the great leap sideways.”
The leap Turner is referring to is the next industrial revolution. It’s replacing non-renewable energy with renewable energy in the next 50 years. “We need to move to wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, some small scale hydro, maybe some large scale hydro and maybe some nuclear.”
Galvanized by the attention that wasn’t being paid to climate change Turner started writing about solutions instead of problems.
Chris Turner inspired many people with his first book, The Geography of Hope. Like his latest book The Leap, it’s focused on telling the stories of the people who are not simply dabbling in green energy solutions, but taking the leap and “going all the way in their thinking.”
“The grand narrative of the industrial revolution is in some ways about people seizing opportunity,” said Turner. Today that opportunity is in renewable energy where not only can we seize a sizable economic opportunity but avoid catastrophe at the same time.
This transformation doesn’t mean halting the use of fossil fuels on Monday and firing up wind turbines on Tuesday. The credible scenarios and models done by non-profits and oil companies alike foresee fossil fuels being used for quite some time through even the most aggressive transitions to sustainable energy.
Turner says we need three big leaps: the leap to green energy, a leap in urban design and finally a leap in transportation.
Transportation
Spain went from one of the worst rail systems in Europe to one of the best and they did it inside of a generation.
The original idea was to connect Spain’s major cities like Seville and Madrid, but a funny thing happens when you build a train that goes 310 km/h. Smaller cities on the line such as Ciudad Real that were once two hours outside of Madrid are now 45 minutes from the heart of the major city.
When the Madrid to Barcelona high speed rail line was built flights between the two cities dropped 46 per cent and each passengers’ carbon footprint plunged 83 per cent.
Urban design
Throughout the last century the car has become the accidental architect of our cities as anyone on Deerfoot in Calgary or the Yellowhead in Edmonton will attest.
Turner writes extensively about a back-to-the-future European approach to urban design that creates neighbourhoods where people live, work and shop. It’s urban design that’s three to six stories high, mixed use and dense, but not crowded with plenty of well designed public space.
Houses in these neighbourhoods use 70 per cent less energy and car use is reduced due to local employment, innovative urban design and good transit.
The German example
Renewable energy has been experiencing double digit growth rates for more than a decade worldwide, but perhaps the best example of a country taking the leap to green energy is Germany.
In 10 years, Germany has gone from 6.7 per cent of its electricity coming from renewable energy to 20.1 per cent.
In 2011, there were 382,000 jobs in the renewable energy sector and the industry was worth $50 billion.
The German system is fueled by a “feed-in-tariff, which is not direct taxation or a direct subsidy, it’s an obligation built into the purchase price of energy so the price of everybody’s kWh of electricity goes up just a little bit,” explains Turner.
posted in: Blogging, EmployerNews, News
Tuesday, May 01, 2012
The number of people employed in the South West’s renewable energy sector soared by 40% to 7,000 last year, a new report shows.
And with the right support that number could climb to 30,000 jobs by 2020, says Renewable Energy: Made in Britain, by the Renewable Energy Association.
The report shows that nationally the renewable energy sector employed more than 110,000 people in 2010/11. The figure for 7,000 in the South West compares with regional renewable energy group Regen’s figure of 5,000 in 2009/10.
The UK has a target of 15% energy from renewable energy sources by 2020 – and achieving that could create jobs for 400,000 people nationally and 30,000 in the south west.
Regen chief executive Merlin Hyman said: “Renewable energy jobs have continued to boom in the teeth of the recession and even these figures are an underestimate as they don’t include the strong performance of the sector in the last year.
“Over the next decade clean energy is the biggest economic opportunity we have. Backing ambitious projects like the South West Marine Energy Park, Atlantic Array offshore wind farm, Communities for Renewables and work to lead the way on the Green Deal is vital if we are to seize this opportunity.”
posted in: Blogging, EmployerNews, News
Tuesday, May 01, 2012
The renewable energy sector in the South West has been a “bright spot” in the economic gloom with a 40% increase in employment in the last 12 months, according to a new report.
A study by the Renewable Energy Association (REA) showed that in 2010-11, 7,000 people were employed in the renewable energy sector in the region – up from 5,000 the previous year.
Nationally the sector employs more than 110,000 people which could grow to 400,000 – and 30,000 in the South West – as the Government achieves its target of having 15% energy from renewable energy sources by 2020.
Merlin Hyman, chief executive of Exeter-based independent energy experts Regen SW, said: “Renewable energy jobs have continued to boom in the teeth of the recession and even these figures are an underestimate as they don’t include the strong performance of the sector in the last year.”
Mr Hyman highlighted a number of companies which had grown substantially in recent years including Exeter-based renewable energy installer Sungift, which now has 46 staff compared to nine two years ago, and Okehampton-based biomass system firm Fair Energy, which has gone from three staff to 20 in the last two years.
Falmouth-based Large Diameter Drilling, had also won the contract to install foundations for 160 turbines at the £2 billion Gwynt y Mor offshore wind farm in Liverpool Bay.
“Over the next decade clean energy is the biggest economic opportunity we have,” Mr Hyman added. “Backing ambitious projects like the South West Marine Energy Park, Atlantic Array offshore wind farm, Communities for Renewables scheme and work to lead the way on the [government’s] Green Deal is vital if we are to seize this opportunity.”
The REA report – “Renewable Energy: Made in Britain” – brought turnover and employment figures from the entire UK renewables sector together for the first time.
Read Full Article
posted in: Blogging, EmployerNews, News
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
LANSING — Petitions are being circulated for a proposal to saddle Michigan with an ever higher renewable energy mandate.
The Michigan Energy, Michigan Jobs Initiative (MEMJI) also called “25 by 25’ wants to put the proposal on the Nov. 6 statewide ballot. Its goal is to collect 500,000 signatures. If enacted, the proposal would require that 25 percent of Michigan’s energy come from renewable sources such as wind, solar and biomass by 2025.
Under Michigan’s current energy law passed in 2008, 10 percent of Michigan’s energy is supposed to come from renewable sources by 2015.
In terms of costs and efficiency, the existing requirement is already problematic.
Rhetoric for the 25 by 25 proposal could have come from old “green job” speeches made by former Gov. Jennifer Granholm. According to one of the websites for the proposal, the measure would “create thousands of jobs for Michigan workers and attract $10 billion in new investments to our state.”
A key question regarding costly renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, is whether anyone would use them if government didn’t mandate it.
Earlier this month, a spokesman for the proposal was quoted by an online publication saying the petition drive was ahead of schedule. Other aspects of the initiative might be ahead of schedule as well — such as funding.
posted in: Blogging, EmployerNews, Michigan, News
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
A half dozen attentive young women scattered around the large conference room in Building 8 of Austin Community College’s Eastview Campus clearly illustrate the speaker’s point: few women are taking advantage of growth in the green energy sector.
ACC hopes to change that, presenting a session on opportunities for women in clean energy as part of its Environmental Awareness Month. The event’s sponsors include ACC’s Renewable Energy Student Association and Center for Student Political Studies.
Shelley Attix, coordinator of Continuing Education workforce special projects, says ACC wants to double the percentage of women preparing for green energy careers. Green jobs cut across a variety of career tracks, from manufacturing, where development of better batteries is needed, to IT work on smart grids, green construction, mass transit and natural resources.
Most green jobs are new twists on jobs that already exist, many of them trades.
Female role models are an important part of the effort; Attix points out that recruiting a female instructor for an introductory solar energy class increased female enrollment from almost nil to 75 percent, with 90 percent completing the course.
Most green jobs are new twists on jobs that already exist, many of them trades. For example, plumbers may now work on solar thermal, or mill workers on wind turbines. And while many people think ‘renewable energy’ when they hear ‘green jobs,’ a study by the American Solar Energy Society estimated that there are nearly 20 times more jobs in energy efficiency than there are in renewable energy. These energy efficiency jobs are within traditional occupations such as construction, HVAC, electricians, engineers and plumbers.
“Many green jobs have focused mainly around building the infrastructure and energy generation equipment required to make the transition to clean energy,” says Jason Shaw, president of the ACC Renewable Energy Student Association. “Men make up the majority of the workforce in this field and this event was to bring in and show support for women who have successful careers in the energy field, and to help encourage more diversity in the clean energy workforce.”
Speakers at the ACC event included Kelly Twomey, a mechanical engineering student in the University of Texas Cockrell School of Engineering and graduate student researcher with Webber Energy Group/ATI and Carsi Mitzner with the Association of Women in Energy.
Attix encourages women interested in pursuing a green energy career to develop computer skills, whether general IT, web design or auto cad. “If you don’t want to be on a roof somewhere, that’s a great way to go,” she says. Business skills and an entrepreneurial bent are helpful. On the residential side, for example, women often make decisions about green home construction or remodeling, and may feel more comfortable dealing with another woman.
posted in: Blogging, EmployerNews, News
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Friends of the Earth survey latest to show public support for renewables as green group launches new Clean British Energy campaign
Almost nine in 10 people want to see the government ramp up the UK’s use of clean domestic energy and reduce the country’s reliance on imported gas, a new YouGov poll reveals.
Just under two-thirds of the 2,884 people questioned on behalf of campaign group Friends of the Earth listed wind, wave, solar, or tidal as power sources they wanted to see playing a greater role in the UK’s electricity mix over the next decade, while just two per cent backed an increase in gas capacity.
The survey is the latest to signal strong public backing for renewable energy, following Sunday’s YouGov poll for Scottish Renewables that found 71 per cent of Scots supported wind power, and a separate Ipsos MORI survey last week that reported 67 per cent of respondents were in favour of using more wind power.
Currently, only 9.5 per cent of UK electricity comes from renewable energy sources and Friends of the Earth is concerned the government is encouraging a new “dash for gas” by exempting gas-fired power plants from emissions restrictions that will effectively ban new coal power stations.
The wind energy sector is also facing an increasingly vocal campaign against new wind farms, while concerns are mounting that renewable energy investments are being put on hold as a result of investor concerns over the degree of political backing for clean energy.
Today Friends of the Earth is using St George’s Day to launch a new Clean British Energy campaign that calls on the Prime Minister to use his speech at the Clean Energy Ministerial on Thursday to demonstrate his backing for low carbon energy.
posted in: Blogging, EmployerNews, News
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Does Trump have a point in saying wind farms will destroy tourism? Or will his own interests actually destroy the campaign against renewables, asks Dani Garavelli
THE handful of tickets made available to the public were snapped up in under an hour. Donald Trump’s appearance before the economy, energy and tourism committee in Holyrood on Wednesday is the most hotly anticipated transatlantic clash since George Galloway faced down US senators over Iraq.
And judging by the gloves-off approach the American tycoon has taken since discovering plans for an 11-turbine offshore wind farm near his proposed £1 billion golf resort near Aberdeen, those who have secured a ringside seat will witness a no-holds-barred performance. Trump may lack Galloway’s finesse with language, but not his capacity to ruffle feathers or cause offence. Together with Communities Against Turbines Scotland (CATS) – the lobby group he has thrown his weight behind – he will attack wind farms as a blight on the Scottish landscape.
While CATS will look at health and safety implications and the alleged lack of democracy in the granting of planning applications, Trump will concentrate on the issue closest to his heart: tourism. If the government pursues its love affair with renewable energy, he will insist, it will drive foreign visitors from its shores.
After his appearance, he is expected to join CATS members at a joint press conference, his hair no doubt askew as if he were caught in a gale capable of generating enough electricity to power the whole of Princes Street.
Trump is after all nothing if not a caricature. His petulant foot-stamping and the schoolboy insults he has levelled at Alex Salmond have been greeted with as much scorn as respect. But the question is: beyond the rhetoric, the bombast and the ego, does he have a valid point? Are wind farms really the answer to our energy problems or a means of lining the pockets of foreign companies at the expense of the taxpayer? And is the Scottish Government’s commitment to producing 100 per cent of its electricity requirements from renewables by 2020 realistic?
According to a YouGov poll, published today by Scottish Renewables, 71 per cent of the public supports wind farms as part of the country’s energy mix, with young people the most positively disposed. Yet Trump does seem to have tapped into a genuine sense that wind farms are despoiling Scotland’s biggest attraction, its rugged landscape and its stunning coastal views.
Last week’s news that South Korean firm Doosan had pulled out of a £170 million deal to build turbines in Scotland, citing a reduction in confidence in the offshore wind farm market, also heightened fears that the economic case for investing in wind power was weakening. Add this to the mounting concerns over the efficiency of individual turbines; the revelation that some farms have been given “curtailment” payments to stop producing electricity in high winds; and the UK government’s potentially game-changing decision to allow fracking, a means by which reserves of natural gas can be extracted, to continue, is it any wonder some are questioning the Scottish Government’s decision to place the power of the wind at the heart of its energy and economic policy?
Ever since the SNP took power, Salmond’s vision has been of a self-sufficient country at the forefront of a renewables revolution. Over the past few years, the party has announced a series of targets for increasing the percentage of our electricity needs produced by renewables from 18 per cent in 2006 to 31 per cent by the end of last year to 100 per cent by 2020.
Although the country has invested in other renewables, the greatest focus has gone on wind turbines; both onshore sites, such as the one in Whitelees in East Renfrewshire, and (increasingly) offshore, such as the Robb Rigg Wind Farm in the Solway Firth.
In addition, the government has committed an estimated £600m to upgrading the Beauly-Denny power line to allow for future expansion. Last week, in response to Trump’s claim that his policies would turn the country into “a third world wasteland that global investors will avoid”, Salmond said the offshore wind sector was forecast to generate about £30bn of investment and 28,000 Scottish jobs.
Although, when weighed against coal, gas-fired and nuclear power stations, polls show there is a public acceptance of the need for wind farms, they are still proving controversial.
Long before Trump got involved, concerns were being voiced about their possible impact on public health and tourism, while there was scepticism in some quarters over their ability to reduce CO2 emissions and transform Scotland’s economic fortunes.
According to opponents, low frequency noise produced by the turbines can cause symptoms such as headaches, depression, high blood pressure and even heart attacks. Although in Scotland, wind farms are supposed to be built at least two kilometres from the nearest residence, CATS chair Susan Crosthwaite says the guidance is frequently flouted, with some people living near Toddleburn and Longpark wind farms in the Borders complaining they can no longer use their gardens or sleep with the windows open because of the noise. As for tourism, though there is little empirical evidence to show wind turbines are responsible for a drop in overall visitor numbers, many directly involved in the industry have reported negative feedback. “You just have to ask yourself would you choose to go and stay close to a power station for your holiday?” Crosthwaite says.
The question of the economic and environmental impact of wind turbines is even more contentious; critics complain about the level of subsidies which are being given to attract foreign companies, pointing out the same approach was applied to attract inward investment to “Silicon Glen” in the 1990s, but that a decade later most of the foreign companies lured to our shores had packed up and gone home, taking their jobs with them.
“Wind power is not about saving the world or about reducing CO2,” says Crosthwaite. “The whole wind farm thing is about greed, about a big transference of money from the poor to mostly foreign energy companies.
“We need to have the right mix of power. What is going to happen in 25 years when the life of these wind power stations is over, if we haven’t invested in other sources of energy?”
Though a recent survey suggested 11,000 people are now working in renewables in Scotland, opponents question the longevity of the jobs, pointing out that those involved in construction, transport and infrastructure are likely to be temporary. They claim that even when it comes to addressing climate change, wind turbines are flawed, since CO2-producing coal and gas-fired stations are necessary to provide back-up when wind levels are low.
According to Niall Stuart, chief executive of Scottish Renewables, however, wind turbines quickly pay back the CO2 used in their manufacture. “When the wind level is high, you have to burn less fuel to make electricity – that’s fewer CO2 emissions,” he says. “It’s as simple as that.”
Stuart says that although the National Grid needs improving, it is capable of dealing with most fluctuations in energy provision, and suggests Doosan’s decision to back out of the deal might have more to do with its late entry into the competitive renewables market than wider fears about the economic climate.
Responding to claims that Scotland should be focusing more on power from the tides, which are more reliable than wind, he says money accrued from wind farms is being reinvested in developing the technology to make this possible. “Wave and tidal power is at a very early stage,” Stuart says. “Scotland is the world leader – half the planet’s wave and tidal power capacity is installed here. But large-scale onshore wind farms are the cheapest form of renewable energy that can be produced today. The technology is proven over a 25-year lifespan, the economics are understood, there’s a steady flow of financed projects and the banks understand the risks.”
None of this is likely to change Trump’s mind. Responding primarily to the threat of wind turbines near his golf resort at the Menie estate, he has widened his campaign to all proposed wind farms, frequently name-checking his Scottish mother Mary Anne MacLeod, in his attempt to persuade the public he has their interests at heart.
In doing so, he has found himself mocked. Quite aside from the very British humour to be derived from the juxtaposition of the word “trump” and the word “wind”, his critics have lost no time in pointing out that the aesthetic appeal or otherwise of any landmark is a matter of taste and that both Trump Towers and Trump Place were included in the American Institute of Architects’ list of New York’s ugliest buildings in 2010. And then there was the full-page advert he took in the Aberdeen P&J showing a photograph of 11 rusty turbines under the headline: “Welcome to Scotland”, which turned out to have been taken in Hawaii.
posted in: Blogging, EmployerNews, News
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
As Earth Day (Sunday, April 22) approaches yet again in the US, it often leads to additional exposure and support for green energy sources such as solar power. This clean form of energy frequently carries the banner of the clean energy movement on Earth Day and other times, but it has taken a serious hit in recent years, as solar module prices continue to decline, many countries discontinue subsidies and many companies consolidate their business or close their doors altogether. Since solar energy is a large piece of the clean energy investment pie, it has dragged down cleantech venture capital as well.
In the first quarter of 2012, financial investment in clean energy was the lowest it has been since 2009, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Their results indicate that investment was down 28 percent from Q4 2011 to just $27 billion. This financial result not only includes venture capital but private equity, public markets and asset finance. Much of the lapse in investment is due to the reduction in incentives and subsidies in Europe including: Spain, Italy, Germany, Poland and the UK. Germany, Italy and Spain have historically been the leaders in clean energy in Europe and especially with respect to the solar market. Moreover, renewable energy incentives in the US have been phasing out as Recovery Act measures expire, many of which supported solar energy.
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Clean energy technologies, including solar power, advanced batteries, LED lighting and onshore wind, continue to fall in price and approach competitiveness with conventional sources; however, political momentum, necessary for sustainable growth, enjoyed in the past years has waned, as European and US governments face rising debt woes. This has lessened the attractiveness for many solar power projects at the utility, commercial and residential level.
posted in: Blogging, EmployerNews, News
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