After a long primary season, the presumptive Democratic and Republican nominees for president continue to expend plenty of hot air… and probably will continue to do so through Election Day in November. Now, maybe some of that wind will actually power their conventions.
This year, XCel Energy is donating wind power to help run both the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis, MN and the Democratic National Convention in Denver, CO. This story from the Rocky Mountain News says it will help both parties meet their campaign pledges of reducing CO2 emissions while using domestically-produced, clean energy:
“We are pleased to provide clean, renewable power to the conventions because we want to display for the nation’s elected leaders and delegates what a 21st Century utility can look like,” Dick Kelly, Xcel Energy chairman, said in a statement Monday.
Xcel said the two, week-long conventions combined would use about 3,000-megawatt hours of power. The donated wind power is worth about $30,000, a utility spokesman said.
That much coal-generated power would produce about 1,800 to 2,000 tons of CO2. Replacing it with clean wind power would be as beneficial as taking 300 to 330 cars off the road annually, according to the American Wind Energy Association.
The power will come from wind farms along the Colorado-Wyoming border and in Southwestern Minnesota.
As we last left the Earthrace, a boat powered by 100 percent biodiesel trying to set a world record for circumnavigating the globe, she was limping into Singapore after hitting some debris near Palau and damaging a prop.
Hollywood is recognizing the importance of renewable energy and a greener approach to entertainment. The Los Angeles Film Festival, scheduled for June 19th-29th, will be using biodiesel, as well as offsetting carbon usage with investment in wind energy.
And speaking of the silver screen, Josh Tickell’s biodiesel documentary, “Fields of Fuel,” will be playing this week at the 
In a letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, the group said that granting a waiver would be contrary to the agency’s mission of protecting human health and the environment. The letter adds that blame placed on ethanol for higher food prices is misguided.
“This is not specifically an ethanol problem,” said 
During a speech to pork producers at the expo, Deputy Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner admitted that ethanol is a factor in the higher prices. “Ethanol is a new demand factor in the corn market, to the tune of about a third of our production going forward,” Conner said. “Fortunately, we did produce 13 billion bushels of corn and so despite large quantities going to ethanol, we actually did feed more corn to livestock than in previous years, so we managed to grow that market for both feed and ethanol.”
Over on our sister 
A report out from the International Energy Agency (IEA) says the world will need to spend $45 trillion if it wants to cut in half the amount of carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. And part of that money will need to be spent on solar and wind power.