If Congress is wondering if there’s enough public support for the U.S. Senate to support the $1-a-gallon federal tax incentive (which, could come to a vote this week), a new survey shows Americans do favor these types of tax breaks. This National Biodiesel Board press release says a new Stanford University poll finds that 84 percent of respondents favor federal …
East Coast States Form Offshore Wind Consortium
A group of 10 states along the U.S. East Coast have signed an agreement with the the Department of the Interior to form the Atlantic Offshore Wind Energy Consortium. CalFinder.com says the group will also promote solar and biomass power: Federal approval of Cape Wind, the United States’ first offshore wind farm near Cape Cod, essentially gave offshore wind the …
How Many Wind Turbines for Leaking Gulf Oil Well?
Found a great piece (well, with some help from some Facebook friends at Beckerman PR) on the real cost of offshore wind turbines versus offshore oil platforms in Forbes. Karl Burkart’s piece asks, “How many offshore wind turbines could have been installed for the cost of one $10 billion Deepwater Horizon?,” the platform that sank and unleashed the worst offshore …
Running Out of Room for Wind Farms?
There are concerns that the best areas for wind energy farms have been taken up, and that could be slowing development of wind energy in this country. This piece in Renewable Energy World International Magazine talks about how it’s getting too hard to find large areas of land with strong and steady winds that have a welcoming community and easy …
Book Review – Powering The Future
This week I read “Powering The Future,” by Daniel B. Botkin. I was motoring along learning about our current energy mix (fossil fuels, fossil fuels, fossil fuels) and then moved on to the section about alternative energy and his evaluation of the viability of wind and solar. Then I got to the biofuels section and this is where in most …
GE to Supply Wind Turbines for Lake Erie Project
General Electric has been tapped to provide the wind turbines for an offshore wind project in Lake Erie. BusinessWeek reports GE will supply five direct-drive turbines that can generate as much as 4 megawatts each in a project with the Lake Erie Energy Development Corp., expected to be completed in 2012: “Offshore wind has the potential to create thousands of …
Study Finds Wind Produces 10,000 Jobs in Texas
A new study shows that wind energy has produced 10,000 jobs in Texas… and new infrastructure to carry more power could add another 40,000+ jobs to the Lone Star State. North American Windpower reports that the Perryman Group economic study, which comes as the American Wind Energy Association gets ready to host Windpower 2010 in Dallas next week, shows the …
Iowa Wind Turbine Plant to Get $2.5 Mil Loan
A proposed wind turbine blade plant in Sioux City, Iowa is getting some help from that state’s economic development board. The Des Moines Register reports that the Iowa Economic Development Board gave TPI Composites approval to build a new blade manufacturing plant, while Sioux City will get a $2.5 million forgivable loan to improve a road running along the proposed …
Western Wind & Solar Integration Study Released
Today, GE Energy has released “The Western Wind & Solar Integration Study,” which was prepared for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The purpose of the report was to investigate the operational impacts and economics of wind, photovoltaics and concentrating solar on the power system operated by the WestConnect group of utilities located mainly in the southwest. The study specifically …
Oklahoma House Passes Renewable Energy Bill
The Oklahoma Energy Security Act, House Bill 3028 sponsored by House Speaker Chris Benge of Tulsa, was passed yesterday by the House, 91-2. The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration. If the bill passes the Senate, Oklahoma will become the 32 state to have passed state renewable energy legislation. The bill would require 15 percent of all electricity generated in …