More power customers in Alabama soon could be enjoying lower power bills, thanks, in part, to a decision by that state’s public service commission to approve a renewable energy rate decrease.
This story in Birmingham (AL) Press-Register says the decrease will go to customers who support what has been an obscure program to support an Alabama Power Company coal/biomass project in Gadsden with hopes of drawing more attention and more customers to it:
“Hopefully, it will help us rely less on fossil fuels,” said Susan Parker, one of three commission members. “That in turn would lead to better national 
security, and make us not as dependent on natural gas and other (resources), and helps the environment improve.”
The project in Gadsden mixes coal with a small percentage of switchgrass, usually 5 to 7 percent.
The program allows residential customers to pay for the production of 100 kilowatt-hours of renewable energy each month for $6 — the fee a surcharge on top of the customer’s regular bill. Under changes approved by the PSC on Dec. 4, residential customers will have the option of buying in at $2.25 per 50 kilowatt-hours, starting Jan. 1. Commercial and industrial customers will be included in the program for the first time, and can pay for 100 kwh blocks for $4.50.
The problem has been a lack of knowledge about the program:
“Only one out of 48 knew about program,” said David Bransby, a professor of agronomy and soils at Auburn University and an expert on biopower who conducted focus groups on the program in 2005. “We asked about the advertising flyers. They said ‘We don’t read those. They go into the trash can.'”
Officials believe customers will be less inclined to throw out the idea once they know how much it could save them on their energy bills.
The ethanol industry has come a long way this year and a large part of the renewable fuel’s success is unquestioningly a result of the concentrated efforts of the 
So you say you haven’t heard enough from the 16 candidates running for President? There’s just not been enough media coverage for your tastes? OK, so maybe you think you’ve heard enough about the crowd (especially if you’re living in Iowa or New Hampshire), but you do need some information to make an informed decision, right? Especially when it comes to how they stack up on alternative energy issues.
St. Louis-based AmerenUE, which serves 2.4 million electric customers and nearly one million natural gas customers in a 64,000 square mile area of Missouri and Illinois, has announced its first venture into wind energy.
The American Lung Association of Minnesota has teamed up with the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association to offer a scholarship to a senior who writes the best essay on biodiesel.
Current Minnesota high school seniors with plans to attend postsecondary education are eligible and encouraged to submit a personal essay on the topic of biodiesel. Two scholarships will be awarded. The author of the top essay selected will receive a $500 scholarship and the second place essay will be awarded a $250 scholarship. All essays and application materials must be submitted by 4:30pm on Wednesday, April 30, 2008.
Chemical engineers at the University of Arkansas were successful in using so-called supercritical methanol to transform chicken fat and tall oil fatty acid into biodiesel fuel, the university said Wednesday in a news release. The yield was greater than 90 percent, the university said.
The Earthrace, a biodiesel-powered boat out of New Zealand, will be making another attempt to set the world record for circumnavigation of the globe.