This facility is PSEG Solar Source’s first large-scale solar project. It is one of the largest solar projects in the state of New Jersey, which is already 2nd only to California in its amount of installed solar capacity. The MARS headquarters adjacent to the solar garden is the workplace of about 1,200 employees and is where M&M’S® Brand Chocolate Candies are manufactured.

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Even if they can be seen from the shoreline, 67% support off-shore wind power, according to a new poll of coastal residents of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia .

If the turbines are out of sight, the level of support goes up to an astounding 82%.

A full 25% of the population of the US lives in the nine Atlantic states from Massachusetts to North Carolina. The potential is staggering.  So it is very fortunate that so many people in the middle of part of the region with such great potential for wind power feel this way.

Off-shore wind power off the Atlantic could take one third of the US population off the fossil grid.

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Global Solar Center just finished a comprehensive, 50-state survey of solar incentives and adoption. Who leads the nation? It is surprising. As they say, it is the states who were “solar laggards” that are now “solar leaders”. But incentives aren’t the only issue.

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But Riverbank Power; a new start-up founded by a former wind developer who wants to develop large-scale energy storage, is trying out a new idea. Instead of using hills for the height, it will go the other way. Down into the ground.

Their Aquabank would let gravity drop water underground to turn turbines and make hydro electricity. That electricity would be sent from underground to the grid day time. At night, when excess wind is available; wind powered electricity would gently push the water back up to replenish its surface source.

Video after the jump:

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The lower stretch of New Jersey’s Rahway River is under threat. There is increasing pressure to bisect the wetlands with yet another unnecessary road project - despite the fact that it is home to wildlife found no where else in the area.

One of the residents of this marsh habitat is the Diamondback Terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin), listed as a species of special concern. Nonprofit group National Biodiversity Parks (NBP) hopes to protect and conserve this highly threatened area by studying its diamondback terrapin population.

The field data collected by the study will document the habitat’s value and generate recommendations concerning the long-term conservation of the terrapins on the Rahway River, inclusive of is feeder creeks - and as a result, protect this habitat for the multitude of resident and migratory species that require this specialized habitat for their survival.

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Hot dogs are gross; there’s just no getting around it.  They are made from left over parts and full of nitrates.  Unfortunately, they are part of American food culture, what little there is, and a summer time mainstay from ball parks to BBQs across the country.  New Jersey residents have filed a class action lawsuit accusing five companies of consumer fraud and demanding hot dog labels come with a warning:  “Warning: Consuming hot dogs and other processed meats increases the risk of cancer.”

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Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) have sponsored the NAT GAS Act. This bill is aimed at giving natural gas the push it needs to become part of the cure for America’s oil addiction. Senator Reid (D-Nevada) is also an original co-sponsor.

“Each day, our nation consumes about 21 million barrels of oil- more than 25 percent of the world’s oil supply,” Reid said. And most of that oil comes from foreign soil. “With only 3 percent of the world’s oil reserves, we cannot produce our way to a safe and secure energy future,” Reid continued.

The new legislation would promote the use of natural gas over traditional oil by using tax credits. This legislation would, in effect, be an extension of the CLEAR Act - encouraging the growth of natural-gas infrastructures to go along with the current boom in hybrid-electric vehicles.

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The tall waterfall is known as the “Great Falls,” and has been featured in a philosophical poem by William Carlos Williams, and even as a nice spot for a murder in a Sopranos episode. Williams’s poem focuses upon Sam Hatch, who jumped over the falls, and later gained notoriety for becoming the first known person to survive a ride over New York’s Niagara Falls.

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The U.S. may lag behind Europe when it comes to generating power from offshore wind farms, but a proposed wind farm off the Long Island Coast would be a big step forward in catching up.

Consolidated Edison and the Long Island Power Authority say they want to build a 700 megawatt in the Atlantic Ocean, about 13 miles off the Rockaway Pennisula. The project would be built in two stages of 350 MW each.

A draft assessment of the project released by Con Ed and LIPA this week said it would cost about $415 million to expand electricity transmission capabilities to handle the first 350 MW phase when built.

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Public Service Electric and Gas (PSE&G) asked New Jersey regulators today to approve an ambitious $773 million plan to bring 120 MW of solar power to the state. The plan, which will use brownfields and underdeveloped properties for solar generation, will eliminate 1.7 million tons of CO2 emissions. It will also bring New Jersey 7 percent closer to its goal of getting 22.5 percent of its power from renewable energy by 2020.

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The state of New Jersey has decided to combat the problem by mandating flu vaccines for children in preschool and licensed child-care centers, but is this a good idea?

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By Lester R. Brown

As fossil fuel prices rise, as oil insecurity deepens, and as concerns about climate change cast a shadow over the future of coal, a new energy economy is emerging in the United States. The old energy economy, fueled by oil, coal, and natural gas, is being replaced by one powered by wind, solar, and geothermal energy. The transition is moving at a pace and on a scale that we could not have imagined even a year ago.

Consider Texas. Long the leading oil-producing state, it is now also the leading generator of electricity from wind, having overtaken California two years ago. Texas now has nearly 6,000 megawatts of wind-generating capacity online and a staggering 39,000 megawatts in the construction and planning stages. When all this is completed, Texas will have 45,000 megawatts of wind-generating capacity (think 45 coal-fired power plants). This will more than satisfy the residential needs of the state’s 24 million people, enabling Texas to feed electricity to nearby states such as Louisiana and Mississippi.

• » See also: Solar Energy Rebates in Denver and Boulder, CO
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After Texas and California, the other leaders among the 30 states with commercial-scale wind farms are Iowa, Minnesota, Washington, and Colorado. And other states are emerging as wind superpowers. Clipper Windpower and BP are teaming up to build the 5,050-megawatt Titan wind farm, the world’s largest, in eastern South Dakota. Already under development, Titan will generate five times as much electricity as the state’s 780,000 residents currently use. This project includes building a transmission line along an abandoned rail line across Iowa, feeding electricity into Illinois and the country’s industrial heartland.

Colorado billionaire Philip Anschutz is developing a 2,000-megawatt wind farm in south central Wyoming. He already has secured the rights to build a 900-mile high-voltage transmission line to California. With this investment, the door will be opened to developing scores of huge wind farms in Wyoming, a wind-rich state with few people. Another transmission line under development will run north-south, linking eastern Wyoming’s wind resources with the fast-growing Colorado cities of Fort Collins, Denver, and Colorado Springs. Wind-rich Kansas and Oklahoma are looking to build a transmission line to the U.S. Southeast to export their wealth of cheap wind energy.

California is developing a 4,500-megawatt wind farm complex in the Tehachapi Mountains northwest of Los Angeles. In the east, Maine–a wind energy newcomer–is planning to develop 3,000 megawatts of wind-generating capacity, far more than the state’s 1.3 million residents need. Further south, Delaware is planning an offshore wind farm of up to 600 megawatts, which could satisfy half of the state’s residential electricity needs. New York State, which has 700 megawatts of wind-generating capacity, plans to add another 8,000 megawatts, with most of the power being generated by winds coming off Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. And soon Oregon will nearly double its wind generating capacity with a 900-megawatt wind farm in the wind-rich Columbia River Gorge.

Wind appears destined to become the centerpiece of the new U.S. energy economy, eventually supplying several hundred thousand megawatts of electricity.

Solar power is also expanding at a breakneck pace. The nation’s wealth of solar energy is being harnessed by using both photovoltaic cells and solar thermal power plants to convert sunlight into electricity. For solar cell installations, California, with its Million Solar Roofs plan, is far and away the leader. New Jersey is also moving fast, followed by Nevada.

The largest U.S. solar cell installation today is a 14-megawatt array at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, but photovoltaic electricity at the commercial level is about to go big time. PG&E has entered into two solar cell power contracts with a combined capacity of 800 megawatts. Together, these plants will cover 12 square miles of desert with solar cells and will have a peak output comparable to that of a large coal-fired power plant. Solar power plants are appealing in hot climates because their highest output coincides with the peak demand for air conditioning.

Solar thermal plants that use mirrors to concentrate sunlight on a vessel containing a fluid–heating it to 750 degrees Fahrenheit to generate steam and produce power–have suddenly become an enormously attractive technology. The United States has the world’s only large solar thermal complex, a 350-megawatt project completed in 1991. But as of September 2008 there are 10 large solar thermal power plants under construction or in development in the United States, ranging in size from 180 megawatts to 550 megawatts. Eight of the plants will be built in California, one in Arizona, and one in Florida. Within the next three years, the United States will likely go from 420 megawatts of solar thermal generating capacity to close to 3,500 megawatts–an eightfold jump.

Along with wind and solar, geothermal energy is also developing at an explosive rate. As of 2008 the United States has nearly 3,000 megawatts of geothermal generating capacity, 2,500 of which are in California. Suddenly this too is changing. Some 96 geothermal power plants now under development in twelve western states are expected to double U.S. geothermal generating capacity. With California, Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, and Utah leading the way, the stage is set for the massive future development of geothermal energy. (See data at http://www.earthpolicy.org/Updates/2008/Update77_data.htm).

The new energy economy will be powered largely by electricity from renewable sources. Electricity will light, heat, and cool buildings. As we shift to plug-in hybrid cars, light rail transit systems in cities, and high-speed electric intercity rail systems like those in Japan and Europe, our transport system will also be powered largely by electricity.

It is historically rare for so many interests to converge at one time and in one place as those now supporting the development of renewable energy resources in the United States. To begin with, shifting to renewables increases energy security simply because no one can cut off the supply of wind, solar, or geothermal energy. It also avoids the price volatility that has plagued oil and natural gas in recent decades. Once a wind farm or a solar thermal power plant is built, the price is stable since there is no fuel cost. Turning to renewables will also dramatically cut carbon emissions, moving us toward climate stability and thus avoiding the most dangerous effects of climate change.

The shift also will staunch the outflow of dollars for oil, keeping that capital at home to invest in the new energy economy, developing national renewable energy resources and creating jobs here. At a time of economic turmoil and rising joblessness, these new industries can generate thousands of new jobs each week. Not only are the wind, solar, and geothermal industries hiring new workers, they are also generating jobs in construction and in basic supply industries such as steel, aluminum, and silicon manufacturing. To build and operate the new energy economy will require huge numbers of electricians, plumbers, and roofers. It will also employ countless numbers of high-tech professionals such as wind meteorologists, geothermal geologists, and solar engineers.

To ensure that this shift to renewables continues at a rapid rate, national leadership is needed in one key area–building a strong national grid. Although private investors are investing in long-distance high-voltage transmission lines, these need to be incorporated into a carefully planned national grid, the electrical equivalent of President Eisenhower’s interstate highway system, in order to unleash the full potential of renewable energy wealth.

And, finally, this energy transition is being driven by an intense excitement from the realization that people are now tapping energy sources that can last as long as the earth itself. Oil wells go dry and coal seams run out, but for the first time since the industrial revolution we are investing in energy sources that can last forever. This new energy economy can be our legacy to the next generation.

#     #     #

For more information on Earth Policy Institute’s plan to cut carbon emissions 80 percent by 2020, see Chapters 11-13 in Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, available at www.earthpolicy.org for free downloading.

Also see “Time for Plan B: Cutting Carbon Emissions 80 Percent by 2020,” available in pdf at www.earthpolicy.org/Books/PB3/80by2020.htm.

Should the results remain positive, this project is expected to take five years after FERC approval, and be complete by mid decade. One plus for the Maine site is that it is already close to the grid - it is sited near a nuclear power plant site decommissioned a decade ago.

More importantly, perhaps; local governments and communities in the Wiscasset area are supportive of renewable energy projects. Maine already boasts by far the most renewable energy of any state - 30%. And that’s not counting an additional 22% of hydro power.

Like conventional hydro power this project involves diverting river water, so fish are obviously an issue:

Riverbank is looking at the best technology to significantly mitigate the impact of the projects on fish and fish habitat. To avoid sucking up fish inadvertently, the initial intake from the river is extremely slow and filtered so that the natural flow of the river remains unaltered, unlike conventional hydro power.

Given that the water is stored underground only for a short time, the pumping does not change the quality or temperature of the water before it is returned to the river.

The financing is unusual for these hard times and decidedly trepid investors:

CEO Douglas is not applying for stimulus funding.

BlackRock Inc, an asset manager with more than $1 trillion under management, is an investor. Each 1,000 megawatt storage facility will cost $2 billion.

Riverbank CEO Douglas said the company has already had a lot of interest in power contracts, and he expects to turn this into power purchase agreements. PPAs could be used to help finance the $2 billion each 1,000 MW project costs.

“We think we can procure unwanted wind energy at night in the off-peak, surplus wind energy, and create a 100% green capacity product to sell the next day,” he said. “In that case, it is 100% renewable, and we will have a renewable energy credit to resell.

It’s not a bad investment. The turbines use no fossil fuels, and each facility should last 100 years.

If each 1,000 MW project produces for 100 years, it should pay for the initial $2 Billion investment many times over, while creating jobs and giving green energy developers a solid market for their power.

Douglas points out:

“Even if we were buying coal at night for our pumping, there’s still a huge carbon win here, because we’re precluding the need for a new fossil peaker plant.”

Related stories:
Baseload Wind Cheaper than Fossil Fuels
Mining Hydrothermal Vents For Electricity

Images from Riverbank , Flikr user ben, and Steve Jurvetson
Via Energy Bulletin

Governor of New Jersey since January 17, 2006, Corzine wants the Garden State to triple the total amount of wind generated power that it plans to use by 2020. This would bring its total up to 3,000 megawatts, measuring out to be 13% of New Jersey’s total energy, and enough energy to power anywhere between 800,000 and just under a million homes.

This comes just days after the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities announced that it had chosen Garden State Offshore Energy (GSOE) as the preferred developer for a 350-megawatt wind farm off the NJ coast.

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The solar farm is expected to generate 1.4 megawatts of electricity, enough to meet about 10 percent of Rutgers’ Livingston Campus (located in Piscataway) energy demands. By replacing “regular” electricity with solar power, the university also expects to reduce its annual carbon dioxide emissions by 1,200-plus tons.

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After two years, an oversized yellow buoy floating five miles off the southern tip of Long Beach Island has definitely proved its technology feasible. With the rise and fall of each wave, pistons slide up and down inside a cylinder within the buoy, generating electricity.

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One part of Gov. Jon S. Corzine’s Energy Master Plan for the state, the wind turbine plan could make New Jersey the first state in the U.S. to get energy from offshore wind (though that distinction could still go to Delaware, which OK’d a similar plan this summer), according to an article in NorthJersey.com. Once installed, the offshore turbines could provide enough energy for half the homes in North Jersey, the article stated.

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GPA calls Ultra Green Film an “eco-friendly substrate” that not only doesn’t require trees, but doesn’t need water or bleach to make either. Instead, the paper is limestone-based, made of mineral powders bound together with small amounts of high-density polyethylene and a non-toxic resin.

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It’s not just a little impact, either. The study says that, by 2050, projected growth in short-lived pollutants could be responsible for as much 20 percent of global warming.

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The challenge, launched last year, honored its first winner this past June: a plan for a “Comprehensive Design for a Carbon Neutral World: The Challenge of Appalachia,” submitted by John Todd, a research professor at the University of Vermont and founder and president of Oceans Arks International. And just last month, the institute unveiled its Idea Index, which provides details on entries in every area from community and energy to transportation and water. It’s too much to take in all at once, so today, let’s look at some of the innovative ideas in one area alone: food.

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National Geographic Kids magazine launched the shoe collection effort after publishing a special green issue last fall, with actress Cameron Diaz serving as a guest editor and campaign kickoff donor of two pairs of old shoes. Five members of the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team also contributed used footwear for the cause.

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