Meeting energy needs while being efficient and using environmentally responsible technologies is probably the single greatest change that needs to happen to alter the effects of climate change now. In the United States and the European Union, governments are backing smart grid and renewable energy programs. Undoubtedly, the two technologies go hand-in-hand, but where should we put our efforts (and dollars/euros) first?
The current Russia/Ukraine gas crisis is moving British gas companies to sell British gas supplies overseas, thereby keeping prices high and hitting UK consumers directly. Is is time for the UK to take political and economic control of their energy supply and run the industry for the public good and not for overseas profit?
Power utilities in India would now be required to buy a set percent of total energy from renewable energy sources but the government must also look to solve the primary problems like environmental clearance & infrastructure.
Greenbox offers this food for thought:
“If 30% of us reduced our electricity usage by 20%, we would save over $8 billion per year
[...]
The company has created a battery control-management system, that when paired with a lithium ion battery, can store up to 20 kilowatt-hours. The system can then deliver a full 4,000 discharge cycles.
[Creative Commons photo by James Emery]
More and more utility companies in Georgia are turning to biomass calling it a clean, renewable resource. Oglethorpe Power Corporation in Tucker, GA is planning three 100 megawatt biomass-fueled power plants. Back in April, Georgia Power sought approval from the Georgia Public Service Commission to convert a coal-fueled power plant to biomass. Utilities are touting biomass [...]
The Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) has outlined four easy steps to a thirty fold increase in the size of the US solar power industry between 2009 and 2016, leading to over $230 billion worth of investment and the creation of 440,000 permanent jobs.
According to an article in the latest bulletin from the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum, Prairie Mines & Royalty, Ltd. (PMRL) and Norit Canada are building Canada’s first activated carbon plant. This plant will manufacture activated carbon for a mainly Canadian audience of coal-fired power utilities.
PMRL is a subsidiary company of Sherrit International, the largest producer of thermal coal in Canada (about 90% of total Canadian coal production volume). Additionally, 90% of Sherrit’s coal is sold to nearby power plants located at what are called the “mine-mouth”. Norit on the other hand, is the world’s largest manufacturer of activated carbon and has been in the industry for over 80 years.
It’s fairly obvious why it makes sense for a joint venture building an activated carbon production plant between these two companies, but why build an this type of plant now?
This is a guest post by Claire Fawcett, a former resident of Philadelphia who now works for a non-profit in Oakland, California.
Some envision environmentalists as wealthy, Burkenstock-clad radicals who have no awareness of the “real” issues affecting the average American. Though this stereotype is inaccurate, it is promoted by environmentally unfriendly politicians to ostracize the green movement. Thus, the majority of the population is left feeling that it doesn’t possess the passion, the time, or the money to participate in preservation.
Luckily for those of us who proclaim ourselves environmentalists, more and more non-profits in Philadelphia are pitching conservation from a different angle to people who may not immediately consider themselves green. The Energy Coordinating Agency, the Partnership CDC, the Enterprise Center, and other community based organizations promote environmental initiatives through proving that conservation isn’t only friendly to the environment but also helps to fight poverty.
Is there really a downside to water conservation? Apparently, yes, if you’re a municipality whose water revenues are plummeting because citizens are taking care to use less water.
Image courtesy of Dschwen at Wikimedia Commons
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has released its annual ranking of the top 10 green power utility programs.
Categories include: Total number of participants, participation rate, total green power sales to program participants and the lowest price premium charged for using renewable resources.
These green power options for utility customers may be stimulating growth in the renewable energy sector. In 2005, utilities’ green power sales increased 30 percent from the previous [...]
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