Archive for the 'Renewable Energy' Category

By MEERA SELVA , 05.26.09

The U.S. energy secretary said Tuesday that he’s had enough of talk about fighting global warming. He wants action and has pledged that America will act first to help move along the talk.

And if others, especially new No. 1 carbon dioxide emitter China, are waiting for U.S. action, they’ll get it, said Steven Chu, a Nobel-Prize winning physicist who has long warned of the dangers of global warming.

“The U.S. will move, inevitably it will move first, as a more developed country we should be moving first, and I hope China will follow,” he said.

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Source: EnviromentalLeader.com
Concentrated solar power (CSP), using hundreds of mirrors to concentrate the sun’s rays, could meet up to 7 percent of the world’s power needs by 2030 and 25 percent by 2050, according to a new joint report from Greenpeace International, the European Solar Thermal Electricity Association (ESTELA) and IEA SolarPACES.

Even with moderate assumptions for future market development, the world could have a combined solar power capacity of over 830 gigawatts (GW) by 2050, with annual deployments of 41 GW, representing 3.0 to 3.6 percent of global demand in 2030 and 8.5 to 11.8 percent in 2050, according to the Global CSP Outlook 2009 report.

The report finds that CSP installations provided 436 megawatts (MW) of the world’s electricity generation at the end of 2008; however, projects under construction, primarily in Spain, will add at least another 1,000 MW by around 2011. Projects in the U.S. are expected to add up to 7,000 MW along with an additional 10,000 GW in Spain by 2017.

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By ROD WALTON 5/20/2009

Alternative energy is everything.

If any consensus was reached Tuesday during the OSU Energy Conference, it’s that all fuel sources have their place in the American future. That includes standbys like oil, coal and natural gas along with newer technologies involving wind, biofuels and geothermal pumps.

“There’s no question that the opportunities are unlimited,” said former Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles, executive director of the Tulsa-based National Energy Policy Institute.

Hundreds of industry professionals came to the Renaissance Tulsa Hotel and Convention Center to hear experts extol the virtues of almost every conceivable kind of fuel, whether it comes out of the ground, through the air, by splitting an atom or crushing a seed. And, except for two protestors outside dressed in animal costumes and waving signs about fossil fuels killing the planet, those inside the complex were careful to respect every source.

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ABC News’ Jake Tapper and Sunlen Miller report:

Standing with such disparate players as United Auto Workers President Ron Gettlefinger, auto company executives, and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, President Obama this afternoon announced a new national standard increase gas mileage and decrease greenhouse gas pollution.

“The status quo is no longer acceptable,” The President said, noting that the United States makes up less than 5% of the world population, but provides a quarter of the world’s demand for oil.

The president set the goal of raising the fuel economy standards to an industry average of 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016, which he said would save 1.8 billion barrels of oil over the lifetime of the vehicles sold in the next five years.

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(CNN) — When Rita Bryer sees 300-foot-tall wind turbines sprouting up from the prairie near her home in western Oklahoma, she can’t help but wonder about the view from the top, where blades the size of semi-trucks spin.

“Out here, you can see the wind turbines from 10 miles away,” she said. “Think about how far you’ll be able to see when you’re at the top.”

So, partly out of curiosity, partly because she wants to be part of something new, the 51-year-old is leaving behind a career of odd jobs and oil-field work.

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