Few Are Investing in Alternative Energy

Few Are Investing in Alternative Energy

By TIM PARADIS
The Associated Press, via washingtonpost.com
Wednesday, July 4, 2007; 8:03 AM

NEW YORK -- Most U.S. investors see putting money into alternative energy companies as both potentially lucrative and a way to support the environment. But while many might see opportunity, few are taking it.

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Wind to make 20 percent of power by 2030: advocates

Wind to make 20 percent of power by 2030: advocates
Tue Jun 5, 2007 8:44AM EDT

By Bernie Woodall

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The U.S. wind power industry will see half a trillion dollars of investment by 2030 to take the renewable source up to 20 percent of U.S. electricity generation, an industry conference heard on Monday.

This would be a lofty rise from wind's use for less than one percent of U.S. power today, but many advocates at the American Wind Energy Association's (AWEA) annual conference this week were bullish as the United States develops green energy alternatives.

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U.S. Leads the World in Wind Power Growth

U.S. Leads the World in Wind Power Growth

WASHINGTON, DC, June 4, 2007 (ENS) - U.S. wind power capacity increased by 27 percent in 2006 and the country had the fastest growing wind power capacity in the world in 2005 and 2006, according to Energy Department's first Annual Report on U.S. Wind Power Installation, Cost, and Performance Trends, released Friday.

The report provides a detailed and comprehensive overview of development and trends in the U.S. wind power market.

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Senate panel OKs bill to increase green power

Senate panel OKs bill to increase green power
Thu May 3, 2007 1:23AM EDT

WASHINGTON/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate may vote later this month on an energy bill that would by 2020 require that 15 percent of U.S. electricity be produced by renewable sources such as wind and solar.

The same bill would require 10 percent of federal power purchases to be produced by "green" methods by 2010.

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Arctic ice cap melting 30 years ahead of forecast

Arctic ice cap melting 30 years ahead of forecast
Tue May 1, 2007 3:11PM EDT
By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Arctic ice cap is melting much faster than expected and is now about 30 years ahead of predictions made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a U.S. ice expert said on Tuesday.

This means the ocean at the top of the world could be free or nearly free of summer ice by 2020, three decades sooner than the global panel's gloomiest forecast of 2050.

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Ontario approves massive solar farm

Ontario approves massive solar farm
Last Updated: Thursday, April 26, 2007 | 3:20 PM ET
CBC News

The Ontario government has approved a California company's plan to build North America's largest photovoltaic solar farm, the provincial energy ministry announced Thursday.

OptiSolar Farms Canada Inc. of Arthur, Ont. — a subsidiary of California-based OptiSolar Inc. — will install more than one million solar panels at four farms outside Sarnia, Ont., providing the province with 40 megawatts of power by 2010. Ontario Energy Minister Dwight Duncan said that's enough to power 6,000 homes.

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Security Council tackles climate change

Security Council tackles climate change
By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer
Wed Apr 18, 6:33 AM ET

UNITED NATIONS - During the first U.N. Security Council debate on climate change, Britain argued that global conflicts are ignited over the issue, while developing nations said the topic didn't belong on the council's agenda.

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said that it was a "security imperative" to tackle the issue because it can ignite conflicts and threatens global peace.

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Global warming may put U.S. in hot water

Global warming may put U.S. in hot water
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer
Tue Apr 17, 6:02 PM ET

WASHINGTON - As the world warms, water — either too little or too much of it — is going to be the major problem for the United States, scientists and military experts said Monday. It will be a domestic problem, with states clashing over controls of rivers, and a national security problem as water shortages and floods worsen conflicts and terrorism elsewhere in the world, they said.

At home, especially in the Southwest, regions will need to find new sources of drinking water, the Great Lakes will shrink, fish and other species will be left high and dry, and coastal areas will on occasion be inundated because of sea-level rises and souped-up storms, U.S. scientists said.

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Alternative power sources gain interest

Alternative power sources gain interest

By Jennifer Bowen
News-Democrat

With the increased cost of electricity lightening the pockets of many, some people are looking for ways to rely a bit less on the power grid and are turning to renewable resources.

The new Frieze Harley-Davidson dealership on Green Mount Road in O'Fallon requested a zoning variance to get the city's permission to build a wind turbine on the property for energy conservation.

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The carbon-neutral bandwagon

The carbon-neutral bandwagon

Matt Terrell
Vail CO, Colorado
April 15, 2007

VAIL - Buying wind credits gives peace of mind to us environmental sinners in Vail, but are they worth much else?

There's been some serious back-patting going on ever since Vail Resorts and the town of Vail decided to offset 100 percent of their electricity use with clean, emission-free power produced by wind farmers. It's the first thing you see on the Vail Resorts Web site and has made Vail a leader in this rapidly growing trend of "neutralizing" environmental impacts by investing in renewable energy.

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Panel: US faces change as climate warms

Panel: US faces change as climate warms
By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer
Fri Apr 13, 5:16 AM ET

UNITED NATIONS - Chicago and Los Angeles will likely to face increasing heat waves. Severe storm surges could hit New York and Boston. And cities that rely on melting snow for water may run into serious shortages.

These are some of the findings about North America in a report by hundreds of scientists that try to explain how global warming is changing life on Earth. The scientists with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a summary of their findings on global warming last Friday and outlined details of the report focusing on various regions on Tuesday.

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The Threat of Climate Change

A Special Report by the Washington Post with links to articles, columns and multimedia.

World Bank chief says clean energy a vital issue

World Bank chief says clean energy a vital issue
Thu Apr 12, 2007 11:40AM EDT

By Gilbert Le Gras

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Clean energy, renewable energy and climate change may well become the World Bank's main focus in years to come despite the issue's absence from the lender's formal agenda at its meeting this weekend, President Paul Wolfowitz said on Thursday.

"We had clean energy on the formal agenda in the fall. It will come up again this coming fall. It's a major focus of the bank's work and it might well be the principal focus of the bank in a few years from now," Wolfowitz told reporters.

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Schwarzenegger gives Washington a pep talk on going green

Schwarzenegger gives Washington a pep talk on going green
By Frank Davies
MediaNews Washington Bureau
Article Launched: 04/12/2007 01:36:37 AM PDT

WASHINGTON - Riding a wave of publicity as an eco-friendly leader, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday brought his gospel of "hip, sexy, mainstream" environmentalism to a receptive audience in the nation's capital.

"For too long the environmental movement was powered by guilt, and that doesn't work," he told an environmental conference at Georgetown University sponsored by Newsweek and Intel. "The movement can't nag or scold, but must be a positive force."

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New solar panel design traps more light

New solar panel design traps more light

By Greg Bluestein, Associated Press

ATLANTA — Sunlight has never really caught fire as a power source, mostly because generating electricity with solar cells is more expensive and less efficient than some conventional sources.
But a new solar panel unveiled this month by the Georgia Tech Research Institute hopes to brighten the future of the energy source.

The difference is in the design. Traditional solar panels are often flat and bulky. The new design features an array of nano-towers — like microscopic blades of grass — that add surface area and trap more sunlight.

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U.S. offers renewable fuel standards for vehicles

U.S. offers renewable fuel standards for vehicles
Wed Apr 11, 2007 6:14AM EDT

Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States announced new standards for renewable fuels for cars and trucks on Tuesday, but stopped short of committing to regulate greenhouse gases that spur global warming.

The renewable fuel standards program aims to cut dependence on foreign oil and curb global warming pollution by expanding the use of ethanol and other alternative fuels, said Stephen Johnson, head of the Environmental Protection Agency.

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Perspective: Call it the green Supreme Court

Perspective: Call it the green Supreme Court
Attorney Eric J. Sinrod says decision forcing the EPA to regulate emissions rests on high court's understanding of climate change.
By Eric J. Sinrod
CNET News.com
Published: April 11, 2007, 4:00 AM PDT

perspective There is a double irony in U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that the Environmental Protection Agency must do more to protect the environment.

This is the same court that effectively ended Al Gore's chances for the presidency in 2000. And of course, Gore has gone on to become an environmental rock star in championing the fight against global warming.

The second irony is that the very title of the Environmental Protection Agency charges it with protecting the environment. One might think that the agency would understand its mission without needing to be reminded.

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It's Easy Being Green

It's Easy Being Green
Sunday April 1, 3:00 am ET
By Chris Penttila
Entrepreneur.com

For Bob Chandler, entrepreneurship and the environment go hand in hand. As co-owners of McCracken Building LLC, Chandler, 36, his business partner Matt Patton, 37, and four other partners outfitted their Eugene, Oregon, building with at least $60,000 in direct energy-saving measures. The upgrades to the three-story warehouse, which houses Chandler and Patton's 8-year-old snowboard, skateboard and surf equipment company, Tactics Boardshop, go above and beyond Oregon's standard building codes. McCracken installed ultra-efficient, compact fluorescent lighting, including outdoor lighting that runs on a timer. Skylights were added on the top floor to lower total energy usage.
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Gore Returns to Capitol Hill a Hero and a Target

Gore Returns to Capitol Hill a Hero and a Target
Skeptics of Global Warming Hope to Test the Former Vice President's Mettle

By Shailagh Murray
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 21, 2007; Page A06

Al Gore wowed moviegoers and Hollywood elites with his Oscar-winning documentary on global warming. Today he faces a far tougher audience in Congress.

The 2000 Democratic presidential nominee will testify about the urgency of addressing climate change in two appearances on Capitol Hill before panels that include skeptics of the sort that Gore probably hasn't met on the red carpet.

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Coal's future clouded by global warming debate

Coal's future clouded by global warming debate
by Rob Lever
Sun Mar 18, 5:23 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Coal, the dominant fuel for electric power in the US, China and elsewhere, faces an uncertain future amid growing concerns about global warming and a race for new ways to curb emissions.

Some experts say coal can still play an important role with new technology being developed to capture and store carbon dioxide emissions underground.

But environmental activists, who have long seen coal as the biggest culprit in global warming emissions, cite an urgent need for incentives to reduce greenhouse gases from power plants.

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Global-Warming Panel Has the Power of the Hot Seat

Global-Warming Panel Has the Power of the Hot Seat

By Lois Romano
The Washington Post
Thursday, March 15, 2007; Page A17

Ed Markey is all about props today, moving from a 30-year-old framed news clipping about global warming to a stark chart about oil dependence to the gigantic world map dominating the wall over his office sofa.

"I think we can visit Greenland -- take the members there to look at it," the Massachusetts Democrat is saying like a man who was just handed $1.7 million to travel the world, which in fact is pretty close to the deal. "You can see in Greenland . . . that if the huge sheet of ice -- huge, massive sheet of ice melts, that the consequences are quite catastrophic."

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America (finally!) begins to embrace alternative energy

The Christian Science Monitor
from the January 24, 2007 edition

America (finally!) begins to embrace alternative energy
The US needs bipartisan cooperation on climate-change legislation.
By John Hughes

PROVO, UTAH - Well hallelujah!

Are we Americans at last awakening to the probability that unless we change our ways, at some uncertain time in the future, there will be an energy crisis?

Are we beginning to accept the evidence that some form of global warming is under way and it is the result of our own profligacy?

Are our politicians ready to take some of the politically hazardous steps toward solutions that may impact the pockets of average citizens?

There are signs that in the United States the whole problem of reliance on oil to fuel our cars and other needs, and the consequences of polluting the air with the residue, is beginning to stimulate at least serious discussion, and possibly action.
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