GOOD STORIES THERE WASN’T TIME TO GET TO THIS WEEK

A NewEnergyNews Friday feature.


B OF A TO STOP FUNDING TO COAL DESTRUCTION, EARNS PRAISE
Bank of America Decision to Stop Funding Mountaintop Removal a Victory for Appalachia and Anti-Coal Movement
December 3, 2008 (Rainforest Action Network)
B of A won't fund this anymore. (click to enlarge)
“Rainforest Action Network praised Bank of America today for its decision to phase out financing for companies that practice mountaintop removal coal mining, a highly destructive and controversial method of coal extraction. The announcement, part of a new coal policy released on the bank’s website, reads: ‘We…will phase out financing of companies whose predominant method of extracting coal is through mountain top removal.’ … Bank of America’s policy comes the day after the Bush administration’s approval of a rule that will make it easier for coal companies to dump rock and dirt from mountaintop removal mining operations into nearby streams and valleys. The rule has been bitterly contested by environmentalists and Appalachian communities…”


IT CAN BE DONE
Germany Cuts Carbon-Dioxide Emissions to Below Kyoto Target
Jeremy van Loon, November 28, 2008 (Bloomberg News)

“Germany reduced carbon-dioxide emissions to below levels required under the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement aimed at stemming climate change.
The nation’s factories, power plants and other emitters released a combined 957 million tons of CO2 last year, a decline of 2.3 percent from the previous year…Germany, home to Europe’s largest economy, encouraged homeowners and businesses to cut air pollution by using electricity generated by wind turbines, solar panels and by burning plant material. A law requires producers of renewable energy to be paid a supplement over the standard price…The country has also benefited from the collapse of polluting industries in the former East Germany, which contributed half of the overall CO2 reductions…”


WEST WANTS OBAMA TO MOVE ON NEW ENERGY
Western governors to Obama: Act quickly on energy
Brock Vergakis, November 28, 2008 (AP via Yahoo News)

“The governors of the nation's largest energy-producing states are encouraging President-elect Barack Obama to quickly adopt a national energy policy that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions…The bipartisan Western Governors' Association delivered Obama a four-page letter outlining what steps it believes his administration should take…Among the recommendations are annually spending tens of billions of dollars to develop clean energy technology, establishing an "aggressive" greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal to help stop global warming and proposing a mandatory national system for reducing greenhouse gas emissions through "market-based mechanisms." … The association is encouraging Obama to improve mass transportation, to bring more fuel efficient and near-zero emission vehicles to the market and to develop renewable resources such as wind and solar energy…Other proposals include establishing an oil import reduction goal, expanding the electric grid and creating technology to have nearly no greenhouse gas emissions from new coal-fired electric plants in 10 years and from existing generation by 2030…”


BREAKTHROUGH IN THIN-FILM MASS PRODUCTION
Oerlikon Solar Brings Micromorph® to Mass Production; Inventux Technologies AG Opens World’s First Facility to Mass Produce Thin-Film Solar Silicon Modules Using Oerlikon Solar’s Micromorph® Technology
December 4, 2008 (Business Wire/Oerlikon)

“Oerlikon Solar, the world’s leading supplier of thin-film silicon photovoltaic (PV) production equipment, today announced that Inventux Technologies AG is now the world’s first manufacturer to implement Oerlikon’s micromorph® technology for the mass-production of thin-film silicon solar modules. Oerlikon and Inventux ramped up the Berlin facility…in just seven months. Oerlikon’s tandem-junction micromorph® process will enable Inventux to produce up to 33 MWp of highly efficient, cost-effective thin-film silicon PV solar modules per year…”


3TIER MAPS WORLD WIND LIKE NO OTHER
3TIER Releases 5 km Wind Map of the World; Most accurate, consistent, comprehensive wind dataset available at the global scale
December 4, 2008 (3Tier)
click to enlarge
“3TIER, one the largest independent providers of global renewable energy assessment and forecasting…unveiled a 5 kilometer resolution global wind map based upon the most accurate, consistent and comprehensive dataset ever created of global wind resources…To produce the 5 km wind map and the underlying dataset, 3TIER implemented an innovative physical-statistical modeling approach…3TIER’s system integrates statistical methods with the power of physical-based models…to create a more robust and accurate wind climatology…3TIER ran its model through a 10-year simulation across the world’s landmass at a 5 km resolution. The results then were calibrated and validated with observational data…The 5 km global wind map is a centerpiece of 3TIER’s “REmapping the World™” initiative…3TIER also is mapping the world’s solar resources…”