MORE STORIES, 1-2 (MAPPING NEW ENERGY, WHAT CREDIT CRUNCH?, BULGARIAN WIND, ‘CLEAN’ COAL – NOT)

MAPPING NEW ENERGY
Mapping Renewable Energy, Rofftop by Rooftop
Bryan Walsh, December 22, 2008 (Time Magazine)

"The sun shines on everyone — but not in equal measure…The engineering company CH2M Hill is now joining hands with the U.S. Department of Energy to provide Internet solar maps of 25 American cities, using Google Earth technology to chart the precise solar potential of neighborhoods, literally rooftop by rooftop. The company has just finished mapping all of San Francisco, allowing residents to enter their address and take the solar measure of their own home…

"Seattle-based 3Tier is steadily mapping the solar, wind and hydro power potential of the entire planet, with its REmapping the World initiative. Utilities and businesses can use the 3Tier website to prospect for the best locations for wind power projects, while ordinary citizens can check the rough solar potential of their home address. What kind of dividends this will pay in an energy hungry, globally warming world is hard to say, but if San Francisco is any indication, they could be big ones…The shift to renewable energy won't happen on its own — it needs smart government policies and smart technological innovations. Solar mapping is a good example of both…"


WHAT CREDIT CRUNCH?
Yingli Green Energy inks 8-year, $70 million loan to help company's planned expansion
December 23, 2008 (AP via Yahoo Finance)

"Yingli Green Energy Holding Co....has signed a $70 million loan agreement with China Development Bank to aid the Chinese solar cell maker's planned expansion. The eight-year agreement with the state-owned bank will be used toward the construction of photovoltaic cell manufacturing lines for the company's subsidiary, Yingli China..."


BULGARIAN WIND
AES to build 270 mln euro wind park in Bulgaria
Irina Ivanova (w/ Peter Blackburn), December 16, 2008 (Reuters)

"U.S. energy company AES Corp. will build a 270 million euros ($363.6 million) wind park in Bulgaria in line with the Balkan country's plans to boost renewable energy…The windfarm, which is due onstream by the end of 2009, will be the largest one in Bulgaria with a capacity of 156 megawatts and will contribute to its target of increasing renewable energy's share to 16 percent by 2020 as part of European Union efforts to combat climate change…

"Bulgaria's installed wind power capacity totals 70 MW, generating just over 1 percent of its electricity consumption. The Balkan country gets 43 percent of its power from coal and 40 percent from nuclear energy…Bulgaria along with other ex-communist eastern European countries, which rely mainly on coal and nuclear energy for their electricity production, are lagging behind their western neighbours on meeting the EU's clean energy goals…AES said it planned to build a second wind park of a minimum 100 MW capacity near Bulgaria's northeastern town of Silistra on the Danube…The company is also building a 1.2 billion euro coal-fired power plant in Bulgaria's Maritsa East lignite coal mining complex which will be completed by May 2010…The 670 megawatt thermal power plant is one of the largest greenfield investments in the EU's newcomer."


‘CLEAN’ COAL – NOT
Clean Coal: Wave of the Future or Empty Rhetoric?
Ben Block, December 29, 2008 (Worldwatch Institute)

“…The coal industry promises an abundant and cheap energy solution that also protects the environment. Yet the clean coal solution to climate change is not currently economical…the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, reviewed how much the industry is actually spending on climate change solutions. The study found that the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity [ACCCE]- 48 coal and utility companies - is investing $3.5 billion into projects that capture and store emissions, including many projects that have yet to begin…for coal to remain an energy option in a warming world, international observers say the research funding for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), the leading clean coal technology, must increase…

"The industry group quickly countered the study with a U.S. Department of Energy list of more than 80 projects that capture, monitor, or mitigate carbon emissions…The list's only completed CCS project, however, is a North Dakota natural gas plant that pipes emissions to Canada, where they are used to push oil out of the ground…Bruce Nilles, director of the Sierra Club's national coal campaign, said that the notion of "clean coal" still does not address the environmental damage caused by coal extraction. Last week, for instance, 2.6 million yards (2.4 cubic meters) of lead-laden coal waste spilled onto homes in rural Tennessee, one of the worst coal accidents in U.S. history…"There is a campaign of disinformation saying there is such a thing as clean coal," Nilles said. 'It simply doesn't exist.'"