NewEnergyNews: QUICK NEWS, 6-23: LOOKING OFFSHORE FOR HOMEBLOWN WIND; OHIO UTILITY SHINES SUN; NASA BOSS TAKES OIL’S ORDERS ON BIOFUELS; WHY EVERYONE AGREES ON EVS/

NewEnergyNews

Gleanings from the web and the world, condensed for convenience, illustrated for enlightenment, arranged for impact...

The challenge now: To make every day Earth Day.

YESTERDAY

THINGS-TO-THINK-ABOUT WEDNESDAY, August 23:

  • TTTA Wednesday-ORIGINAL REPORTING: The IRA And The New Energy Boom
  • TTTA Wednesday-ORIGINAL REPORTING: The IRA And the EV Revolution
  • THE DAY BEFORE

  • Weekend Video: Coming Ocean Current Collapse Could Up Climate Crisis
  • Weekend Video: Impacts Of The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Current Collapse
  • Weekend Video: More Facts On The AMOC
  • THE DAY BEFORE THE DAY BEFORE

    WEEKEND VIDEOS, July 15-16:

  • Weekend Video: The Truth About China And The Climate Crisis
  • Weekend Video: Florida Insurance At The Climate Crisis Storm’s Eye
  • Weekend Video: The 9-1-1 On Rooftop Solar
  • THE DAY BEFORE THAT

    WEEKEND VIDEOS, July 8-9:

  • Weekend Video: Bill Nye Science Guy On The Climate Crisis
  • Weekend Video: The Changes Causing The Crisis
  • Weekend Video: A “Massive Global Solar Boom” Now
  • THE LAST DAY UP HERE

    WEEKEND VIDEOS, July 1-2:

  • The Global New Energy Boom Accelerates
  • Ukraine Faces The Climate Crisis While Fighting To Survive
  • Texas Heat And Politics Of Denial
  • --------------------------

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    Founding Editor Herman K. Trabish

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    WEEKEND VIDEOS, June 17-18

  • Fixing The Power System
  • The Energy Storage Solution
  • New Energy Equity With Community Solar
  • Weekend Video: The Way Wind Can Help Win Wars
  • Weekend Video: New Support For Hydropower
  • Some details about NewEnergyNews and the man behind the curtain: Herman K. Trabish, Agua Dulce, CA., Doctor with my hands, Writer with my head, Student of New Energy and Human Experience with my heart

    email: herman@NewEnergyNews.net

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      A tip of the NewEnergyNews cap to Phillip Garcia for crucial assistance in the design implementation of this site. Thanks, Phillip.

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    Pay a visit to the HARRY BOYKOFF page at Basketball Reference, sponsored by NewEnergyNews and Oil In Their Blood.

  • ---------------
  • WEEKEND VIDEOS, August 24-26:
  • Happy One-Year Birthday, Inflation Reduction Act
  • The Virtual Power Plant Boom, Part 1
  • The Virtual Power Plant Boom, Part 2

    Wednesday, June 23, 2010

    QUICK NEWS, 6-23: LOOKING OFFSHORE FOR HOMEBLOWN WIND; OHIO UTILITY SHINES SUN; NASA BOSS TAKES OIL’S ORDERS ON BIOFUELS; WHY EVERYONE AGREES ON EVS

    LOOKING OFFSHORE FOR WIND
    The answer, they say, is blowing in the wind
    Joseph Picard, June 21, 2010 (International Business Times)

    "…Earlier this month…[ten] Atlantic Coast states [signed] a memorandum of understanding with the federal Department of the Interior that formally establishes an Atlantic Offshore Wind Energy Consortium to promote the efficient and responsible development of wind resources on the Outer Continental Shelf [called by some the Saudi Arabia of wind power]…

    "…[I]f the Rhode Island project to set eight wind turbines off the shore of Block Island, and thus provide the island with electrical power, is the first wind turbine project to come to completion, companies that manufacture materials related to the industry will relocate to Rhode Island…[A] preliminary mapping project must first be completed …Rhode Island [hopes] to have permits issued before the end of the year, so that actual construction could start as early as next year…The eight-windmill Block Island project would be followed by a larger project of 110 turbines 15 miles out to sea [in federal waters, requiring federal permits and coming in perhaps 5-to-7 years]…"


    click to enlarge

    "In Massachusetts, the oldest offshore wind power project, the Cape Winds project, received a boost in April 2010 when the federal government officially approved the effort, which aims to place 130 wind turbines off the shore of Nantucket Island. The project has been alive for 10 years, but now has found a purchaser for the energy it promises to produce and there is speculation that construction could begin as early as the end of this year.

    "Delaware recently received permission from the federal Department of Interior to start the bidding process…Bluewater Wind, developer of wind farms, is looking to construct a 150-turbine field 12.5 miles off the Delaware coast that could produce 230 to 450 megawatts of power. The $800 million project would generate more than 1,000 jobs during construction, and produce millions of dollars in revenue for the state each year…Delmarva Power has signed a 25-year power purchase agreement with Bluewater Wind to sell the utility up to 200 megawatts of power, once the wind turbines are [producing]..."


    click to enlarge

    "But, as is the case in Rhode Island, the time it takes to get federal permits can set the project back years…Responding to these concerns, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has promised to work to streamline the permitting process…Salazar said his department is working to make the rules clearer and to combine two environmental impact studies, now required, into one. He said he hopes to cut the permitting time in half. The consortium…should also contribute to speeding up the process.

    "While the bureaucracy seeks to streamline the permitting process, Congress, if it passes the Clean Energy Bill as the Administration desires, may shift more funding and technical assistance towards wind power, which would give an added boost to the industry [without a significant cost to taxpayers]…"



    OHIO UTILITY SHINES SUN
    DP&L Officially Opens Largest Solar Power Facility in Southwestern Ohio; Built by Regional Companies, Solar Array Features Informational Kiosk for Visitors
    June 22, 2010 (Business Wire via MarketWatch)

    "The Dayton Power and Light Company (DP&L)…officially [opened] a 1.1 megawatt solar array near its Yankee substation in Washington Township, Montgomery County, Ohio. Construction of the array began in December 2009…

    "…[Ohio’s] energy legislation calls for 25% of all energy consumed by Ohioans to be from alternative energy by 2025. Of that, .5% must be solar energy…"


    Building a PV solar power plant in 2 minutes. From DPLToday via YouTube

    "DP&L's Yankee solar array consists of 9,120 solar panels constructed over 7 acres, and generates enough electricity to power the equivalent of 150 homes a year. The array cost approximately $5 million to build.

    "DP&L's Yankee solar facility was constructed in partnership with a number of regional companies led by Ameridian Specialty Services, Inc. of Cincinnati…Miller-Valentine Commercial Construction of Dayton handled the overall site construction…Schneider Electric of West Chester supplied the ac/dc inverters for the solar panels…ESI Electrical Contractors of Dayton provided electricians to wire the solar panels…"


    click thru for more info

    "…Inovateus Solar of South Bend, Indiana handled the procurement of the solar panels from Sharp USA and developed the overall solar site design…Schletter, Inc. of Tucson, Arizona supplied the solar panel racks and installed the posts that support the panels…

    "Starting in July, a visitor center will be open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to provide information about solar power and up-to-the-minute performance of the array…"



    NASA BOSS TAKES OIL’S ORDERS ON BIOFUELS
    NASA boss investigated over biofuel project
    Robert Block and Mark K. Mathews, June 20, 2010 (Orlando Sentinel via St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

    "While millions of barrels of spilled oil choke the Gulf of Mexico, NASA is working on an ocean-based biofuels venture that could revolutionize clean-energy production at sea and treat wastewater at the same time.

    "The scientist running the $10 million experiment, called Project OMEGA, uses words such as groundbreaking and exciting [but]…NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden doesn’t believe in OMEGA — and has sought to slow it down…He was advised against it by Marathon Oil — the Texas-based company on whose board Bolden sat until he was named NASA administrator last year. The former astronaut and Marine Corps general also still holds as much as $1 million worth of Marathon stock."


    click thru for the complete presentation

    "…Bolden’s decision to vet OMEGA with a company in which he has a significant financial interest — and that also has invested in a competing biofuels proposal — has prompted an investigation…Bolden says he did nothing wrong, and his lawyers at NASA agree…But government ethics watchdogs say Bolden should have steered clear of involvement… Privately, White House and congressional officials have expressed growing doubts about Bolden’s judgment…[T]he NASA chief sought Marathon’s advice after he was pressed to sign an agreement to allow the U.S. Navy to work on the project…Bolden wrote that he did not think that NASA should be the lead federal agency looking at alternative fuels…Bolden received Marathon stock equivalents valued at the time between $500,000 and $1 million…[and] still holds the Marathon stock…

    "OMEGA’s supporters say the concept is promising — and remarkably simple…[I]t starts with algae being placed in sewage-filled plastic bags, known in NASA-speak as “offshore membrane enclosures for growing algae” or OMEGA. The semipermeable plastic was originally developed to recycle astronauts’ urine during space missions…"


    click thru for more info from NASA

    "The algae — which pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere — would feast on nutrients in the sewage, turning it into clean water that would be released into the sea through the bags’ one-way membranes. Wave action would keep the algae mixed and healthy, producing fat-soluble molecules called lipids as the plants grow that would then be harvested for fuel…[S]eawater would kill the algae, and the lipids would break down naturally [if the bags leak]…[A]lgae farms covering 10 million acres of ocean…[could provide enough biofuel to satisfy U.S. aviation-fuel needs]… Ten days ago, the project passed a preliminary evaluation by experts from NASA, the Department of Energy and the Navy. It’s now being readied for a prototype field test…

    "In 2008, while Bolden was still on the Marathon board, Marathon invested $10 million with New Hampshire-based ethanol manufacturer Mascoma Corp…But algae can produce far more oil per acre than other crops…The reason for Marathon’s criticism is unclear…[T]he company did not have enough information to draw any conclusions about OMEGA…"



    WHY EVERYONE AGREES ON EVS
    Future is bright in U.S. for electric car revolution
    Froma Harrop, June 22, 2010 (Providence Journal via Houston Chronicle)

    "…An all-out effort to unchain America from hydrocarbons is essential to national security, a healthy environment and economic prosperity in the 21st century. But it's not politically possible.

    "…Fortunately, there's one piece to the escape strategy that business leaders, military brass and the buying public all like — and would create jobs. Most importantly, it has bipartisan support in Congress…[That is] the "Electric Vehicle Deployment Act of 2010." Sponsored by Sens. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., the bill's goal is to electrify half of America's cars and trucks within 20 years. That, its backers say, would cut America's dependence on petroleum by a third. Similar legislation is before the House."


    click thru to follow the progress of all plug-ins

    "The Senate bill would name at least five communities to be models for electric-vehicle transportation. They would build stations where motorists could recharge their cars' batteries. Residents would be offered a $10,000 tax credit to buy electric cars. And the federal government would put $1.5 billion into research for improving electric-car technology.

    "Electric cars don't appear to be a very hard sell to those who would buy them. The first all-electric model, the Nissan Leaf, will hit the U.S. market at the end of the year…[but] the year's production is already sold out. More than two-thirds of the 19,000 preorders are from the United States…"


    click to enlarge

    "The Chevy Volt will reach showrooms around that time. Its battery range of 40 miles is considerably smaller than the Nissan Leaf's 100 miles, but the Volt has a small gasoline engine to keep the car going if a recharging station is not handy…[M]ore than 75 percent of Americans commute 40 miles or less a day. That means most of them could plug in their Volts at the end of the day and drive off fully charged in the morning…

    "Although an all-electric vehicle puts out zero emissions, that is probably not true of the plant that provides the electricity…[Many parts] of America are still highly dependent on dirty, coal-powered plants…However, electric cars cut global warming pollution even where coal supplies the power, according to a study by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory… because cars plugged in overnight employ unused capacity in the current electric system…Outside of the oil business, most everyone seems enthusiastic about accelerating a move toward electric cars…"

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