QUICK NEWS, April 16: WIND BEAT GUNS AND BOATS IN 2012; PEAR ENERGY OFFERS CHOICE TO CONSUMERS; DISTRIBUTED PV TO GROW 220 MORE GW BY 2018

WIND BEAT GUNS AND BOATS IN 2012 Wind Beating Guns, Boats as U.S. Turbines Almost Double

Ehren Goosens, April 11, 2013 (Bloomberg News)

“Companies spent $25 billion building U.S. wind farms last year, more than double the [$10.2 billion]budget of the Coast Guard and overtaking the [$22.3 billion direct economic impact of the U.S. firearms industry and its suppliers was]…Wind accounted for 5.6 percent of U.S. electricity generating capacity in 2012, up from about 3 percent in 2011, according to a report…American Wind Energy Association…

“Developers installed 13.1 gigawatts of wind capacity last year, surpassing natural gas power plant construction to become the largest new source of electricity…The growth is driven by tax incentives, utility demand, falling costs and better technology including taller towers and lighter blades…The fourth quarter accounted for 60 percent of installations as developers raced to take advantage of the expiring production tax credit. The 2.2 cents a kilowatt-hour incentive was extended for a year at the start of 2013. The rate was increased to 2.3 cents this month because of inflation.”

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“Wind power is becoming more common in the Midwest and Great Plains. Kansas gets 11.4 percent of its power from wind after doubling its capacity last year. In 2000, 60 percent of the nation’s wind power capacity was in California, compared to about 9 percent now. Thirty-nine states are producing wind power…

“…NextEra Energy Inc. (NEE), the largest U.S. developer of renewable energy, installed 1.3 gigawatts of capacity…[and] also owns the most wind capacity, with 9.8 gigawatts, about 16.4 percent of the total in the U.S. Iberdrola SA (IBE)followed with a 9.1 percent share and Warren Buffett’s MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. had 6.2 percent…”

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PEAR ENERGY OFFERS NEW ENERGY TO CONSUMERS It's time to do more; Go green simply by switching your bill to clean energy

April 2013 (Pear Energy)

“Pear is committed to delivering green energy…Pear wants to make it easy and affordable…to buy clean wind and solar-powered electricity…[to] defend the environment, fight climate change, and generate millions of good jobs in the process…

“Pear donates 50 percent of its profits to other great organizations…working for our same goals [and committed to environmental sanity and a fair economy]. Some of the groups we are working with are The Nation Magazine, the Blue/Green Alliance, Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, and the Working Families Party…”

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“…Conventional Energy Comes From...Coal…Natural Gas…Oil…[and] Nuclear Power…Electricity generated by coal produces 40 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions...Electricity from natural gas increasingly involves fracking technology, which is poisoning our groundwater…Nuclear-powered electricity creates huge public safety problems, as we saw with the 2011 nuclear meltdown in Fukishima, Japan…

“…Pear Energy Comes From…Wind Power…[and] Solar Power…[and] Leads to…100% clean energy that can reverse climate change…New jobs for U.S. workers building the green economy…Freedom from public health and safety dangers due to fracking technology and nuclear power…”

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DISTRIBUTED PV TO GROW 220 MORE GW BY 2018 Distributed Solar Energy Generation; Market Drivers and Barriers, Technology Trends, and Global Market Forecasts

2Q 2013 (Navigant Research)

“Distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) systems…[produce] electricity onsite…reducing the need to build new transmission capacity and avoiding line losses…[These things] offer significant benefits to consumers…[and add] resiliency to an electric grid…

“These systems are used in…residential…small commercial…[and] industrial [applications]. Though this market is still primarily driven by government incentives, distributed solar PV will continue its steady march toward grid parity in major markets over the next few years.”

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“The global distributed solar photovoltaic market contracted slightly in 2012, due to reduced market activity in Italy and Germany. However, growth in the United States, China, Japan, and other countries continued, driven by solar PV module price reductions, the growth of third-party financing models, and feed-in tariffs…

“Navigant Research forecasts that, from 2013 to 2018, 220 GW of distributed solar PV will be installed worldwide, representing $540.3 billion in revenue…”

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