QUICK NEWS, January 21: NEW ENERGY, OIL TO RECONCILE?; SOLAR APPLAUDS OBAMA SOTU SUPPORT; WIND PRAISES OBAMA SOTU, CALLS FOR PTC EXTENSION
NEW ENERGY, OIL TO RECONCILE? The End of the Partisan Divide Over Climate Change
Tom Zeller, Jr., January 18, 2015 (Forbes)
“… From the stock markets and Wall Street to the boardrooms of Big Oil — and even the living rooms of Republican voters — the era of reflexive skepticism and denial of basic climate science appears to be coming to a close…That won’t likely mean an end to partisan bickering…[But amid the American Petroleum Institute annual State of American Energy Report’s] bullish assessment of the nation’s ongoing boom in shale oil and gas, the leading fossil fuel trade group clearly and unequivocally acknowledged the threat of global warming, and highlighted — at some length — the steady rise of solar power as an encouraging sign…The report goes on to note that the solar power sector has shaved installation costs and enjoyed over 40 percent growth over the last year…[It also] savages the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, which seeks to cut carbon pollution from existing power plants, arguing that it will kill the coal industry and cause significant harm to the nation’s economy…[Yet the] nation’s largest and most powerful oil lobby [stated] in no uncertain terms that climate change is real, that it’s a threat to American prosperity, and that clean energy technologies promise a solution…” click here for more
SOLAR APPLAUDS OBAMA SOTU SUPPORT President Praises Solar Progress in State of the Union Speech
January 20, 2015 (Solar Energy Industries Association)
Citing its continued growth, President Obama once again has singled out solar energy in his annual State of the Union (SOTU) speech. Afterward, Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) President/CEO Rhone Resch applauded President Obama for making the development of solar energy a top priority when he first took office six years ago and for never abandoning his beliefs in its importance. Resch added that there is an estimated 20 gigawatts (GW) of installed solar capacity nationwide and another 20 GW in the pipeline over the next two years, benefitting both the economy and the endangered environment. There are also, he said, 173,000 Americans currently working in the U.S. solar industry. Growth, Resch pointed out, has been driven by effective and forward-looking public policies, such as the solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC), net energy metering (NEM) and renewable portfolio standards (RPS). click here for more
WIND PRAISES OBAMA SOTU, CALLS FOR PTC EXTENSION President Obama’s State of the Union: U.S. leads world in wind energy production
January 20, 2015 (American Wind Energy Association)
President Obama highlighted U.S. wind energy as an American success story, noting that the U.S. produces more wind energy than any other country in the world, a dominance due to U.S. wind turbines’ being nearly twice as productive as those in China and Germany…Iowa is helping the nation achieve this global leadership position by leading the U.S. in the percentage of electricity the state generates from wind power…and wind is one of the few things newly elected Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) and President Obama agree on…Late last year, the key federal incentive for wind investment, the Production Tax Credit (PTC), was extended for only two weeks before expiring again on December 31. Wind’s costs have dropped more than 50 percent over the past five years, thanks to the productivity and innovation driven by performance-based incentives like the renewable energy PTC. Uncertainty about it is harmful for business, and puts 50,000 U.S. wind industry jobs, with 500 manufacturing facilities in 43 states and an annual average investment of over $17 billion, at risk, especially because wind will be key in states’ compliance with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) first-ever proposed rule to reduce carbon pollution at existing power plants. click here for more
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home