QUICK NEWS, November 7: Beatle Paul McCartney’s Diet For Climate Action; The Wind Bargain Gets Better; Why Red States Like New Energy

Beatle Paul McCartney’s Diet For Climate Action

Sir Paul McCartney Slams Pres. Trump's Climate Change Denials: 'Forget About Him We Can Do Something'

Gil Kaufman, November 6, 2017 (Billboard)

“…[Sir Paul McCartney’s One Day a Week] encourages people to go just one day a week without eating animal products to help the environment….[He calls it ‘part of the solution’ and a way to respond to ‘someone like Trump’ who calls climate change ‘a hoax’ because it is a way to say] ‘forget about him, we can do something’…[McCartney called] Trump's attitude about climate change ‘madness’ and accused the president of reversing…[advances in the fight against climate change. The McCartney film was released ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference this week and focuses on animal agriculture as an under-covered aspect of climate change…[The film, which is intended to raise awareness of the need for action,] is narrated by McCartney and features his music…” click here for more

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The Wind Bargain Gets Better

Report: Developing a wind farm is cheaper than ever

Heather Richards, November 5, 2017 (Caspar Star-Tribune)

“…New wind power costs between $30 and $60 dollars per megawatt hour, not counting a federal tax subsidy. It’s cheaper than solar, gas and coal. Add in the federal helping hand and the cost of new wind falls to between $14 and $52, according to [Lazard’s latest annual Levelized Cost of Energy Analysis (LCOE 11.0)]…[Power Company of Wyoming’s] Chokecherry Sierra Madre wind farm is under construction for the first phase of a 1,000 turbine farm…And Rocky Mountain Power, the state’s largest utility, would like to repower their entire wind fleet in the state, as well as bring 1,100 new megawatts online...[For those opposed to the federal tax subsidy to wind and supportive of Wyoming’s struggling coal sector, wind gets an unfair deal…[but the Lazard report shows wind] is simply beating traditional power sources on its own…Last year, coal would have had a break-even of between $60 and $143 per megawatt hour…A combined cycle natural gas plant’s break-even cost is between $42 and $78 per megawatt hour…[and nuclear] is between $112 and $183…” click here for more

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Why Red States Like New Energy

The U.S. solar industry's new growth region: Trump country

Nichola Groom, October 12, 2017 (Reuters)

“…[T]he solar power industry is booming across Trump country, fueled by falling development costs and [federal tax incentives], which many Republicans in Congress continue to support…[E]ight of the 10 fastest-growing U.S. solar markets between the second quarters of 2016 and 2017 were Western, Midwestern or Southern states that voted for Trump, with Alabama and Mississippi topping the list. And solar firms are ramping up investments in these regions…[This] illustrates the complexity of green power politics in Washington and casts doubt on whether the administration can boost the coal and nuclear sectors while subsidies continue to the fuel growth of competing wind and solar…With falling development costs, solar firms now see strong prospects [even in conservative states with New Energy mandates]…The estimated costs of solar power generation have dropped 85 percent since 2009, making its unsubsidized cost competitive with natural gas in the sunniest locations…Solar and wind energy firms have become important constituents in some Republican-led states because they employ about 300,000 people nationwide - six times the number working in the coal industry…[This] directly undermines Trump’s goal of boosting the coal industry…” click here for more

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