NewEnergyNews: QUICK NEWS, 2-7: THAT DAMNED POLICY PROBLEM; CUTTING-EDGE WIND FUNDED; TENNESSEE EPA LIKES SUN; THE CAR BUYER AND THE EV/

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

    Monday, February 07, 2011

    QUICK NEWS, 2-7: THAT DAMNED POLICY PROBLEM; CUTTING-EDGE WIND FUNDED; TENNESSEE EPA LIKES SUN; THE CAR BUYER AND THE EV

    THAT DAMNED POLICY PROBLEM
    Give me the green light
    Derek Thompson, February 3, 2011 (Washington Post)

    "Businesses respond to signals, not speeches. High unemployment tells companies to hold off on production, and low interest rates tell companies to borrow, but State of the Union addresses don't have the power to tell companies to do anything.

    "So when the president says he's committed to green energy, that's fine. But the U.S. isn't giving alternative energy companies the green light…[but] something more like a ruddish-yellow light, as if to say: Go ahead if you'd like, but proceed at your own caution."


    click to enlarge

    "Ask Eric Spiegel, CEO of Siemens USA, who told me his company is held back by the United States' reluctance to pass a carbon tax or make permanent the solar tax credit…Ask J. Bryan Ashley, chief marketing officer at Suniva, a celebrated solar cell manufacturer out of Georgia, who told me his company exports 80 percent of its products partly because there's so little demand for solar at home…

    "The White House doesn't want to oversee a mass exodus of alternative energy companies to China. That's why it put $151 million in experimental clean energy grants in 2009…[and announced] the ‘Better Buildings Initiative’…to get commercial buildings to retrofit themselves with government money."


    click to enlarge

    "…[W]hat a small step. Total R&D spending in green energy is miles behind biosciences and IT, which together make up two-thirds of total research spending in the U.S. Private-sector investment in energy research amounted to barely half what Merck or Microsoft put to R&D in 2009…If you're betting on the future of America's innovation engine, what reason is there to put your chips on green?

    "…[But] world events might force our hand…In the recession and the recovery, the price of oil plummeted, and wind-power installations fell…[But] it's beginning to look like 2007 again. The price of a barrel of oil cracked $100 this week. Speculation and organic demand from Asia and Latin America could drive up the price even further. One way or another, alternative energies will replace the dirty and unstable supply of fossil fuels. We can either get serious about sending the right green energy signals or accept that the United States won't lead this particular revolution…"



    CUTTING-EDGE WIND FUNDED
    Boulder Wind Power raises $8 million
    Alicia Wallace, February 3, 2011 (Boulder Daily Camera)

    "Boulder Wind Power, a Boulder-based company, raised $8 million in a preferred stock financing designed to help the firm prove and flesh out its ‘radically different’ direct drive wind turbine generator technology.

    "New Enterprise Associates, a global venture capital firm with $11 billion in committed capital, led the Series A round, which included participation from individual investor James J. Maguire Jr…[Analysts say] the investment reflects the continued strength of the clean energy sector despite some difficult recent years…"


    click to enlarge

    "The $8 million will help the 25-employee Boulder Wind Power make significant advancements on the technology that was the basis for the company's founding, said Sandy Butterfield, chief executive officer and co-founder. Butterfield, a scientist with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory for the past 25 years, founded the firm in 2009 with Jim Smith and Matt Jore, the developers of the technology."

    The direct drive transmission is a major advance on the the traditional generator. (click to enlarge)

    "Having a direct drive generator and eliminating a gear box, would represent a simpler, more cost-effective way to make utility scale wind turbines, he said…Boulder Wind Power…[will now] pursue the proof of concept; further develop the design; and finalize the business plan…[while holding] discussions with wind turbine OEM suppliers and other potential partners that might not currently have a stake in the wind industry…

    "Although the utility-scale wind power installations dropped by nearly 50 percent in 2010 from 2009, Butterfield said the broader trends surrounding renewable energy and pushes away from fossil fuels spell optimism for the future…"



    TENNESSEE EPA LIKES SUN
    West Tennessee Solar Farm Receives Environmental Approval; U.S. Dept. of Energy Issues Finding of No Significant Impact, Project Moves Forward
    February 3, 2011 (University of Tennessee Media Resources)

    "…[T]he U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has completed its environmental review for the West Tennessee Solar Farm in Haywood County and issued a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI), which means the project complies with all applicable federal regulation for environmental protection. The review was conducted under guidelines specified in the National Environmental Policy Act [NEPA] and was part of the requirement for utilizing American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding for the project. The finding allows site preparation and installation to begin on the five-megawatt solar array…

    "…[The West Tennessee Solar Farm will sit on 200 acres of land adjacent to Interstate 40 in Haywood County and will be one of the largest solar installations in the Southeast U.S…[T]he Solar Farm…[will have] more than 21,000 silicon-based photovoltaic modules producing more than 7,000,000 kilowatt hours of electricity annually. Development of the Solar Farm is being managed by the University of Tennessee which has contracted with Chattanooga-based Signal Energy as the project’s design/build firm…"


    Tennessee is building sun, (click to enlarge)

    "In addition to the solar arrays, the Solar Farm will also be home to a welcome center in which visitors will be able to view and learn more about the capabilities of solar power generation. Approximately 9 million vehicles pass the Solar Farm annually.

    "The West Tennessee Solar Farm is part of the Volunteer State Solar Initiative, created to benefit the Tennessee economy by using federal ARRA dollars to create jobs and provide support to a growing solar industry…"


    Every state CAN build sun. (click to enlarge)

    "…Under the VSSI, $31 million in ARRA funds will be used to install the Solar Farm and the Tennessee Solar Institute will use $23.5 million to issue grants from the Solar Opportunity Fund, a program designed to underwrite the installation of next generation energy efficiency systems by Tennessee businesses and to provide training, technology and technical assistance to companies in the solar industry value chain…

    "…When fully implemented, programs associated with VSSI will have made possible the installation of at least 12 megawatts of renewable energy generating capacity in Tennessee. In addition to broadening the adoption of new clean energy technologies, the VSSI is also designed to facilitate the training of Tennesseans in new skills and the sharing of ‘best business practices’ across Tennessee’s burgeoning renewable energy industry…"



    THE CAR BUYER AND THE EV
    Study: Obama's electric car goal hits roadblock
    Erika Dimmler, February 3, 2011 (CNN)

    "President Barack Obama's goal of putting 1 million electric cars on U.S. roads by 2015 could run into a huge roadblock -- the American consumer.

    "According to a report…by researchers at Indiana University, automakers are unlikely to manufacture enough cars to reach the president's goal because of a potential lack of buyer demand."


    click to enlarge

    "Nissan and General Motors, makers of the Leaf and Volt, respectively, already have the capacity to produce enough cars to meet the goal. Serious questions remain, however, about the level of desire among potential buyers worried about cost, ease of use and likely resale value."

    click to enlarge

    [Gurminder Bedi, retired Ford Motor Co. executive/report co-author:] "[The President] has really jump started the market…[T]here will be more electric vehicles by 2015 than there would have been if that initiative hadn't been started…[but after] the early adopters, what is going to motivate the mainstream people to buy the vehicles?…Buying an electric vehicle just by itself, because it's better for gas mileage, will be a good factor. But that's not going to be sufficient."

    "In 2008, there were nearly 57,000 electric cars on U.S. roads, according to an estimate by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The administration has created a number of incentives for consumers to purchase electric cars, including a $7,500 tax credit to first-time buyers."

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