Category Archives: why the U.S. is behind

Mitt Romney’s Energy Policy – I put this off as long as I could

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4 years ago at one point there were 17 candidates and I did something insane. I looked at all their energy policies. For over a half month I babbled on about “this, that or the other” white paper. Now as an older blogger, I did not even bother. What would be the difference between Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum’s energy policies. What, Newt wants to find energy on the moon his first year in office. And once it was all over, what is one to say about a guy that says he is for coal. But anyway, here is the Richie Rich’s energy policy proposals.

http://www.mittromney.com/issues/energy

Mitt’s Plan

As president, Mitt Romney will make every effort to safeguard the environment, but he will be mindful at every step of also protecting the jobs of American workers. This will require putting conservative principles into action.

Significant Regulatory Reform

The first step will be a rational and streamlined approach to regulation, which would facilitate rapid progress in the development of our domestic reserves of oil and natural gas and allow for further investment in nuclear power.

  • Establish fixed timetables for all resource development approvals
  • Create one-stop shop to streamline permitting process for approval of common activities
  • Implement fast-track procedures for companies with established safety records to conduct pre-approved activities in pre-approved areas
  • Ensure that environmental laws properly account for cost in regulatory process
  • Amend Clean Air Act to exclude carbon dioxide from its purview
  • Expand NRC capabilities for approval of additional nuclear reactor designs
  • Streamline NRC processes to ensure that licensing decisions for reactors on or adjacent to approved sites, using approved designs, are complete within two years

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Go there and read…if you can stomach it. More tomorrow.

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Solar Power Plants In China – They are beating us like a broken drum

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Because of the power of the coal industry and the oil industry, China is so far out in front of American that it is not even funny. It so pitiful that we let all of this happen under George Bush’s watch. He built the biggest wind farms in Texas and then dropped the ball at the Federal level. We never may actually be able to catch up.

http://www.sungrowpower.com/sungrow-english/product.php?page=6&menu=1&cate=1&case=1&item=16

Project name: Shilin 10 MW Model PV Power Plant Project of Yunnan Provincial Power Investment Co., Ltd.
Location: Shilin, Yunnan
Installation capacity: 4MW
Model: SG500KTL
Brief introduction: On May 25th, 2010, Kunming Shilin solar energy PV grid connected experimental model power plant with a designed installation capacity ranking the first in Asia had the first-stage project connect the grid officially. The model power plant has a gross installation capacity of 166 MW, which is invested and developed by Huaneng Group and Yunnan Provincial Power Investment Co., Ltd. Large grid connected inverters of Sungrow series independently developed by Sungrow Power Supply Co, Ltd have been used in this grid connection. These inverters have reached international advanced level in terms of reliability, conversion efficiency, power quality and other technical indexes and could satisfy the latest demand of State Grid. They have passed Golden Sun, CE, KEMA and other product certifications and have been successfully applied in many large PV power projects including Shanghai Expo, Dunhuang franchise bidding 20MW model power plant, Ningxia Sun Mountain, Ningxia Shizuishan, etc.
20 MW project in this grid connection uses large grid connected inverters of Sungrow series independently developed by Sungrow Power Supply Co, Ltd. These inverters have reached international advanced level in terms of reliability, conversion efficiency, power quality and other technical indexes and could satisfy the latest demand of State Grid. They have passed Golden Sun, CE, KEMA and other product certifications and have been successfully applied in many large PV power projects including Shanghai Expo, Dunhuang franchise bidding 20MW model power plant, Ningxia Sun Mountain, Ningxia Shizuishan, etc.

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Go there and check the whole site out. More tomorrow.

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China Hops On Australian Solar Market – Sad to say but it could have been America

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This is what the corporate suits missed about government support for solar and wind. They create things that other people want and good paying jobs as well.

http://www.hydrogenfuelnews.com/australia-poised-to-take-the-lead-in-solar-energy-market/854766/

Australia poised to take the lead in solar energy market

– July 16, 2012

Yingli Green Energy notes the solar energy potential of the country

Over the past decade, Australia has shown modest support for alternative energy. In recent years, this support has been growing at a rapid pace, with the country now showing major interest in solar energy. Because of Australia’s exposure to solar radiation, it is one of the most attractive locations in terms of a solar energy market. Yingli Green Energy, a Chinese solar panel manufacturer, believes that the potential for solar energy in Australia is so high that it may become the leader of the photovoltaic mass market by the end of the year.

Australia could benefit from Chinese manufactured solar technologies

Solar energy has been growing in strength all over the world. Demand for solar energy systems is growing amongst consumers who wish to see savings of their energy bills as well as help the environment. As demand for solar energy systems rises, so too does the supply of these energy systems. China has played a large role in the growing availability of solar energy systems. The country has thrown its manufacturing might behind the production of solar panels and other technologies, inundating the mass market with products that are driving down the price of solar energy systems.

Company expects solar energy market prospects to be extraordinary

Yingli Green Energy is one of the three largest solar panel manufacturers in China, as well as the rest of the world. Though the company has a small presence in Australia, it claims that the country could become a world leader in terms of solar energy in the coming years. The company expects Australia to see major progress in the solar energy market by the end of the year, with its prospects becoming “quite extraordinary” in 2014 and 2015.

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Go there and read. More tomorrow.

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Cool Green Cars – I haven’t done any car posts this year

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I usually do a series of car posts every year, and maybe this is the time to do it. I know starting on a Friday is kind of obtuse but heh it gives me a couple of days to look at cools sites and cars before I do another post. These are hybrids but the real moves have been in all electric.

Five Hybrid Concept Cars We REALLY Want To Drive

Jun 22, 2012

Every now and then, we allow our thoughts to drift here at GreenCarReports.

Naturally, we’re thinking forward rather than back, and often to the cars we might be driving around in five or ten years time.

We’ve compiled a list of five concept cars seen at auto shows over the last year or so. All are hybrids, and all showcase exciting new visions of styling and technology that could well hit the roads in the near future.

Hyundai i-Oniq

Given the meteoric rise of Korean brands Hyundai and Kia over the last few decades, it’s only right that they should play a part in our future too. The i-Oniq concept car, revealed at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show back in March, is a sleek, two-door range-extended hybrid.

Though the styling evokes images of a huge engine under the hood, the concept uses a tiny 1.0-liter 3-cylinder unit, supplying power to a 107-horsepower electric motor when its 75-mile battery range is depleted. We’re pretty confident that 75 miles would cover most of our day-to-day driving, but that little gasoline engine would provide a useful extra 360 miles.

And you know what? It looks pretty good too.

 

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That is one of 5. Go there and read. Pretty pictures too. More next week.

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The Green Economy – Why the world passes the United States by

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I find this article to be both uplifting and sad. Uplifting for them and sad for us.

http://www.unep.org/greeneconomy/AdvisoryServices/SouthAfrica/tabid/79056/Default.aspx

South Africa’s Pathway to a Green Economy

National Green Economy Initiatives

South Africa’s New Growth Path announced in 2010 sets out critical markets for employment creation and growth, implying fundamental changes in structure of production to generate a more inclusive and greener economy over the medium to long run through macroeconomic and microeconomic interventions.

South Africa launched a US$ 7.5 billion fiscal stimulus package in February 2008 covering the period covering the period 2009-2011.  Around 11% of this stimulus package, representing US$ 0.8 billion was allocated to environmental-related themes.

The South African Government hosted a Green Economy Summit in May 2010, to set the stage for formulating a Green Economy Plan.

In November 2011, South Africa unveilled a Green Economy Accord to launch a partnership between the government, business community, trade unions and civil society.

The Green Accord is one in a series agreed under South Africa’s New Growth Path. It sets goals to create 300,000 new jobs in contribution to the New Growth Path’s objective of creating five million new jobs by 2020, and to double the country’s clean energy generation.

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Go there and read tons. It is a UN site after all. More tomorrow

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Ameren’s Plan For A Smart Grid – What a joke

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You wonder why I go on about all the things you can do in your house to save power. Well the following article tells the whole story. As I said this a joke and the joke is on you. They will never get to the “smart” meters and once they do, so what. Then all you become is a part of the utilities load flattening program. Big whoop. Who wants to do laundry at 2 o’clock in the morning. Nice piece of writing though.

http://www.illinoistimes.com/Springfield/article-9550-ameren-illinois-launches-10-year-modernization-plan.html

Thursday, January 12,2012

Ameren Illinois launches 10-year modernization plan

Proposed new rates could mean a decrease for some customers

By Neil Schneider

Ameren Illinois, a subsidiary of Ameren Corporation, took its first step in implementing its Modernization Action Plan (MAP) on Tuesday, Jan.3. The plan will provide customers with a more reliable and modernized electric distribution system.

In a press release, Ameren said that over the next decade an additional $625 million will be invested in updating the Ameren Illinois electric delivery system, while also creating 450 new jobs during the program’s peak year. Ameren Illinois serves 20,767 customers in Sangamon County.

“Today’s filing with the Illinois Commerce Commission marks the beginning of an initiative that will enable Ameren Illinois to modernize its electric distribution system over the next 10 years in order to meet the service expectations of our customers in the 21st century,” said Craig Nelson, senior vice president of Ameren Illinois.

The filing includes the deployment of about 750,000 automated “smart” meters, greater use of advanced distribution system automation, the modernization and expansion of electric substations and the installation of new transformers.

Smart meters allow consumers and utility companies to monitor electricity more closely during the day through the usage of wireless transmitters, while also allowing a utility company to “talk” to the meters and adjust power usage and distribution throughout the day.

Ameren spokesman Leigh Morris said that a major advantage of the “smart” meters is Ameren customers will be able to take advantage of a “time-of-use service.”

Morris said that there is the potential, for people who choose to use the “time-of-use service” to save money.

“Customers can choose to buy electricity at a certain time of the day, at the certain price it is offered at during that time,” Morris said. “You can imagine that electricity is typically going to cost more at three in the afternoon than at seven in the morning. Like anything else, it is about supply and demand.”

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Go there and read. More next week.

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A Flooded US Nuclear Power Plant – Don’t worry everything is fine

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I have no comment here really. I do not think it is a dangerous situation but is the siting prudent? Probably not.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/06/26/national/main20074500.shtml

Flood berm collapses at Neb. nuclear plant

June 26, 2011 3:15 PM

AP)

OMAHA, Neb. — A berm holding the flooded Missouri River back from a Nebraska nuclear power station collapsed early Sunday, but federal regulators said they were monitoring the situation and there was no danger.

The Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station shut down in early April for refueling, and there is no water inside the plant, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said. Also, the river is not expected to rise higher than the level the plant was designed to handle. NRC spokesman Victor Dricks said the plant remains safe.

The federal commission had inspectors at the plant 20 miles north of Omaha when the 2,000-foot berm collapsed about 1:30 a.m. Sunday. Water surrounded the auxiliary and containment buildings at the plant, it said in a statement.

The Omaha Public Power District has said the complex will not be reactivated until the flooding subsides. Its spokesman, Jeff Hanson, said the berm wasn’t critical to protecting the plant but a crew will look at whether it can be patched.

“That was an additional layer of protection we put in,” Hanson said.

In fight against floodwater, sand running out
Nuke plant averts shutdown from swelled Missouri

The berm’s collapse didn’t affect the reactor shutdown cooling or the spent fuel pool cooling, but the power supply was cut after water surrounded the main electrical transformers, the NRC said. Emergency generators powered the plant Sunday while workers tried to restore power.

NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko will tour the plant Monday. His visit was scheduled last week. On Sunday, he was touring Nebraska’s other nuclear power plant, which sits along the Missouri River near Brownville.

 

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More tomorrow

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A Solar Farm That Is Beautiful – How not to waste energy

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I am going to be posting things I LIKE this week. It is my summer fun. This is a great site. Please RSS.

http://www.good.is/post/behold-the-gorgeous-solar-farms-of-le-mees-france/

Behold the Gorgeous Solar Farms of Le

Mées, France

  • May 27, 2011 • 12:10 pm PDT

The energy company Efinity opened two new solar-power farms in Le Mées in north-central France this month. They’re huge. Together they occupy 89 acres, generating enough electricity for 9,000 families. They were also designed with the landscape in mind. The panels were installed without concrete foundations, which means when their 20-year lifespan is over and they’re removed, there will be healthy land left behind, and grasses are being planted so sheep can graze among them.

But what’s most remarkable about these solar farms is that they’re really aesthetically pleasing. Set on the rolling hills, they look like some sort of Frank Gehry installation. Carbon aside, they’re just much nicer to look at than a coal plant.


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More fun tomorrow.

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Gas Flares At Garbage Dumps – Humans just throw resources away

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In 1000s of landfills across the nation natural gas (primarily methane) is being allowed to drift into the atmosphere or worse yet “flared”. They should be at least using this to generate electricity. Like this landfill in Brevard County.

http://www.brevardcounty.us/swr/landfilltour.cfm

Your Guide to the Central Disposal Facility

click for larger image

The Central Disposal Facility (CDF) is located on Adamson Road in Cocoa. The property was first used for solid waste disposal in the 1960’s. Since then the County has continued to make improvements operationally and environmentally. For example, the 192-acre permitted landfill area is lined by a clay slurry wall, groundwater monitoring wells have been installed, and a methane gas collection and flare system is in place.

The site originally consisted of 285 acres. CDF now totals 957 acres. Portions of the landfill have been closed by capping it with a liner, two feet of cover dirt, and sod. It is estimated Brevard County will have enough landfill capacity to handle the disposal needs for the county until 2014.

In addition to the landfill area itself, there are many other areas within the landfill which emphasize waste reduction and environmental protection.

Yard waste is banned from Florida landfills but is used for daily cover material in the landfill after it’s mulched.

Tens of thousands of pounds of mulch is sent to a facility in Auburndale to be converted to Green Energy.

The mulch is available FREE to all Brevard County residents,
call (321) 633-1888 for more information.

 Mulching
click for larger image
Landfill Gas Conversion to Green Energy
click for larger image 		The gas produced by the Landfill (methane) is extracted through a vacuum system run by LES (Brevard Energy LLC) which in turn is connected to a power grid at the FP&L Facility
(Oleander Plant) and converted to Green Energy.
Anaerobic bacteria break down the garbage in the landfill which produces methane gas. These Flares were burning off the methane to reduce build-up in the landfill.

Now that the Landfill Gas Plant is up and running the Flare Station will be utilized only when necessary.

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Seems like we waste energy even when we throw it away. More tomorrow.

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I Was Looking For A Joke – What I got was this

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I typed in “best way to avert a nuclear disaster” thinking that I might get a joke or something other then Japan’s smoking nukes. I was wrong but this guy is pretty insightful.

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article26916.html

Nuclear Power Industry Praying Japan Will Avert a Nuclear Disaster

Stock-Markets / Nuclear Power Mar 14, 2011 – 10:59 AM

By: Martin_D_Weiss

Explosions and meltdowns at nuclear reactors in Japan this past weekend will forever change the world of energy.

Authorities have already scheduled widespread power outages starting today — and they could continue the planned outages for weeks or even months.

Nuclear power plant explosion in Fukushima, Japan, on Saturday, following that nation's strongest earthquake in history.
Nuclear power plant explosion in Fukushima, Japan, on Saturday, following that nation’s strongest earthquake in history.

But that’s just a metaphor for the sustained global energy shortages that are likely, as the safety and long-term viability of nuclear power comes under more intense scrutiny than at any time in history.

How do we know that’s the likely outcome?

Because prior nuclear disasters, such as Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, had a major long-term impact on nuclear plant construction.

Moreover, those two disasters were ultimately written off to antiquated facilities or poor safety precautions. In contrast, the Japanese nuclear industry prides itself on safety, and the plants struck by the earthquake had far better staff training and equipment, including multiple back-up systems, all of which failed.

Some nuclear experts will counter that newer and safer technologies now exist or can be developed. But given the history of similar promises in the past, those are bound to fall on deaf ears.

The public will now ask …

Is there a fundamental incompatibility between the potential dangers of nuclear energy and the unpredictable wrath of Mother Nature?

That question defies any quick answer and could take years to resolve. Until then, further growth in nuclear power production could be drastically reduced, with potentially far-reaching consequences:

  • Chronic global energy shortages, especially in countries that were counting on new nuclear energy for a large portion of their electric power.
  • Massive, long-term upward pressure on crude oil prices as producers, consumers, and investors upwardly revise their forecasts of fossil fuel demand.
  • Vast sums of investor money diverted from nuclear power plant construction to other alternative energy sources, such as wind, solar, and bio-fuels.

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Still battling viruses. So hopefully more tomorrow.

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