Stretching slightly beyond energy policy: the Town of Scarborough has finally acquired the parking lot at Higgins Beach. What do you get when you take the Portland area's most consistent surf beach, then ban on-street parking, then charge two arms and a leg for parking in the one private lot in the village? Angry surfers. Higgins was always my favorite break when we lived in Portland, but the parking scene -- especially in summer -- was always a nightmare. If the dirt parking lot was ever built on, it would have eliminated the one place beachgoers could have parked for miles around. The owner of the 1.5 acre lot, plus a 10 acre (presumably unbuildable) strip near the marsh, wanted nearly $1.5 million. Fortunately, a deal has been cut, using $632,145 from the Land for Maine's Future program, a matching amount from the town's bond and $7,270 from fundraising by The Trust for Public Land and the Surfrider Foundation. Thank you.
The Tesoro oil refinery in Anacortes, Washington suffered an explosion and a fire, killing 4 people and leaving 3 more missing.
More on the landslide in Winslow, Maine after the removal of the Fort Halifax dam: Maine Department of Environmental Protection has ordered (former) dam licensee NextEra to study and report on what went wrong. (A bit of pedigree is useful here, since it can be confusing: NextEra Energy Resources is the entity in question, formerly known as Florida Power & Light Energy, or sometimes known as FPLE Maine Hydro LLC.) The landslide threatens the Fort Hill Cemetery, with graves as old as the mid-1700s.
Rail issues: a Pan Am train derailed in downtown Norridgewock Wednesday.
There's a fair amount of hype going around about the weaknesses of the federal EnergyStar appliance rating program.
In Colorado, dominant utility Xcel Energy is replacing 900 MW of coal plants -- 30% of the entire Colorado coal-fueled generation -- with natural gas plants, all because the legislature enacted the Colorado Clean Air – Clean Jobs Act, which caps emissions at 1,100 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour. Now it's a race for regulatory approval: by December, utility proposals must be approved by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, and must be operational by 2017.
Did you know that until this week, there had only been one known tropical cyclone in the South Atlantic Ocean? Now there have been two. Today, the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, GOES-12 identified Tropical Storm 90Q off the coast of Argentina.
In Los Angeles, a good editorial from the LA Times bashing the Department of Water and Power board for endorsing Mayor Villaraigosa's proposed rate hike to fund electric efficiency -- which as reported yesterday, didn't pass.
Energy powers society; society's choices shape energy policy. A blog about our energy resources and the choices they present for society.
Showing posts with label Energy Star. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Energy Star. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
The Schork Report predicts gasoline will break $3 per gallon by summer.
US DOE has updated its website listing energy-efficient appliance rebate programs available through state implementations of the Energy Star label.
The Obama administration approved $1.37 billion in federal loan guarantees to help build the world's largest solar power complex in California. The Department of Energy has offered to backstop the loans of BrightSource Energy, the developer of three proposed solar-energy plants in the Mojave desert. If completed, the three BrightSource projects could power 140,000 homes, and nearly double the amount of solar power generated in the United States. Despite a recent scale-back to address environmental concerns, the Ivanpah Valley project is still budgeted at 392 MW. BrightSource estimates that construction will employ about 1,000 people, with operation creating 86 permanent jobs. Bechtel, the engineering and construction contractor for the project, signed a project labor agreement in December 2009 with the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California (SBCTC) and the Building & Construction Trades Council of San Bernardino and Riverside counties to secure benefits to the local workforce from the project. The project is estimated to provide $400 million in tax revenues to state and local government, and produce $650 million in wages, over the next 30 years. The project will come online in 2012 and 2013.
Worth noting: US Secretary of Energy Chu's Facebook page, focused at the moment on "why we need nuclear".
Bloom boxes still buzzing.
More fallout and analysis of Google's approval for market-based rate authority (MBRA) from FERC. Donald Campbell of Pitt News suggests that Google secured MBRA so it could more effectively buy green power: "Combined with some offshoot ventures previously spawned by Google, energy trading can assist Google in increasing the amount of energy it consumes from renewable sources." Other sources note that Google doesn’t intend to resell energy, but to procure power only for its own use to help it manage energy costs as a whole. Interestingly this 2/22 interview with Google's "green energy czar" Bill Weihl doesn't mention MBRA as a strategy.
In Pennsylvania, Gov. Edward G. Rendell has released over $5 million in funding for 13 new solar energy projects (link to Governor's office DOC). Thes projects are receiving funds from the $650 million Alternative Energy Investment Fund that Rendell signed in 2008. They were approved for funding by the Commonwealth Financing Authority.
Entergy, operator of the leaking Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, has apparently admitted that there have been prior tritium leaks into groundwater its reactor, including one in 2005.
US DOE has updated its website listing energy-efficient appliance rebate programs available through state implementations of the Energy Star label.
The Obama administration approved $1.37 billion in federal loan guarantees to help build the world's largest solar power complex in California. The Department of Energy has offered to backstop the loans of BrightSource Energy, the developer of three proposed solar-energy plants in the Mojave desert. If completed, the three BrightSource projects could power 140,000 homes, and nearly double the amount of solar power generated in the United States. Despite a recent scale-back to address environmental concerns, the Ivanpah Valley project is still budgeted at 392 MW. BrightSource estimates that construction will employ about 1,000 people, with operation creating 86 permanent jobs. Bechtel, the engineering and construction contractor for the project, signed a project labor agreement in December 2009 with the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California (SBCTC) and the Building & Construction Trades Council of San Bernardino and Riverside counties to secure benefits to the local workforce from the project. The project is estimated to provide $400 million in tax revenues to state and local government, and produce $650 million in wages, over the next 30 years. The project will come online in 2012 and 2013.
Worth noting: US Secretary of Energy Chu's Facebook page, focused at the moment on "why we need nuclear".
Bloom boxes still buzzing.
More fallout and analysis of Google's approval for market-based rate authority (MBRA) from FERC. Donald Campbell of Pitt News suggests that Google secured MBRA so it could more effectively buy green power: "Combined with some offshoot ventures previously spawned by Google, energy trading can assist Google in increasing the amount of energy it consumes from renewable sources." Other sources note that Google doesn’t intend to resell energy, but to procure power only for its own use to help it manage energy costs as a whole. Interestingly this 2/22 interview with Google's "green energy czar" Bill Weihl doesn't mention MBRA as a strategy.
In Pennsylvania, Gov. Edward G. Rendell has released over $5 million in funding for 13 new solar energy projects (link to Governor's office DOC). Thes projects are receiving funds from the $650 million Alternative Energy Investment Fund that Rendell signed in 2008. They were approved for funding by the Commonwealth Financing Authority.
Entergy, operator of the leaking Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, has apparently admitted that there have been prior tritium leaks into groundwater its reactor, including one in 2005.
2/22/10
Monday, February 22, 2010
As expected, the federal Surface Transportation Board has received the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway's notice of intent to abandon 233 miles of track in Maine, from Madawaska to Millinocket. Even though this line serves about 20 industrial freight customers, the Railway says it has been losing $4 million to $5 million a year through operating the lines because freight revenue has fallen. The typical freight shipped on the line includes lumber, plywood, logs and wood chips have fallen, all of which are in low demand given the slump in the housing market. If the rail is abandoned, it could cost 750 jobs as increased transportation costs would lead the region's manufacturers to scale back production.
Iran is choosing sites for uranium enrichment plants, claiming it wants civil nuclear power, not weapons.
Distributed generation gets a policy boost, with a finding that widely-adopted rooftop solar might be easier to develop than utility-scale solar arrays, due to the challenges of siting larger projects.
Much buzz today over Bloom boxes, distributed fuel cell arrays about to be announced. Bloom Energy, which raised $400 million in venture capital, holds a press conference on Wednesday at which it is expected to unveil its products. Interestingly, Google already has a 400 kW array in beta-testing operation.
Speaking of Google, FERC granted Google's market-based rate authorization. As someone who works with FERC's market-based rate structure, having filed a number of petitions myself, it is interesting to me to see how the media reports this: as enabling Google to purchase low-cost power. Surely we all want to purchase low-cost power -- what would it take to enable us all to purchase power at market-based rates? Most people would qualify -- no market power, etc.
Some question whether Energy Star really means much for appliance efficiency.
The administration's pro-nuclear news of last week continues to resonate, as Texas evaluates whether proposed new reactors there will receive similar government support.
Six Maine school and university oil-to-wood heating projects will receive more than $3.2 million in federal Recovery Act funds managed by the Maine Forest Service. The Presque Isle office of the University of Maine Cooperative Extension was awarded $16,575 for installation of a pellet boiler to replace the current oil boiler, displacing 1,850 gallons of fuel oil. (The existing boiler is around 10 years old -- are we incenting inefficient replacement of newer equipment while older, less efficient facilities remain?) Overall this project costs an estimated $40,169, with the remainder of the project funded by the Maine Economic Improvement Fund. Regional School Unit 29 in Houlton was awarded $750,000 for conversion of an oil boiler to a wood chip boiler at Houlton High School, displacing 65,000 gallons of the 85,000 gallons of fuel oil used annually by the district. The district uses about 85,000 gallons of oil a year, according to the superintendent. Here, the district will keep its oil boiler, but will rely on the new boiler for heating. Other winners are Oxford Hills High School, the Greenville School Department, Phillips Middle School and Poland Middle-High School. Maine Forest Service Director Alec Giffen said the six projects collectively “will annually avoid the burning of almost 263,000 gallons of oil, recirculate $600,000 in fuel dollars in the Maine economy, and avoid more than 5 million pounds of emissions from fossil fuels.”
More Maine stimulus: EECBG grants to central Maine communities.
Iran is choosing sites for uranium enrichment plants, claiming it wants civil nuclear power, not weapons.
Distributed generation gets a policy boost, with a finding that widely-adopted rooftop solar might be easier to develop than utility-scale solar arrays, due to the challenges of siting larger projects.
Much buzz today over Bloom boxes, distributed fuel cell arrays about to be announced. Bloom Energy, which raised $400 million in venture capital, holds a press conference on Wednesday at which it is expected to unveil its products. Interestingly, Google already has a 400 kW array in beta-testing operation.
Speaking of Google, FERC granted Google's market-based rate authorization. As someone who works with FERC's market-based rate structure, having filed a number of petitions myself, it is interesting to me to see how the media reports this: as enabling Google to purchase low-cost power. Surely we all want to purchase low-cost power -- what would it take to enable us all to purchase power at market-based rates? Most people would qualify -- no market power, etc.
Some question whether Energy Star really means much for appliance efficiency.
The administration's pro-nuclear news of last week continues to resonate, as Texas evaluates whether proposed new reactors there will receive similar government support.
Six Maine school and university oil-to-wood heating projects will receive more than $3.2 million in federal Recovery Act funds managed by the Maine Forest Service. The Presque Isle office of the University of Maine Cooperative Extension was awarded $16,575 for installation of a pellet boiler to replace the current oil boiler, displacing 1,850 gallons of fuel oil. (The existing boiler is around 10 years old -- are we incenting inefficient replacement of newer equipment while older, less efficient facilities remain?) Overall this project costs an estimated $40,169, with the remainder of the project funded by the Maine Economic Improvement Fund. Regional School Unit 29 in Houlton was awarded $750,000 for conversion of an oil boiler to a wood chip boiler at Houlton High School, displacing 65,000 gallons of the 85,000 gallons of fuel oil used annually by the district. The district uses about 85,000 gallons of oil a year, according to the superintendent. Here, the district will keep its oil boiler, but will rely on the new boiler for heating. Other winners are Oxford Hills High School, the Greenville School Department, Phillips Middle School and Poland Middle-High School. Maine Forest Service Director Alec Giffen said the six projects collectively “will annually avoid the burning of almost 263,000 gallons of oil, recirculate $600,000 in fuel dollars in the Maine economy, and avoid more than 5 million pounds of emissions from fossil fuels.”
More Maine stimulus: EECBG grants to central Maine communities.
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