WASHINGTON, DC, February 25, 2009 (ENS) – In his first address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night, President Barack Obama earned repeated standing ovations from both Democrats and Republicans. He focused on three issues – clean energy, health care and education – and an overarching fourth issue – economic recovery.

“The fact is, our economy did not fall into decline overnight. Nor did all of our problems begin when the housing market collapsed or the stock market sank,” said the President. “We have known for decades that our survival depends on finding new sources of energy. Yet we import more oil today than ever before.”

President Barack Obama addresses his first joint session of Congress. Behind him are Vice President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. (Photo courtesy The White House)

“Now is the time to act boldly and wisely,” he said, “to not only revive this economy, but to build a new foundation for lasting prosperity. Now is the time to jumpstart job creation, re-start lending, and invest in areas like energy, health care, and education that will grow our economy, even as we make hard choices to bring our deficit down.”

Obama expressed his gratitude to the members of Congress who passed the $789 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which he signed into law on February 17.

“Over the next two years, this plan will save or create 3.5 million jobs,” Obama reiterated. “More than 90 percent of these jobs will be in the private sector – jobs rebuilding our roads and bridges; constructing wind turbines and solar panels; laying broadband and expanding mass transit.”

Those who receive funds from the recovery stimulus package must account for their expenditures, said Obama, adding, “This time, CEOs won’t be able to use taxpayer money to pad their paychecks or buy fancy drapes or disappear on a private jet. Those days are over.”

Obama met with groups of governors and mayors during the past week and told them that they will be held accountable “for every dollar they spend.”

Vice President Joe Biden, left, and President Barack Obama meet with the nation’s governors at the White House. February 23, 2009. (Photo by Pete Souza courtesy The White House)

He has asked Vice President Joe Biden to lead a “tough, unprecedented oversight effort,” because, he told Congress, “Nobody messes with Joe.”

In addition, as chairman of the new Recovery Act Transparency and Accountability Board, the President has appointed Earl Devaney, who has served as Inspector General of the Department of the Interior since 1999. In that position, he exposed the Abramoff scandals and a culture of corruption among Bush officials and appointees.

“I have appointed a proven and aggressive Inspector General to ferret out any and all cases of waste and fraud,” said Obama. “And we have created a new website called recovery.gov so that every American can find out how and where their money is being spent.”

President Obama said he will send his first budget to Congress next week.

“Even as it cuts back on the programs we don’t need, the budget I submit will invest in the three areas that are absolutely critical to our economic future: energy, health care, and education,” he said. “It begins with energy.”

“We know the country that harnesses the power of clean, renewable energy will lead the 21st century. And yet, it is China that has launched the largest effort in history to make their economy energy efficient,” the President said. “We invented solar technology, but we’ve fallen behind countries like Germany and Japan in producing it. New plug-in hybrids roll off our assembly lines, but they will run on batteries made in Korea.”

“Well I do not accept a future where the jobs and industries of tomorrow take root beyond our borders – and I know you don’t either,” Obama declared. “It is time for America to lead again.”

Dedicated in May 2008, Iberdrola’s Dillon wind farm in Palm Springs generates power for Southern California Edison customers. (Photo by Iberdrola Renewables courtesy NREL)

“Thanks to our recovery plan, we will double this nation’s supply of renewable energy in the next three years,” he said. “We have also made the largest investment in basic research funding in American history – an investment that will spur not only new discoveries in energy, but breakthroughs in medicine, science, and technology,” he said, referring to the $3 billion in the stimulus bill for the National Science Foundation.

“We will soon lay down thousands of miles of power lines that can carry new energy to cities and towns across this country. And we will put Americans to work making our homes and buildings more efficient so that we can save billions of dollars on our energy bills,” Obama said.

“But to truly transform our economy, protect our security, and save our planet from the ravages of climate change, we need to ultimately make clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of energy,” he said.

“So I ask this Congress to send me legislation that places a market-based cap on carbon pollution and drives the production of more renewable energy in America. And to support that innovation, we will invest $15 billion a year to develop technologies like wind power and solar power; advanced biofuels, clean coal, and more fuel-efficient cars and trucks built right here in America,” said President Obama.

With Democrats in control of both the House and the Senate, the President is likely to get the kind of climate change legislation he asked for.

U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat who chairs the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, said after the joint session, “President Obama has it exactly right: we must ‘transform our economy, protect our security, and save our planet from the ravages of climate change.’ To accomplish those goals, the President has called on us to send him legislation that establishes a market-based cap on carbon emissions. We will work in partnership with the President, and we will answer his call.”

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (Photo courtesy Republican National Committee)

The Republican response to the President’s speech came from Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, who criticized the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

“While some of the projects in the bill make sense, their legislation is larded with wasteful spending,” he said. “It includes $300 million to buy new cars for the government, $8 billion for high-speed rail projects, such as a ‘magnetic levitation’ line from Las Vegas to Disneyland, and $140 million for something called ‘volcano monitoring.’ Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, DC.”

“To strengthen our economy, we need urgent action to keep energy prices down,” Jindal said. “All of us remember what it felt like to pay $4 at the pump – and unless we act now, those prices will return.

“To stop that from happening, we need to increase conservation…increase energy efficiency…increase the use of alternative and renewable fuels…increase our use of nuclear power – and increase drilling for oil and gas here at home,” said Jindal, who governs a state with a current budget surplus due to royalties from oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico.

Jindal has announced that he will decline stimulus money targeted at expanding state unemployment insurance coverage, becoming the first governor to officially refuse any part of the federal government’s payout to states.

Many environmentalists were pleased with the President’s speech. Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said, “In this speech, President Obama presented a bold, ambitious vision to restore America’s economy and move us to a new clean energy future driven by a cap on carbon pollution.

“For the first time in history, a sitting U.S. president called on Congress to pass legislation to limit carbon pollution that will build a sustainable economic recovery by repowering America with clean energy. Investments from a carbon cap can cut our dependence on oil, make us more energy efficient and produce jobs at home,” Beinecke said.

“This represents a new era in America’s approach to energy that will break our reliance on dirty fossil fuels and push us to develop new technologies,” she said. “This is the leadership America needs to transform our energy system, protect our planet and meet the challenges of the 21st century.”

View This Story On Eco–mmunity Map.

BOSTON, Massachusetts, January 19, 2009 (ENS) – America’s first offshore wind farm has moved closer to the construction stage now that the federal government has released a favorable Final Environmental Impact Statement on the project.

The Minerals Management Service Friday issued a 2,800-page FEIS on the Cape Wind project planned for Nantucket Sound off the coast of Massachusetts that says the wind farm’s impact on the environment would be minimal or negligible.

Cape Wind Associates plans to install 130 wind turbines across 25 miles of federal waters, enough to generate an estimated 450 megawatts of power. The wind farm will interconnect with and deliver power to the New England Power Pool.

“This report validates the project will create new jobs, increase energy independence and fight global warming while being a good neighbor to the ecosystem of Nantucket Sound,” said the project’s developer, Jim Gordon.

A computer simulation of what the Cape Wind installation would look like from the closest point on shore, Cotuit, 5.6 miles away. (Image courtesy Cape Wind)

Cape Wind Associates has spent $40 million and endured seven and a half years of environmental reviews, scores of public hearings and community meetings and court challenges to bring the project this far, Gordon told reporters at a news conference Friday.

While he said it would take another $1 billion to construct the project, and this financing has not yet been secured, Gordon was delighted with the Minerals Management Service FEIS.

“Massachusetts is one major step closer to becoming home to America’s first offshore wind farm and becoming a global leader in the production of offshore renewable energy,” he said.

“This moment would not have arrived without the steadfast support of environmental, labor, health and citizen advocacy groups throughout the region and I want to thank them for the important role they have played throughout this public process.”

The Minerals Management Service FEIS states that:

* Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound is environmentally and economically superior to the alternative site locations that were studied.

* Cape Wind will reduce regional air pollution emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury, pollutants that harm human health.

* Cape Wind will reduce regional greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change by 880,000 tons per year.

* Building Cape Wind will create hundreds of jobs and generate over a half-billion dollars in non-labor purchases in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

* Cape Wind will not increase energy prices in New England and could help to lower energy clearing prices.

* Most of Cape Wind’s electricity will be consumed on Cape Cod and the Islands where it will supply three-quarters of that region’s electricity and improve electric transmission performance.

* Cape Wind will have a substantial positive impact on electrical generating capacity and help Massachusetts achieve its renewable energy requirements under the State’s Renewable Portfolio Standard.

* Cape wind will have no major impacts on navigation, fishing, or tourism.

Now that the Minerals Management Service has issued the environmental impact statement, its Record of Decision on granting a lease to Cape Wind could come within 30 days.

According to the FEIS the federal agency’s final decision “would account for the regional, state, and local benefits and impacts as well as for the overall public interest of the United States.”

The FEIS comes one year after Minerals Management Service issued a Draft EIS which generated over 42,000 written public comments, over 40,000 of which were in support of the project.

Opponents include Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, Save Our Sound, the Nantucket Soundkeeper and the Waterkeeper Alliance.

The Alliance issued a statement Friday calling the FEIS “inadequate and misleading.”

“MMS has released this final report at the 11th hour of the Bush administration despite an ongoing investigation by the Department of Interior’s Inspector General regarding potential misconduct in MMS’ review of Cape Wind,” the group said.

“While MMS has grossly misrepresented Cape Wind’s impact on air traffic as ‘negligible to minor,’” the Federal Aviation Administration has found “‘potential for physical and/or electromagnetic interference to the radar systems used by the FAA’ and will begin a new study of aeronautical impact,” the Alliance said.

The FAA has previously issued a “presumed hazard” determination for Cape Wind because of potential impact to the 400,000 flights per year that travel over the proposed project footprint.

The U.S. Coast Guard also has acknowledged the potential for radar interference to vessel navigation.

The Minerals Management Service released the Cape Wind FEIS before final regulations in place for offshore renewable energy projects on the Outer Continental Shelf.

The Alliance is critical of the federal agency saying, “Denying the public an opportunity to review Cape Wind in the context of the pending regulations, MMS has failed to complete OCS rules and has therefore violated section 388 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which required that regulations be finalized by May 2006.”

The Alliance requests that “the public be given no less than 90 days to review and comment on the highly technical, 2,000-plus page FEIS. Moreover, we ask that the final Record of Decision not be released until the above concerns, and additional issues that may arise under more detailed analysis, be fully addressed and reviewed by the public.”

Gordon told reporters that Cape Wind needs only the MMS Record of Decision, a final approval from the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board and the FAA approval before the project can begin construction.

Cape Wind officials expect to complete the permitting process by March 2009.

Gordon says, “Cape Wind’s proposal to build America’s first offshore wind farm on Horseshoe Shoal would provide three-quarters of the electricity used on Cape Cod and the Islands from clean, renewable energy – reducing this region’s need to import oil, coal and gas. Cape Wind will create new jobs, stable electric costs, contribute to a healthier environment, increase energy independence and establish Massachusetts as a leader in offshore wind power.”

Governor Deval Patrick said last week he wants the state to be producing 2,000 megawatts of wind energy annually by 2020, enough to power 800,000 homes, about 10 percent of the state’s present energy needs. The state has only nine large wind turbines now, producing less than seven megawatts a year.

View This Story On Eco–mmunity Map.

NEW YORK, New York, January 12, 2009 (ENS) – Japan and South Korea each have announced that they will invest billions of dollars in green projects to create jobs and spur economic growth, in what the United Nations says is the latest sign that its Green New Deal is gaining momentum.

Japan has announced a program aimed at stimulating the economy by promoting measures to curb global warming. Measures announced by Environment Minister Tetsuo Saito Thursday aim to expand the green business market and create up to one million new jobs.

Saito said measures include zero-interest rate loans for environmentally-friendly companies and promotion of the purchase of vehicles and housing with low carbon dioxide emissions.

Wind turbines on the west coast of Hokkaido, Japan, north of Rumoi City (Photo by Bill Bauer courtesy NREL)

Saito said Japan seeks to expand the environment business market to US$11 billion and increase jobs in the environmental field to 2.2 million by 2015. The ministry is set to compile the program by the end of March.

South Korea will invest $US38 billion over the next four years in a series of eco-friendly projects to create 960,000 new jobs and lay the groundwork for economic growth.

The 36 Korean projects include the creation of green transport networks, the provision of two million energy-saving green homes and the cleanup of the country’s four main rivers.

In October, the UN Environment Programme launched the Global Green New Deal and Green Economy Initiative as both an antidote to current economic woes and as a springboard to a low carbon, low impact, high job generating and better-managed global economy.

UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said, “Investments in clean-tech and renewable energy; infrastructure such as railways and cycle tracks and nature-based services like river systems and forests, can not only counter recession and unemployment but can also set the stage for more sustainable economic recovery and growth in the 21st century.”

“UNEP’s Global Green New Deal and Green Economy initiative are clearly two ideas whose time has come, as evidenced by the Republic of Korea and Japan’s stimulus package announcements alongside those of other key economies and leaders from China to the president-elect of the United States,” he added.

Steiner said the announcements responded to the call by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Poznan, Poland last month where he outlined a Global Green New Deal as the best chance for securing a sound and solid international climate agreement in Copenhagen in next December. The agreement would replace the current Kyoto Protocol which expires at the end of 2012.

The move by Japan and South Korea – two of Asia’s major economies – follows U.S. President-elect Barack Obama’s plans to implement a multi-billion clean energy program during his presidency in a bid to create millions of jobs.

View This Story On Eco–mmunity Map.

FAIRFAX, Virginia, January 8, 2009 (ENS) – President-elect Barack Obama today pledged to quickly implement a plan that will save or create three million jobs by doubling the production of alternative energy; weatherizing 75 percent of federal buildings and two million American homes; and investing in new infrastructure, science, research, and technology.

In a speech at George Mason University, Obama said the multi-billion dollar American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan he will advance immediately after he takes office on January 20, represents “not just new policy, but a whole new approach to meeting our most urgent challenges.”

President-elect Barack Obama at George Mason University. (Photo Obama Transition Project)

“That’s why I’m asking Congress to work with me and my team day and night, on weekends if necessary, to get the plan passed in the next few weeks,” he said.

“To finally spark the creation of a clean energy economy, we will double the production of alternative energy in the next three years,” Obama said. “We will modernize more than 75 percent of federal buildings and improve the energy efficiency of two million American homes, saving consumers and taxpayers billions on our energy bills.”

“In the process, we will put Americans to work in new jobs that pay well and can’t be outsourced,” said Obama, “jobs building solar panels and wind turbines; constructing fuel-efficient cars and buildings; and developing the new energy technologies that will lead to even more jobs, more savings, and a cleaner, safer planet in the bargain.”

The new Democrat-controlled Congress opened on Tuesday, with indications that Obama’s plan will receive support.

At a forum Wednesday held by the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, said that Congress will move quickly to implement the plan.

Said Pelosi, “We will be working in the days ahead with our President-elect so we have legislation before we observe President’s Day this year.” The holiday falls on February 16, 2009.

Senator Harry Reid (Photo courtesy Office of the Senator)

At a news conference Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada detailed the top 10 priorities for the new Congress, beginning with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to help improve the economy.

“This Congress, Democrats have one explicit goal: to deliver the change Americans have demanded,” Reid said. “We are confronting some of the most severe problems we have faced in generations. They didn’t happen overnight and they won’t be solved in a day, but by working together in a bipartisan fashion, Democrats know we can move our country forward.”

Bipartisanship is an integral feature of the plan, Obama said today. Pledging transparency in decisionmaking, he said, “The American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan won’t just throw money at our problems – we’ll invest in what works. The true test of the policies we’ll pursue won’t be whether they’re Democratic or Republican ideas, but whether they create jobs, grow our economy, and put the American Dream within reach of the American people.

Many environmentalists support Obama’s plan.

Friends of the Earth President Brent Blackwelder said, “America is facing profound and deeply intertwined energy and economic crises. President-elect Obama’s speech today indicates he understands the tremendous scope and interrelated nature of these challenges – and that he is committed to leading the bold, transformative changes that will be needed to solve them.”

“With his leadership,” said Blackwelder, “we can create millions of green jobs “and revitalize our economy, while building a clean and efficient 21st Century infrastructure.”

 A crumbling bridge on the I-95 in northeast Philadelphia Pennsylvania (Photo credit unknown)

Friends of the Earth is running a “New Roads = New Pollution” campaign to encourage smart transportation investments in the stimulus package and to block funding for new roads. Instead, the group wants Obama to direct funding towards improving and expanding clean transportation options, including public transit and passenger rail, as well as on maintaining and repairing the roads and bridges that already exist.

“Dollar for dollar,” said Blackwelder, “investments in public transportation and road and bridge repair create more jobs than new road construction and lead to cleaner air and less pollution.”

The advocacy organization Environmental Defense today issued a transportation policy statement that urges the Obama administration and Congress to focus on “getting more value from existing infrastructure” to improve transportation, put Americans to work now, save money in the long run and reduce health-threatening air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

Policymakers should, “Increase support for transit in cities of all sizes and in all regions of the country,” said Environmental Defense, putting the emphasis on “innovative but proven systems, such as bus-rapid-transit, that can deliver service quickly using the country’s existing road infrastructure.”

This road in Cedar Falls, Iowa was damaged by flooding in 2008. (Photo courtesy Iowa DOT)

In a letter delivered to Congress Wednesday, 159 businesses and organizations in the Sustainable Energy Network, joined by 61 individual activists, urged the lawmakers to focus on sustainable energy technologies and green jobs, but not nuclear power and fossil fuels, when they consider the economic stimulus bill this week.

The letter argues that “funding should be targeted at those energy efficiency and renewable energy projects that can be brought on line quickly, will maximize job creation, will curb greenhouse gases and energy imports, and have the least adverse social and environmental impacts.”

Obama said today that his American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan will “put people to work repairing crumbling roads, bridges, and schools by eliminating the backlog of well-planned, worthy and needed infrastructure projects.”

To “retrofit America for a global economy” he plans to update electricity transmission by building “a new smart grid that will save us money, protect our power sources from blackout or attack, and deliver clean, alternative forms of energy to every corner of our nation.”

He plans to expand broadband lines across America, “so that a small business in a rural town can connect and compete with their counterparts anywhere in the world.”

But Obama did not minimize the difficult problems he faces as he takes the reins of power on January 20.

“We start 2009 in the midst of a crisis unlike any we have seen in our lifetime – a crisis that has only deepened over the last few weeks,” said the president-elect. “Nearly two million jobs have now been lost, and on Friday we are likely to learn that we lost more jobs last year than at any time since World War II.”

Obama listed America’s economic woes – manufacturing at a 28 year low, businesses that cannot borrow or make payroll, families who cannot pay their bills or their mortgages, workers watching their life savings disappear.

 A new smart grid is needed to move power from new alternative energy sources such as this SunEdison photovoltaic power plant near Alamosa, Colorado. (Photo by Tom Stoffel courtesy NREL)

“I don’t believe it’s too late to change course, but it will be if we don’t take dramatic action as soon as possible,” he said. “If nothing is done, this recession could linger for years. The unemployment rate could reach double digits. Our economy could fall $1 trillion short of its full capacity, which translates into more than $12,000 in lost income for a family of four.”

“We could lose a generation of potential and promise, as more young Americans are forced to forgo dreams of college or the chance to train for the jobs of the future,” Obama said. “And our nation could lose the competitive edge that has served as a foundation for our strength and standing in the world.”

Obama placed the blame for America’s weakened economy on “an era of profound irresponsibility that stretched from corporate boardrooms to the halls of power in Washington, DC,” reciting the now well-known problems – “imprudent and dangerous decisions” by Wall Street executives, banks and borrowers, and politicians who have “spent taxpayer money without wisdom or discipline.”

“The result has been a devastating loss of trust and confidence in our economy, our financial markets, and our government,” he said.

But sounding his perennial message of hope, Obama said opportunity and prosperity can be restored, and he promised to begin rebuilding America immediately.

“The very fact that this crisis is largely of our own making means that it is not beyond our ability to solve,” he said. “Our problems are rooted in past mistakes, not our capacity for future greatness.”

View This Story On Eco–mmunity Map.

NEWARK, New Jersey, October 15, 2008 (ENS) – Garden State Offshore Energy has won a $4 million grant from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to develop what will be the first offshore wind farm on the East Coast. It will be located southeast of Atlantic City, at least 16 miles off the coast.

Garden State, a joint venture of PSEG Renewable Generation and Deepwater Wind, plans to build a 345 megawatt offshore wind facility that is expected to generate more than one percent of the state’s electricity needs.

The wind farm would be able to power some 125,000 homes annually. It could begin generating energy in 2012 with the entire project operational in 2013.

“With this Board vote, New Jersey maintains its well-established role as a leader in the development of renewable energy,” said Jeanne Fox, president of the Board of Public Utilities.

“Offshore wind projects such as this one selected today will help New Jersey protect its environment, combat global warming and respond to rising energy costs,” she said.

Garden State’s proposal calls for 96 wind turbines arranged in a rectangular grid 16 to 20 miles off the coast of Cape May and Atlantic counties.

GSOE will employ a proprietary deep water foundation technology which enables wind turbines to be located in deep waters far from shore.

Turbine mounted on the type of deep
water foundation that will be used to
situate the wind farm at least 16 miles
offshore. (Photo courtesy GSOE)

At this distance, the wind farm would be barely visible from shore, addressing one of the major concerns of beach communities.

GSOE will receive 10 percent of the grant up front to offset a portion of the costs of the studies. The remainder will be received upon commercial operations.

Construction would begin in 2010 at the earliest after permitting and the baseline ecological study, currently being conducted by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, are completed. That study is expected to be done some time next year.

“PSEG believes that to meet the challenges of climate change, we need to move forward in three areas – expanding energy efficiency and conservation, investing in renewables and planning for additional clean central station power,” said Ralph Izzo, chairman, CEO and president of PSEG Renewable Generation. “We believe that offshore energy has great potential to bring clean energy and jobs to New Jersey.”

An evaluation committee of state and federal officials reviewed the proposals over several months before selecting GSOE. The company was chosen from among five applicants who responded to a solicitation issued by the Board of Public Utilities in October 2007.

A report prepared for the Board of Public Utilities in September by Global Insight examined the potential costs and benefits of a wind facility located off the shore of New Jersey and concluded that an offshore wind facility would supply one percent of the state’s power and could improve the state’s image.

Encouraged by the new project and the study, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine announced his plan to triple the state’s goal for offshore wind power, aiming for 3,000 megawatts of offshore wind power by 2020.

“Our draft Energy Master Plan identified a goal of 1,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2020,” said Governor Corzine on October 6. “We listened closely to our stakeholders, considered current economic conditions and the dynamic state of offshore wind technology, and we knew we had to go a lot further.

“Today, I am announcing that we’re not just doubling our commitment, we’re tripling it. New Jersey will support and encourage the development of 3,000 megawatts of wind power off its coast by 2020, which will be 13 percent of its total electricity. And we will get to 1,000 megawatts by 2012.”

With $15 million remaining in the funding that the Board of Public Utilities had allocated for offshore wind, Governor Corzine invited the other four bidders for this contract to work with New Jersey to develop their projects too. He called on the Board of Public Utilities and the Department of Environmental Protection to work with the Governor’s Office to find ways for these companies and others to be a part of New Jersey’s offshore wind development.

The governor encouraged these discussions to go beyond the $15 million allocation of funding from the state. He asked developers interested in fostering offshore wind in New Jersey to bring all ideas to the table to aid the state in creating an environment that will help this industry flourish, and bring green jobs to New Jersey.

“While I want to move forward quickly to harness offshore wind in New Jersey, I am committed to doing so in a responsible manner,” Governor Corzine pledged. “DEP will be charged with ensuring there are no unacceptable adverse impacts on the environment as a result of offshore wind.”

View This Story On Eco–mmunity Map.

Rackspace, a premier server solution for individuals and businesses seeking top-notch service, has taken measures to offset the carbon emissions from their digital activities. The environmentally-concerned initiatives of Rackspace are collectively called GreenSpace. GreenSpace is working with NativeEnergy, a leading national marketer of renewable energy credits (RECs) and carbon offsets, the IT hosting specialist will be providing support to two new renewable energy projects through the purchasing of carbon offsets.

Rackspace will support two new renewable projects: the Penn England Family Dairy Waste to Energy Project, which will help ramp up a manure digester on a 700 cow dairy farm that displaces onsite fossil fuel use and emissions of methane, and the Farmer Owned Distributed Small Scale Wind Project in Minnesota, which supports the sale and installation of German-designed 40 kW Aeroman wind turbines that are remanufactured and customized for Midwest conditions. There are other initiatives that Rackspace provides funding for, all under the expert guidance of NativeEnergy.

The second prong of the GreenSpace initiative is found in Rackspace’s commitment to helping their customers use their computers more resource efficiently.

For more information on the GreenSpace initiative, please visit www.rackspace.com.

Why is it important for Rackspace to make this commitment to carbon offsetting?

Computers definitely seem like they are good for the environment. They save a lot of paper, they allow the transmission of important documents without any transport cost, they facilitate business meetings from afar and they are relatively compact machines which do not seem to take a great deal of resources to make.

The reality, sadly, is that computers soak up a tremendous amount of electricity when you consider the total amount of computers worldwide and the fact that some computers are never turned off, and others are left on when they are not being used. On average, computers use from 200-1000 watts to operate.

By offsetting carbon emissions, and by helping their customers seek their own energy efficiency methods, GreenSpace is working to change the dynamic of the computer industry towards a more sustainable direction.

COLUMBIA, Missouri, July 16, 2008 (ENS) – Four wind turbines supply all the electricity needed by the 1,395 residents of Rock Port. The town in the far northwest corner of Missouri announced Tuesday that it has become the first town in the United States to operate solely on wind power.

Rock Port depends for power on the Loess Hills Wind Farm with its four Suzlon 1.25-megawatt wind turbines developed by the Wind Capital Group of St. Louis. John Deere Wind Energy in Kansas City handled the financing.

The electricity generated by the wind farm is transmitted to Rock Port Municipal Utilities, which distributes to customers in town.

A double rainbow appears during construction
of the Loess Hills Wind Farm. (Photo
courtesy Wind Capital Group)

University of Missouri Extension specialist Jim Crawford says, “We’re farming the wind, which is something that we have up here.”

“That’s something to be very proud of, especially in a rural area like this – that we’re doing our part for the environment,” said the natural resource engineer.

A map published by the U.S. Department of Energy indicates that northwest Missouri has the state’s highest concentration of wind resources and contains a number of locations potentially suitable for utility-scale wind development.

“The payback on a per-acre basis is generally quite good when compared to a lot of other crops, and it’s as simple as getting a cup of coffee and watching the blades spin,” Crawford said.

The wind farms will bring in more than $1.1 million annually in county real estate taxes, to be paid by Wind Capital Group.

“This is a unique situation because in rural areas it is quite uncommon to have this increase in taxation revenues,” said Jerry Baker, University of Missouri Extension community development specialist.

The alternative energy source also benefits landowners, who can make anywhere from $3,000 to $5,000 leasing part of their property for wind turbines.

“It’s a savings for the community in general, savings for the rural electric companies, and it provides electricity service for at least a 20-year time period, which is the anticipated life of these turbines,” Baker said.

Baker said the wind turbines also attract many visitors, adding tourism revenue to the list of benefits.

And for ratepayers, the wind turbines are easy on their wallets. “Anybody who is currently using Rock Port utilities can expect no increase in rates for the next 15 to 20 years.”

The wind farm is sized to provide enough electricity over the course of a typical year to match electricity consumption in the town. The Missouri Public Utility Alliance in Columbia will purchase excess electricity from Loess Hills when the output from the wind power plant exceeds what Rock Port residents use.

View This Story On Eco–mmunity Map.

NEW YORK, New York, July 8, 2008 (ENS) – Texas billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens is throwing his influence and money behind a campaign to wean America from its dependency on petroleum and shift to renewable energy sources, particularly wind.

“I’ve been an oil man all my life, but this is one emergency we can’t drill our way out of,” Pickens says on his website. “But if we create a new renewable energy network, we can break our addiction to foreign oil.”

T. Boone Pickens (Photo
credit unknown)

Pickens, 80, threw a press conference in New York today to bring attention to the energy crisis, which he called the single biggest problem facing the country today.

To make his point, Pickens and his staff cited a panoply of worrisome statistics:

* In 1970, the United States imported 24 percent of its oil. Today, it’s nearly 70 percent and growing.

* At current oil prices, the United States will spend $700 billion on oil exports this year along, more than four times the annual cost of the Iraq war.

* Every day, 85 million barrels of oil are produced around the world, and 21 million barrels are used in the United States. That’s 25 percent of the world’s oil demand used by four percent of the world’s population.

To keep the public’s attention on the issue and push it to the forefront in the presidential campaign, Pickens is funding a media blitz to advance “The Pickens Plan,” which he said could reduce America’s demand for foreign oil by one-third within 10 years.

The plan calls on private industry to build wind farms across the Midwest. Calling it the nation’s “wind corridor,” Pickens said the region has the potential to meet at least 20 percent of the country’s electricity needs with energy generated by wind turbines.

The United States currently meets less than 10 percent of the country’s electricity demand using all renewable energy sources – solar, hydroelectric, geothermal, biomass and wind – combined.

By boosting the contribution from wind, America could divert for transportation use the natural gas that’s now used to generate electricity, according to The Pickens Plan. Currently, 23 percent of the nation’s electricity demand is met by burning natural gas, a source of energy that is produced largely domestically, and is less carbon-intensive than gasoline.

Pickens is already invested in the Pampa Wind Project, a $2 billion windfarm in the Texas Panhandle that is anticipated to be the world’s largest windfarm when completed in 2014. The 1,700 to 2,000 wind turbines at Pampa are expected to generate more than 4,000 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 1.3 million households.

Pickens is also a major shareholder in Clean Energy, the largest provider of vehicular natural gas in North America.

Because of his investments, “there is obvious conflict of interest in what Pickens has suggested,” says Tom Bemis, assistant managing editor of Market Watch, in a commentary.

All the same, Bemis calls Pickens’ plan “commendable, to the extent that it forces politicians to confront the unpleasant energy choices facing the U.S. … Absent any political leadership whatsoever on energy policies from Washington, Pickens’ ideas deserve a shot.”

Wind turbines generate power at Dyess
Air Force Base near Abilene, Texas.
(Photo by George Denslow
courtesy NREL)

The American Wind Energy Association today welcomed Pickens’ campaign and confirmed that ramping up wind power quickly on a large scale is feasible if the government enacts the correct policies, starting with renewal of the production tax credit that is currently stalled in Congress.

“Of equal importance will be longer-term policies to plan for more transmission to bring large amounts of wind power from windy areas to population centers,” said AWEA Executive Director Randall Swisher.

“Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Energy, in a major technical report, confirmed that wind can generate 20 percent of U.S. electricity supply by 2030, while providing benefits that far outweigh the cost,” Swisher said.

According to the DOE technical report, achieving a 20 percent wind contribution to the U.S. electricity supply by 2030 would reduce carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation by 25 percent in 2030.

The 20 percent wind power supply would support roughly 500,000 jobs in the United States, with an average of more than 150,000 workers directly employed by the wind industry.

It would increase annual revenues to local communities to more than $1.5 billion by 2030, the DOE said in its technical report, and would also reduce water consumption associated with electricity generation by four trillion gallons by 2030.

Supplying 20 percent of U.S. energy demand with wind power would reduce natural gas use by 11 percent, said the DOE report, which would in turn lower the pressure on natural gas prices.

View This Story On Eco–mmunity Map.

ABERDEEN, Scotland, May 22, 2008 (ENS) – Britain’s Queen Elizabeth is investing in the world’s largest offshore wind turbine and also in the development of offshore windfarms in Scottish waters, her property company The Crown Estate announced on Wednesday.

On April 17, The Crown Estate signed an agreement to purchase a prototype of the world’s largest offshore wind turbine, Clipper’s 7.5 megawatt MBE turbine. Known as the Britannia project, the turbine will be built by California energy company Clipper Windpower.

Offshore wind projects such as the $65 million Britannia project will advance industry technology in line with the forecasted upsurge in European offshore wind development in 2011 and 2012.

One of the wind turbines at the Blyth
Harbor offshore wind development
(Photo by Ian Britton courtesy
FreeFoto.com)

The Clipper MBE prototype turbine will be assembled and tested at Clipper’s Centre of Excellence for Offshore Wind in Blyth in northeast England, where an offshore windfarm made up of smaller turbines is already generating power.

The giant turbine is to be operational by 2010 and all the power it generates will be sold to the national grid. With a 30 year design life, it will generate electricity equivalent of one million barrels of oil.

In addition, the Queen’s property company is setting the rules for developers to harness the winds that blow across Scottish waters.

At the All Energy Conference in Aberdeen on Wednesday, The Crown Estate announced the procedure for offshore windfarm development within Scottish territorial waters.

Rob Hastings, director of marine estates at The Crown Estate, said in Aberdeen, “This announcement to launch Scottish offshore wind clearly demonstrates The Crown Estate’s commitment to facilitating the next phase of offshore wind energy development in Scotland. We have listened to the requests from developers in the industry and are delighted to be working closely with the Scottish government in taking this forward.”

The marine interests of The Crown Estate include almost the entire UK territorial seabed out to 12 nautical miles and around 55 percent of the UK’s coastal foreshore.

In addition, The Crown Estate has the rights to lease seabed for the generation of renewable energy on the continental shelf within the Renewable Energy Zone which extends out to 200 nautical miles.

Now, The Crown Estate is asking for initial expressions of interest from companies wishing to be considered for developing commercial scale windfarms in Scottish territorial waters.

Companies or consortia wishing to be considered must submit registration details electronically by 12:00 noon on June 23, 2008 to: scottish.windfarms@thecrownestate.co.uk

Following this, registered companies and consortia will be invited to submit project proposals for consideration and given three months to prepare and submit their proposals.

Chief Executive of Scottish Renewables Jason Ormiston told the Aberdeen conference participants, “”We are pleased The Crown Estate is now providing some certainty for developers who are keen to invest hundreds of millions of pounds if they can get the rights to develop.”

“Offshore wind in Scottish waters – whether it is in deep or shallow water – offers exceptional potential to help deliver action on climate change and help secure affordable supplies of electricity, and the industry is keen to see government and The Crown Estate help deliver it as quickly as possible,” he said.

Speaking at the conference, Energy Minister Jim Mather said, “Offshore wind can play a vital role in Scotland’s renewable future. We want to see more offshore turbines in appropriate locations around the Scottish coast, meaning that licenses for individual sites is a key issue. This is an area where we have been working closely with The Crown Estate. So I am delighted about this very positive announcement on offshore leasing.”

Britain is developing a number of offshore wind projects. On Friday, The Crown Estate announced that the site lease for the Greater Gabbard offshore windfarm in the Thames Estuary was completed.

The Greater Gabbard windfarm project is located 26 kilometers from the Suffolk coast, adjacent to the Inner Gabbard and Galloper sand banks.

The windfarm will consist of 140 wind turbines with an overall generation capacity of 504 megawatts, sufficient to power over 415,500 homes. Subsea cables landing at Sizewell near Leiston in Suffolk will export the power that is generated.

It is the first lease to include seabed outside of territorial waters in the UK’s renewable energy zone. Offshore construction will begin during 2009.

View This Story On Eco–mmunity Map.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, March 30, 2008 (ENS) – A Danish energy company and a Silicon Valley startup with Israeli links Thursday announced they will establish an electric car network in the Scandinavian nation with about 20,000 recharging stations powered by the wind.

DONG Energy of Denmark and California-based Project Better Place said they will work together to build the US$42.3 million project for a start date in 2011.

Planning a mass deployment of electric cars, Project Better Place sports the motto, “How can we make the world a better place? One electric car at a time.”

The startup is headed by Israeli-American entrepreneur Shai Agassi, who says the Danish recharging stations will use power from DONG Energy’s wind turbines. Most people will plug their cars in to charge overnight, at a time when wind turbines are spinning but demand for power is low.

Denmark is the second country to embrace a Better Place electric car project – Israel was the first, announcing in January that it will have a electric car network powered by renewable energy.

“We connect clean generation sources, through the grid, with car batteries – providing drivers with a better alternative to burning gasoline,” wrote Agassi on his website.

“Zero emission vehicles all the way from generation to drive at a scale that can move an entire country is the creation of a virtual oil field,” Agassi wrote, “one that will never run dry, and will not kill us in the process. We always said that this solution framework is not confined to Israel alone, and Denmark was a perfect country to bring.”

The new Renault-Nissan electric car,
revealed at a press conference
in Israel, January 21, 2008.
(Photo courtesy Project Better Place)

CEO of DONG Energy Anders Eldrup said, “With this project, we hope to contribute substantially to reducing CO2 emissions from Danish cars.”

“At the same time,” said Eldrup, “we will achieve a new way of storing the unstable electricity output from wind turbines, as EVs are typically charged during the night, when the exploitation of power generation is low. This provides optimum exploitation of our resources for the benefit of the environment.”

In Copenhagen, the two organizations debuted Better Place Denmark, which will bring battery driven electric vehicles manufactured by Renault-Nissan to the streets of Denmark.

Nissan, through its joint venture with NEC of Japan, has created an advanced lithium-ion battery pack that meets the requirements of the electric vehicle and will be mass produced for this project.

The initial contact between Project Better Place and DONG Energy was originated by Invest In Denmark, a government department under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“It is interesting that Better Place has chosen Denmark as a ’proof of concept’ test market and probably also the future location for launch of the environmental project,” says Ole Frijs-Madsen, director of Invest in Denmark. “This places Denmark on the world map once again as an innovative and environmentally friendly country where advanced and sustainable energy projects are being developed.”

“It is good to see that the efforts are now resulting in Denmark becoming the first European country where the electric car concept will be launched – and we look forward to following the development of a collaboration that potentially can benefit the Danish environment, Danish jobs and the Danish environmental profile abroad,” said Frijs-Madsen.

Today, both DONG and Better Place are members of the Copenhagen Climate Council, a forum of business representatives, researchers and media persons from all parts of the world working on establishing a global agreement at the 2009 United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen and developing innovative solutions to climate challenges.

While Agassi serves as CEO of Better Place, Idan Ofer, chairman of Israel Corp., serves as chairman of the board. The Palo Alto based company has secured a first round of funding in the amount of $200 million with investments from Israel Corp., Morgan Stanley, VantagePoint Venture Partners, and a group of individual private investors managed by Michael Granoff, which includes former World Bank head James Wolfensohn.

“Project Better Place offers a compelling business and environmental case for how to address global energy and transportation challenges. We now have 700 million cars driving on the world’s roads, annually emitting 2.8 billion tons of CO2,” said Ofer. “The tailpipe problem has always been the most challenging wedge of the climate change problem that humanity has to solve.

“Under Shai’s leadership, this project has the promise to stimulate the largest blue ocean economic opportunity in the history of capitalism,” said Ofer, “with our children as its greatest beneficiary.”

Project Better Place will focus in phase one on establishing a repeatable framework and implementing electric recharge grids through local operating companies in multiple countries. The company is currently in discussions with various governments to establish more pilot sites.

View This Story On Eco–mmunity Map.

LONDON, UK, March 7, 2008 (ENS) – In its budget for 2008-2009, the British government has allocated hundreds of millions of pounds for clean energy technologies over the next three years.

Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs Hilary Benn, MP, Thursday announced an increase in funding for clean energy technologies, investments and enterprises to over £400 million (US$808 million) over the next three years as part of the department’s 2008-2009 budget.

A few of the wind turbines in the giant Kentish Flats offshore wind farm (Photo courtesy Vattenfall)

“Now is the time to act together to tackle climate change and protect our environment. The government must lead the way by ensuring we are investing in building a low-carbon Britain,” said Benn, who heads the Department of Environment, Food & Rural, Defra.

Benn announced a 1.4 percent real increase in Defra’s overall budget as compared with the department’s 2007-2008 budget

“Defra spending will increase to almost £4 billion over the next three years but we must invest wisely,” Benn said. “That is why we are focusing our efforts on helping to provide sustainable options for the future as well as supporting and influencing governments, businesses and consumers locally and globally.”

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has pledged that the UK will become a low carbon economy. Specifically, he said:

* In 2008 we are legislating to put our emissions targets into law, and will create a Green Homes Service to help individuals save energy, water and money by going green.

* In 2009 we will put a strategy in place for a major increase in renewable energy by 2020

* In 2010 we will introduce a scheme for businesses and the public sector to save 4.2 million tones of CO2 a year

* By 2011 we will have phased out the sale of high-energy light-bulbs, five million more homes will have benefited from discounted or free insulation and another three million homes from discounted energy efficient appliances.

As part of Defra’s 2008-2009 budget, the Carbon Trust will receive £47.4 million (US$95.7 million) to bring forward new energy technologies such as offshore wind, third-generation solar photovoltaic power, marine energy and biomass heating.

This funding will also be used to increase the Carbon Trust’s energy saving loans plan for small and medium sized enterprises.

The UK currently has 169 wind projects in place generating 2435 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 1,361,693 homes, according to the British Wind Energy Association.

The Defra budget includes new investments in low-carbon technology to help tackle environmental challenges in developing countries over the next three years.

The sustainable waste infrastructure will receive over £2 billion (US$4 billion) in Private Finance Initiative credits provided over the next three years.

The Defra budget includes £2.15 billion (US$4.3 billion) over the next three years for flood protection.

And the resources of the Rural Development Programme for England were doubled to £3.9 billion (US$7.87 billion) available to 2013.

In addition, over the next three years the government will also provide around £10 million for a new anaerobic digestion demonstration program. Up to four commercial-scale facilities will show the potential of this technology to create renewable energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and avoid waste being sent to landfill.

Anaerobic digestion is a process in which microorganisms break down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen. The process treats wastewater sludges and organic wastes, reducing both volume and mass of the input material.

As part of an integrated waste management system, anaerobic digestion reduces the emission of landfill gas into the atmosphere.

Anaerobic digestion is a renewable energy source because the process produces a methane and carbon dioxide rich biogas suitable for energy production to help replace fossil fuels. The nutrient-rich solids left after digestion can be used as fertilizer.

View This Story On Eco–mmunity Map.