December 29, 2010

A federal effort to spur offshore wind power now aims to guide developers through the process in about two years.

That's lightning speed for a process that in its play-it-by-ear initial run took almost a decade.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, in a recent speech, unveiled his `Smart from the Start' wind energy initiative for the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf to facilitate siting, leasing and construction of new projects, spurring the rapid and responsible development.

January 06, 2011

As the Motor City in Detroit undergoes real changes, Energy Central decided to check into Southern California to see how the electric vehicle is unfolding there.

Today we'll touch base with San Diego Gas & Electric's Chris Chen, market development manager at the utility. His role is very different from that of Arun Banskota, president of NRG EV Services, which is behind the eVgo charging station brand, and that of Jeff LeBrun, a senior analyst at DTE Energy, who is stitching together the diverse array of stakeholders in Detroit.

Marc Gunther: This is Marc Gunther for GreenBiz.com. I'm here today with Dan Yates. Dan is the founder and CEO of OPower. OPower is a company that helps people conserve energy, and we'll talk about that in a moment, but first a little about Dan. He's just 32, but he previously started and sold an educational software company, then spent about a year traveling with his girlfriend, now his wife, from the Arctic Circle in Alaska to the tip of South America. It was that adventure that led Dan to start OPower. Dan, first tell us why you started the company, and then please describe OPower. Tell us what you do.

Dan Yates: Thanks, Marc. Yeah. I started with my good friend and co-founder Alex Lasky, who is president of OPower. We started it very specifically to have a large scaled impact on emissions. I, in light of my background in information services, having started up a previous internet start-up, and Alex, with his background in politics and policy, surveyed the landscape looking at a bunch of different opportunities.

January 13, 2011
 
Dynegy's hard past will soon have a new beginning. Carl Icahn has agreed to take the independent power producer private at a price of $665 million in cash plus the assumption of $4 billion in debt - unless the company can attract a better all-cash deal in the coming weeks.

Luring capital is no small task. As such, power companies have to consider all options -- including those beyond the traditional debt and equity markets. Private equity firms are good prospects: They have the cash and they seek productive assets. Utilities, meantime, are short generation and transmission and need solid partners. The two have already met and time has shown they work well together.

May 11, 2009

During last year's Christmas season, the Tennessee Valley Authority delivered the bad news to its East Tennessee neighbors that one of its dikes had burst and released 5.4 million cubic yards of coal fly ash into the surrounding areas. While no one died, water tests indicated elevated levels of deadly pollutants that had killed hundreds of fish.

TVA, the nation's largest wholesale provider of electricity, is still battling the disaster and it is projected that it will spend at least $850 million cleaning it up. But now Congress and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are also examining the issue to determine if coal ash should be federally regulated under hazardous waste laws or if those rules should continue to be left to the states.

January 18, 2011 

The divide that separates the energy producers from those of the environmental movement won't be bridged anytime soon. The latest flare-up pertains to Shell Oil Co. and is off the shores of Alaska and near the Arctic slope - long a symbol in the debate over whether to allow more drilling rights.

With the Obama administration focused on economic health and investment in clean technology, drilling in the Arctic has gotten the cold shoulder. It has become even truer in the aftermath of the BP oil spill. At a time of divided government, though, the area might become a place for compromise. But don't bet on it.

Michigan GREEN (Group for a Renewable Energy Efficient Nation) and Dell, Inc. announce a tree planting event to complement the recent sale of 4,000 Dell computers to the state of Michigan.  Students from Alto, Bushnell, Cherry Creek, and Murray Lake Elementary Schools will vie for the honor of planting 1,000 red and white oak and sugar maple saplings at the Wittenbach/Wege Agriscience and Environmental Education Center  and the adjacent Wege Natural Area in Lowell.

January 14, 2011

America is up for the challenge of leading the world in energy technology, says a leading expert in business and energy innovation. Nicholas M. Donofrio, a senior fellow at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, says that the United States will be able to assert its technological leadership developing the next generation of safe, reliable nuclear power plants.

Nuclear power plant construction is undergoing a global resurgence, particularly in China. A program of federal loan guarantees is intended to spur a nuclear renaissance in America. But many industry experts say that for nuclear to take off a business case must be made for it free of government supports.

January 25, 2011

China's President Hu has left the country. And some would argue that he has taken American jobs with him.

The question then is how to develop the policies to build out this country's manufacturing base and especially the one centered on renewable energy. Activists and their supporters in Congress say that more government involvement is necessary, which includes not just favorable environmental laws but also lucrative tax breaks. Not so, say free marketers, who maintain that that the United States should help fund research and development but that international markets will determine where such products are made.

"As long as solar panels are getting cheaper, we shouldn't worry about where they are being produced," writes Edward Glaeser, an economics professor at Harvard, in the New York Times. "We should continue financing research  ... but we shouldn't pretend that cheaper solar energy will end up employing millions of our less-skilled citizens."

Below is the link to a poignant magazine article by the wife of one of Michigan GREEN's founding members, Marilyn Van Tiem.

JUST LOVE Article
December/January 2010
Reminisce Magazine

The City of Munising recently completed a project at the Alger Centennial Arena, one that will save energy usage and dollars for years to come. The best part is, the project was made available free of cost or excessive administrative work from the city.

In early 2010, the competitive grant application was made available to Michigan non-entitlement communities, for up to $50,000 toward implementation of energy reducing systems. Funding for these “Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants” were made available through federal stimulus funds handed to the State of Michigan, and awarded by the state's Bureau of Energy Systems, a division of the Department of Energy, Labor, and Economic Growth (DELEG). Around 125 total grants would be awarded, with twelve of those granted to U.P. towns.

The Mining Journal
Editorial article - Opinion
POSTED: January 10, 2009

The Mining Journal wants to add its voice to the nearly unanimous chorus of support from area school districts for legislative changes that could boost alternative energy use at schools.

Many area school districts have signed off on a petition, circulated by the non-profit Michigan Group for a Renewable Energy Efficient Nation, which urges Gov. Jennifer Granholm to make changes to a Senate bill in order to lower barriers to setting up renewable energy systems at schools.

Plymouth, MI (September 18, 2007)

Green Street Fair, Inc. was founded to help educate and inform people of all ages about the benefits of green, organic, and eco-friendly products and services. To promote global interest and personal well-being, the Green Street Fair, will blend companies, artisans, entertainers, workshops and speakers together in a friendly and family-oriented outdoor environment.