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Mon, 2011-07-11 15:31 — mdmcdonald
This collaboratory is focused on discussions about Sustainable Energy.

This mission of this collaboratory is to focus on discussions about Sustainable Energy.

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Kathy Gilbeaux Katie Rast Maeryn Obley mdmcdonald
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Wind Industry’s New Technologies Are Helping It Compete on Price

Wed, 2014-03-26 21:36 — Kathy Gilbeaux

The Altaeros BAT V4, a turbine tethered to land, in a 2013 test at the former Loring Air Force Base in Maine. Altaeros Energies

nytimes.com - by Diane Cardwell - March 20, 2014

The wind industry has gone to great lengths over the years to snap up the best properties for its farms, often looking to remote swaths of prairie or distant mountain ridges to maximize energy production and minimize community opposition.

Now, it is reaching for the sky.

With new technology allowing developers to build taller machines spinning longer blades, the industry has been able to produce more power at lower cost by capturing the faster winds that blow at higher elevations.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
United States
General Topic Tags: 
Energy
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Solutions

U.S. Agrees to Allow BP Back Into Gulf Waters to Seek Oil

Thu, 2014-03-13 23:44 — Kathy Gilbeaux

A BP cleanup crew shovels oil from a beach on May 24, 2010 at Port Fourchon, Louisiana (Getty/AFP/File, John Moore)

nytimes.com - by Clifford Krauss - March 13, 2014

HOUSTON — Four years after the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion, BP is being welcomed back to seek new oil leases in the Gulf of Mexico.

An agreement on Thursday with the Environmental Protection Agency lifts a 2012 ban that was imposed after the agency concluded that BP had not fully corrected problems that led to the well blowout in 2010 that killed 11 rig workers, spilled millions of gallons of oil and contaminated hundreds of miles of beaches. . .

. . . Under the agreement, BP will be allowed to bid for new leases as early as next Wednesday, but only as long as the company passes muster on ethics, corporate governance and safety procedures outlined by the agency.

Country / Region Tags: 
United States
US - Gulf Coast
General Topic Tags: 
Energy
Environment
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Situation Report
Other

Wind Energy Protects Water Security, Says Report

Thu, 2014-03-13 15:54 — Kathy Gilbeaux

ewea.org
triplepundit.com - by Jan Lee - March 13, 2014

Just in time for World Water Day: The European Wind Energy Association has released a report examining the role that water plays in energy production. And the numbers are staggering.

According to the report, 44 percent of water usage in the European Union goes to energy production.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

CLICK HERE - EWEA Report - Saving Water with Wind Energy

Country / Region Tags: 
Global
United States
General Topic Tags: 
Energy
Water
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Situation Report

U.S. Risks National Blackout From Small-Scale Attack

Wed, 2014-03-12 23:30 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Margery Schab

           

Federal Analysis Says Sabotage of Nine Key Substations Is Sufficient for Broad Outage

wsj.com - by Rebecca Smith - March 12, 2014

The U.S. could suffer a coast-to-coast blackout if saboteurs knocked out just nine of the country's 55,000 electric-transmission substations on a scorching summer day, according to a previously unreported federal analysis.

The study by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission concluded that coordinated attacks in each of the nation's three separate electric systems could cause the entire power network to collapse, people familiar with the research said.

A small number of the country's substations play an outsize role in keeping power flowing across large regions.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

News Release - FERC Directs Development of Physical Security Standards

Country / Region Tags: 
United States
General Topic Tags: 
Energy
Infrastructure
Security
Terrorism
Vulnerability
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Solutions
Problem
Situation Report

Market Forces Sap the Power from Electric Utilities

Wed, 2014-03-12 21:25 — Kathy Gilbeaux

greenbiz.com - by John Finnigan - March 10, 2014

Two seemingly unrelated announcements drew much attention in the electric utility industry recently. First, the Edison Electric Institute, the trade group for the U.S. electric utility industry, and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) jointly recommended (PDF) changing how utilities should be regulated. Second, Duke Energy announced it will sell 13 Midwest merchant power plants.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
United States
General Topic Tags: 
Energy
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Situation Report

Study: It’s Cheaper to Shut Down Wind Turbine, Than to Pay for Energy Storage

Sat, 2014-03-08 21:30 — Kathy Gilbeaux

       

A new study finds that it may be better for the environment to temporarily shut down a wind turbine than to store the surplus electricity it generates. (Credit: Flickr - FranceHouseHunt.com)

dailyfusion.net - by Mark Shwartz - September 11, 2013

Conventional grid-scale batteries are fine for solar farms, but technological improvements are needed for efficient storage of wind power, Stanford scientists say. Renewable energy holds the promise of reducing carbon dioxide emissions. But there are times when solar and wind farms generate more electricity than is needed by consumers. Storing that surplus energy in batteries for later use seems like an obvious solution, but a new study from Stanford University suggests that might not always be the case.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

CLICK HERE - STUDY - The energetic implications of curtailing versus storing solar- and wind-generated electricity

Country / Region Tags: 
United States
General Topic Tags: 
Energy
Sustainable Development
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Solutions
Problem

New Government Report Warns of Cascading System Failures Caused By Climate Change

Fri, 2014-03-07 18:58 — Kathy Gilbeaux

         

submitted by Margery Schab

(PLEASE SEE LINKS TO REPORTS WITHIN THIS POST)

huffingtonpost.com - by Kate Sheppard - March 6, 2014

WASHINGTON -- From roads and bridges to power plants and gas pipelines, American infrastructure is vulnerable to the effects of climate change, according to a pair of government reports released Thursday.

The reports are technical documents supporting the National Climate Assessment, a major review compiled by 13 government agencies that the U.S. Global Change Research Program is expected to release in April. Scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory put together the reports, which warn that climate-fueled storms, flooding and droughts could cause "cascading system failures" unless there are changes made to minimize those effects.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
United States
General Topic Tags: 
Climate
Emergency Management
Energy
Infrastructure
Vulnerability
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Problem
Situation Report

Wind of change sweeps through energy policy in the Caribbean

Sun, 2014-03-02 22:39 — Maeryn Obley

A fruit juice cafe in Road Town, Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands. Many Caribbean islands are turning to sustainable energy. Photographs: Jenny Bates

Image: A fruit juice cafe in Road Town, Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands. Many Caribbean islands are turning to sustainable energy. Photographs: Jenny Bates

theguardian.com - John Vidal - February 10th, 2014

Aruba in the southern Caribbean has 107,000 people, a lot of wind and sun and, until very recently, one very big problem. Despite the trade winds and sunshine, it was spending more than 16% of its economy on importing 6,500 barrels of diesel fuel a day to generate electricity. People were furious at the tripling of energy prices in 10 years and the resulting spiralling costs of imported water and food.

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
US - East
General Topic Tags: 
Climate
Economics
Energy
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Solutions

Interior Department Endorses Seismic Testing for Oil and Gas Off Atlantic Coast

Fri, 2014-02-28 19:09 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Interior Department Endorsement Is A First Step Toward Allowing Drilling

wsj.com - by Alicia Mundy - February 27, 2014

WASHINGTON—The Interior Department endorsed seismic testing in Atlantic waters on Thursday, a first step toward allowing oil and gas drilling from Delaware Bay to Florida's Cape Canaveral.

In its long-awaited environmental impact statement on what's known as seismic air gun testing, Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said it would demand that the oil and gas companies exploring in the Outer Continental Shelf meet tough environmental standards to protect marine life from the underwater seismic blasts.

Environmental groups oppose the use of the controversial geological survey technology, contending that the seismic blasts pose a significant risk to whales, dolphins, fish and sea turtles.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

CLICK HERE - BOEM - Atlantic Geological and Geophysical (G&G) Activities Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS)

Country / Region Tags: 
US - East
US - NorthEast
US - SouthEast
General Topic Tags: 
Energy
Environment
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Situation Report

Fracking Boom Leaves Texans Under a Toxic Cloud

Thu, 2014-02-27 22:46 — Kathy Gilbeaux

      

Natural gas is flared at a Pioneer Natural Resources well, in Karnes County, Texas in 2010. 
Photographer: Eddie Seal/Bloomberg

bloomberg.com - by Lisa Song, Jim Morris and David Hasemyer - February 20, 2014

. . . For the past eight months, the Center for Public Integrity, InsideClimate News and The Weather Channel have examined what Texas, the nation's biggest oil producer, has done to protect people in the Eagle Ford from the industry's pollutants. What's happening in the Eagle Ford is important not only for Texas, but also for Pennsylvania, Colorado, North Dakota and other states where horizontal drilling and high-volume hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, have made it profitable to extract oil and gas from deeply buried shale.

Our investigation and records obtained from Texas regulatory agencies reveal a system that does more to protect the industry than the public. . .

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
United States
US - South
General Topic Tags: 
Energy
Health
Pollution
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Problem
Situation Report

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