This post was originally published on Marcacci Communications, which provides a daily roundup of energy and climate news and opinion. Inclusion of articles does not mean endorsement. Client relationships are disclosed where applicable.

GRID 

Smart grid management systems to top $1bn by 2020 (via SmartPlanet)

Participation in net-metering programs increased sharply in recent years (via US EIA)

US electricity regulators worry electric grid vulnerable to solar storm (via Wall Street Journal)

CPUC on verge of major decision about solar net metering (via Greentech Media)

NATURAL GAS/FRACKING 

Total gas leak operation begins as Elgin North Sea platform (via The Guardian)

Two more North American LNG export projects planned (via Reuters)

Prospect of LNG export boom vexes both political parties (via E&E Daily)

Feds punt on leadership over fracking rules, experts say (via InsideClimate News)

RENEWABLES 

Saudi Arabia launches massive renewable program with hybrid FITs (via Renewable Energy World)

Global geothermal investment could surge to $5.89bn by 2017 (via Revmodo)

Continue reading Energy and Environment News Roundup – 5.16.12

This post was originally published on Marcacci Communications, which provides a daily roundup of energy and climate news and opinion. Inclusion of articles does not mean endorsement. Client relationships are disclosed where applicable.

ELECTRICITY 

Japan to experience power shortages this summer, panel says (via Bloomberg)

Electric sector sparking natural gas optimism (via AOL Energy)

State electric retail choice programs are popular with commercial and industrial customers (via US EIA)

GRID 

China building transmission super highway for clean power (via Earth2Tech)

Offshore wind transmission line takes a step forward (via New York Times)

Vermont smart meter opposition: no opt-out fee under new legislation (via Huffington Post/AP)

TRANSPORTATION 

Study: reliability of electric-car charging networks varies wildly (via Green Car Reports)

Tesla will start repaying loans by end of this year (via Autoblog Green)

First national pay-as-you-go EV charging network goes live in UK (via BusinessGreen)

OIL 

Oil prices could double by 2022, IMF warns (via The Guardian)

Continue reading Energy and Environment News Roundup – 5.15.12

The students at William Paterson University clearly take a lot of pride in their sustainability initiatives. As a finalist for the 2012 Second Nature Climate Leadership Awards, they won the public voting competition on Planet Forward featuring their innovative climate leadership. The video details how the campus has come together to support the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment and related sustainability initiatives, which includes a massive solar installation and a new bachelor’s degree in environmental sustainability.

Check it out:

William Paterson adopted a climate action plan in 2009 that puts the university on a path to becoming carbon neutral by 2065 (and reduce their baseline by 50% by 2025). A cornerstone of that work is their 3.5 MW solar array that snakes around parking lots and buildings. It’s quite amazing, and a strong visual reminder on campus of the university’s climate commitment, not to mention the fact that the project will pay for itself in just five years.

Budget conscious universities take heed: the university has spent less than $250,000 on their energy reduction projects and has saved $10.5 million in energy costs. That’s a tremendous amount of saving for doing something that’s good for the planet and enrollment numbers.

If the comments that were left on the university’s page are any indication, it’s a tremendously popular program. The comments were full of supportive messages from students, including John, who said “We are the Pioneers for a reason… That’s right America…” and “We have a right to be proud of our climate leadership. It is accomplished through teamwork and collaboration, and benefits campus, community, county, state, nation, and world.”

This voting competition makes a strong argument that universities that invest in their sustainability programs get a lot of support from their students and alumni. Over 16,000 votes were cast for 19 schools during the competition, including over 2,000 for the runner-up, Allegheny College. The two schools traded first place several times, but the winner, William Paterson, finally ruled the day. Congratulations!

One of our Planet Forward members contacted me with an interesting question:

I was in my backyard cleaning a greasy mess the squirrels left from an avocado from my tree. It made me think where did the avocado tree get the oil for the fruit? It is old technology about extracting oil from avocados, sunflowers, soy beans etc. But how does various plants make the oil in the soy beans etc? There is no oil in the ground but these plants make oil from soil, elements, rain, humas etc. I believe that with the educational capabilities of us humans today that we can find the answer. It is well known that vegetable oil will work in a combustion motor. If we could take a front end loader of a variety of different locations and drop it in a hopper and get oil on the other end. This is over simplified but with time and effort we can learn the mechanics and duplicate it and make oil from the same stuff plants do. Why not?

There are several ideas about generating fuels from plants on Planet Forward, including one of the most promising ideas: generating biofuel from algae.

Check it out:

Watch Algae as Alternative Energy Source on PBS. See more from Nightly Business Report.

Tell us your idea about generating energy from plants!

Hydraulic fracturing is problem free. The science says so. Those who ignore this science are hysterical fear mongers.

So say the mouth pieces of the gas industry. In New York, where shale gas is on hold pending the state’s scientific review, Brad Gill frequently expresses this industry line in public talks and interviews. Gill, executive director of the Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York, is on record testifying in front of New York state lawmakers that fracking uses only a “small amount of dilute, benign additives” similar to vegetable oil and ingredients found in personal care products. The public perception of drilling is being colored, according to Gill, by “those who have worked instill fear in the public … by spreading reckless misinformation in an attempt to block the expansion of natural gas exploration.” Last week, Gill told Jon Campbell, Gannett’s Albany reporter: “The discussions more often than not revolve around emotions and politics rather than science and facts. We have to rely on science, facts and track record here in New York.”

The shale gas industry’s “track record” in New York is blemish free, of course, because it is non-existent. Permitting for the technique needed to effectively produce shale gas — high volume hydraulic fracturing combined with horizontal drilling — has been on hold for four years as state officials attempt to assess the environmental impact of the process. Gill is likely referring to the “track record” of the previous era of gas exploration in New York, which was altogether different from shale gas development, and also far from perfect. The record shows that because of the absence of reporting and disclosure requirements, landowners have been left to settle water pollution complaints on their own. Even so, there are places where water contamination has been documented related to conventional drilling. Additionally, counter to the industry’s claim in New York that fracking chemicals are “benign,” the DEC has listed more than hundreds of chemical additives in fracturing fluid that are toxic and carcinogenic.

Yet I have heard Gill’s frustration with the lack of “science based” information echoed by some drilling proponents who also want to “take the politics out” of the decision making process. It’s a rhetorical line that many industry supporters continue to embrace, despite its glaring logical shortcomings. If the industry wants to rely solely on facts and science, it can’t conveniently exclude science that refutes its claims that fracking is risk free. Just last month, for example, the online journal Groundwater published research indicating that fracking fluid can migrate from pay zones up through cracks into the aquifer in a matter of years. The author Tom Myers, a researcher from Reno, Nevada, has worked for conservation groups and governments on groundwater issues.

When the industry insists on “science based” information, it’s really insisting that information comes only from industry-employed scientists. When Gill and others urge the public to “take the politics out” of the debate, they are really asking to take the opposition’s politics out of the debate.

Regardless, scientists do not make policy in this country. Elected officials and their appointees do. Purely empirical assessments cannot account for moral and ethical factors or provide cultural reference points for our values. How does science gauge the overall character of a community, the wellbeing of it’s members, their tolerance for risk, their economic needs, and the utility and value citizens place on minerals extracted from the grown, and the aesthetics above?

Politicians make these kinds of calculations. And politicians (ideally) answer to the public that elects them. The public gets information for these choices through a free and open media, which in this day and age includes an unprecedented cornucopia of mainstream and alternative outlets. Not surprisingly, many of these outlets cite sources – some scientific and some not — that challenge the industry’s bold and far-reaching claim that hydraulic fracturing is risk free.

Even if we were governed by a technocracy – a system ruled by scientists — the process would likely be no less messy or contentious. There are respected scientists on both sides of the shale gas issue. (Tony Ingraffia, an engineering professor at Cornell University, and Terry Engelder, a geologist at Penn State, are former colleagues who have taken opposite sides of the debate. They are featured in my book, Under the Surface, and represent a few of many examples.)

Let these and other scientists – those with stakes tied to corporate ventures and those at arm’s length — lead the discussion. But leave the decision making to politicians and the people who elect them. The public can accept a certain level of risk – it always has – in the name of the greater public good and free enterprise; as long as there is full disclosure.

This post was originally published on Marcacci Communications, which provides a daily roundup of energy and climate news and opinion. Inclusion of articles does not mean endorsement. Client relationships are disclosed where applicable.

NUCLEAR 

Price of Vogtle expansion could increase $900 million (via Augusta Chronicle)

Tepco has almost $10 billion loss after Fukushima (via Reuters)

GRID 

Smart grid market in China, Japan, South Korea to hit $19 billion by 2016 (via Greentech Media)

The angst of installing smart meters in the US (via Sustainable Business)

Capacity of planned and operating microgrids continues to grow (via CleanTechnica)

Cracking the smart energy market (via New York Times)

Sluggish electric demand plagues US utilities (via Reuters)

ISO-NE says Maine utility’s new transmission system limits renewables integration (via Portland Press Herald)

Solar industry, CA utilities clash over proposal to change how “net metering” is calculated (via San Jose Mercury News)

COAL 

Coal loses nearly 20% of its US electricity generation market in one year (via Facts of the Day)

Illinois basin coal mines making a comeback over Appalachia (via Huffington Post/Reuters)

RENEWABLES 

Europeans look to China for renewable energy expansion (via Climate Progress)

Mexican wind energy boom plays out on gusty shores (via Reuters)

Continue reading Energy and Environment News Roundup – 5.14.12

Happy Birthday, Minnesota!

Today in 1858, Minnesota was admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state.  To celebrate, we’re going to take a look at what’s going on in the land of 10,000 lakes to make the state turn from blue…to green!

We’ve partnered with Minnesota 2020 to get great stories from the north. From solar panels, to green roofs, there’s a lot to celebrate. Here are a few of our favorites:

This post was originally published on Marcacci Communications, which provides a daily roundup of energy and climate news and opinion. Inclusion of articles does not mean endorsement. Client relationships are disclosed where applicable.

OIL 

OPEC says ‘plentiful’ global oil supplies outpace demand (via Bloomberg)

New IMF working paper models impact of oil limits on the economy (via The Oil Drum)

True oil independence is an unrealistic dream (via Washington Post)

China’s CNOOC starts deepwater drilling (via United Press International)

New bill unveiled to kill $113 billion in fossil fuel subsidies (via TreeHugger)

CBO report: boosting oil production won’t protect Americans from gas price shocks (via Climate Progress)

GREEN BUSINESS 

AASHE sustainability review: green job training skyrocketed in 2011 (via Environmental Leader)

RENEWABLES 

Winners and losers in the renewable energy race (via Renewable Energy World)

Germany’s upper house suspends solar subsidy cuts (via Reuters)

Saudi Arabia plans $109 billion boost for solar power (via Bloomberg)

Continue reading Energy and Environment News Roundup – 5.11.12

This post was originally published on Marcacci Communications, which provides a daily roundup of energy and climate news and opinion. Inclusion of articles does not mean endorsement. Client relationships are disclosed where applicable.

RENEWABLES 

China steaming toward 10GW annual PV market (via Recharge)

India’s renewable energy ministry draft guidelines on offshore wind likely in a month (via Panchabuta)

Small islands team up on energy (via Mother Jones)

VCs still funding next-gen biofuel companies (via Earth2Tech)

Arizona legislature exempts sale of renewable energy credits from state sales tax (via Renewable Energy World)

October start seen for Texas wind turbine research facility (via Recharge)

Two more pro baseball stadiums go solar, total now at eight (via Revmodo)

ENERGY EFFICIENCY 

Senate bill aims to appraise value of home efficiency (via Midwest Energy News)

ENERGY POLICY 

Policies for compensating behind-the-meter generation vary by state (via US EIA)

Senior DOE official in charge of energy investment to step down (via The Hill)

UK energy bill is coming (via BusinessGreen)

ENVIRONMENT/CLIMATE/EMISSIONS 

UN to rule on carbon offsets from coal plants in developing countries (via Reuters)

The bad news continues to flow about Antarctica’s ice (via Climate Central)

Continue reading Energy and Environment News Roundup – 5.10.12