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Renewable Energy on the ballot in California

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One of the many top issues with voters is renewable energy. Its actually right up there with the failing economy and high gas prices. California, Colorado and Missouri all  have measures on their ballots that deal with alternative energy sources, which include wind and solar power.  An initiative in California  would require utilities to obtain up to  half their power from renewable resources by 2025, setting the toughest standard in the United States. This is typical of California. California has always been the leader in reducing greenhouse emissions. Although this is a progressive move, it has also  drawn much opposition. Environmental groups which include  the Sierra Club, along with the Democrats and Republican parties both agree that the initiative has too many loopholes as it stands. This initiative would require the utilities to add two-percentage points to their renewable portfolio each year. As it stands these companies are not doing it now. The new law would seek to  fine the companies if they didn't add renewables to their portfolio. The new law, if passed,  would reign in municipal utilities that are  not even covered by the law. These municipal utilities are guilty of using some of the dirtiest fuel out there: Coal.  The state of California's public utilities commission projects  that California utilities will miss their target by at least three years as they are having trouble reaching these goals already. Another California proposal would allow for $5 billion in bonds to give rebates for alternative-fuel vehicles and to promote renewable energy.

 

 

Alternative Energy Grows Wings

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Up to this point, we have witnessed several innovations in the use and implementation of renewable and alternative fuel sources in automobiles. Now the Commercial Aviation Fuels Initiative has begun testing biodiesel as a better alternative to conventional fossil fuel.  Darrin Morgan, Boeing Commercial Airplanes' director of environmental business analysis, said Boeing's work with Virgin Atlantic is now spurring the biofuels supply chain to consider the possibilities of aviation demand for Biofuels.  Up to this point, we have witnessed several innovations in the use and implementation of renewable and alternative fuel sources in automobiles. Now the Commercial Aviation Fuels Initiative has begun testing biodiesel as a better alternative to conventional fossil fuel.  Darrin Morgan, Boeing Commercial Airplanes' director of environmental business analysis, said Boeing's work with Virgin Atlantic is now spurring the biofuels supply chain to consider the possibilities of aviation demand for Biofuels.
Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 October 2008 20:45 Read more...
 

Green Jobs!

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T Boone Pickens is a Texas businessman who is investing in renewable energy by installing wind farms in Texas to take advantage of all that wind that Texas is famous for. Not only that, but Pickens has created a website with forums and groups abhout renewable energy. One of the groups is green jobs. Here you can can find jobs in renewable energy and in the eco movement. So whether you are an employee or an employer, check out Green Jobs Now! job board. And if you know of any green jobs, be sure and sign up so you can post them.
 

California Unveils Latest Plan to Curb Emissions

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SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- The California Air Resources Board (CARB) released a climate change plan Wednesday that will touch nearly every sector of the state's economy -- from the cars we buy to the places we live and the energy used power them.

The proposed scoping plan, which must be approved in December, aims to meet an overarching goal embodied in the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006: reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the country's most populous state to 1990 levels by 2020.

"In a sense, this is just the beginning ... It's going to take the efforts of everybody in this room, and people beyond this room, to make it a reality because this is a plan that will take a lot of work and money to implement," Mary Nichols, CARB chairperson, told business leaders Wednesday at an event to launch The Climate Group's "Business Guide to the Low Carbon Economy: California."

Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 October 2008 20:44 Read more...
 

Renewable Energy Bill under fire in California

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Applied Materials' newly completed solar energy system at their Sunnyvale, Calif., research campus is one of the largest corporate solar power installations in the United States. (Business Wire)

With Prop. 7, California argues its energy future

The ballot initiative would mandate more renewables. So why are many environmentalists against it?

By Daniel B. Wood Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor/ October 16, 2008 edition

California, which leads the country in cutting the greenhouse gases that cause global warming, is trying to accelerate its “green revolution.”

But several leading research and environmental organizations warn that the latest attempt could backfire, reducing the state’s push to embrace renewable energy.

A citizen’s initiative – Proposition 7, which goes before voters Nov. 4 – requires all electric utilities to provide half of their electricity from solar and other clean energy sources by 2025. The initiative would double what utilities are now asked to do under the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard. Currently, California utilities derive about 11 percent of their electricity from renewable sources.

Last Updated on Monday, 27 October 2008 04:02 Read more...
 
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Polls

Should the government require utilities to use more alternative energy sources such as wind and solar power even if it increases costs in the short run?
 

Newsflash

 

 

Steve Lindenberg is a Team Leader in the Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program at the U.S. Department of Energy. He leads Federal staff, national lab and state energy researchers, and wind advocates in the investigation of siting and licensing options and market awareness of wind facilities, interconnection with electrical systems and bolstering wind development across the nation. Prior to joining DOE in 2005, Steve worked at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, Electric Power Research Institute and Cooperative Power Association.