Archives
2011
Huffington Post - Green homeowners may soon be able to say goodbye to unwieldy solar panels thanks to a new paint that generates electricity by harnessing energy from "power-producing nanoparticles, researchers have announced.
Posted: January 13, 2012Manitoba Wildlands - Comments on Manitoba Hydro's Bipole III Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) are due by March 16, 2012. Following the public comments period, an updated EIS maybe filed. The Clean Environment Commission will then hold hearings during 2012.
Posted: December 23, 2011Queens Univerity - The public is being kept in the dark about the viability of solar photovoltaic energy, according to a study conducted at Queen’s University.
Posted: December 23, 2011Natural News - German village, Wildpoldsried, generates 321 percent more renewable energy than it uses, and it now sells the excess back to the national power grid for roughly $5.7 million in additional revenue every single year.
Posted: December 23, 2011Huffington Post - The Congress is ending the year much as it began -- playing politics with our nation's future and putting American families at risk to score partisan points.
Posted: December 23, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - The federal and provincial environmental effects assessments and licensing process for the next Manitoba next dam have begun. The Keeyask Generation Project, a 695-megawatt dam, would be located on the Nelson River near Gillam, Manitoba.
Posted: December 16, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - A study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) and the Wilderness Committee concludes British Columbia (BC) needs to pull back a ballooning shale gas industry.
Posted: December 16, 2011Huffington Post - This week the GOP leadership, once again, has sided with Big Oil against the will of the American people. They are trying to circumvent President Obama's decision to further investigate the impacts of the controversial Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.
Posted: December 16, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - Manitoba announced Clean Environment Commission (CEC) hearings will be held on the proposed Bipole III transmission line project December 2, 2011.
Posted: December 9, 2011SOURCE - As the costs associated with renewable forms of energy continue to drop and the prices of fossil fuels remain volatile, more Latin American nations are turning to wind and solar, as well as geothermal and biofuels, as solutions to achieve energy security.
Posted: December 9, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - Bipole III is a transmission system and corridor Manitoba Hydro will run from a new converter station near the proposed Conawapa Generation Station (dam) site east of Gillam in northern Manitoba to a new converter station east of Winnipeg in southern Manitoba.
Posted: November 26, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - The United States (US) State Department said November 10, 2011 it would delay its decision until 2013 on the Keystone XL pipeline. The State Department previously promised a decision by the end of 2012.
Posted: November 26, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - The Obama administration has lifted a moratorium on offshore drilling in the Arctic and elsewhere, and Royal Dutch Shell has received preliminary permits to drill exploratory wells off the coast of Alaska. Shell wants to drill up to three exploratory wells in the Chukchi Sea and two in the Beaufort Sea in 2012.
Posted: November 26, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - Opposition continues to grow against the $7 billion TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline, which would bring crude bitumen from Alberta's massive oil sands projects to Gulf Coast refineries in United States (US).
Posted: November 26, 2011Renewable Energy World - Announcing their commitment at a New York City event to become certified under the new WindMade™ consumer label, several major companies have procured or pledged to procure at least 25 percent of their electricity consumption from wind energy.
Posted: November 26, 2011Renewable Energy World - It's one of those stories everyone's talking about, at least in Brazil's wind energy space. And it should come as no surprise. Under its newly launched energy expansion plan, the government intends to boost installed wind power generation capacity to 11.5 GW by 2020 from a mere 1.5 GW now.
Posted: November 26, 2011Renewable Energy World - Hopes that demand for solar energy equipment in Germany would rise significantly were dashed and led to disappointing third-quarter earnings, reported several Chinese manufacturers on Tuesday.
Posted: November 26, 2011Hobart and William Smith Colleges - Wind energy now supplies 100 percent of the electricity used at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, making HWS the first small liberal arts college in New York to be powered solely by wind.
Posted: November 26, 2011CBC News - Diavik Diamond Mine plans to harness wind energy and cut diesel consumption at its site by building a windfarm.
Posted: November 4, 2011Renewable Energy World - France, on a per capita basis, has installed more than twice the solar PV as the United States through mid year. The United States remains a major world market for solar PV though it continues to fall further behind Germany and Italy.
Posted: November 4, 2011Renewable Energy World - DESCRIPTION
Posted: November 4, 2011Earth Techling - The next frontier for water turbines may be the "streams" that flow beneath our city streets, as per the recently signed deal between Portland, Ore., and Lucid Energy to develop a hydropower system within the city's water mains.
Posted: November 4, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - Over 5,000 letters demanding stricter greenhouse gas regulations for coal power in Canada were submitted during the federal coal regulations public consultation period.
Posted: October 28, 2011e360 Yale - The inventor of the iPod has developed a smart thermometer that can program itself based on your behavior patterns, knows when you're not home, and optimizes temperatures to minimize energy use.
Posted: October 28, 2011Inside Climate News - The State Department may miss a year-end target to approve TransCanada Corp's Canada-to-Texas Keystone oil sands pipeline, a U.S. official told Reuters on Tuesday, risking a further delay to the most important new crude oil conduit in decades.
Posted: October 28, 2011Montreal Gazette - A "massive" store of clean, renewable energy is sitting at Canadians' feet, according to a federal report on geothermal energy.
Posted: October 28, 2011Manitoba Hydro - Manitoba Hydro announced three initiatives to make it even easier and more affordable for customers to make energy efficient home renovations.
Posted: October 21, 2011Manitoba Hydro - Manitoba Hydro has been named a Top 100 Employer in the 2012 Canada's Top Employers competition
Posted: October 21, 2011Grist - Transmission right-of-way corridors, vast swaths of vegetation-free landscape to protect high-voltage power lines, could provide enough space for over 600,000 megawatts of solar photovoltaics (PV).
Posted: October 21, 2011Earth Techling - It’s a common scenario: You need a flashlight, and when you go to your closet, or wherever you keep flashlights, you find that the batteries have died. Now you’re pawing around in the dark for batteries. But what if you didn’t have to go through any of this? This solar and pull-string LED flashlight looks to eliminate the need for batteries, and falls to another form of renewable energy if solar fails.
Posted: October 21, 2011Clean Technica - Hot off the heels of a recent report that Canada will have a record year in wind energy installation, 2012 is already looking good thanks to two new wind projects slated next year, despite recent concerns plaguing the industry in one of Canada’s provinces.
Posted: October 21, 2011The Globe and Mail - Worried its startups would be obliterated if the governing Liberals lost the Ontario election, the solar sector presented a rosy and united front during the 29-day campaign, trumpeting the environmental and economic benefits of green energy in an ad blitz.
Posted: October 21, 2011The Common Sense Canadian - Dave Cobb is president and CEO of BC Hydro. In August, he confirmed what Hydro watchers have been saying for some time: that provincial energy policy is forcing Hydro to buy electricity it doesn’t need at prices higher than it needs to pay.
Posted: October 21, 2011Sightline Daily - A "motion chart" that tracks global wind power installations, from 1997 through 2010. The vertical axis of the chart represents per capita wind power installed in various countries, and the horizontal represents total wind power.
Posted: October 21, 2011Renewable Energy World - In Copenhagen this week, a coalition of companies and associations involved in aviation biofuels made a strong case for the sector not only as a quick win for biofuels, but as a quick win for clean energy as a whole.
Posted: October 21, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - The US State Department review of the proposed TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline has been called into question because the company who provided the Keystone XL environmental impact assessment (EIA) has financial connections with TransCanada Pipelines.
Posted: October 14, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - Canada's Office of the Auditor General released a report identifying the federal government's failure to account for the cumulative impacts of Alberta oil sands development.
Posted: October 14, 2011Renewable Energy World - Southern Methodist University Geothermal Lab has recently completed research updating the U.S. portion of the 2004 Geothermal Map of North America.
Posted: October 14, 2011Earth Techling - The Acton-Boxborough Regional School District and Acton Public Schools in Acton, Mass., are starting off the school year with some bright ideas in action. The school systems said they began the semester with three solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays totaling almost 300 kilowatts of solar capacity - enough to power 35 average Massachusetts homes - with no upfront costs.
Posted: October 14, 2011CBC News - Manitoba Hydro is planning to carry out serious cost-cutting measures that could delay the implementation of several capital projects, according to an internal memo obtained by CBC News.
Posted: October 14, 2011CanWEA - Wind energy in Canada is now on track to enjoy a record year in 2011 with approximately 1,338 MW of new installed wind energy capacity projected to come on line – compared to 690 MW installed in 2010.
Posted: October 14, 2011Conservation Maven - Species diversity in the dammed area upstream of weirs shows a significant decline: the diversity of fish species is one-quarter lower on average, and species diversity among invertebrates is up to 50 percent lower.
Posted: October 14, 2011HydroWorld.com - The October issue of Hydro Review magazine will examine the boom in hydropower construction across Canada, including the controversial Lower Churchill Project, a 3,074-MW project planned in Labrador.
Posted: October 14, 2011Montreal Gazette - A "massive" store of clean, renewable energy is sitting at Canadians' feet, according to a federal report on geothermal energy.
Posted: October 14, 2011Monther Nature Network - A surprising aerodynamic innovation in wind turbine design called the 'wind lens' could triple the output of a typical wind turbine, making it less costly than nuclear power.
Posted: October 14, 2011Financial Post - The concern that "green" jobs will be lost if the Liberals lose their right to govern Ontario on October 6 appears to be a real direct concern among a number environmental NGOs and various "charities."
Posted: October 1, 2011Smart Planet - If there's one thing teenagers tend to have very little of, it's gas money. With that in mind, Germany-based Opel has developed the One Euro, an all electric vehicle that can travel 100 kilometres for the cost of, you guessed it, one euro.
Posted: October 1, 2011Renewable Energy World - In a move that took North American renewable energy advocates by surprise, tiny Rhode Island has passed a law implementing a limited feed-in tariff and set it on a fast track to implementation.
Posted: October 1, 2011Reuters - U.S. President Barack Obama formally announced fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions standards for heavy-duty commercial vehicles today -- the third set of strict regulations put in place by the administration to cover cars, light-duty trucks and now the workhorses for commercial hauling.
Posted: October 1, 2011Clean Technica - Canada's sitting on "massive" geothermal resources, according to news reports, more than 1 million times its current electricity consumption.
Posted: October 1, 2011Canada.com - A "massive" store of clean, renewable energy is sitting at Canadians' feet, according to a federal report on geothermal energy.
Posted: October 1, 2011Earth Techling - For a few years now, hybrid sales have been stalled at 2 to 3 percent of the U.S. market. But for the first seven months of this year, the total is at the low end of the scale: Hybrids represented 2.06 percent of sales from January through August, and just 1.98 percent of sales in August alone.
Posted: October 1, 2011PlanetArk - A leak from a shallow water crude oil pipeline in the Main Pass Area of the Gulf of Mexico has led Chevron to shut down its offshore Louisiana Main Pass pipeline network, the company said on Tuesday.
Posted: October 1, 2011Inside Climate News - The auto industry hopes to rev up the public's acceptance of electric cars with the rollout of the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt. But ultimately, the speed at which America embraces the gas-free vehicles rests with large fleet operators.
Posted: October 1, 2011PlanetArk - South Korea's Samsung and Pattern Energy Group have acquired a wind power project in Ontario for an undisclosed price.
Posted: October 1, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - Canada's Environment Minister Peter Kent has set up public review of coal regulations, to take effect in 2015. At the same time Maxim Coal in Alberta is proposing a new coal plant that would pump out three million tonnes of pollution per year.
Posted: September 10, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - Bill McKibben of 350.org asked people to come to Washington DC to protest the Keystone XL pipeline. The location, in front of the White House, meant everyone was ready to be arrested.
Posted: September 10, 2011Winnipeg Free Press - The order issued on July 29 by the Manitoba Public Utilities Board contains a host of contradictions of the rosy picture of the utility painted by Manitoba Hydro CEO Bob Brennan and by Gregg Selinger and Rosann Wowchuk, consecutive ministers responsible for Manitoba Hydro.
Posted: September 10, 2011Renewable Energy World - Google has been playing an interesting role in renewable energy development, and not only because it has invested more than $780 million in renewable energy generation and tech development.
Posted: September 10, 2011Grist - Germany set another record with renewable energy. A new report by the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) highlights, in the first half of 2011, renewables accounted for fully 20.8 percent of power production, as Der Spiegel reports.
Posted: September 10, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - The U.S. State Department says TransCanada's proposed Keystone XL pipeline poses no major risks to the environment and will not spur further oil sands production in Alberta, moving the project one step further to a final decision.
Posted: August 27, 2011Reuters - Ten U.S. environmental groups came out in support of hundreds of protesters arrested at the White House since Saturday for opposing a proposed $7 billion pipeline that would greatly expand imports of crude extracted from Canadian oil sands.
Posted: August 27, 2011Reuters - New Jersey on Thursday issued a one-year ban on hydraulic fracturing, citing the need for more study of the technology used to produce oil and gas from shale formations.
Posted: August 27, 2011Renewable Energy World - United Nation's Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made renewable energy and its ability to lift the poorest nations to new levels of prosperity a central theme during his visit to Colorado on Wednesday.
Posted: August 27, 2011Renewable Energy World - We've had a long-term interest in wind energy. We attended our very first American Wind Energy conference in 1982, and since then it has been our dream to be involved in wind energy.
Posted: August 27, 2011Manitoba Hydro - Following yesterday's announcement of Robert B. Brennan's retirement, the Board of Directors of Manitoba Hydro confirmed today that the search for a new CEO is well underway.
Posted: August 20, 2011Manitoba Hydro - The Board of Directors of Manitoba Hydro is announcing today that Robert B. Brennan, President and Chief Executive Officer, has indicated he will retire after nearly 47 years of service at the Crown Corporation.
Posted: August 20, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - Having walked away from the Kyoto Protocol, Canada's government will not achieve its Copenhagen commitment either, unless more serious action begins, according to new reports by Environment Canada and the National Roundtable on the Environment and Economy (NTREE).
Posted: DATE POSTEDHydroWorld - Construction plans have been delayed for the Northern Pass power transmission project that would bring hydroelectric power from Canada to New England, wire services reported.
Posted: August 20, 2011Earth Techling - A big gust of new electricity is blowing across Europe. The continent - including the United Kingdom - will go from getting 5.5 percent of its electricity from the wind in 2010 to 15.7 percent by 2020, according to a European Wind Energy Association forecast.
Posted: August 20, 2011Grist - What if you could buy power at night, when it's cheap, and run your house off it by day, when it's expensive (and, in Japan at least, in short supply)? Nissan wants to give customers who buy its Nissan Leaf just this ability, by selling them special chargers for their electric cars that can be reversed to feed power back into a home.
Posted: August 6, 2011The Christian Science Monitor - Automakers must improve their mileage every year, up to a fleet-wide average of 54.5 mpg in 14 years. Green groups praise the new regulations, while opponents call them job-killers.
Posted: August 6, 2011Penn Energy - Chevrolet is harnessing the power of the sun to install solar-powered electric charging stations for its Volts at dealerships in North America. The Green Zone initiative will generate electricity equivalent to 12 full vehicle charges per day and excess electricity created will help supplement the dealership's power needs.
Posted: August 6, 2011CBC News - The U.S. government has a deal with 13 automakers to increase fuel efficiency to 54.5 miles per gallon (4.3 L/100 km) for cars and light-duty trucks by 2025, President Barack Obama announced Friday.
Posted: August 6, 2011Common Dreams - Tom Whipple, an energy scholar, was a CIA analyst for 30 years - and believes we are likely at, or very near, a point in history when the maximum production capacity for oil is reached, a phenomenon often referred to as "peak oil".
Posted: August 6, 2011Truth Out - Geologists say fracking wastewater disposal wells in central Arkansas caused an outbreak of thousands of minor earthquakes.
Posted: August 6, 2011The Star - Ontario’s Green Energy Act was a big factor in SunEdison’s decision to open a manufacturing plant in Newmarket that will have 400 employees turning out solar panels by year end, says company executive Mark Mendenhall.
Posted: August 6, 2011Grist - Baltimore is an old, industrial city with old, car-focused transportation infrastructure. But add a little Zipcar in, and Baltimore residents suddenly get a lot more gung ho about walking, biking, and taking the bus.
Posted: August 6, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - Canada's federal, provincial and territorial energy ministers gathered at an oil industry sponsored meeting where they adopted a national energy strategy that uses the "Current Policies" scenario published by the International Energy Agency.
Posted: July 23, 2011IISD Reporting Services - The Renewable Energy Global Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21) has released the 2011 edition of its flagship publication, the "Renewables 2011 Global Status Report," which indicates that despite continuing economic recessions, reductions in support mechanisms and low natural gas prices, renewables continue to perform well.
Posted: July 23, 2011Huffington Post - A study released Monday suggests that the worst-case spill scenarios contemplated by TransCanada are grossly underestimated -- and that hundreds of rivers, streams and aquifers are vulnerable to toxic oil contamination.
Posted: July 23, 2011Renewable Energy World - On the global stage, Canada is increasingly seen as a laggard when it comes to making the sustainable changes required to move our country (and the global system as a whole) toward a desirable and healthy future.
Posted: July 23, 2011Huffington Post - A pipeline at a BP oil field in Alaska burst over the weekend, spilling between 2,100 and 4,200 gallons of an oily water and methanol mixture in Alaska's North Slope.
Posted: July 23, 2011David Suzuki Foundation - Ontario doctors, nurses and leading health charities have teamed up to support renewable power and the speedy phase-out of coal-fired electricity. It's a project that's unique in this country.
Posted: July 23, 2011KVAL.com - A new tool to help policy makers better assess the costs and benefits of building dams – the first tool of its kind – could change the way nations decide to develop hydro-electric power.
Posted: July 23, 2011Common Dreams - The Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club and Los Padres ForestWatch filed a formal protest today to stop the Bureau of Land Management from leasing out 2,600 acres of environmentally sensitive land in Monterey and Fresno counties for oil and gas development.
Posted: July 23, 2011World Resources Institute - A recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said that 77 percent of the world’s energy could come from renewable sources by 2050, as long as governments adopt the right policies.
Posted: July 23, 2011Discovery News - Noise from wind turbine blades, inadvertent bat and bird kills and even the way wind turbines look have made installing them anything but a breeze. New York design firm Atelier DNA has an alternative concept that ditches blades in favor of stalks.
Posted: July 23, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline, if approved, will move 900,000 barrels per day of crude oil from oil sands in northern Alberta, Canada, to the Gulf of Mexico, travelling through two provinces and six states before reaching refineries in Houston and Port Arthur, Texas, U.S.A.
Posted: July 16, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - The International Hydropower Association (IHA) held its biannual World Congress on Advancing Sustainable Hydropower in Iguaçu, Brazil June 15-17, 2011.
Posted: July 16, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - Manitoba Hydro could be on the hook for more than $20 million if the Canadian federal government can prove that Manitoba Hydro, a crown owned utility, failed to refund funds from a project to bring electricity to remote communities in the northeast region of Manitoba.
Posted: July 16, 2011Grist - New York City and the rest of the tri-state area are getting their first wave of "passive houses," a type of construction in which a building is so well-insulated that it doesn't require heating in the winter.
Posted: July 16, 2011Huffington Post - Unemployment remains high. Fossil fuels are under increased scrutiny. Governments are looking to cut costs.
Posted: July 16, 2011GreenBiz - Scientists say that developing biofuels from seaweed could provide not only an alternative low-carbon energy source, but also go some way to solving the problems of food and fuel crops competing for agricultural land.
Posted: July 16, 2011HydroWorld - An aboriginal group has voted in favor of an agreement to approve the multi-billion dollar Lower Churchill hydropower project in Labrador, Canada, news agencies reported.
Posted: July 16, 2011Telegraph Journal - As Montreal steps toward the advent of electric cars on its streets, the City by the Bay is motoring along.
Posted: July 16, 2011Forbes - In the first quarter of 2011, renewable energy production in the United States surpassed nuclear production in overall quantity and percentage. Also, the percentage of natural gas is growing slowly, while coal is declining.
Posted: July 16, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - The Clean Environment Commission (CEC) will hold public hearings about regulation of Lake Winnipeg, according to a government of Manitoba press release issued July 5, 2011.
Posted: July 16, 2011David Suzuki Foundation - It's never easy to find energy technologies that will satisfy everyone, but with the world facing ever-growing negative consequences of burning fossil fuels, we must weigh our options.
Posted: July 9, 2011GreenBiz - Scientists say that developing biofuels from seaweed could provide not only an alternative low-carbon energy source, but also go some way to solving the problems of food and fuel crops competing for agricultural land.
Posted: July 9, 2011The Canadian Press - Alberta should create an arm's-length commission to monitor the environmental impact of oilsands development, an independent panel told the provincial government in a report released Tuesday.
Posted: July 9, 2011Renewable Energy World - Cutting-edge search giant Google doesn't greenwash when it comes to sustainability. The company has invested billions of dollars in clean energy developments through renewable energy and transmission projects all across the country.
Posted: July 9, 2011Renewable Energy World - Friday's much-anticipated release of revised international aviation fuel standards officially allows commercial airlines to a blend conventional jet fuel with up to 50 percent biofuels.
Posted: July 9, 2011Renewable Energy World - Plans for three separate large-scale solar projects in California have received a significant boost with conditional loan guarantees totaling about $4.5 billion.
Posted: July 9, 2011The Windsor Star - As one of the first medical officers of health in Canada to examine the health effects of wind turbines, Dr. David Colby found himself thrust reluctantly into the role of sought-after expert.
Posted: July 9, 2011Renewable Energy World - The City University of New York (CUNY) released a solar map of New York City last week, allowing building owners in the city to determine the amount of solar power their roof could host.
Posted: July 9, 2011Earth Techling - According to a recent statement, it would seem a business park located in Wallingford, Oxfordshire is now producing the equivalent of 25% of its electrical needs from a new solar array.
Posted: July 9, 2011guardian.co.uk - Villagers vow to resist as wildlife vanishes and they are driven from their land to make way for water-thirsty crops.
Posted: July 9, 2011Earth Techling - New Zealand is now generating 79% of its electricity from renewables. Also, New Zealand is claiming its electricity related emissions are the lowest they've been in 10 years.
Posted: July 1, 2011Earth Techling - Australia is known for many things — poisonous creatures, unkind terrain — but soon it will become known as a solar energy leader with the completion of two of the largest solar projects of their kind in the world.
Posted: July 1, 2011Edie - Energy giant Shell UK has been hit with a total of £1.24million in fines and costs over an explosion and fire at a Norfolk gas terminal in 2008.
Posted: July 1, 2011GreenBiz - Energy companies will be forced to offset sales with energy-efficiency measures and public buildings face green makeovers as part of new EU plans to cut energy consumption by 20 percent.
Posted: July 1, 2011New Rules Project - Ontario's bold renewable energy program contains excellent examples of policy that marries economic and environmental goals. Unique among programs that set a guaranteed price for electricity from renewable energy projects, Ontario's program also boasts a domestic content requirement.
Posted: July 1, 2011Earth Techling - Almost 190 miles of new high speed rail track will possibly be installed between Tours and Bordeaux, France under the direction of the Réseau Ferré de France (RFF) railway, the Vinci construction company, the Caisse des Dépots investment firm, and AXA, a global fiance and insurance conglomerate.
Posted: June 25, 2011Grist - With roughly 93,500 direct and indirect jobs, the American solar industry now employs about 20,000 more workers than the U.S. steel production sector. The American steel industry has historically been a symbol of the country's industrial might and economic prosperity. But today, the solar industry has the potential to overtake that image as we build a new, clean-energy economy.
Posted: June 25, 2011Edie - The latest figures released by the Department for Environment and Climate Change (DECC) reveal the average UK household could save around £100 a year on energy bills.
Posted: June 25, 2011Common Dreams - Over the past year, five states have begun requiring energy companies to disclose some of the chemicals they pump into the ground to extract oil and gas using the process of hydraulic fracturing.
Posted: June 25, 2011Planet Ark - A widening shale gas revolution is killing the economics of renewable energy, even as falling costs allow wind and solar to overtake fossil fuels in niche areas, say energy executives and analysts.
Posted: June 25, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - The Canadian government admitted that it deliberately left out data indicating greenhouse gases from the tar sands in the 2009 National Inventory Report.
Posted: June 18, 2011Planet Ark - The Senate voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to eliminate billions of dollars in support for the U.S. ethanol industry, sending a strong message that the era of big taxpayer support for biofuels is ending.
Posted: June 18, 2011Earth Techling - Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) is currently the center of complaint from a coalition of leading Pacific Northwest clean energy companies. BPA is part of the U.S. Department of Energy and provides up to 35 percent of the energy in the Pacific Northwest region.
Posted: June 18, 2011Planet Green - Nash Hoover and his dad, an inventor and journalist named Pierce Hoover, began a journey on June 1 across the USA. All 4,000 or so miles of it. And they're using an amazing hybrid vehicle that is expected to make the trip on only a light bulb's worth of energy per day.
Posted: June 18, 20111 Minute to Save the World - Reported by Eco-Business online, natural gas is not the “panacea” to solve climate change that fossil fuel industry lobbyists have been claiming, according to new research from the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Posted: June 18, 2011Grist - Intermittent renewables at high penetrations will bring new challenges for the grid. But how big will they be? And is it true that wind and solar will necessarily need storage or natural gas back-up at high levels?
Posted: June 18, 2011The Globe and Mail - As the oil and gas industry works to convince Canada’s energy regulator that it can safely drill in the Arctic’s deep waters, it is proposing some creative – and controversial – methods to clean up spills in sea ice: using fires set from helicopters to burn oil and even the propeller blades of icebreakers to disperse it.
Posted: June 18, 2011Huffington Post - Swiss lawmakers approved a proposal Wednesday to phase out the use of nuclear power, a move spurred by election-year politics and growing skepticism over the use of atomic energy.
Posted: June 18, 2011Renewable Energy World - The Conservative German government has issued a 14-page document outlining how Germany can close all its reactors by 2017 and keep the lights on.
Posted: June 18, 2011Calgary Herald - Greengate Power Corp. has placed an order worth about $500 million for 166 Vestas wind turbines for its planned Blackspring Ridge 1 wind farm near Lethbridge.
Posted: June 18, 2011Earth Techling - Researchers at the University of Washington claim to have created a system they call EnerJ that can reduce energy consumption in computers by 50%, according to results from test simulations.
Posted: June 11, 2011HydroWorld - Brazil's Norte Energia consortium will kick off construction works at the 11,200-MW Belo Monte hydropower project in Brazil's Amazon this month, a spokesperson for the group told wire services.
Posted: June 11, 2011Edie.net - Thousands of central London homes could benefit from the energy potential of the Thames if a new trial is successful.
Posted: June 11, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - A report commissioned by Manitoba Hydro has determined that if a fourth bipole is constructed, an underground and/or underwater cable may be viable option.
Posted: June 4, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - Ontario Progressive Conservatives, Leader Tim Hudak, promised that if they were elected in the Ontario October 2011 Provincial Election they would end the feed-in-tariff subsidy for renewable energy.
Posted: June 4, 2011Bloomberg - Solar power may be cheaper than electricity generated by fossil fuels and nuclear reactors within three to five years because of innovations, said Mark M. Little, the global research director for General Electric Co. (GE)
Posted: June 4, 2011Grist - In 2008, two commodities traders conspired to drive up the price of oil, says the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Two traders bought up two-thirds—4.6 million barrels—of the crude oil available in Cushing, Okla., the delivery hub that sets prices for American oil.
Posted: June 4, 2011Grist - With gas prices just below the $4 per gallon mark and possibly climbing to $5 per gallon later this summer, Americans are demanding more fuel-efficient automobiles. But U.S. automakers are having trouble keeping up with that demand.
Posted: June 4, 2011Grist - There are many nerdy discussions of that question on the interwebs, but lemme try to talk about it in reasonably non-nerdy language.
Posted: June 4, 2011edie.net - Germany will phase out all of its nuclear power and replace it with renewables in just over a decade, the county's chancellor announced.
Posted: June 4, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - "We like to think of it as Manitoba's oil, but more sustainable and certainly greener as well," said Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger.
Posted: May 28, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - Manitoba announced two export power deals with Minnesota and Wisconsin on May 25, 2011.
Posted: May 28, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - Immediately following announcement of a $4-billion power export deal, Manitoba's opposition Progressive Conservative Leader Hugh McFadyen tabled a leaked internal Manitoba Hydro report from 2005.
Posted: May 28, 2011Manitoba Government - The Province of Manitoba and Manitoba Hydro are entering an agreement with Nissan Canada to work together on initiatives that will help advance the use of plug-in electric vehicles in the province.
Posted: May 28, 2011Revolt - In Denmark, we have decided that we do not want to be in that energy race. We want to insulate ourselves from future peaks in energy prices and disruptions in supply, and to invest our money in green, long-term, sustainable sources of energy.
Posted: May 28, 2011Sierra Club Canada - Sierra Club Canada released a report, "The Real Truth About Wind Energy," to factually confront the 'truth tour' of Wind Concerns Ontario.
Posted: May 28, 2011Earth Techling - General Motors is opening a new $269.5 million electric motor manufacturing plant near Baltimore, which it says is a first for a major U.S. automaker. The plant will be powered, in part, by a solar power system under a twenty-year contract with Constellation Energy.
Posted: May 28, 2011Reuters - Prime Minister Naoto Kan recently announced that it would abandon its plan to build 14 new nuclear reactors in the face of this year's Fukushima tragedy.
Posted: May 28, 2011Huffington Post - The Obama administration on Wednesday announced new fuel economy labels for vehicles, including new ratings for plug-in hybrids and electric cars, but nixed a plan to assign vehicles "A" through "D" grades based on efficiency.
Posted: May 28, 2011edie.net - Thousands of central London homes could benefit from the energy potential of the Thames if a new trial is successful.
Posted: May 28, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - New scientific studies are placing natural gas extraction via "fracking" - a method to create fractures that extend from a borehole into rock formations - under fire.
Posted: May 23, 2011Huffington Post - The California-based solar leasing firm Sungevity announced a deal on Monday with home improvement giant Lowe's that could make obtaining a personalized estimate for installing solar panels a push-button affair at Lowe's outlets.
Posted: May 23, 2011Earth Techling - The Johnson Controls Energy Efficiency Indicator survey wants to know: what’s driving the increased focus on energy efficiency in buildings in Europe?
Posted: May 23, 2011Huffington Post - The manager of most of the electricity in the Pacific Northwest is running such a surplus of power from hydroelectric dams that it put wind farms on notice Friday that they may be shut down as early as this weekend.
Posted: May 23, 2011World Resources Institute - As the solar market in the United States surpasses $6 billion, a new report demonstrates how governments and businesses can save money by joining together to buy solar power.
Posted: May 23, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - 28,000 barrels of oil spilled from a 45-year-old pipeline located in the Peace River region of Alberta. Regulators did not report the spill until after the May 2nd, 2011 Canadian election.
Posted: May 14, 2011Vancouver Sun - B.C Hydro said Monday that it does not require the approval of dissident first nations to begin construction of its 344-kilometre Northwestern Transmission Line.
Posted: May 14, 2011Washington Post - A solar-powered plane landed in Brussels on Friday evening after a 12-hour flight from Switzerland, the futuristic aircraft's first international sortie.
Posted: May 14, 2011Earth Techling - Scandinavian firm SINTEF is planning to test thirty fortliks in Norway that are powered by miniature fuel cells that run on hydrogen.
Posted: May 14, 2011Ottawa Citizen - Leasing programs that allow homeowners to lease out their rooftops for solar panels have been halted due to contract technicalities.
Posted: May 14, 2011Renewable Energy World - Community ownership may provide the solution for increasing resistance to wind power in the United States.
Posted: May 14, 2011Renewable Energy World - The Massachusetts governor's office last week said the biomass electricity industry must meet strict emissions standards if wood-fired power plants expect to earn renewable energy credits (RECs).
Posted: May 14, 2011Earth Techling - Soft rock is all the rage these days on the MIT campus-SOFT Rockers, that is, a functional art installation by the institute's school of architecture students, led by professor Sheila Kennedy.
Posted: May 14, 2011Common Dreams - Renewable energy could account for almost 80% of the world's energy supply within four decades - but only if governments pursue the policies needed to promote green power.
Posted: May 14, 2011Renewable Energy World - In addition to the technological challenges of sustainably and economically producing biofuels at scale, there are important social, economic and environmental challenges that must also be addressed.
Posted: May 14, 2011Renewable Energy World - Forecasts for 2011 indicate that Ontario could become North America's largest solar market, installing 455 MW, more than twice what California installed in 2009.
Posted: May 7, 2011Renewable Energy World - The US Department of the Interior, the Department of Energy (DOE), and the US Army Corps of Engineers are quietly laying the groundwork for a renewable energy boom that you might not expect.
Posted: May 7, 2011The Globe and Mail - About 28,000 barrels poured out of the Plains Midstream Canada Rainbow pipeline 100 kilometres northeast of Peace River. The spill raises new questions about the health of Alberta's aging pipeline system.
Posted: May 7, 2011guardian.co.uk - The EU's climate chief is seeking to extend the bloc's renewable energy targets, in a move apparently designed to protect the green energy sector from an intensifying attack by the gas industry.
Posted: May 7, 2011Earth Techling - A company in Canada has unveiled a new all-electric bike that has caught the attention of Wired, and is set to race in this year's TTXGP series.
Posted: May 7, 2011Register Guard - The 750 cows at Lochmead Farms, north of Junction City, are producing more than just milk. Their manure is now being used to create electricity.
Posted: May 7, 2011Manitoba Government - Premier Greg Selinger announced the province will invest $1 million for the development of an all-electric transit bus and charging system, and $100,000 for the creation of an electric-vehicle learning and demonstration centre at Red River College.
Posted: April 30, 2011The Globe and Mail - With car makers and other traditional manufacturing on the decline, renewable-energy companies - with strong provincial support - are taking up some of the slack.
Posted: April 30, 2011Earth Techling - According to research conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, adding solar power to your home can raise its market value.
Posted: April 30, 2011Ottawa Citizen - That's the dream the members of a network called - you guessed it - 1,000 Solar Rooftops are shooting for, as they stage the capital's first Solar Power Fair on Saturday at Ottawa City Hall.
Posted: April 30, 2011Toronto Star - Bat deaths from turbines are well-documented, and represent one of several issues the wind industry must address head-on sooner rather than later.
Posted: April 30, 2011Ontario Government - The Ontario government is investing in a fund to develop a smart grid, which among other things will allow consumers to control appliances and lights in their homes from anywhere at anytime.
Posted: April 30, 2011Pembina Institute - The Alberta government could protect the environment and achieve responsible oilsands development by adopting key policy changes, recommended by the Pembina Institute in a report released today.
Posted: April 30, 2011guardian.co.uk - Senior executives in the fossil fuel industry have launched an all-out assault on renewable energy, lobbying governments and business groups to reject wind and solar power in favour of gas, in a move that could choke the fledgling green energy industry.
Posted: April 30, 2011Cornell University - Extracting natural gas from the Marcellus Shale could do more to aggravate global warming than mining coal, according to a Cornell study published in the May issue of Climatic Change Letters (105:5).
Posted: April 23, 2011Renewable Energy World - The California State Supreme Court has tossed out two lawsuits challenging the state's approval of the Calico Solar project, which drew the ire of Sierra Club over its proposal to use public land that is home to wildlife such as big horn sheep and golden eagles.
Posted: April 23, 2011Kyodo News - Global power generation by renewable energy sources outpaced that by nuclear energy for the first time in 2010, a recent report published by a U.S. think tank showed.
Posted: April 23, 2011Earth Techling - We've talked before about how New Jersey is becoming the land of rooftop solar installations. Now Avidan Management, a industrial and commercial real estate firm, has installed the nation's largest solar powered rooftop system at a distribution facility in Edison, New Jersey.
Posted: April 23, 2011Renewable Energy World - In the Doney Park area of Flagstaff, Arizona Public Service (APS) is transforming rooftops into what in essence will be an interconnected renewable power plant.
Posted: April 23, 2011Grist - They like to do things big in Texas, so it's no surprise that the Lone Star state will launch the world's largest wind battery storage project.
Posted: April 23, 2011Forbes - Right on the heels of announcing a $168 million investment in the Ivanpah solar tower facility, Google announced that it is investing $100 million more in Shepherds Flat Wind Farm, a wind farm located outside of Arlington, Oregon.
Posted: April 23, 2011Renewable Energy World - Spain saw wind power become its main source of electricity generation last month, underscoring the country's progress in becoming one of Europe's greenest nations.
Posted: April 23, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - The Center for Biological Diversity estimates approximately 6,000 sea turtles, 26,000 dolphins and whales, 82,000 birds, and countless fish and invertebrates may have been harmed by the disaster.
Posted: April 16, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - The US State department is under pressure to delay any approval of the TransCanada pipeline from Alberta to Texas. Citizens across several US states are objecting to 'eminent' domain' disruption of their lands for the pipeline.
Posted: April 16, 2011Huffington Post - Costco members will soon be able to add solar power systems for clean energy solutions at home alongside power tools and pancake mix on their shopping lists.
Posted: April 16, 2011Center for Ecoliteracy - The Post Carbon Institute (PCI) condenses the story of our dependence on the remnants of ancient sunlight to five minutes in "300 Years of Fossil Fuels in 300 Seconds."
Posted: April 16, 2011Earth Techling - Imagine taking all the energy you put out each day-just by moving around-and storing it in a battery so you could use it later. That’s one of the potential applications that researches have in mind at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute in New Zealand.
Posted: April 16, 2011Renewable Energy World - Lura Matthews of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, talks about the immense potential for developing solar PV and other renewable energy projects on contaminated lands.
Posted: April 16, 2011GreenBiz - Its gas mileage of nearly 100 miles per gallon and parts made from recycled materials, including home appliances and plastic bottles, landed the 2011 Nissan Leaf at the top of Kelley Blue Book's Top 10 Green Cars for 2011 list.
Posted: April 16, 2011Fast Company - A new study from the John Muir Trust examines five common assertions of the wind industry--and then debunks them all, using stats from the U.K..
Posted: April 16, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - A revised application for the rejected Prosperity Mine still calls for the destruction of one of the two fish-bearing mountain lakes originally scheduled for eradication.
Posted: April 9, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - A New York Times editorial, published April 2nd, 2011, urging US secretary of State Hillary Clinton not to permit the Keystone XL pipeline has reinvigorated the debate surrounding the pipeline.
Posted: April 9, 2011The Globe and Mail - The Alberta government has proposed new environmental rules that would revoke a number of oil sands leases – including those which already have active projects.
Posted: April 9, 2011Manitoba Hydro - Manitoba Hydro has released publicly its expert Concepts Panel report. The study was commissioned following publications by Professor John Ryan on the use of submarine cables in Lake Winnipeg and innovative methods for transporting long submarine cables to the lake.
Posted: April 9, 2011Bloomberg - Solar panel installations may surge in the next two years as the cost of generating electricity from the sun rivals coal-fueled plants, industry executives and analysts said.
Posted: April 9, 2011Reuters - Fossil fuel subsidies worth $312 billion should be realigned to ensure the growth of renewable energy and curb the world's reliance on carbon-intensive fuels, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a report.
Posted: April 9, 2011Manitoba Hydro - Manitoba Hydro's Power Smart* Home Insulation Program has awarded its 25,000th rebate. Selkirk residents, Katrina Wiebe and Bryan Stobbe, upgraded insulation in their 1,000 sq.ft. attic from R10 to R50 and received a rebate of $725 from the Program.
Posted: April 9, 2011Planetsave - Germany will shut down all its nuclear power stations by 2020, according to the government's Secretary of State for the Environment and Nuclear Safety, Jürgen Becker.
Posted: April 9, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a re-elected Conservative government will consider financial support for major clean energy infrastructure projects that have regional or national significance.
Posted: April 2, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - The Pembina Institute has released a checklist for Canada's federal election - and for clean energy success.
Posted: April 2, 2011CBC News - Former Manitoba NDP Premier Ed Schreyer is stepping back into the spotlight and warning about the threat of peak oil, and also to criticize Manitoba's government on the belief it's not doing enough to prepare for a coming energy crisis.
Posted: April 2, 2011Yahoo! News - The price of electricity, already triggering shock from consumers and businesses in many parts of Canada, will rise rapidly through the end of the decade, according to an analysis by CBC News.
Posted: April 2, 2011CBC News - The words "power plant" tend to evoke images of imposing structures jutting out of the landscape — huge dams, nuclear reactors or coal plants that leave a large footprint on the environment they draw from. That image is about to change.
Posted: April 2, 2011Financial Post - Global clean energy finance and investment saw a 30% leap in 2010, reaching a record $243-billion on the back of strong growth in China and Germany, according to a new report from The Pew Charitable Trusts.
Posted: April 2, 2011CBC News - Nissan Canada says it will delay its rollout of the much awaited fully-electric Leaf-branded car in Manitoba because it does not have an agreement with the province on plug-in charging stations.
Posted: April 2, 2011Manitoba Hydro - The Bipole III project consists of two new 2,000-megawatt high voltage direct current (HVDC) converter stations, a 1,384-kilometre transmission line connecting them and a series of alternating current (AC) 'collector' lines connecting to the existing northern converter stations.
Posted: April 2, 2011Conservative Party - Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that a re-elected Conservative Government will consider financial support for major clean energy infrastructure projects that have regional or national significance, right across Canada.
Posted: April 2, 2011Planet Ark - President Barack Obama proposed to cut U.S. oil imports by a third over 10 years, a goal that eluded his predecessors and seen as extremely ambitious by analysts skeptical it can succeed.
Posted: April 2, 2011Prince Edward Island Energy Corporation - Wind power in PEI is already providing 20% of their electricity and they have a goal of reaching 30% by 2016.
Posted: March 26, 2011Eaerth Techling - Most motorcycles tend to be gas guzzlers, however, so it isn't always the best for the environment. What about going electric instead?
Posted: March 26, 2011Grist - Total power output of Germany's installed solar PV panels hit 12.1 GW -- greater than the total power output (10 GW) of Japan's entire 6-reactor nuclear power plant.
Posted: March 26, 2011Energy Star - A closer look at these rankings highlights the exponential growth in 2010 compared to the prior two years.
Posted: March 26, 2011TreeHugger - With all the rightful questions raised about the genuine social and environmental sustainability of biofuels, rest assured that some people are attempting to clear a path forward.
Posted: March 26, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - The Energy Report: 100% Renewable Energy by 2050 provides a detailed report to show how currently available technology can create a global renewable energy system by 2050.
Posted: March 19, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - Newfoundland's Crown-owned Nalcor Energy and Nova Scotia's Emera Inc. signed a $6.2 billion agreement on the Lower Churchill Hydro Project (LCHP) November 2010.
Posted: March 19, 2011Earth Techling - Greengate Power has received approval from the Alberta Utilities Commission to construct and operate what will be the largest wind farm in Canada.
Posted: March 19, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - As developed countries close or limit construction of coal-fired power due to pollution and climate-warming emissions, a market for long-distance international coal exports has surged.
Posted: March 19, 2011Renewable Energy World - Selecting the best geographic locations to build wind farms that will produce the maximum energy with the least intermittence in power generation is the perfect problem for a supercomputer to solve.
Posted: March 19, 2011Guardian.co.uk - Generating energy from wind turbines at sea would be cheaper than building new atomic power plants, Europe's climate chief has said, in the latest challenge to the crisis-stricken nuclear industry.
Posted: March 19, 2011Earth Techling - According to a recent study by Pike Research, geothermal energy is where it’s at. The study shows that geothermal power capacity could more than double over the next nine years.
Posted: March 19, 2011Renewable Energy World - Much of the focus on tidal power has been on the Eastern side of the Atlantic. Over on the Western side however, the Canadian Province of Nova Scotia looks set to give the old country a firm run for its money.
Posted: March 19, 2011Renewable Enegy World - Just as the advent of steam trains required a network of railway lines, large amounts of renewable power generation – especially offshore wind – will require the build-out of new transmission lines.
Posted: March 19, 2011Renewable Energy World - The nominations have been reviewed; the editors votes are in and we are now pleased to announce the winners of the 2011 Excellence in Renewable Energy Awards for Project of the Year.
Posted: March 19, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - March 26, 2011 from 8:30pm to 9:30pm marks the fifth annual Global Earth Hour when individuals, businesses, and governments around the world turn-off the lights and other powered devices to raise awareness about climate change and energy over-consumption.
Posted: March 12, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - The office of the Manitoba Ombudsman looked into five organizations in 2010, including Manitoba Hydro, as part of an ongoing review into how well public bodies respond to requests under the Freedom of Information Privacy and Protection Act (FIPPA) of Manitoba.
Posted: March 12, 2011Montreal Gazette - Federal clean-energy programs on the chopping block have slashed megatonnes of pollution and created thousands of jobs, according to an internal government report.
Posted: March 12, 2011Winnipeg Free Press - Manitoba Hydro wants a 2.9 per cent rate increase effective April 1, before the public regulator has fully digested whether such a hike is warranted.
Posted: March 12, 2011Greenpeace - Wind and solar energy are the new Niagara Falls, as they can do a similar job of replacing polluting power from coal or nuclear plants to power a prosperous Ontario in the twenty-first century.
Posted: March 12, 2011PR Newswire - The U.S. solar energy industry had a banner year in 2010 with the industry's total market value growing 67 percent from $3.6 billion in 2009 to $6.0 billion in 2010.
Posted: March 12, 2011Earth Techling - According to a new report from from the Environmental Law and Policy Center, more than 7,500 people in the state are currently employed by the renewable energy manufacturering sector, focused largely on producing the gears, bearings and windmill blades used to harness wind power.
Posted: March 12, 2011Canoe - Environmental groups are stepping up their campaign against subsidies to Canada's oil and gas industries, which they say are costing taxpayers more than a $1 billion a year while the companies make bumper profits.
Posted: March 12, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - A new poll shows that 7 out of 10 Canadians, including half of Albertans, want to see an end to the tax breaks that the federal government gives to the oil and gas sector in Canada each year.
Posted: March 5, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - A website created by the Interfaith Task Force on Northern Hydro Development and hosted by the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) aims to support discussion about the hydro-electric system in Manitoba.
Posted: March 5, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - Royal Dutch Shell announced February 3, 2011 it is postponing plans to drill off the Alaskan coast by the National Wildlife Refuge. Shell's plans to drill for oil have been opposed by conservationists and Native communities along the Alaska coast.
Posted: March 5, 2011Toronto Star - A Superior Court of Justice panel has rejected an application from anti-wind activists. They had sought to strike down regulations governing how close turbines can be erected to dwellings.
Posted: March 5, 2011CanWEA - The wind energy industry in Ontario is pleased with Ontario Divisional Court decision to uphold the current regulations for wind turbine setbacks.
Posted: March 5, 2011guardian.co.uk - Under pressure to cut emissions, China risks irreversibly destroying its great rivers and biodiversity hotspots
Posted: March 5, 2011Renewable Energy World - Just as the advent of steam trains required a network of railway lines, large amounts of renewable power generation – especially offshore wind – will require the build-out of new transmission lines.
Posted: March 5, 2011Renewable Energy World - Wind and solar could soon be challenging the overwhelming dominance of diesel generators in powering mobile telecommunications cell stations in the developing world.
Posted: March 5, 2011Planet Ark - The Canadian province of Ontario said on Friday it will not approve any offshore wind projects and will not accept new applications until there is further scientific research on the industry.
Posted: March 5, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - An Ecuador court awarded $9.5 billion, against US oil giant Chevron - believed to be the highest amount of damages ever in an environmental lawsuit.
Posted: February 28, 2011Reuters - The Canadian province of Ontario, said it has approved 40 new large-scale renewable power projects that will create 7,000 jobs and attract C$3 billion ($3.06 billion) in private sector investment.
Posted: February 28, 2011Earth Techling - There's AC and there's DC. And in the process of converting electricity from one form to the other a significant energy is lost. Maybe as much as 10 percent.
Posted: February 28, 2011The Globe and Mail - The McGuinty government’s latest renewable-energy announcement is about much more than awarding $3-billion worth of contracts to a couple of dozen wind and solar companies.
Posted: February 28, 2011Earth Techling - A substantial wind farm in southern Minnesota has begun commercial operations this month. The Bent Tree Wind Farm has the capacity to generate 201 megawatts of power producing at full capacity.
Posted: February 28, 2011Earth Techling - A study asserts that if the EPA follows through on Clean Air Act rules as expected in 2011, investments in pollution controls and new generating capacity would create 1.46 million jobs.
Posted: February 28, 2011Minnesota Public Radio - Minnesota is the nation's fourth largest producer of wind energy, but a potential game-changing development in natural gas production could erode interest in wind power.
Posted: February 28, 2011Reuters - Europe's trade and climate chiefs are preparing to take a stand against imports of oil from Canada's polluting tar sands, despite fears the move might wreck a multi-billion dollar trade deal.
Posted: February 28, 2011Toronto Star - The Ontario Energy Board agreed Tuesday to let utilities raise rates to recover $18 million they paid in fines and legal costs after charging consumers excessive interest on late payments.
Posted: February 28, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - A leaked Manitoba Hydro document shows the costs of Bipole III, which is to bring hydro power from Manitoba's North, could soars to $4.1 billion; 86% higher than the previous 2007 estimate of $2.2 billion.
Posted: February 21, 2011Our World 2.0 - A Japanese company called Blest created a small, very safe and easy to use machine that can convert several types of plastic back into oil.
Posted: February 21, 2011The Daily Graphic - Geothermal energy systems are still new to the province, but already Manitoba Hydro statistics show that installation numbers for the technology fell last year.
Posted: February 21, 2011PV Tech - New wind power capacity installed in the EU last year reached 9.3GW, according to the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA).
Posted: February 21, 2011Inhabitat - Scientists in Iceland have been studying and utilizing the power of geothermal wells for years. In 2009 one study ran into magma halfway into their dig which became a blessing in disguise.
Posted: February 21, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - Interim protection was renewed for Edéhzhíe National Wildlife Area but without the critical subsurface protection provisions that prevent mining claims from encroaching on the area.
Posted: February 14, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - 86 environmental organizations are urging the Obama administration to not approve TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline, which would transport oil from Alberta's tar sands to refineries in Texas.
Posted: February 14, 2011Renewable Energy World - SCE asked for approval of 20 solar PV projects worth 250 MW – all of which are expected to generate a total of 567 GWh of electricity for less than the price of natural gas.
Posted: February 14, 2011Huffington Post - More than 400 property owners who use solar power to generate electricity at their homes or businesses are getting paid for it with the help of the Tennessee Valley Authority and local power distributors.
Posted: February 14, 2011Energy.gov - Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced major steps forward in support of offshore wind energy in the United States.
Posted: February 14, 2011Physorg.com - European leaders launched a trillion-euro bid to slash dependency on Middle East oil and Russian gas, clearing the way to place nuclear power at the centre of 21st century needs.
Posted: February 14, 2011Bloomberg Businessweek - Coal producers in the U.S. are gearing up to ship more of the fuel to China—which could boost their sales by hundreds of millions of dollars annually.
Posted: February 14, 2011Wind-Works - The Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ISLR), a progressive Midwestern think tank, says that Ontario is getting more jobs for its renewable energy investments than comparable Midwestern states.
Posted: February 14, 2011Grist - At Ecofys, we've been working for 25 years on our mission: "a sustainable energy supply for everyone." Two years ago, we figured it was about time to bring all our experts together to find out whether that really makes sense.
Posted: February 14, 2011Justmeans - Vanadium-enhanced batteries can store vast amounts of energy produced during peak hours and allocate it during non-peak hours, creating electrical storage on a scale large enough to power entire grids.
Posted: February 14, 2011The Global Realm - TransCanada says their proposed pipeline could free the U.S. of Middle Eastern oil imports. Opponents say DOE’s report shows the pipeline is not needed.
Posted: February 7, 2011Leader-Post - One potash fight may have ended with the failed takeover attempt of Potash Corp of Saskatchewan last fall but another scrap over the pink mineral — this time between provincial politicians — is brewing.
Posted: February 7, 2011CBC News - Manitoba is the poor cousin among the Prairie provinces when it comes to oil, but its small industry is growing rapidly, thanks to high world prices, relatively easy-to-access reserves and government incentives.
Posted: February 7, 2011Ottawa Citizen - A Toronto company with roots in Germany will oversee the installation of the first major solar installation in urban Ottawa under the province's feed-in tariff program.
Posted: February 7, 2011ESI-Africa - A newly released academic study claims that the installation of 3.8 million 5MW wind turbines could generate half the world’s power needs by 2030.
Posted: February 7, 2011Canada.com - The planet can save more than $5.5 trillion per year by 2050 by charting a path toward consuming 100 per cent renewable energy, says a new report to be released on Thursday.
Posted: February 7, 2011Earth Techling - French President Nicolas Sarkozy recently announced the country will be investing more than €10 billion (over $13.5 billion USD) on sea-based wind farms off the coast of northern France.
Posted: February 7, 2011Daily Mail - Hydrogen-based fuel produces no greenhouse gases so could help nations slash their carbon footprint. It is due to be available at the pumps in three to five years
Posted: February 7, 2011HydroWorld.com - In an unprecedented move, U.S. President Barack Obama put clean energy front and center on the agenda of the American government - calling for an 80 percent clean energy target by 2035.
Posted: February 7, 2011Renewable Energy World - Italy officially reported that 1,850 MW of new solar photovoltaics (PV) systems were installed in 2010, substantially exceeding industry estimates.
Posted: February 7, 2011Winnipeg Free Press - Manitoba Hydro has paid out $4.3 million to deal with the fallout of a whistleblower's report that alleged the Crown corporation would go bankrupt or suffer blackouts because of its export-sales practices.
Posted: January 31, 2011Ecology Ottawa - Sign the Green Budget Petition! Support clean energy at City Hall! The budget debate is underway. This is your chance to tell the City of Ottawa that you support clean energy.
Posted: January 31, 2011Huffington Post - Ever wish you could know what kind of energy was used to make the products you buy? Well, now wind energy is getting its own product label.
Posted: January 31, 2011National Geographic - Worldwide production of the rare earth mineral neodymium would have to quintuple to supply the millions of wind turbines needed to power a 100 percent renewable future, two researchers say.
Posted: January 31, 2011Great News Network - Algeria is aiming to generate 40 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020, energy minister Youcef Yousfi has announced.
Posted: January 31, 2011Renewable Energy World - The traditional vertically-integrated power utility may be supplanted in the future by distributed generation and various renewables, meaning that the classic linear structure of power could be replaced.
Posted: January 31, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - Manitoba Public Utilities Board (PUB), the administrative tribunal that regulates public utilities, commenced Manitoba Hydro General Rate Application hearings for a two-year period (2010-12) on January 5, 2011.
Posted: January 25, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - Manitoba Hydro applied to Manitoba Water Stewardship December 22, 2010 to replace the four decades old interim Lake Winnipeg Regulation (LWR) water power licence with a permanent licence issued under Manitoba's Water Power Act.
Posted: January 25, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - Tipping Point, a special two-hour presentation of CBC-TV's The Nature of Things on air January 27 and February 5, 2011, takes viewers inside the David and Goliath struggle over Alberta oil sand development.
Posted: January 25, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - Climate Action Network Canada is asking Canadians to kick start 2011 by calling, e-mailing, or meeting with their MP to find out one simple thing: do they support ending the giveaway of over a billion dollars a year to oil companies?
Posted: January 25, 2011The Huffington Post - Singer Bjork joined fellow Icelanders in protesting the sale of a geothermal energy company this week. A deal was approved to sell Iceland's HS Orka to Magma Energy Corp, a Canadian-based geothermal firm.
Posted: January 25, 2011Wind Works - The province of Ontario has leapt ahead of New Jersey to take second place in solar photovoltaic (PV) rankings for 2010. Ontario still trails California.
Posted: January 25, 2011The Manitoba Chambers of Commerce - TransCanada Corporation (TSX, NYSE: TRP) (TransCanada) announced its Bison Pipeline became operational on Friday, January 14.
Posted: January 25, 2011Guardian.co.uk - By mass, 99.9% of the Earth is hotter than 100C. That means that not far below our feet is the power to boil unlimited water and generate clean, renewable energy.
Posted: January 25, 2011JustMeans - As a country with enormous potential for both wind power and solar energy, India has been steadily working towards building up the respective technologies to establish their renewable energy reputation.
Posted: January 25, 2011Reuters - Groups and companies including WWF and Danish wind turbine maker Vestas on Monday supported the launch of "WindMade" as a label for products made using wind power, aiming to attract green consumers.
Posted: January 25, 2011BC Sustainable Energy Association - We need 100 million Plug-Ins on the world's roads by 2020, not one million.
Posted: January 17, 2011The Manitoba Chambers of Commerce - The first group of turbines at the province’s largest wind farm was set in motion today by Premier Greg Selinger, sparking electricity production near St. Joseph.
Posted: January 17, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - "Today the scientists of the Royal Society of Canada confirmed that there are many serious gaps in the environmental assessment, regulation and monitoring of Canada's oilsands industry,"
Posted: January 17, 2011The Tyee - A report by a major global research group representing the world's 10 largest car buying markets has concluded that Canada's bitumen is one of the world's dirtiest oils due to its poor quality, low gravity and the vast amount of natural gas needed to enrich it.
Posted: January 17, 2011BC Sustainable Energy Association - The Empire State Building, which has been undergoing a $20m energy saving retrofit, announced that it would meet all its electricity needs through wind power.
Posted: January 17, 2011EarthTechling - Southern California Edison announced deals with two solar power developers to buy 831 megawatts (MWs) of electricity, including 325 MWs from a single solar plant in Rosamond, Calif.
Posted: January 17, 2011EarthTechling - The Voltaic Spark Solar Case is targeted towards users of tablet devices like the Apple iPad,while the MilliAmp unit is described as bringing fast charging to phones on any budget.
Posted: January 17, 2011OilPrice.com - Global investment in clean energy reached a record of $243 billion in 2010, a 30% increase on 2009 levels, according to research house Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).
Posted: January 17, 2011The Hook - Today's Tyee presents a Cole's Notes-style guide to green building certification systems in Canada. But there are even more systems operating in China, Japan and beyond.
Posted: January 17, 2011JustMeans - Advances in energy production and distribution can provide added convenience and comfort to our lives, but the assemblies can be eyesores upon the landscape. The wind turbine for example can appear garish upon a tranquil landscape.
Posted: January 17, 2011Change.org - What emits unprecedented amounts of mercury, produces polluting ozone, and could adversely affect the health of Virginia children and elderly folk?
Posted: January 10, 2011Huffington Post - The car of the future is here, at least according to Ford, which unveiled its first all-electric car today with glitzy events here in New York and in Las Vegas.
Posted: January 10, 2011EarthTechling - Critigen, a global technology consulting firm, has developed solar maps of major cities across the US. Now it has turned its sights to sunny Salt Lake City, Utah, where residents now have access to detailed information on the potential sites for solar power.
Posted: January 10, 2011EarthTechling - The solar-powered Zephyr, the U.K.'s own high altitude long endurance (HALE) unmanned air vehicle (UAV) has broken not one, not two, but three worlds records, giving it the nickname, "the eternal plane."
Posted: January 10, 2011Grist - Weeks after California and federal regulators approved the last of nine massive solar thermal power plants, a Native American group has sued to block construction of six of the projects.
Posted: January 10, 2011Mongabay.com - The U.S. Department of Energy has finalized a guarantee to provide a loan of $1.45 billion to Abengoa Solar Inc. which will fund the world's largest parabolic trough concentrating solar plant.
Posted: January 10, 2011EarthTechling - If you happen to work for the California city of Torrance–or Stanford University or Google Inc.–you may be in luck, as each of these entities will soon receive one of these electric vehicles for testing in 2011.
Posted: January 10, 2011Manitoba Wildlands - The National Energy Board (NEB) gave the go-ahead for construction and operation of the Mackenzie Gas Project through Canada's North December 16, 2010.
Posted: January 4, 2011CTV - Several of Canada's largest energy and resource companies are quietly staking out positions in a sector that seems at odds with their usual extractive activities: the renewable power business.
Posted: January 4, 2011The Globe and Mail - Canada’s clean technology sector could be poised for a banner year in 2011, after a bumpy road in 2010 when many large companies did well while smaller ones languished.
Posted: January 4, 2011Reuters - Canada says it will design a system to better monitor whether northern Alberta's huge oil sands projects are polluting waterways after an independent scientific panel found major flaws in the current monitoring system.
Posted: January 4, 2011Renewable Energy World - Canada is already the world's second-largest hydropower producer behind China. But Canada is bent on producing more, driven by its vast potential for hydropower generation and demands for more clean energy in the U.S.
Posted: January 4, 2011GreenBiz.com - One notable finding in an online survey of purchase intentions of large companies is the lack priority some chief financial officers (CFO) assign to energy management.
Posted: January 4, 2011Treehugger - MidAmerican, a holding company that is 80% owned by Warren Buffett's holding company Berkshire Hathaway, will expand its wind power capacity in Iowa by almost 600 megawatts (!).
Posted: January 4, 2011EarthTech - The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) said 188 megawatts (MW) of photovoltaic (PV) systems were installed in the third quarter of 2010, bringing the total for the year to 530 MW.
Posted: January 4, 2011The Tyee - BC Hydro is finalizing a $210 million settlement with First Nations whose traditional territory has been traversed by power lines for decades without compensation.
Posted: January 4, 2011Justmeans - Despite the promise of an excellent electric vehicle line that is soon to come, Honda is far behind many of the other manufacturers that have seen release in this year or are planning releases for the new year.
Posted: January 4, 2011