Free Republic

Posted : 2015-11-02 16:29 Updated : 2015-11-02 20:33 NK tries out solar-powered bus North Korea's solar-powered bus / Yonhap By Kim Hyo-jin North Korea is operating a solar-powered bus in the western city of Nampo, the North's state media said Monday. "Nampo created a bus powered by solar energy and it is now being used for public transport," the state-run Korean Central Television (KCTV) said, quoting a member of the city's science and technology committee, Jeong In-sung. According to Jeong, the bus uses 32 100-watt solar panels, 50 batteries and a direct-current motor. "It has run 800 kilometers so far,...

DALLAS — In Texas, wind farms are generating so much energy that some utilities are giving power away. Briana Lamb, an elementary school teacher, waits until her watch strikes 9 p.m. to run her washing machine and dishwasher. It costs her nothing until 6 a.m. Kayleen Willard, a cosmetologist, unplugs appliances when she goes to work in the morning. By 9 p.m., she has them plugged back in.

Energy: The resident wants to decarbonize the planet by killing fossil-fuel production and its high-paying jobs. Almost no other nation is following his lead despite the promises that will be made at the Paris climate summit. Last week we learned in a Reuters report that Asia will build 500 coal-burning electric generation plants this year alone. An additional 1,000 are planned in China, India, Japan, Indonesia and other countries. The latest projections are that 40% of the added power generation in Southeast Asia by 2040 will be coal-fired. Does this sound like a continent that's taking the alarm bells of...

Britain's National Grid has asked for more power generation capacity to come online between 4.30pm and 6.30pm on Wednesday to balance supply and demand, after "multiple plant breakdowns". The Grid said in a statement it had issued a notice to the industry at 1.30pm "asking for more generation to be brought onto the system."

The last shipment of coal to a soon-to-be shuttered Consumers Energy Plant in Muskegon is scheduled to arrive Nov. 8. For more than 25 years, 1,000-foot ships have been regularly rolling into the Port of Muskegon with coal for Consumers' B.C. Cobb energy plant. The last such ship to deliver coal to Consumers in Muskegon will be the James R. Barker, a spokesman wrote in an email. "The Barker is scheduled to be loaded with 58,000 tons of coal in Superior, Wisconsin, on Nov. 5," wrote Consumers spokesman Roger Morgenstern. "After the ship is loaded and underway, we will have...

Electricity prices in Ontario officially increased Sunday and the rate hike is expected to push up the average household hydro bill by 3.4 per cent. The Ontario Energy Board (OEB) announced the rate increase on Oct. 15 for winter months, which will impact most households and small businesses. Effective Sunday: The price for off-peak hours goes up 0.3 cents to 8.3 cents/kWh. The price for mid-peak hours goes up 0.6 cents to 12.8 cents/kWh. The price for on-peak hours goes up 1.4 cents to 17.5 cents/kWh. Sunday's rate hike means the on-peak price of electricity has jumped 77 per cent...

King Coal may be losing its throne sooner than expected, as the U.S. goes through a change in how it gets the bulk of its electricity. The change is not coming from solar and wind as environmental groups would like to believe, although renewables are growing. The big switch is coming from natural gas produced from fracking shale rock deep underground. Natural gas is replacing coal as the dominant way Americans receive electricity to power everything from their lights to their iPhones to the big screen televisions. It is cheaper than coal, which is why natural gas power plants are...

California’s politicians would like you to believe that their electricity comes from non-coal sources. However, while there are very few coal plants in California, making up only 0.4 percent of the state’s generation in 2014[i], California imports electricity from neighboring states and as much as half of Southern California’s electric generation comes from coal-fired generating plants in Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona.[ii] Although California is pushing electric vehicles, wanting 1.5 million on the road by 2025,[iii] the greenhouse gas savings from their use will be minuscule if electricity continues to be generated mainly from imports of coal-fired generation and natural...

Despite considerable improvement since the turn of the century, India has one of the highest levels of electricity transmission and distribution (T&D) losses in the world. T&D losses represent electricity that is generated but does not reach intended customers. India's T&D losses are almost 20% of generation, more than twice the world average and nearly three times as large as T&D losses in the United States. Electricity losses are the result of technical inefficiency and theft. Technical losses occur because of the resistance of wires and equipment as electricity passes through. Some loss is inevitable, but in places with good...

There they go again. New England authorities are passively accepting the closing of the Pilgrim Nuclear Reactor, one of the region’s four remaining reactors, which Entergy announced it will shutter up by 2019. The loss is 685 megawatts or 5 percent of New England’s electricity. Once again a reactor has been deemed too expensive to operate because nuclear gets absolutely no credit for delivering clean, emissions-free energy. As it happens, Pilgrim was delivering 84 percent of the clean energy in the state of Massachusetts. The closing leaves only the Seabrook reactor in New Hampshire and Connecticut’s two Millstone reactors, which...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices on Wednesday expressed doubt about whether the Obama administration had the authority to issue a regulation aimed at encouraging efficiency in the electricity market by having electrical grid operators pay users to reduce consumption at peak times. The court heard oral arguments in an appeal filed by the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission seeking to reverse a May 2014 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that threw out the rule. The case pits the government's energy regulator against power companies that are fighting a regulation...

The owners of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth have announced that they will close the plant by June 2019. Entergy Corp. said Tuesday it is closing the only nuclear power plant in Massachusetts because of "poor market conditions, reduced revenues and increased operational costs."... ...The plant needs millions of dollars in safety improvements. The plant was relicensed in 2012 for 20 years....

A US realtor has announced plans to create a fleet of hybrid-electric buildings powered by battery energy storage systems from Tesla Energy. California-based Irvine Company has signed a memorandum of understanding with microgrid firm Advanced Microgrid Solutions (AMS) to install the battery systems at each building. The batteries will be charged during non-peak hours and will be used for on-site power during peak daytime hours or in the event of a power failure, Irvine Company said. The project’s first phase is planned to include up to 24 office buildings in the city of Irvine, and is expected to reduce the...

From the Washington Post:The next time you flush in the nation’s capital, you might consider this: You — or, more precisely, whatever you have flushed — will help generate clean energy. D.C. Water, which also treats sewage from much of the Maryland and Northern Virginia suburbs, recently became the first utility in North America to use a Norwegian thermal hydrolysis system to convert the sludge left over from treated sewage into electricity. Yes, to put it bluntly, the city’s sewage treatment plant is turning poop into power. It's actually a pretty interesting system, which you can see here.I'm reminded of...

The amount of electricity generated from natural gas surpassed the share of coal-fired production in July in the U.S. for the second time. The first time was for the month of April, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration. The EIA reported Wednesday that the share of electricity coming from natural gas-fired power plants hit 35 percent in July. It was 34.9 percent from coal plants. The shift comes as the ongoing domestic shale boom produces lots of natural gas at relatively cheap prices. At the same time, few new coal plants are being built nationally because of increasing federal regulations...

California Gov. Jerry Brown signed an ambitious bill on Wednesday to combat climate change by increasing the state’s renewable electricity use to 50 percent and doubling energy efficiency in existing buildings by 2030. Brown approved the measure after losing a political battle against oil interests as he also tried to cut petroleum use by half in the state. […] Many moderate Democrats were concerned that the petroleum mandate would hurt California’s working-class residents. The lawmakers sought greater oversight of state regulators, but Brown refused to give up what he viewed as executive authority. …

Most U.S. households can expect lower heating expenditures this winter (October through March) compared with the past two winters. In most regions, the decline in expenditures is attributed to the combination of warmer weather and lower fuel prices. According to EIA's Winter Fuels Outlook, average household expenditures for homes heating primarily with natural gas will total $578 this winter, a $64 decline from last winter's average. Homes primarily using propane are expected to spend $1,437 this winter ($322 less). Homes heating primarily with heating oil are expected to spend $1,392 ($459 less). Homes heating primarily with electric heat are expected...

City-parish president candidates Joel Robideaux and Dee Stanley navigated questions on coal-generated power, the disruption an elevated interstate might cause in Lafayette and whether the city has too many traffic signals — all posed at a Thursday evening forum sponsored by the local chapter of the Sierra Club. In a campaign season where the candidates have often found themselves repeatedly addressing the same issues in the string of debates and forums leading up to the Oct. 24 election, Stanley and Robideaux covered some new ground at the environmental group’s forum at the Lafayette Public Library downtown. Robideaux, a longtime state...

Bowie Resource Partners plans to lay off nearly 100 people at its Bowie #2 Mine near Paonia in the latest setback to coal employment in the North Fork Valley. The company said Tuesday that it anticipates laying off 78 workers and 19 contractors from the mine, where 181 full-time employees and 19 contractors work now. ... it is continuing to evaluate the market for the mine’s coal after losing a contract to sell to the Tennessee Valley Authority a year ago. The loss of that contract caused Bowie to eliminate about 150 jobs at that time. Bowie operates three underground...

The Interior Department said Tuesday that the greater sage grouse, a ground-dwelling bird whose vast range spans 11 Western states, does not need federal protections ... The fight over whether to list the bird as endangered or threatened recalled the battle over the spotted owl 25 years ago, where federal protection greatly impeded the logging economy. ... could help defuse a potential political liability for Democrats heading into the 2016 election; ... House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop said Tuesday's announcement was a "cynical ploy" intended to mask the fact that the Obama administration has imposed limits on development...