Free Republic

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. …

The green energy movement in America is dead. May it rest in peace. No, a majority of American energy over the next 20 years is not going to come from windmills and solar panels. One important lesson to be learned from the green energy fad’s rapid and expensive demise is that central planning doesn’t work. What crushed green energy was the boom in shale oil and gas along with the steep decline in the price of fossil fuel that few saw coming just a few years ago. A new International Energy Agency report concedes that green energy is in fast...

The green energy movement in America is dead. May it rest in peace. No, a majority of American energy over the next 20 years is not going to come from windmills and solar panels. One important lesson to be learned from the green energy fad’s rapid and expensive demise is that central planning doesn’t work. What crushed green energy was the boom in shale oil and gas along with the steep decline in the price of fossil fuel that few saw coming just a few years ago.

The green energy movement in America is dead. May it rest in peace. No, a majority of American energy over the next 20 years is not going to come from windmills and solar panels. One important lesson to be learned from the green energy fad’s rapid and expensive demise is that central planning doesn’t work. What crushed green energy was the boom in shale oil and gas along with the steep decline in the price of fossil fuel that few saw coming just a few years ago. An International Energy Agency report concedes that green energy is in fast retreat...

Modern industrial society commenced with the use of coal and oil to power factories, trains, ships, and agriculture and to generate electricity. With abundant energy, prosperity increased, and people could save enough to support leisure, education, culture, and environmental concerns.

 But the dark greens have a dream to dismantle all this, and return society to the hunter/gatherer era.

 In an unguarded moment, Maurice Strong, a leader of the international green movement, said:

 Isn’t the only hope for the planet that the industrialized civilizations collapse? Isn’t it our responsibility to bring that about?

The proliferation of renewable energy will never please environmentalists. In fact, the more efficient and inexpensive energies like solar and wind become, the more environmentalists will fear and eventually hate them.Currently, arguments against renewable energy are based on the accurate claim they are too inefficient to become widespread. The technology behind solar and wind power are just not where they need to be to justify widespread use. In October 2014, data revealed the massive Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in the Mojave Desert fell well short of its anticipated output. During an eight-month period in 2013, the solar plant...

......UW officials say that Walker's proposal to end funding for the bioenergy program would cripple broader energy-development research that is receiving $25million annually from the federal Department of Energy."I can't honestly say how we would replace it at this point,"said Michael Corradini,director of the Wisconsin Energy Institute at UW-Madison,which derives 90% of its funding from the bioenergy program...In 2007,Wisconsin landed the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center—the first federal research center the state had attracted in decades. The center received an initial five-year,$125 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.It was part of a $375 million package by the administration...

A research effort by Google corporation to make renewable energy viable has been a complete failure, according to the scientists who led the programme. After 4 years of effort, their conclusion is that renewable energy “simply won’t work”. “At the start of RE < C, we had shared the attitude of many stalwart environmentalists: We felt that with steady improvements to today’s renewable energy technologies, our society could stave off catastrophic climate change. We now know that to be a false hope … Renewable energy technologies simply won’t work; we need a fundamentally different approach.” http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/renewables/what-it-would-really-take-to-reverse-climate-change There is simply no...

It’s time for the federal government to “put motorists first” by lowering renewable fuel requirements that could cause gas prices to climb, the automotive club AAA said Monday. So far, the debate surrounding the eight-year-old renewable fuel standard has been dominated by biofuel producers and the oil industry. But now, said AAA president Bob Darbelnet, “there is a real opportunity to put motorists first in what has been a very contentious disagreement between various industries.” “Gas and car maintenance costs are high enough as it is, and it would be a relief to know that the (renewable fuel standard) will...

Some large oil and gas companies include the development of “alternative” energy (solar, wind, and biofuels) as part of their corporate goals. Shell’s division — Shell WindEnergy — is involved with operating eleven wind farms, including eight joint ventures in the United States. Chevron’s Chevron Energy Solutions has an environmental focus on solar energy and other “renewable” forms of energy. Chevron’s “We Agree” campaign comprises about ten slogans stating what oil and gas companies should do differently, as if they are not doing enough already. It urges them to promote “renewable” energy, care for the planet, etc. The Chevron campaign...

(After four and a half years, Barack is catching on.) In a "groundbreaking" speech Tuesday at Georgetown University, Barack Obama rehashed the same anti-Big Oil themes and half-baked energy policies that have marked his Administration since 2009. (See here and here for historical examples.) One change: President Obama has decided he likes natural gas*, and credits "Federally supported technology", an implicit endorsement of fracking (its name is still as taboo as that other F-word). HeÂ’s still not crazy about oil, but since weÂ’re producing more of it, he may as well claim credit. As for the Keystone Pipeline, more equivocating:...

The federal government on Friday committed to award as much as $564 million to 19 projects nationwide that aim to transform wood chips, algae and plant parts into renewable fuel, including a planned biorefinery in Freeport. At the same time, the Energy Department announced $350 million in spending to propel technology that captures and stores carbon dioxide, with $350 million set aside for a 400-megawatt plant near Midland. All of the spending comes from the $787 billion economic stimulus bill enacted in February and is designed to help close the gap between current biofuel energy production and the future goals...

"Golden eagles are gravely threatened by a £200m wind farm scheme proposed for the Hebridean island of Lewis, campaigners have warned." "On Lewis - where there are now three big schemes - when people talk about displacing birds from one area to another, they are simply moving them on to another wind farm."

Development of the solar energy industry in Texas would have a significant economic impact for consumers, the environment and workers, according to a study released by the IC2 Institute at the University of Texas at Austin. Opportunity on the Horizon: Photovoltaics in Texas finds the benefits of nurturing the solar energy industry will stimulate the state's economy, reduce the cost of power for consumers and minimize greenhouse gas emissions. "Worldwide, the cost of converting sunlight to electricity is rapidly decreasing. The right public policies, combined with emerging and increasingly efficient technologies in solar power, would create a solid opportunity for...

HUMANS are just one of the millions of species on Earth, but we use up almost a quarter of the sun's energy captured by plants - the most of any species. The human dominance of this natural resource is affecting other species, reducing the amount of energy available to them by almost 10 per cent, scientists report. Researchers said the findings showed humans were using "a remarkable share" of the earth's plant productivity "to meet the needs and wants of one species". They also warned that the increased use of biofuels - such as ethanol and canola - should be...

LANCASTER {California} With electricity bills high, and more people interested in a "green" lifestyle, a Lancaster-based company that sells electricity-generating windmills is trying to change Los Angeles County regulations to make it easier for homeowners to install them. The county's windmill permit for homeowners requires notification of all neighbors within 1,000 feet and a $4,000 application fee, which is not refundable if the application is rejected, according to supporters of changing the county regulations. Lancaster-based Energy Options general manager Scott Meyer spoke Thursday at an Antelope Valley Association of Rural Town Councils meeting as part of an effort to garner...

The German-Indian-Silicon Valley solar power solution Call it a classic Silicon Valley globalization play. Signet Solar, a renewable energy startup headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif., has already broken ground on a R&D facility in Dresden, Germany, and announced this month that it would it would build three manufacturing plants in India. By combining its own proprietary intellectual property with "thin solar" manufacturing equipment from Silicon Valley's semiconductor tools giant, Applied Materials Inc., Signet hopes to grab market share by selling lower-cost photovoltaic panels for large industrial applications. (Thanks to The Indic View for the tip.) The venture capitalists behind Signet...

The UOP/Eni Ecofining process supports the possible co-production of propane, naphtha, and high quality jet fuel UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, will accelerate research and development on renewable energy technology to convert vegetable and algal oils to fuels for military jets. The goal of the project, which is backed by $6.7 million in funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), is to develop and to commercialize a process to produce Jet Propellant 8 (JP-8)—used by US and NATO militaries—from biofeedstocks. This is UOP’s first project with DARPA. UOP will work with Honeywell Aerospace, Cargill, Arizona State University, Sandia...

Two years before its completion, the world’s largest dam is already changing the local weather, say scientists studying the Three Gorges Dam on China’s Yangtze River. Both modeling and actual meteorological data suggest that the reservoir is cooling its valley, which is causing changes in rainfall. "In China there are a lot of people who complain because of the construction of the dam" and specifically about changes in local weather, said climate modeler Liguang Wu of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and the University of Maryland in College Park. To find out if the dam was really to blame, Wu...

Stanley Theodore HYDERABAD, June 28: India is working intensely on having a solar power generation station in space to meet the nation’s ever growing energy requirements. The “hyperplane,” which needs to transport the infrastructure into space, will make a demonstrative flight at the 2008 end. “India’s hypersonic air and space transport activity are now sharp focussed on energy production through space solar power by having solar power stations in orbit. The era of expendable launch vehicles should end and reusable launch vehicles (RLV) are needed”, Defence Research and Development Organisation’s chief controller, R&D, Mr VK Saraswath said. On how best...