http://www.windaction.org/ facts, analysis, exposure of wind energy's real impacts en-us Windaction hourly 1 http://backend.userland.com/rss http://www.windaction.org/articles/38416 Tue, 21 May 2013 17:17:47 GMT The overall direction of the market, however, has been down. You can get a sense of the amount of money that has been lost by investors from the WilderHill Clean Energy Index, which tracks the performance of publicly traded green energy stocks ranging from solar and wind to rare earth minerals and water companies. The market value of the companies in the index has fallen from a peak level of $231 billion in late December 2007 to about $108 billion today, a decline of 53 percent. http://www.windaction.org/articles/38416 http://www.windaction.org/articles/38146 Tue, 23 Apr 2013 13:04:59 GMT Sixteen of the 29 states with renewable portfolio standards are considering legislation that would reduce the need for wind and solar power, according to researchers backed by the U.S. Energy Department. North Carolina lawmakers may be among the first to move, followed by Colorado and Connecticut. ...Repealing the state's RPS policy "would help increase disposable income, attract more business investment and make energy more affordable for consumers." http://www.windaction.org/articles/38146 http://www.windaction.org/articles/38132 Mon, 22 Apr 2013 15:55:10 GMT The conflicts are bound to grow as renewable projects spread, some environmental advocates say. "Certainly, there's going to be a lot more wind farms than there have been historically," ABC spokesman Bob Johns said. "And the problem is that we have seen no reason to believe that areas of conflict are being avoided - in fact, quite the opposite. They're walking right into it, leading with their chin on some of these." http://www.windaction.org/articles/38132 http://www.windaction.org/articles/38060 Mon, 15 Apr 2013 14:17:40 GMT The modern environmental movement has rolled over to become an outlet for loggers, energy firms and car companies to plug into. It is now primarily a social media platform for consumerism, growth and energy production - an institutionalized philanderer of green illusions. If you need evidence, just go to any climate rally and you'll see a strip mall of stands for green products, green jobs and green energy. These will do nothing to solve the crisis we face, which is not an energy crisis but rather a crisis of consumption. http://www.windaction.org/articles/38060 http://www.windaction.org/articles/37933 Mon, 01 Apr 2013 16:35:21 GMT http://www.windaction.org/articles/37933 http://www.windaction.org/articles/37920 Mon, 01 Apr 2013 14:00:46 GMT "I will continue my efforts to get rid of the 20-year-old, multi-billion-dollar subsidy for unreliable, expensive wind energy that stands no chance of powering our nation's 21st century economy." ...Perhaps just as important, Alexander said, wind turbines would scar the mountaintops of Tennessee, the only place in the state where they can work. http://www.windaction.org/articles/37920 http://www.windaction.org/articles/37919 Mon, 25 Mar 2013 12:41:43 GMT FERC claims the PUC violated the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act when it held that Idaho Power was not obligated to buy from a number of wind generators because the utility did not sign the QF contracts prior to December 14, 2010, which was when the QF qualification threshold dropped to 100 kW from 10 MW. http://www.windaction.org/articles/37919 http://www.windaction.org/articles/37833 Sun, 24 Mar 2013 21:30:04 GMT A rapid expansion of renewable power would be complicated and costly. Using large amounts of renewable energy often requires modifying national power grids, and renewable energy is still generally more expensive than using fossil fuels. http://www.windaction.org/articles/37833 http://www.windaction.org/articles/37875 Fri, 22 Mar 2013 20:59:46 GMT http://www.windaction.org/articles/37875 http://www.windaction.org/articles/37578 Sun, 03 Mar 2013 14:08:48 GMT Tensions are building between the struggling U.S. offshore wind industry and the federal agency that oversees it. Industry leaders worry that a new federal program designed to spark offshore wind construction could end up killing proposals that have been in the works for years. http://www.windaction.org/articles/37578 http://www.windaction.org/articles/37491 Sat, 23 Feb 2013 23:45:44 GMT Jackson threw out the bulk of Ralls’s lawsuit against the Obama administration, which focused on whether the president exceeded his power by ordering the company, an affiliate of China’s Sany Group Co., to sell the wind farm assets. “The statute expressly authorizes the president to do what he deems necessary to accomplish or implement the prohibition." http://www.windaction.org/articles/37491 http://www.windaction.org/articles/37465 Tue, 19 Feb 2013 16:09:05 GMT The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is considering eliminating most public oversight of wind turbine impacts on protected bald and golden eagles by offering developers 30-year permits to kill eagles by accident, as opposed to the current 5-year permits. What's more, they're shaping the implementation of that proposed policy change in a series of private "stakeholders'" meetings to which the public is not invited. http://www.windaction.org/articles/37465 http://www.windaction.org/articles/37431 Tue, 19 Feb 2013 13:01:25 GMT Renewable Portfolio Standards are coming under attack. The latest locale is Kansas, where the Republican-led legislature says that green energy mandates are distorting markets. ...It's all part of the national discussion over whether requiring utilities to either procure or to produce a percentage of their offerings from sustainable sources is a good thing. http://www.windaction.org/articles/37431 http://www.windaction.org/articles/37313 Fri, 08 Feb 2013 17:23:57 GMT One big part of the problem, experts and officials say, is Europe's cap-and-trade system, which aims to reduce European Union-wide industrial greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020. The system is the centerpiece of Europe's green policies. But the program, which charges industries for permits to emit greenhouse gases, no longer serves as a major disincentive to pollute. http://www.windaction.org/articles/37313 http://www.windaction.org/articles/37227 Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:16:49 GMT The American Wind Energy Association and the Solar Energy Industries Association joined the industry-backed coalition for a year because they wanted a "seat at the table" ...But the groups decided to drop out after ALEC adopted the "Electricity Freedom Act" model bill in October, which would end requirements that utilities generate a set amount of electricity from renewable sources. http://www.windaction.org/articles/37227 http://www.windaction.org/articles/37126 Tue, 22 Jan 2013 23:08:02 GMT Fresh off their successful push to extend a key tax break in the PTC, wind industry lobbyists are beginning to prepare for the tax reform fight. But the push for some longer-term certainty will proceed without at least one key ally in Congress. Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Wash.) says the one-year extension and expansion of the PTC that were included in this month's "fiscal cliff" legislation should be sufficient for the industry. http://www.windaction.org/articles/37126 http://www.windaction.org/articles/37079 Sat, 19 Jan 2013 04:23:57 GMT Following a three-year environmental analysis, the Obama administration Friday designated 192,100 acres of public land in Arizona as potentially suitable for utility-scale solar and wind energy development. http://www.windaction.org/articles/37079 http://www.windaction.org/articles/37015 Fri, 11 Jan 2013 15:47:20 GMT "Defendants used the ATVM loan program as nothing more than a veil to steer hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to government cronies," according to the district court complaint. Today's lawsuits are the latest challenge to clean-energy loan programs administered by the Energy Department, which has come under scrutiny over a $535 million loan guarantee to now-bankrupt solar-panel maker Solyndra. http://www.windaction.org/articles/37015 http://www.windaction.org/articles/36959 Mon, 07 Jan 2013 16:07:37 GMT Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.), a second-term lawmaker who opposes energy credits, said he believes Congress "can get rid of a big swath" of energy subsidies. "I've spent the first two years in Congress talking about these market distortions," Pompeo told The Hill. "This is the stuff that five years ago wasn't even talked about. I think we've made a lot of progress in getting awareness." http://www.windaction.org/articles/36959 http://www.windaction.org/articles/36876 Thu, 27 Dec 2012 13:42:40 GMT "We embarked on a big transition to a low-carbon economy without taking into account the cost and without factoring in the competitive impact," says Fabien Roques, head of European power and carbon at the energy consulting firm IHS CERA in Paris. "I think there will be a critical review of some of these policies in the next few years." Both consumers and the industry are upset about high energy costs. http://www.windaction.org/articles/36876