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/8259 Mon, 05 Mar 2007 12:44:05 GMT When Rudolph Diesel unveiled his new engine at the 1900 World's Fair, he made a point of demonstrating that it could be run on peanut oil. "Such oils may become, in the course of time, as important as petroleum and the coal tar products of the present time," he said. And so it has come to pass that US President George Bush has decreed that America must wean itself off oil with the help of biofuels made from corn, sugar cane and other suitable crops. At its simplest, the argument for biofuels is this: By growing crops to produce organic compounds that can be burnt in an engine, you are not adding to the overall levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The amount of CO2 that the fuel produces when burnt should balance the amount absorbed during the growth of the plants. However, many biofuel crops, such as corn, are grown with the help of fossil fuels in the form of fertilisers, pesticides and the petrol for farm equipment. One estimate is that corn needs 30 per cent more energy than the finished fuel it produces. Another problem is the land required to produce it. One estimate is that the grain needed to fill the petrol tank of a 4X4 with ethanol is sufficient to feed a person for a year. http://www.windaction.org/articles/8259 http://www.windaction.org/articles/7216 Sat, 06 Jan 2007 12:12:28 GMT Japan’s government has presented a 600MW wind power generation project for the Patagonia region to Argentina’s energy secretary Daniel Cameron, Argentine government news agency Telám reported. The prospective plant will call for the installation of 200 wind turbines with 3MW generation capacity each, covering northern Santa Cruz to southern Chubut province. The Japanese government wants a Japanese firm to construct the turbines; possible candidates include Nissan, Honda and Toyota. http://www.windaction.org/articles/7216 http://www.windaction.org/articles/6238 Wed, 08 Nov 2006 12:44:19 GMT Indigenous peoples from the Amazon to Asia said on Wednesday that U.N.-backed clean energy projects meant to combat global warming were aggravating threats to their livelihoods. They said hydropower projects or plantations of fast-growing trees, prompted by a billion-dollar scheme under the U.N.’s Kyoto Protocol for limiting the planet’s dependence on fossil fuels, were damaging nature. “We are not only victims of climate change, we are now victims of the carbon market,” Jocelyn Therese, a spokesman for indigenous peoples of the Amazon basin, told a news conference on the fringes of U.N. talks on global warming. “Efforts that are supposed to…retard climate change are having an equally disastrous effect,” said Ana Pinto, representing indigenous peoples in India. http://www.windaction.org/articles/6238 http://www.windaction.org/articles/2684 Tue, 25 Apr 2006 11:48:53 GMT Brazil's renewable power incentive program Proinfa has stalled because of lack of financing and equipment, Romulo Feijão, an aide to the generation supervision department at power regulator Aneel told BNamericas. http://www.windaction.org/articles/2684 http://www.windaction.org/articles/1013 Wed, 21 Dec 2005 12:36:38 GMT Porto Alegre - One of the world's largest windpower parks is under construction in Osório, state of Rio Grande do Sul. http://www.windaction.org/articles/1013 http://www.windaction.org/articles/727 Tue, 22 Nov 2005 20:33:17 GMT Until recently, Europe's small market in biofuels was dominated by home-grown rapeseed (canola) oil. But surging demand from the food market has raised the price of rapeseed oil too. This has led fuel manufacturers to opt for palm and soya oil instead. Palm oil prices jumped 10 per cent in September alone, and are predicted to rise 20 per cent next year, while global demand for biofuels is now rising at 25 per cent a year. http://www.windaction.org/articles/727 http://www.windaction.org/articles/736 Tue, 15 Nov 2005 23:51:05 GMT But world energy resources are adequate to meet this sustained growth trend because global oil reserves today exceed the cumulative projected production to 2030, IEA said. This optimistic outlook, however, is based on a reference scenario that IEA describes as "unsustainable." Under that reference scenario, primary world energy demand increases by an average rate of 1.6%/year, with fossil fuels accounting for 83% of the projected increase. By 2030, the world consumes 16.3 billion tonnes of oil equivalent (toe)/year—5.5 billion toe more than it does today—with more than two thirds of energy use coming from developing countries. http://www.windaction.org/articles/736 http://www.windaction.org/articles/4722 Tue, 29 Aug 2006 13:37:09 GMT Abundant, reliable, affordable electricity is a critical priority for developing nations. Hydroelectric projects like Bujagali (Uganda), Narmada (India) and Three Gorges (China) offer one solution; coal-fired power plants another. They aren't perfect ecologically, but neither are wind turbines, which require extensive acreage, kill birds, and provide inadequate amounts of intermittent, expensive electricity that cannot possibly sustain modern societies. http://www.windaction.org/articles/4722