facts, analysis, exposure of wind energy's real impacts Windaction http://www.windaction.org/articles/c66+117?theme=atom Xarayar 2006-06-12T02:16:27Z .37742 2013-03-15T13:18:18Z 2013-03-15T13:18:18Z

The utilities have warned that the push to buy renewable power will raise customers' bills. PG&E, for example, estimates that renewable contracts will add about 1 to 2 percent to bills each year through 2020. ...Long-term power purchase contracts with wind farms, solar plants and other renewable energy facilities averaged 9.9 cents per kilowatt hour.

.37684 2013-03-09T17:13:34Z 2013-03-09T17:13:34Z

Industrial-scale energy projects on Bureau of Land Management lands are pushed through by energy companies touting jobs and economic booms to communities. Not mentioned is the potential loss of tourism revenues if people stop coming to recreational areas that are visually blighted.

.37546 2013-02-27T13:13:03Z 2013-02-27T13:13:03Z

Economists are more skeptical about the long-term benefit to the county. They point out that solar and wind farms bring in an initial boom of constriction jobs, but require very few workers once they're up and running. The five projects being built in Imperial County will generate 1,946 temporary construction jobs but only 71.5 permanent ..."Once you build them you don't need many folks to maintain them."

.36671 2012-12-05T11:59:52Z 2012-12-05T11:59:52Z

California's push toward clean and renewable energy will likely translate into higher electric bills for both businesses and consumers, according to a newly released report. The Little Hoover Commission, an independent state oversight agency, included that finding in its report, "Rewiring California: Integrating Agendas for Energy Reform."

.36124 2012-09-21T20:35:49Z 2012-09-21T20:35:49Z

The power generated by the mega-plants will be among the most expensive renewable energy in the country. ...Stanford University economist Frank Wolak said the state's renewable energy strategy could boost electricity rates 10% to 20%, depending on a number of factors. Potentially, consumers' bills could go up by 50%. "It is easily in the billions of dollars," he said.

.34673 2012-03-30T15:50:13Z 2012-03-30T15:50:13Z

The current study, released in July of 2011 by the Economic Financial Studies School of Business at Clarkson University, cites losses of up to 40 percent on properties located within 0.10 miles of new wind turbine facilities. This has prompted him to revise his loss figure upward to a maximum of 40 percent and expected adverse impacts out to three miles, with effects becoming less extreme with distance.

.33692 2011-11-24T16:37:09Z 2011-11-24T16:37:09Z

California's increasing use of renewable power will come at a price, pushing up electricity bills across the state. And while it's impossible to tell how big the cost to consumers will be, some experts fear the total cost of renewable energy in California will be in the billions of dollars.

.33610 2011-11-13T13:02:14Z 2011-11-13T13:02:14Z

Dozens of renewable energy plants being built to meet California's tough global warming laws, including a major Spanish-owned solar plant in the Mojave Desert, are so overpriced they will increase consumers' energy bills for decades, according to the independent watchdog arm of the state's s utility regulator.

.32955 2011-09-09T15:13:55Z 2011-09-09T15:13:55Z

Questions about the loan have been simmering for months. In 2009, the Energy Department put Solyndra's application on a fast-track for approval ...The generous terms of the government loan included the lowest interest of all the green projects benefitting from Energy Department help ...And as part of the deal, the Energy Department agreed that if the company went bust, private investors could recoup their losses before the government.

.32821 2011-08-19T12:12:09Z 2011-08-19T12:12:09Z

Federal and state efforts to stimulate creation of green jobs have largely failed, government records show. Two years after it was awarded $186 million in federal stimulus money to weatherize drafty homes, California has spent only a little over half that sum and has so far created the equivalent of just 538 full-time jobs in the last quarter ...Job training programs intended for the clean economy have also failed to generate big numbers.

.32645 2011-08-01T12:26:08Z 2011-08-01T12:26:08Z

Some, including economist Christopher Thornberg, figure there's some wiggle room in defining exactly what a green job is. "Who the hell knows what they classify as a green job?" Thornberg said. "That's what it boils down to. There are very few jobs you could say are truly green - maybe a solar-panel installer ... but who else?"

.26425 2010-03-26T07:55:34Z 2010-03-26T07:55:34Z

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's plan to boost rates at the Department of Water and Power has drawn an outcry from business leaders who fear that his promise to create "green jobs" will be accomplished at the expense of their own workers

.26367 2010-03-24T14:04:09Z 2010-03-24T14:04:09Z

But there's no sign that demand for solar-panel installers, wind-farm workers and other green positions will be strong enough to drive California's unemployment rate below the national average, the forecast said. "As we look at the hype around 'green is going to drive the economy,' the fact is, not really," Jerry Nickelsburg, author of the forecast, said in an interview.

.23109 2009-09-15T04:12:17Z 2009-09-15T04:12:17Z

California's push to supersize its renewable energy standards could drive electricity rates higher for Northwest consumers, strain the west's transmission and hydroelectric systems, and create a host of thorny policy issues. The California Assembly passed a pair of bills Friday to create the nation's most aggressive renewable energy mandate. It would require utilities to meet one third of their customers' needs with green energy such as wind, solar and geothermal by 2020.

.22078 2009-07-12T23:02:45Z 2009-07-12T23:02:45Z

Sharon Reid and her husband, Dewitt, a retired Marine major, pay $170 in a typical month ---- and some months more than $230 ---- to cool and light their 2,000-square-foot, tri-level home in Vista. Without making any changes in lifestyle, their electricity bill is likely to increase by $45 a month on average as California overhauls its power grid and tries to shift the source of one-third of its electricity from fossil fuels to green sources by 2020.

.21913 2009-07-04T20:19:36Z 2009-07-04T20:19:36Z

Burbank Water and Power officials are urging the City Council to oppose legislation that would force them to produce a third of their energy from renewable sources by 2020, arguing the requirements would drive up utility rates and strain existing electric transmission assets that the state is in short supply of.

.21550 2009-06-13T14:29:50Z 2009-06-13T14:29:50Z

California's push for renewable power could prove costly to consumers. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to get one-third of the state's electricity from renewable sources by 2020 could cost $115 billion in new infrastructure, according to a report released Friday by the California Public Utilities Commission. Last year, a similar report from the commission estimated the cost at $60 billion.

.19164 2008-12-14T17:36:48Z 2008-12-14T17:36:48Z

The nearly 8 percent rate increase Redding Electric Utility will seek Tuesday for next year and 2010 could be just the beginning of a long, steady and rather steep cost climb for customers. Rate forecasts through 2014 show REU imposing identical 7.84 percent increases each year while still chewing through wads of cash. ...Redding has made up for the lost hydropower, in part, by commissioning a pair of large gas-fired turbines at its plant on Clear Creek Road. The utility has also entered long-term contracts for wind and biomass power. The wind and biomass have allowed REU to meet state renewable energy mandates. But all three power sources cost more than twice as much as hydropower, adding $10.5 million each year on average to REU's fuel tab, Hauser said.

.18692 2008-11-07T17:59:29Z 2008-11-07T17:59:29Z

If California expands its renewable power generation to be a third of electricity delivered in the state by 2020, it may cost $60 billion, the state's utility regulator said in a report issued on Thursday. It is more costly to make electricity with renewable power -- solar, wind, geothermal and other sources that emit no or low amounts of global-warming greenhouse gases -- than with natural gas, nuclear and coal power plants. ...On Tuesday, California voters overwhelmingly -- 65 percent of the vote -- rejected a statewide ballot measure that would have required 50 percent of power to be generated from renewables by 2025.

.18439 2008-10-19T12:24:19Z 2008-10-19T12:24:19Z

Unless the DWP moves quickly to lock in contracts with alternative energy providers, it risks paying exponentially higher rates for green power to meet a 2010 deadline to double its renewable energy supply. Despite assurances from the Department of Water and Power, some city leaders are skeptical the utility will be able to meet and sustain the 20 percent renewable energy mandate set by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. ...customers are already paying more to cover the transition to green power. The DWP can and has tacked on a surcharge of as much as 4 percent a year to customer bills to cover renewable energy and natural gas expenses.