Buffalo Niagara Enterprise president Tom Kucharski said the three agencies recognized the potential for jointly marketing "compelling regional assets" like a diverse transportation network, binational location and strong Great Lakes wind pattern several months ago. The result is a new bi-national wind partnership dubbed CanAm Wind Energy.

The wind turbine is a symbol of an alternative to an oil-based economy. But on radar, it looks like a storm. That has raised concerns that a proliferation of wind farms could result in the appearance of severe weather where there is none, and even false weather alerts. That collision of weather and wind technology adds some new dimensions to this year's tornado season, which officially kicks off this week with Severe Weather Awareness Week.

In a 4-1 vote, with member Bruce Forester dissenting, the board found that Mainstream's petition didn't sufficiently protect neighbors from shadow flicker. And members unanimously ruled that the proposed setbacks weren't enough to mitigate the problem. ...The board also decided to back recommendations from the state Department of Natural Resources to create a 1-mile buffer around the state's Foley Sand Prairie Natural Preserve and a half-mile buffer around other natural areas.

(CNSNews.com) - People sweltering from a heat wave in the Mid- Atlantic region of the U.S. might find cold comfort in the fact that the temperatures of the past few days are not the hottest on record. That "honor" belongs to a summer 76 years ago -- decades before the controversy over "man-made global warming" began.

The 280ft towers will stand in up to 150ft of water and will generate enough electricity to meet up to 75% of the needs of the oilfield which pumps 3500 barrels of oil ashore a day. This £35m, five-year pilot could be the first step towards establishing a 200-turbine farm on the site which could meet 20% of Scotland's energy needs.

For the third time, Wind Capital Group, John Deere and Missouri cooperatives have announced plans to build another utility-scale wind farm. The $75 million wind farm is slated to operate in northwest Missouri by the end of 2007.

"By itself, it cannot be the solution because wind by its nature is an intermittent source of power," said Bill Haman, industrial program manager and alternate energy revolving loan program manager for the Iowa Energy Center. "Therefore we as a society cannot rely on wind as our primary energy source, but it certainly can play a part as a piece of the solution when combined with both fossil and renewable sources."

The most sweeping reform of Scotland’s planning laws for three generations will see people given more say, and sooner, about new developments in their neighbourhoods. But the downside is they will be denied all rights to object to the biggest national projects and, on other major applications, will be denied the final appeal permitted to developers. The environmental lobby lost every vote yesterday, the day after a failed attempt to ensure at least the Scottish Executive’s National Planning Framework would be subject to an inquiry process.

“You’ll have to devote the rest of your days to fighting these, if you allow them to get here in there first place.” That was the message retired schoolteacher and Green Party candidate Stephana Johnston had for West Lincoln residents last Wednesday, at a public information meeting on the alleged negative effects of industrial wind turbines.

"I want to create discussion and encourage people to look at this industrial development for what it is - industrial development," she says. "I want them to discuss it in a more balanced way." Don Quixote, she's not. And she's certainly produced an eye-opener of a film.

Heated debate surrounds Greenbrier County plan

Tontine Associates, the once gilt-edged hedge fund that collapsed rapidly over the past two months in the wake of the market's carnage, was renowned for its massive and highly contrarian bets in industries like home-building and steel manufacturing. ...Last week, however, the combination of big bets gone south and prime brokers demanding repayment for loans forced Gendell to announce to investors that he was shutting two of his main portfolios ...But at the center of the Tontine maelstrom is a less well-known series of trades in alternative energy stocks, especially those related to wind turbines, that played a key role in the both the fund's recent success and its collapse.

Energy experts generally agree that the electrical grid in the United States needs to be upgraded if the country is to increase its use of renewable-energy sources like wind power and significantly reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. But plans to string new high-voltage lines to bring wind power from the midsection of the country to the coasts, where most of the demand is, could be expensive and unnecessary, and a distraction from more urgent needs, some experts say.

The Teresian Carmelites, a tiny religious community in Worcester, have won their lawsuit against American Tower Corp., which the monks had accused of breaching its agreement to sell them a 99-acre site in Central Massachusetts where they want to build a monastery and wind farm.

Lawmakers who want stricter regulations - including both leaders of the legislature's energy and technology committee - on Wednesday offered a compromise that would allow the developer to skirt the regulations as long as it adhered to a new set of overall guidelines.

The Obama administration signaled a sudden urgency yesterday to resolve the nine-year dispute over building a wind farm off Cape Cod, as US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced he would summon key parties to a meeting next week in hope of concluding the decision process within two months. The announcement was made minutes after the Cape Wind project appeared to suffer an unexpected setback.

PROTESTERS fighting plans for five wind turbines in a village overlooking the Lake District have lobbied county councillors to ignore guidance and object to the development.

Sitting at his kitchen table, Staton unfolded a recent column from The Wall Street Journal. It was about how T. Boone Pickens, the billionaire energy investor, had backed away from wind investments in favor of natural gas. "Common sense tells me that this country is subsidizing anything that says ‘green,' and if it wasn't for the subsidy, wind wouldn't work," he said.

For ardent advocates and fiercely passionate opponents of a potential project at the westward-facing Lenox Mountain ridge line 1,800 feet in elevation, the prospect of a 262-foot high turbine, or two, has already stirred a hornet's nest of strong feelings not only in Lenox but among Richmond residents who live near the site.