A layoff in Lexington appears to contradict President Obama's initiative to generate employment through increased green energy production. Officials blame bad timing for the decision to cut jobs at PPG Industries, a Pittsburgh-based specialty products manufacturer that supplies to the wind energy industry. The company announced Friday that 110 of the 420 employees at its Lexington fiberglass plant will be let go by June 30.

Officials with the Maine Power Connection wrapped up a weeklong tour of Aroostook County on Thursday morning, addressing business leaders, legislators and community members about a proposal to build a new $625 million transmission line from central Maine to connect northern Maine to the New England electric grid. The project would bring wind turbine projects online and close a 25-mile gap between the Maine Public Service system lines in Houlton and the Maine Electric Power Co. ..."Northern Maine customers will be held harmless," he stressed. "Northern Maine delivery rates can't go up - that is our goal. If that doesn't happen, this project is a no-go."

It's difficult to assess just how much oil and gas may be within reach, said Adam Sieminski, head of the Energy Information Administration, the Energy Department's independent statistical arm. "The one thing I can say with absolute confidence here today is that our long-term forecasts are going to be wrong. It looks like the direction that we're going to be wrong, when it comes to oil, is that there's going to be more of it," he said.

East Yorkshire’s tourist industry would be hit if huge wind turbines were built in the region, according to business owners. However, energy companies developing the wind farms have said the schemes could attract visitors to the area. The claims were made ahead of an East Riding Council planning committee meeting being held today.

Lord James Joicey runs the 16,000-acre Ford and Etal Estate where more than 30 small businesses operate, most of them heavily reliant on tourism for survival. He went some way down the line of agreeing to have turbines on his land, but withdrew when the full implications of their size and impact on local society became apparent. He was also concerned for the owners of local small businesses. He admits, however, that the income from hosting turbines - around £10,000 a year per unit - would have been welcome.

When the Siddells moved to rural Ayrshire, they hoped for a life of peace and quiet. Now, at night, they say they can’t hear the television properly because of the wind turbines that loom over their converted steading.

Power companies operating wind farms in Scotland were paid more than £1 million to shut down their turbines for a single day last month, Scotland on Sunday can reveal. ...The so-called "constraint payments" are paid by the National Grid to energy companies when energy supply outstrips demand - turbines are switched off so they stop producing electricity to rebalance the system.

The Government's renewable energy strategy is in tatters after a report exposing the true costs of generating electricity by wind power. An internal document from the National Grid, seen by the Sunday Express, says wind turbine energy will at times cost over 3,000 per cent more than conventional power. Industry experts say over-reliance on wind power could mean fuel poverty for consumers, as older power plants reach the end of their working lives while Britain's new generation of nuclear stations is still a long way off completion.

Energy Secretary insisted households will be better off due to initiatives but families will only benefit if they buy more efficient domestic appliances. Average bill is now £1,267 with £112 of that amount going on green taxes. By 2020 green taxes will have risen by over 150 per cent - £286 per family. Charity said government 'embarrassed by terrifying cost of green policies'. Claimed it is 'covering up' with a 'whitewash of wildly optimistic assumptions'.

Babcock & Brown Ltd.'s fight to avoid becoming Australia's next victim of the credit crisis may depend on convincing bankers that it can sell assets in a market where others have failed. Babcock slumped 51 percent in Sydney trading since Nov. 6, when ABN Amro Holdings NV analyst John Heagerty said the owner of wind farms and real estate may breach loan agreements next year. ...Babcock said June 16 it was "confident'' the wind assets would be sold this year -- an assumption Heagerty said may prove too optimistic. "The sale of Babcock's wind assets is likely to be postponed further given the difficulties for the acquirers in obtaining financing,'' he said.

"It is important that we remain competitive in comparison with other countries. If not, a company of global stature like Bayer can think about moving its production to countries where energy costs are lower," he said.

BEDFORD — The county’s visitors bureau has spoken out against wind turbines, saying they will not boost tourism.

The U.S. government is committing billions of dollars to support renewable energy such as wind- and solar-power plants. Some say it should use more of that financial clout to encourage less energy consumption in the first place. Advocates of conservation, including businesses that help homeowners and companies save energy, think there should be more subsidies and tax incentives for basics like insulation and window shading, and for newer, more costly products like light-emitting-diode lamps and building-automation systems.

"Iberdrola Renewables is focusing on operations in 2012 rather than new building due to low energy prices, a poor economy and regulatory uncertainty," Johnson said, adding that the company has a "solid balance sheet, positive cash flow and no real debt."

Germany plans to exempt 1,550 large firms from a power price surcharge that covers part of the cost of switching to renewable energy. Critics say the list of exemptions is spurious and unfair to households and small businesses. It risks undermining faith in the government's switch to clean power.

The new wind farm on the Big Island's South Point is steadily producing power for Big Island residents. But it's not steadily shrinking local electricity bills...... But the wind power isn't lowering electricity bills even though it is locally generated, unlike the imported oil the state is so heavily reliant on. HELCO pays for the wind farm electricity by calculating the "avoided cost" or the cost the utility would have to pay if it were to build or generate power on its own. Lee said rates vary because they are tied to oil prices.

Meridian has sent letters to its 2500 Marlborough customers informing them of the rise, which follows annual price rises by other electricity suppliers Trustpower (8.1 percent in June) and Contact Energy (nine percent in July last year). Genesis Energy public affairs manager Richard Gordon said he could not recall any recent price rises and the company did not have any plans to do so for at least a year. Meridian spokesman Alan Seay said electricity increases were never good news but that the price rise was necessary and reflected the overall cost of supplying electricity......Mr Seay said the considerable price increase in Marlborough was attributable to increasing demand in the South Island, where dairying and viticulture were flourishing. As a result, Meridian was investing money into new hydro schemes and wind farms in Wellington and Central Otago.

Amid references to his hockey team and jokes that fired up the nearly 200 in attendance, billionaire Tom Golisano, owner of the Buffalo Sabres and founder of the successful Paychex company out of Rochester, promoted his newest entrepreneurial endeavor, Empire State Wind Energy, on Monday night at the Albion Senior High School. It wasn't the first occasion politicians and residents of Orleans County had gathered to hear heads of companies pass on details related to the often controversial topic of wind turbines. But, according to Golisano and his business partner Keith Pitman, their plan is different. "I don't want to make the same mistakes as Niagara Falls," Golisano said in reference to what he views as unfair distribution of funds yielded from the Niagara Power Project. "If it's your energy and wind, why give it up? We started this company because we think we have a better idea." According to Golisano and Pitman, that idea includes giving local municipalities more of the profits from wind energy, while leaving an option for ownership. In their view, outside companies work their way into the region, leaving taxpayers with a pittance of what they deserve.

Damaged rotor blades and forex losses caused the world's fifth-largest wind turbine maker Suzlon Energy post a consolidated net loss of Rs 34.90 crore for the quarter ended December 2008 against a Rs 142.8 crore profit in the corresponding previous quarter. ...Cracks were detected in 170 of the 1,250 blades for 400 turbines of the S88 V2 model supplied by Suzlon in 2007 to two of its major clients in the US -- Edison International and John Deere.