He warns of an energy crisis and the shortcomings of alternative fuels in talk at Cal Poly; some in the audience wanted more on how to avoid maximum oil usage

Despite a short-term spike in the cost of wind power, data from a recent Emerging Energy Research study shows wind energy is nearly cost-competitive. The Comparative Costs of Energy report focuses on the European market but can be applied to the U.S. market as well, said William Ambrose, president of EER. Much of the study was based on global trends in the industry, he said.

CHATHAM --- Is wind power an important element in weaning the country away from its reliance on fossil fuels, or a boondoggle that will do nothing more than line the pockets of investors and power companies? And where does the proposed Cape Wind project fit into all of this?

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 6, 2006--Soaring energy prices, an increase in global warming, news about the rise in CO2 levels and pollution, and rapid deforestation may explain why 90% of Americans are somewhat and very concerned about the future of the environment. This is the finding from the latest GMIPoll (www.gmipoll.com), a global survey of 9,000 online consumers in nine countries powered by global market intelligence solutions provider GMI (Global Market Insite, Inc.).

Democrats said the legislation could produce as much as $15 billion in revenue. Most of that money would pay to promote renewable fuels such as solar and wind power, alternative fuels including ethanol and biodiesel and incentives for conservation.

Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries plans to work with US conglomerate General Electric on nuclear and wind power generation ventures, a newspaper said on Saturday. Under the plan, the two firms will jointly bid for a $300-million project to boost capacity by 20 per cent at the 1.36-million-kilowatt Laguna Verde nuclear plant in Mexico, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported.

Within weeks of the Government's Energy Review (1) proposing that planning controls be relaxed to speed up the introduction of wind farms, a new report (2) reveals that badly-sited wind turbines can cause real noise problems for local communities.

Ishpeming, Michigan [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] Construction is currently under way this month on a rare wind energy project, a 200 kilowatt (kW) vertical-axis wind turbine outside a large residential complex in Michigan.

Strain on the wind energy market in 2006 led to a record number of mergers and acquisitions among companies and more are expected in 2007. Mergers and acquisitions in wind energy included all sectors from utilities to manufacturers to developers, according to a panel of investors at the 2007 Wind Power Finance and Investment Summit in San Diego. The boom in the market driven by capital and temporary tax incentives along with increasing availability of joint venture money and tax equity is countered by the stress from large price increases in turbines as well as installation, said John Calway, chief development officer of Wind North America, which was acquired by Babcock and Brown. The price of equipment going up will likely cause an increase in the cost of power as well, said Ted Brandt, chief executive officer and managing director of Marathon Capital. But Leif Andersen, vice president of sales for Suzlon Wind Energy Corp. said he is optimistic the supply chain will balance out. Prices should go down he said, once there is a more stable political climate and the production and manufacturing process is more streamlined.

If all eight of the projects were built, they would add up to about $15 billion worth of new construction-and because states have put so many requirements on utilities to meet part of their load with renewable energy, it's "pretty likely" all of the lines will be built, Kopczynski says. The eight projects don't take into account a power line PGE has discussed with Avista to serve as a link to Avista's Coyote Springs coal-fired plant near Boardman. They also don't take into account 11 requests that Avista has received to construct smaller power lines in its own service area to link developers' proposed wind-generation plants into its transmission system. "Potential resources are wind resources located in various locations on the Avista system, including but not limited to wind farms near Spokane, Othello, Lewiston, and Clarkston, Wash., as well as Grangeville, Idaho," an Avista report says. " ... up to three additional (requests) that may soon be in the queue." Avista spokesman Hugh Imhof says none of those projects is the wind farm that Avista has said it plans to develop itself, for which it's seeking a site.

Stocks of companies that generate electricity from solar or wind power -- or make the equipment to do so -- soared during the last three years. But the global credit crunch, higher prices for raw materials like polysilicon used in solar panels, and cuts in government subsidies to consumers, such as in Germany last month, have made investors much warier. High oil prices, analysts say, can't compensate for all that. "Some months ago, it was still true that a rising tide lifts all the boats," said Thomas Germann, an analyst at Zuercher Kantonalbank. "But investors are now scrutinizing what's going on at the company level, because cost efficiency has become more important." ..."The easy money has been made," said Jean Ryan, who oversees three funds with about €2 billion in assets at KBC Asset Management International Ltd., a unit of Belgium-based KBC Group NV.

A major report just released in Denmark finds negligible impacts to birds, fish and mammals from the two largest offshore wind farms in the world at Horns Rev and Nysted.
Editor's Note:Jack Coleman is a freelance writer, editor, blogger and former media adviser to the pro-wind farm Clean Power Now non-profit based in Hyannis. A link to the original report is available at the end of this article.

3M Co., best known for its Scotch Tape, Post-it brand notes and adhesives, is going into the wind-energy business, with a new line of fillers and protective coverings that can extend the life of wind turbine blades. The 3M Wind Tape product line, part of the $24.5 billion Maplewood-based company's new Renewable Energy division, puts 3M Co. in the middle of the scramble to develop renewable energy ..."Wind (turbine) blades spin at 180 miles-per-hour. Remember that these blades are composite materials. After a year or two years of use, you can get erosion or pitting at the leading edge of that (turbine) blade.

(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.

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.

Carbon dioxide is the biggest man-made contributor to global warming. It's caused by burning fossil fuels, the chief ones being coal and oil-based fuels like gasoline and diesel. The federal government monitors four main "greenhouse gases" - those that hold heat in the atmosphere. They are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and halocarbons. Carbon dioxide accounts for almost two-thirds of the man-made heat energy trapped in the air. Methane is second, accounting for nearly one-fifth of the extra heat.

In 2000-plus pages, filled with studies, statistics and opinions galore, the federal Minerals Management Service concluded that building a wind farm on Horseshoe Shoal was not only better than nowhere, but better than a good many other spots. The Final Environmental Impact Statement released last week didn't say the site in Nantucket Sound was perfect, but that it met a series of physical, biological and social/human benchmarks.

The United States is expected to be home to an anticipated 49,000 MW of installed wind-power capacity by 2015, making it the world's largest wind-power producer, according to a recent report. Developers are expected to invest more than $65 billion between 2007 and 2015 in wind-power facilities, researchers say.