"All of these contracts are ba­sically being done on the back of Nova Scotia Power's balance sheet," Chris Huskilson, presi­dent of Emera Inc., told The Chronicle Herald's editorial board Tuesday in Halifax. "Any­body telling me they can't raise money on Nova Scotia Power's balance sheet . . . I have a little trouble with that."

Wind speeds have been studied and deemed insufficient at the water pollution plant off Black River Road "to feasibly and comfortably install a single wind turbine at current electricity prices," states a staff report, which heads to York's finance committee today. A 60-metre-tall Sutton tower was installed in September 2007 to monitor wind conditions, which found wind speeds needed to make the project viable were lacking.

DMI Industries, a manufacturer of turbine towers for the wind-energy sector, has cut 25 per cent of its workforce as it struggles with the cancellation and delay of major wind projects across North America. About 40 "green-collar" employees at the company's Fort Erie facility have been let go.

A slowing provincial economy is getting the blame for BC Hydro's decision to slash by 40 per cent the amount of power it sought in its recent call for green energy. Tumbling demand for electricity in the forestry sector, an expected decline in sales of consumer goods, and a presumed drop in housing starts over the next two years are all cited by Hydro in a recent filing to the British Columbia Utilities Commission.

Scientists Daniel Barrie and Daniel Kirk-Davidoff of the University of Maryland have told Discover News that they have conducted experiments on the affects the 300 foot turbines would have on the wind. Considering the conservation of energy, moving the turbines (to create electricity) would result in a drop of wind speed by about 5-7 mph. More importantly, the resulting winds would ripple through the atmosphere downstream and impact weather systems in a way not fully understood yet. Rather than get into the physics of what could happen in may different scenarios, wind sheer of any sort in the central plains is not a good thing. Think tornadoes!

Computer giant Dell Inc. said this summer that it has become "carbon neutral," the latest step in its quest to be "the greenest technology company on the planet." What that means, and what it doesn't, may surprise Dell customers and other consumers who have been bombarded with bold environmental promises from major corporations. ...The amount of emissions Dell has committed to neutralize is known in the environmental industry as the company's "carbon footprint." But there is no universally accepted standard for what a footprint should include, and so every company calculates its differently.

Lower prices for crude oil and natural gas may not have a lasting impact on expansion of the alternative energy sector in Western Canada-- but the current worldwide economic slowdown will, observers predict. ..."When push comes to shove in the budget process and you're concerned with funding people versus funding things, the short-run discount of protecting lives virtually always wins and investing in the future by building more renewables or encouraging more R&D in renewables tends to get less attention." That translates into fewer direct or indirect subsidies and fewer regulations designed to encourage the use of alternative energy.

No doubt about it, green is good. So why is it that across the country, more and more people are seeing red over wind energy? Some say that in the rush to develop wind power, current government regulations aren't doing enough to protect human health, or the environment. ..."I think the government really needs to step up to the plate and make sure they do their due diligence and make sure they do their history checks on where they are putting these wind turbines because it's about location, location, location," said one member. "The government has made rural Ontario residents expendable in the name of green energy."

One of the blades of a Suez Energy North America V-90 wind turbine situated approximately 1,600 feet away, between her house and the Northumberland Strait, was damaged. Pieces were dangling from the blade and other pieces were strewn throughout a field, right up to her back door. ...Sabota reported that blades on two of the three turbines in Suez Renewable Energy North America's Norway wind park sustained some damage.

This time of year, wind turbine blades ice up, biodiesel congeals in tanks and solar panels produce less power because there is not as much sun. ...As concern has grown about global warming, many utilities and homeowners have been trying to shrink their emissions of carbon dioxide - their carbon footprints - by installing solar panels, wind turbines and even generators powered by tides or rivers. But for the moment, at least, the planet is still cold enough to deal nasty winter blows to some of this green machinery.

The Coast Guard report, which is not yet released, reportedly considers the 130-turbine project in Nantucket Sound "doable" but some in the audience found the simulated radar scenarios more than a tad confusing as they tried to pick out the boats from the false echoes and turbine blades. ...There are short periods of time when the vessels are subsumed into the turbines," Rugger concluded. "Inside the wind farm there are a lot of secondary reflections, and often times it's hard to pick out the vessels from that."

The financial crisis is causing problems for First Wind, one of the backers of Deepwater Wind, the firm chosen by Gov. Donald L. Carcieri to build Rhode Island's offshore wind farm. ...First Wind declined to comment, but in its public filing the company warned: "If we are unable to obtain additional debt or equity financing, we may have to curtail our development activities or be forced to sell assets."

After more than a year of public meetings and discussion on how to integrate more wind energy from the southwest into Alberta's grid system, a $1.83 billion solution has been proposed. ...Last week the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) announced that it would be recommending the construction of a 240-kilovolt loop system to connect up to 2,700 megawatts (approximately 900 turbines).

A couple from West Prince has proof from the government their property has dropped in value since wind turbines were put up near their home. ...Beverly Howard told CBC News Monday there are now five new turbines within sight of their home, the closest about 500 metres away. "If you're sitting out on your deck, they're noisy, if you're out gardening they're noisy," she said.

The provincial government needs to be more considerate when entertaining new uses for Crown land in the Central Okanagan. That's the message the regional district board is delivering to the province's Integrated Land Management Bureau ...Case in point, the land bureau received an application for the installation of five, 60-metre meteorological towers in Lake Country's Beaver and Oyama Lakes watersheds, to test for wind energy.

To make use of this clean [renewable] energy, we'll need more transmission lines that can transport power from one region to another and connect energy-­hungry cities with the remote areas where much of our renewable power is likely to be generated. We'll also need far smarter controls throughout the distribution system--technologies that can store extra electricity from wind farms in the batteries of plug-in hybrid cars, for example, or remotely turn power-hungry appliances on and off as the energy supply rises and falls. If these grid upgrades don't happen, new renewable-power projects could be stalled, because they would place unacceptable stresses on existing electrical systems.

In a letter to U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthome dated Thursday, the congressman [Rahall D-WV] requests that the federal Minerals Management Service delay issuing its final environmental impact statement "until the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) has provided the public 60 days to review and comment on a third-party review of the radar study submitted by the Cape Wind project developers."

Doyle is paid just over $35,000 a month for the seven wind turbines in his soybean and corn fields. Those turbines and thousands others across the Midwest the past few years were part of an unprecedented build-out for the wind-power industry. That expansion is now drastically slowing as financing dries up ...Companies that bankrolled much of the boom -- the insurer AIG, now-bankrupt financial service company Lehman Brothers and Wachovia Corp. -- are among the meltdown's biggest losers.

Waters off the Northeast coast are called by some the Saudi Arabia of wind for their potential in providing massive amounts of energy to the region. Yet even talk of placing huge turbines in shallow waters off scenic shores can raise an enormous public outcry. Behind the scenes in the U.S. and in Europe, the race is on to build the world's first deep-water wind farms ..."I think it's important when we think about this that we keep in mind this is a long-term perspective," Johannessen said. "We're talking about 10 years-plus, or 20 years maybe, before the technology is available on commercial terms."

The P.E.I. government has postponed its call for private wind power development proposals because of the downturn in the economy. In October, the province announced a $1-billion development plan to more than triple the wind power generated in the province, to 500 megawatts, by the year 2013.