LIVE on JZ Go Green: Sec. Chu joins Salazar and Vilsack for a roundtable discussion on building a clean energy economy at 9AM EST

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Local family is living "off the grid" on Bent Mountain

Walgreens Becomes First Drugstore Chain in the U.S. to Install a Geothermal Energy System - MarketWatch

Walgreens goes green by installing a Geothermal Energy System in their Oak Park Illinois Store which is located in a suburb of Chicago.  The store is expected to reduce its energy usage by about 46 percent as a result of the geothermal system.

Going solar: Ann Arbor man plans to make history with first 'net zero' home in a historic district

Energy company opens first U.S manufacturing, research plant in Phoenix

California-based Power-One, the world’s second-largest manufacturer of power inverters for the renewable energy industry, will open its first North American manufacturing facility in Phoenix. This marks the sixth such company to move to Greater Phoenix since January, drawn by the state’s landmark Renewable Energy Tax Incentive Program.

Governor Jan Brewer, who talked with The Independent Wednesday evening said, “Power-One brings the quality jobs I am committed to attracting for Arizonans. Arizona has a dynamic mix of resources, human capital and knowledge assets to optimize any company’s performance. Power-One is one more significant milestone along Arizona’s path toward strengthening our market position in the global solar industry.”"

How can renters go green? Simple steps save big bucks

Renting may limit how you go green -- rain barrels, solar panels and wind turbines are obviously out. The good news: you can still do a lot to reduce your carbon footprint, and you'll save money doing it.

'There's a myth that there isn't a lot that renters can do,' said Paula Cino, director of energy and environmental policy with the National Multi Housing Council, tells The Washington Post. 'Our individual behavior has a huge impact on sustainability.'"

Report: Arizona could be site for clean-energy research center

Arizona could be a key member of a regional clean-energy research network proposed in a report released today.

The report from Brookings Mountain West calls for an expanded network of federally funded research and innovation centers focused on solar, biofuels, geothermal and other alternative-energy sources, with the centers to be established in Arizona or five nearby states.

It calls for annual funding of between $1 billion and $2 billion with the aim of reducing the nation's dependence on fossil fuels.

Funding could come from a range of sources, such as a carbon tax or offshore-drilling fees, said Mark Muro, a senior fellow and policy director at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., and co-author of the report with Sarah Rahman.

"There's bipartisan recognition of the need for and likely economic benefits from energy innovation," he said.

Read more:

The Ten Essential Renewable Energy News Stories This Week

1. White House Report: U.S. Primed to Achieve Major Breakthroughs in Renewable Energy - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has released a report which shows the country is on-track for three major innovation breakthroughs in the renewable energy and cleantech industries.

2. Blame Coal for Eleven Day China Traffic Jam - According to the Christian Science Monitor, the root cause for China's two week long traffic jam might be the trade of illegal coal mined in Northern China.

3. The UK Wind Farm and the Mystery of the Seal 'Corkscrew' Deaths - At least 50 dead seals have washed up on Britain's east coast over the past year and half, all of them with a brutal corkscrew-shaped mutilation running from their head to tail. Reports indicate the deaths may have been caused by construction of an offshore wind farm.

4. Al Gore: Climate Bill Failure Costing U.S. Billions - Former Vice President Al Gore claims in a recent blog post that the failure of the U.S. Senate to pass legislation to curb greenhouse gases (like the American Power Act) is already costing the country billions of dollars.

5. Finland to Set World Standard with Proposed Green Highway - Finland's comprehensive "green highway" proposal will likely set a world standard for efficient,renewable energy travel. Not just an electrified highway, the focus is to turn a 130 km (81 mile) stretch of road into an ecological route.

6. BP Warning Clean-Up Crews That a 200-Foot, 2-Mile Oil Slick is About to Hit Grand Isle - Journalist Mac McClelland has reported that oil clean-up supervisors in the Gulf of Mexico have been informed by British Petroleum that "a 200-foot-by-2-mile swath of oil is going to make landfall on Grand Isle in the next couple of days."

7. EBoom Capital: Solar Sector Contrasts Spectacular Winners and Hapless Losers - The overall market indices and the sector ETFs tell a mildly depressing and boring story of solar companies under-performing the overall equity markets so far this year, but a closer look reveals a dramatic contrast between spectacular winners and hapless losers.

8. Burgeoning Renewable Chemical Industry Set for Record Year of Venture Capital Investment - The production of renewable chemicals does not receive a lot media attention; yet, it is an emerging cleantech industry that could have a record year for venture capital investment in 2010.

9. Let There Be Light: LED, That Is - LED lighting is inching closer towards a takeover of the lighting market. Evidence of this lies in Cree Lighting's new LED kitchen downlight, which features several advantages over other light bulbs.

10. The Solar Incentive Report Card is an Essential Guide for Residential Solar Consumers - Solar Power Rocks, an online solar power resource has released its 2010 Report Card which is the first comprehensive assessment of the status of residential solar energy in the United States.

That's it, consider yourself briefed. Remember one of the best ways to stay informed on the most current news from the renewable energy and cleantech sectors is to follow EnergyBoom on Twitter and Facebook.

U.S. energy use in record drop

Wind power increased significantly in 2009, even as overall energy consumption fell by the largest margin since records have been kept.
Energy use in the United States fell nearly 5% last year, marking the largest annual drop on record, according to an analysis of federal data by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.


Total U.S. energy use fell in 2009 to an estimated 94.6 quadrillion British Thermal Units, down from 99.2 quadrillion BTUs in 2008. To put that in perspective, the average room air conditioner uses about 10,000 BTUs.


This was the largest year-over-year drop since the government began keeping track in 1949, said A.J. Simon, an energy analyst at LLNL.


'Energy use tends to follow the level of economic activity, and that level declined last year,' he said. 'Simply said, people are doing less stuff. Therefore, they're burning less fuel.'


Despite the drop in overall energy use, Simon said the study also showed a substantial increase in alternative sources of energy, including gains in solar, hydro and wind power."

Green Column - Australia Steps Up Renewable Energy Efforts

SYDNEY — Australia has plans to build the biggest wind farm in the southern hemisphere by 2013, part of its scramble to fight climate change and harness its abundance of clean energy sources — wind, solar, waves, geothermal energy and bioenergy.

Renewable energy now supplies just 6 percent of power in Australia because the country has historically lacked the political and commercial will to pursue big renewable energy projects. And the very sources of Australia’s clean energy — its vast outback and nearly 60,000 kilometers, or 37,000 miles, of coast — are major obstacles to linking new, remote power sources into the grid.

“It’s a blessing and a curse,” said Matthew Warren, head of the Clean Energy Council, which represents more than 350 companies in renewable energy and energy efficiency fields."

West can lead the new energy economy

The West, with its wealth of wind, solar, geothermal and other clean, renewable energy resources, is poised to lead the nation toward a new energy future. But achieving that vision will require continued collaboration and a balanced approach that offers tremendous new economic and environmental benefits.

Recently, Sen. Harry Reid, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced a pilot solar project on federal land in Nevada. This is a great example of a good project in a good place. The federal agencies, state and local governments, utilities and other involved stakeholders agreed to build the project on a so-called “brownfield,” a place that has already been disturbed. In this instance, the site had been used for nuclear testing; the Department of Energy now plans to develop and test innovative solar energy projects there.

Wind vs. Coal: The Fight for a Mountaintop

Mountaintop removal and other surface mining have redrawn landscapes in the West Virginia-Kentucky border region. Environmentalists propose a wind farm to ensure one mountain’s future.

LORELEI SCARBRO’S husband, Kenneth, an underground coal miner for more than 30 years, is buried in a small family cemetery near her property here at the base of Coal River Mountain. The headstone is engraved with two roosters facing off, their feathers ruffled. Kenneth, who loved cockfighting, died in 1999, and, Ms. Scarbro says, he would have hated seeing the tops of mountains lopped off with explosives and heavy machinery by mining companies searching for coal.

Critics say the practice, known as “mountaintop removal mining,” is as devastating to the local environment as it is economically efficient for coal companies, one of which is poised to begin carving up Coal River Mountain. And that has Ms. Scarbro and other residents of western Raleigh County in a face-off of their own. 

45% of Portugals’ Energy Now Come From Renewable Sources

Five years ago, Portugal’s government promised that by 2010, 45% of the country’s energy will come from renewable sources (then, only 17 percent of Portugal’s grid came from renewables). Sounds impossible, but it’s true.

The green energy is mostly extracted from hydro and wind resources. The Portuguese government privatized and restructured former state energy utilities to create a grid better suited to renewable power sources.

Now, Portugal and Scotland have signed an agreement to start the development of wave energy. It set a feed-in tariff of 260 euros per megawatt/hour for the first 20 MW installed.

Portugal Going Green ..........

Amplify’d from www.nytimes.com

Portugal Gives Itself a Clean-Energy Makeover A wind farm at Barão de São João, south of Lisbon. LISBON — Five years ago, the leaders of this sun-scorched, wind-swept nation made a bet: To reduce Portugal’s dependence on imported fossil fuels, they embarked on an array of ambitious renewable energy projects — primarily harnessing the country’s wind and hydropower, but also its sunlight and ocean waves. Read more at www.nytimes.com

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NY Going Green Today ....

Amplify’d from www.pennenergy.com

Beacon Power wins $43MM DOE loan guarantee for flywheel energy storage plant in NY Source: U.S. Department of Energy  Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced that a $43 million loan guarantee has been finalized for Beacon Power Corporation's 20 megawatt innovative flywheel energy storage plant in Stephentown, NY. The plant will help improve the stability and reliability of the state's electric grid and Beacon estimates it will create 20 construction jobs in New York and 40 permanent jobs in Massachusetts. Beacon Power is an energy storage company headquartered in Tyngsboro, Massachusetts. "This project demonstrates our ongoing commitment to helping bring clean technologies to market," said Secretary Chu. "We will continue to support the development and deployment of innovative energy systems like this energy storage project that support our goal of expanding renewable energy generation and reducing greenhouse gas emissions." "This is truly exciting news for the Rensselaer County and for New York State," said Senator Kristen Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee. "It is the continued development of new energy technologies, like the fly-wheel system designed by Beacon Power that will move our nation forward towards a clean energy economy. This significant investment will create green jobs, spur economic development, and help bring increased energy reliability for New Yorkers."  Read more at www.pennenergy.com

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