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PROMISING TECHNOLOGIES AND IDEAS

(arranged alphabetically)

30 electric cars companies ready to take over the road. Chris Morrison, VentureBeat CleanTech. January 10, 2008. -- "It’s official: Green car madness has taken over. After seeing more electric and hybrid vehicle startups than we could keep track of, we finally decided to start keeping count. We’ve compiled a list, below, of 27 ( update: the list has reached 30; thanks for the comments) startups, listed according to their release date, with additional information on fuel type, range, top speed and price."

Al Gore group urges Obama to create U.S. power grid. By Deborah Zabarenko. Reuters, November 6, 2008. -- "Washington -- Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection has some environmental advice for the incoming Obama administration: focus on energy efficiency and renewable resources, and create a unified U.S. power grid. On Thursday, the group Gore founded rolled out a new media campaign to push for immediate investments in three energy areas it maintains would help meet Gore's previously announced challenge to produce 100 percent clean electricity in the United States in a decade."

All about algae: Can pond scum power our future? By Rachel Oliver. April 14, 2008, CNN.com . Hong Kong, China (CNN) -- "Thirty years ago, the last time the world faced an oil crisis, the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) launched a program to analyze the potential algae had as a renewable fuel. It didn't take it long to realize algae was a godsend. Actually being able to take advantage of it was another matter.... With oil prices now looking like they won't drop below $100 a barrel for some time -- if ever -- and technology costs relatively lower than a decade ago, algae's time in the sun could finally have arrived."

American Wind Energy Association Newsroom

As Oil Prices Rise, Carmakers Look to Electric Future. [Audio & Transcript]  PBS, June 25, 2008. -- "Rising oil prices and improvements in battery technology are fueling new interest in developing electric cars. Spencer Michels reports on how industry giants and start-up car companies alike plan to release new vehicles by 2010."

Berkeley Approves City-Backed Loans for Solar Panels. By Felicity Barringer. Published September 17, 2008, New York Times. -- San Francisco -- "The Berkeley City Council moved late Tuesday to eliminate one of the biggest obstacles to making homes more energy-efficient: the upfront cost. In a move being watched by other cities around the country, the Council unanimously approved a program to give city-backed loans to property owners who install rooftop solar-power systems. The loans, which are likely to total up to $22,000 apiece, would be paid off over 20 years as part of the owners’ property-tax bills."

Biofuel research switches to grass. Brookings, S.D. (Associated Press). Published December 13, 2007 Columbia Daily Tribune. - "Since President George W. Bush slipped the seldom-heard term 'switch grass' into his 2006 State of the Union Address, the prairie grass has been in vogue. Because it’s a perennial crop, it needs less fertilizer, recycling nutrients at the end of every season. It also puts down a deep root system, which helps it combat soil erosion, and adds to soil organic carbon every year. 'Switch grass is a wonderful crop for the soil and environment,' said Anna Rath, vice president of commercial development for California energy crop company Ceres Inc.

Bio-Hope, Bio-Hype: A users' guide to biofuels. By Frances Cerra Whittelsey. Sierra Club. September/October 2007.

BioHaus. The Waldsee BioHaus in Bemidji, Minnesota is an award winning, super energy-efficient school.

Building Strategies (Architecture 2030)

Building Technologies Program (U.S. Department of Energy)

Burning salt water fuels energy hopes. Scripps Howard News Service. Published. Tuesday, September 18, 2007 (Columbia Daily Tribune). "For obvious reasons, scientists long have thought that salt water couldn’t be burned. So when an Erie, Pa. man announced he’d ignited salt water with the radio-frequency generator he’d invented, some thought it was a hoax."

Can Coal Be Clean? A Debate Between Michael Brune of Rainforest Action Network and Joe Lucas of American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity. Democracy Now,October 7, 2008. [Audio, video, and transcript] -- "While John McCain and Barack Obama have painted clean coal as a panacea that will help solve the nation’s energy problem, many environmental and scientific groups have questioned whether the burning of coal can ever be clean. We host a debate between Rainforest Action Network director Michael Brune, author of the new book Coming Clean: Breaking America’s Addiction to Oil and Coal, and Joe Lucas of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity."

Can smoke and mirrors ease global warming? By Alister Doyle. Reuters, October 27, 2008. -- "Oslo -- Backers of extreme technologies to curb global warming advocate dumping iron dust into the seas or placing smoke and mirrors in the sky to dim the sun. But, even though they are seen by some as cheap fixes for climate change when many nations are worried about economic recession, such 'geo-engineering' proposals have to overcome wide criticism that they are fanciful and could have unforeseen side effects...."

Cape Wind lands another permit. By Patrick Cassidy, September 11, 2008 , Cape Cod Times. -- "State environmental officials have quietly issued a key permit for the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm. The state Department of Environmental Protection last month issued a water quality certificate for Cape Wind Associates' plan to install nearly eight miles of transmission cable through Lewis Bay in West Yarmouth that would connect to 130 wind turbines in the sound. If the turbines are built, an additional five miles of cable in federal waters would link the wind farm to the region's electric grid. 'It does meet our approval as long as they follow our regulations,' DEP spokesman Ed Colletta said this week."

Capturing the Ocean’s Energy. By Jon R. Luoma, Yale Environment 360. -- "Despite daunting challenges, technology to harness the power of the waves and tides is now being deployed around the world – from Portugal to South Korea to New York’s East River. These projects, just beginning to produce electricity, are on the cutting edge of renewable energy’s latest frontier: hydrodynamic power."

Carbon dioxide sequestration in deep-sea basalt. By David S. Goldberg, Taro Takahashi, and Angela L. Slagle . Communicated by Wallace S. Broecker, Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, NY, May 7, 2008. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. -- "Developing a method for secure sequestration of anthropogenic carbon dioxide in geological formations is one of our most pressing global scientific problems. Injection into deep-sea basalt formations provides unique and significant advantages over other potential geological storage options, including (i) vast reservoir capacities sufficient to accommodate centuries-long U.S. production of fossil fuel CO2 at locations within pipeline distances to populated areas and CO2 sources along the U.S. west coast...."

China battery company launches plug-in hybrid. Published December 19, 2008, Columbia Daily Tribune. -- Shanghai, China (Associated Press) -- "Battery maker turned car company BYD Co. has launched China’s first homegrown hybrid vehicle for the retail market, seeking an edge over its crisis-stricken international rivals.... The vehicle can run up to 62 miles on its electric engine, and when it runs low on power shifts to a back up gasoline engine. Its battery can fully charge in nine hours from a regular electrical outlet, or much faster at BYD’s own charging stations , the company said in a statement. The car will sell for 149,800 yuan - $22,000 - about the same as many Chinese-made midsize cars, it said."

Chrysler's plan to beat the Chevy Volt. Electric vehicles are a 'big deal' for Chrysler, executive says in an exclusive interview. By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNNMoney.com. Last Updated December 15, 2008. -- "New York -- Chrysler is pinning a huge part of its future on a plan to produce a full line of electric vehicles, at a reasonable cost to both the carmaker and the consumer. While General Motors is moving ahead with its Volt electric midsized car, Chrysler says it already has plans in place, not just for electric cars, but also for minivans and even off-road vehicles. Chrysler's strategy hinges on keeping it cheap. The carmaker will dispense with flashy designs in exchange for low cost and flexibility. And it plans to pile on more electric-powered models quickly once the program launches in 2010."

*A clean machine: Local firm using acetylene to power internal combustion engines. By Kevin Coleman of the Tribune’s staff. Published October 31, 2007, Columbia Daily Tribune. "A local company headed by former Missouri Gov. Roger Wilson says it has developed breakthrough technology that uses a clean-burning gas made from renewable sources to power internal combustion engines. The company, A Fuels Technologies LLC, a subsidiary of Go-Tec Inc., has filed an application with the U.S. Department of Energy to designate acetylene gas an alternative fuel. The company has patents on technology developed over a decade that Director of Research and Development Joe Wulff said can run engines on 'rocks and water.'"

**Climate Solutions, the Spring 2008 issue of YES magazine! - "NASA climate scientist Jim Hansen says we have 10 years to turn global warming trends around. The question now is what can we do—that is up to the scale of the crisis? This issue of YES! shows that solutions are within reach." -Featuring Bill McKibben, among others, and sections on Buildings, Electricity, Transportation, and Food & Forest....

Creamery to use sun to make frozen treats. Published Thursday, November 13, 2008, Columbia Daily Tribune. -- Hockessin, Del. (Associated Press) -- "The Creamery at Woodside Farm has long been known for ice cream flavors such as Cotton Candy, Fluffer Nutter and Chocolate Thunder. Coming soon to the creamery: solar power. That’s not the latest flavor for the summertime landmark, but it will be the farm’s modus operandi. Because refrigeration is a precious commodity on a dairy farm - and one that doesn’t come cheaply - owner Jim Mitchell decided to invest in a solar-energy power plant that should eventually provide up to 85 percent of the farm’s power.... When the 112-kilowatt power plant goes online in the coming weeks, Woodside Farm will be the largest solar-powered commercial venture in the state, said Delaware Energy Office spokeswoman Rachel Marcus."

e2, PBS Podcasts. -"e2 is an ongoing documentary series about solutions to prescient environmental challenges. Comprised of eighteen half-hour episodes, the series covers topics including design, energy, water, food transportation and places."

Electric Cars. [Audio; transcript available], Diane Rehm Show, August 14, 2008. -- "High gas prices and concerns about emissions have many drivers searching for alternatives – including vehicles powered by electricity. A look at new developments in the effort to mass produce affordable, safe, and easy to charge electric cars. Guests: Les Goldman , attorney in private practice representing A123, Chelsea Sexton, co-founder, Plug In America, John O'Dell, senior editor, Edmunds.com www.greencaradvisor.com, Elon Musk, founder and chair, Tesla Motors."

Electric Cars Are the Key to Energy Independence. By David Morris. Posted August 2, 2008. AlterNet. -- "Renewables won't give us energy independence unless that electricity is used as a substitute for oil in our transportation system. Al Gore's heroic speech challenging us to make our electrical system 100 percent renewable promised it would simultaneously address three major crises: the weak economy, catastrophic climate change and the dire national security problems inherent in our dependence on imported oil. He got two out of three right. A crash renewable electricity initiative would provide an immediate boost to our economy and could slow climate change, since electricity accounts for about a third of our overall greenhouse gas emissions."

Electricity From What Cows Leave Behind. By Katie Zezima. Published September 23, 2008, New York Times. -- "For years, the cows at Green Mountain Dairy here produced only milk and manure. But recently they have generated something else: electricity. The farm is part of a growing alternative energy program that converts the methane gas from cow manure into electricity that is sold to the power utility’s grid. Central Vermont Public Service, which supplies electricity to 158,000 customers around the state, was among the first utilities in the country to draw electricity from cow manure on dairy farms. About 4,000 utility customers participate by agreeing to pay a premium for the electricity."

*Energy efficiency and Renewable Energy (U.S. Department of Energy)

Energy Star is a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy helping us all save money and protect the environment through energy efficient products and practices. Results are already adding up. Americans, with the help of ENERGY STAR, saved enough energy in 2006 alone to avoid greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those from 25 million cars — all while saving $14 billion on their utility bills.

Entrepreneur Vaults Over Cost Obstacles. With Launch of Solar Leasing Program. (Architecture 2030). - "A California company is demonstrating that combating climate change goes hand in hand with creating jobs and a strong economy. SolarCity is revolutionizing the market for residential solar systems with a lease-based program that reduces homeowners’ upfront costs by as much as 90%. In just a year and a half, the Silicon Valley-based company has become the largest home solar-panel installer in the state and, in need of new employees, is launching its first workforce training academy in a disadvantaged San Francisco community – one that had previously suffered the effects of an adjacent coal-fired plant...."

Europe Lowers Goals for Biofuel Use. By James Kanter. Published September 11, 2008, New York Times. -- Paris — "European legislators said Thursday that government goals for using biofuels should be pared back, prompting the fledgling industry to fire back with a campaign warning that alternatives may be no cleaner. European governments pledged last year to increase the use of biofuels to 10 percent of all transport fuel by 2020, amid expectations that energy derived from crops would provide a low-carbon alternative. On Thursday, the European Parliament’s influential Industry Committee endorsed the general 10 percent target — but added a number of modifications meant to move away from traditional biofuels made from grains or other crops toward other, renewable energy sources."

**Face It There’s A Solution To Global Warming. This webcast, produced by Architecture 2030 (despite its initial attempt at humor and its lecture format) demonstrates well the scientific facts of global warming, and presents the best way to stop its worst effects: stop using coal. TO DO THIS, WE MUST IMPROVE THE ENERGY CONSUMPTION OF OUR BUILDINGS AND WE CAN.

Follow the "Green" Brick Road? Bricks made from coal-fired power plant waste pass safety test. (National Science Foundation). May 22, 2007. - "Henry Liu developed fly ash bricks, a potential 'green' alternative to clay bricks. Researchers have found that bricks made from fly ash--fine ash particles captured as waste by coal-fired power plants--may be even safer than predicted. Instead of leaching minute amounts of mercury as some researchers had predicted, the bricks apparently do the reverse, pulling minute amounts of the toxic metal out of ambient air.... 'Manufacturing clay brick requires kilns fired to high temperatures,' said Henry Liu, a longtime National Science Foundation (NSF) awardee and the president of Freight Pipeline Company (FPC), which developed the bricks. 'That wastes energy, pollutes air and generates greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. In contrast, fly ash bricks are manufactured at room temperature.'"

Forget Nuclear. By Amory B. Lovins, Imran Sheikh, and Alex Markevich. Rocky Mountain Institute. -- "Nuclear power, we’re told, is a vibrant industry that’s dramatically reviving because it’s proven, necessary, competitive, reliable, safe, secure, widely used, increasingly popular, and carbon-free — a perfect replacement for carbon-spewing coal power. New nuclear plants thus sound vital for climate protection, energy security, and powering a growing economy. There’s a catch, though: the private capital market isn’t investing in new nuclear plants, and without financing, capitalist utilities aren’t buying.... This non-technical summary article compares the cost, climate protection potential, reliability, financial risk, market success, deployment speed, and energy contribution of new nuclear power with those of its low- or no-carbon competitors. It explains why soaring taxpayer subsidies aren’t attracting investors. Capitalists instead favor climate-protecting competitors with less cost, construction time, and financial risk...."

Geothermal Technologies Program (U.S. Department of Energy)

GM buying into ethanol. Detroit ( Detroit Free Press) Published January 14, 2008, Columbia Daily Tribune. - "It sounds like a fevered dream of science: a fuel that costs less than $1 a gallon to create, made out of anything from wood chips to your kitchen trash, that takes little water or natural resources. And it’s available in volumes large enough to ease some of America’s thirst for oil within five years…."

The Great Forgotten Clean-Energy Source: Geothermal. The U.S. uses less than 1 percent of our available geothermal energy. by Prachi Patel-Predd (Discover Magazine, April 2008).  --"If we could extract all the geothermal energy that exists underneath the United States to a depth of two miles, it would supply America’s power demands (at the current rate of usage) for the next 30,000 years. Getting at all that energy is not feasible—there are technological and economic impediments—but drawing on just 5 percent of the geothermal wealth would generate enough electricity to meet the needs of 260 million Americans. The Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) asserts that reaching that 5 percent level, which would produce 260,000 megawatts of electric power and reduce our dependence on coal by one-third, is doable by 2050."

*Green Dreams. By Joel K. Bourne, Jr Photographs by Robert Clark (appears in the October 2007 issue of National Geographic). "Producing fuel from corn and other crops could be good for the planet–if only the process didn't take a significant environmental toll. New breakthroughs could make a difference."

Green Homes (Mother Earth News)

Green Start-Up Companies (Time April 28, 2008 Issue). - Includes articles on Amyris Biotechnologies, Nanosolar, First Solar, Serious Materials, Petroalgae, E-meter, Solarcity, ClimateCheck, Verdiem, Enphase, Ausra, Verenium, Finavera Renewables, Ergo Exergy, and GridPoint.

Green Transportation (Mother Earth News)

**Handle With Care. By Cornelia Dean. Published August 11, 2008, New York Times. -- "Last year, a private company proposed 'fertilizing' parts of the ocean with iron, in hopes of encouraging carbon-absorbing blooms of plankton. Meanwhile, researchers elsewhere are talking about injecting chemicals into the atmosphere, launching sun-reflecting mirrors into stationary orbit above the earth or taking other steps to reset the thermostat of a warming planet. This technology might be useful, even life-saving. But it would inevitably produce environmental effects impossible to predict and impossible to undo. So a growing number of experts say it is time for broad discussion of how and by whom it should be used, or if it should be tried at all."

Harvest the Sun — From Space. By O. Glenn Smith. Published July 23, 2008, New York Times. -- "As we face $4.50 a gallon gas, we also know that alternative energy sources — coal, oil shale, ethanol, wind and ground-based solar — are either of limited potential, very expensive, require huge energy storage systems or harm the environment. There is, however, one potential future energy source that is environmentally friendly, has essentially unlimited potential and can be cost competitive with any renewable source: space solar power. Science fiction? Actually, no — the technology already exists. A space solar power system would involve building large solar energy collectors in orbit around the Earth."

Help Rock Port Celebrate Being 100% Wind Powered. (Heartland Utilities for Energy Efficiency) Rock Port , MO, February 4, 2008 -- "Rock Port Missouri is the first 100% wind powered community in the United States. To celebrate this tremendous achievement, a Green Switch Celebration will be held on Friday, April 18, 2008. Rock Port's 100% wind power status is due to four wind turbines located on agricultural lands within the city limits of Rock Port. The city of Rock Port uses approximately 13 million kilowatt hours of electricity each year. It is predicted that these four turbines will produce 16 million kilowatt hours each year. Excess wind generated electricity not used by Rock Port homes and businesses will move onto the transmission lines to be purchased by the Missouri Joint Municipal Utilities for use in other areas. This makes Rock Port, Missouri the first community in America capable of meeting its entire annual electricity demands from wind power!"

How does solar power work? Chemist Paul Alivisatos explains how to generate electricity from sunlight. By Susannah Locke, Scientific American, October 20, 2008. -- "The sun—that power plant in the sky—bathes Earth in ample energy to fulfill all the world's power needs many times over. It doesn't give off carbon dioxide emissions. It won't run out. And it's free.... Old-school solar technology uses large crystals made out of silicon, which produces an electrical current when struck by light. Silicon can do this because the electrons in the crystal get up and move when exposed to light instead of just jiggling in place to make heat. The silicon turns a good portion of light energy into electricity, but it is expensive because big crystals are hard to grow. Newer materials use smaller, cheaper crystals, such as copper-indium-gallium-selenide, that can be shaped into flexible films. This 'thin-film' solar technology, however, is not as good as silicon at turning light into electricity...."

How Satellites Could Power the Future. By Michael Schirber, LiveScience. June 18, 2008. -- "Placing solar panels in space above both night and clouds was first considered 40 years ago. But the estimated cost was, in a word, astronomical. The idea, however, has seen a resurgence, thanks to rising oil prices and advances in solar technology. A report from U.S. Defense Department found that space-based solar is technically feasible and economically viable."

**How Wind Power Competes. Wind energy has incredible potential and is cost-competitive with other, more traditional energy sources. By Peyton Baldwin, Mother Earth News, May 2, 2008. - "In the United States, three states — Kansas, North Dakota and Texas — have enough wind capacity to power the entire country. Building wind farms like this one will help us reach that potential. Wind power is the fastest growing form of electricity in the world. According to WorldWatch Institute, in 2007 the world capacity of wind power rose 27 percent to 94,100 megawatts. In the United States alone, 5,244 megawatts of wind power were added, enough to power 4.5 million homes. This growth is above recent projections and puts wind power on track to be a prime competitor in the power industry."

Hydroelectric plan plugs in to Big Muddy. Project proposes turbines on riverbed. By T.J. Greaney, Columbia Daily Tribune, December 7, 2008. -- "A Massachusetts-based company is proposing a massive project along the Missouri River that would be the first to use the force of the river to generate hydrokinetic energy. Free Flow Power Corp. wants to plant thousands of small turbines underwater and use the rotation of turbine blades to produce clean energy. It has requested preliminary permits from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to study 25 regions of the river for the feasibility of generating electricity."

In Deep-Sea Rock, a Place for CO2. By Henry Fountain. Published July 15, 2008, New York Times Observatory. -- "As everyone knows, the world has a carbon dioxide problem, and there are many suggestions for dealing with it. One is sequestration, keeping the gas out of the atmosphere through long-term storage...."

Insulation Fact Sheet ( U.S. Department of Energy)

Is the Hydrogen Age Just Around the Corner? By Jerry Brown and Rinaldo Brutoco and James Cusumano, Ode. Posted December 28, 2007. -"Hydrogen fuel cells will never be a practical source of power, right? Wrong. The technology is set to take off sooner than you think."

*It’s Time to Stop America’s Addiction to Foreign Oil. PickensPlan. -– "America is in a hole and it's getting deeper every day. We import 70% of our oil at a cost of $700 billion a year - four times the annual cost of the Iraq war. I've been an oil man all my life, but this is one emergency we can't drill our way out of. But if we create a new renewable energy network, we can break our addiction to foreign oil. On January 20, 2009, a new President gets sworn in. If we're organized, we can convince Congress to make major changes towards cleaner, cheaper and domestic energy resources. To get this done, I need your help. Check out the plan. If you think it's worth fighting for, please join our effort .....

Japan launches first solar cargo ship. Yahoo News, December 19, 2008. -- Tokyo (AFP) –- "The world's first cargo ship partly propelled by solar power took to the seas on Friday in Japan , aiming to cut fuel costs and carbon emissions when automakers export their products. Auriga Leader, a freighter developed by shipping line Nippon Yusen K.K . and oil distributor Nippon Oil Corp ., took off from a shipyard in the western city of Kobe, officials of the two firms said. The huge freighter capable of carrying 6,400 automobiles is equipped with 328 solar panels at a cost of 150 million yen (1.68 million dollars ), the officials said."

The Key to Safe and Effective Carbon Sequestration. Some rock acts as a natural stopper to buried carbon dioxide. by Jeremy Jacquot, Discover Magazine, March 2008.- "To the dismay of environmentalists, coal is still king in the U.S. electricity market. Nearly 50 percent of the electric power in this country comes from burning coal to create steam that drives electricity-generating turbines. Coal-burning power plants in the United States emit about 2.1 billion tons of carbon dioxide each year... and finding technologies that reduce those emissions in the United States and China... is crucial to combating global warming. One oft-cited but little-used solution is to catch carbon dioxide as it is released from smokestacks and pump it underground into rocks capped by impermeable shale, a process called carbon capture and storage. The worry is that the injected material could leak and bubble to the surface, negating the whole point of the process. Now, a British geologist’s study suggests sandstone could rapidly absorb the gas, potentially providing a safe, leakproof reservoir....

A Land Rush in Wyoming Spurred by Wind Power. By Felicity Barringer. Published November 27, 2008, New York Times. -- "Wheatland , Wyo. — The man who came to Elsie Bacon’s ranch house door in July asked the 71-year-old widow to grant access to a right of way across the dry hills and short grasses of her land here. Ms. Bacon remembered his insistence on a quick, secret deal. The man, a representative of the Little Rose Wind Farm of Boulder, Colo., sought an easement for a transmission line to carry his company’s wind-generated electricity to market. His offer: a fraction of the value of similar deals in the area. As Ms. Bacon, 71, recalled it: 'He said, ‘You sure I can’t write you out a check?’ He was really pushy.' A quiet land rush is under way among the buttes of southeastern Wyoming, and it is changing the local rancher culture...."

Large solar energy plant opens near Bakersfield. David R. Baker, San Francisco Chronicle, October 24, 2008. -- "California 's big-solar boom is under way. The first of what could be many new, large solar thermal power plants in California opened Thursday north of Bakersfield, on a patch of land surrounded by almond orchards. Designed and built by Palo Alto startup Ausra, the plant's long rows of mirrors will generate as much as 5 megawatts of electricity, enough for 3,750 homes. The mirrors focus sunlight on tubes filled with water, generating steam that then turns a turbine to produce electricity. It is the first large solar thermal plant built in California in 18 years. But Ausra and other companies plan much bigger plants in the future."

Lightbulbs to Leadership. [Video] Sierra Club.

**Mapping the World for a Wind-Powered Future. By James Kanter, New York Times, December 5, 2008. -- "Could the biggest barrier to global renewable energy adoption really be a lack of information? That is the line taken by a company called 3TIER that produces data-rich maps to help plan the locations for wind and solar farms. At a time when money is tight, there certainly is a ring of authenticity about 3TIER’s claim that developers, financiers and governments need help making better decisions about their investments before, during and after their projects are built.... A year ago, the company released a world wind map that provided detailed information about suitable sites that simulate the interaction between the atmosphere and the earth’s surface. On Thursday, at climate change talks in Poznan, Poland, 3TIER said it was offering an updated map with much higher resolution and richer data. 3TIER said it used a 10-year simulation across the world’s land mass at a resolution of 5 kilometers to create its latest product."

Missouri Department of Natural Resources. Renewable Energy.

Mounting Costs Slow the Push for Clean Coal. By Matthew L. Wald. Published May 30, 2008, New York Times. - Washington — "For years, scientists have had a straightforward idea for taming global warming. They want to take the carbon dioxide that spews from coal-burning power plants and pump it back into the ground. President Bush is for it, and indeed has spent years talking up the virtues of “clean coal.” All three candidates to succeed him favor the approach. So do many other members of Congress. Coal companies are for it. Many environmentalists favor it. Utility executives are practically begging for the technology. But it has become clear in recent months that the nation’s effort to develop the technique is lagging badly."

More Efficient Method of Electrolysis Developed by MIT Scientist to Produce Hydrogen. By Scott Malone, Reuters, July 31, 2008. -- "A U.S. scientist has developed a new way of powering fuel cells that could make it practical for home owners to store solar energy and produce electricity to run lights and appliances at night. A new catalyst produces the oxygen and hydrogen that fuel cells use to generate electricity, while using far less energy than current methods. With this catalyst, users could rely on electricity produced by photovoltaic solar cells to power the process that produces the fuel, said the Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who developed the new material. 'If you can only have energy when the sun is shining, you're in deep trouble. And that's why, in my opinion, photovoltaics haven't penetrated the market,' Daniel Nocera, an MIT professor of energy, said... 'If I could provide a storage mechanism, then I make energy 24/7 and then we can start talking about solar'.... More coverage: MIT Discovery Primed to Unleash Solar Revolution. By Anne Trafton, July 31, 2008. MIT News. 

Move Over, Oil, There’s Money in Texas Wind. By Clifford Krauss, Published February 23, 2008, New York Times. Sweetwater , Tex. —…. "Texas, once the oil capital of North America, is rapidly turning into the capital of wind power. After breakneck growth the last three years, Texas has reached the point that more than 3 percent of its electricity, enough to supply power to one million homes, comes from wind turbines…. At the end of 2007, Texas ranked No. 1 in the nation with installed wind power of 4,356 megawatts (and 1,238 under construction), far outdistancing California’s 2,439 megawatts (and 165 under construction). Minnesota and Iowa came in third and fourth with almost 1,300 megawatts each (and 46 and 116 under construction, respectively). Iowa, Minnesota, Colorado and Oregon, states with smaller populations than Texas, all get 5 to 8 percent of their power from wind farms, according to estimates by the American Wind Energy Association."

Municipal Solar Power Plants. By Martin Roscheisen, CEO, Nanosolar. Posted April 16, 2008 (Yahoo Finance). - "At Nanosolar, we believe very much that meaningful scale for solar will come foremost from utility-scale solar power plants, in particular from municipal solar power plants of 2-10MW in size. These are rows of solar panels mounted onto the ground of free fields at the outskirts of towns and cities, feeding power directly into the municipal electricity grid. A 2MW municipal solar power plant requires about 10 acres of land to serve a city of 1,000 homes — that’s acreage generally easily available at the outskirts of any city of such size in even the most developed countries. Similar for a 10MW plant for a city with 5,000 homes...."

*Nanosolar Powersheet. The New Dawn Of Solar. — Michael Moyer, POPSCICOM (Popular Science). -"Imagine a solar panel without the panel. Just a coating, thin as a layer of paint, that takes light and converts it to electricity. From there, you can picture roof shingles with solar cells built inside and window coatings that seem to suck power from the air."

Nuclear Power Costs: High and Higher. By Arjun Makhijani. Science for Democratic Action, January 2008, Volume 15, no. 2. -An excellent series of very detailed articles by Makjihani on the economics of nuclear power compared to greener sources. "Wall Street casts a skeptical eye on nuclear power plants and no company is ready to order one without federal loan guarantees.... there is the real risk that nuclear power plants will be economically obsolete before they are built. Wind energy is already more economical than nuclear energy...."

Offshore Wind May Power the Future. By Emily Waltz, Scientific American, October 20, 2008. -- "Not only are offshore winds stronger but landlubbers have fewer objections to turbines almost invisible from the coast. The waters of the Jersey Shore may soon become home to the nation's first deepwater wind turbines. New Jersey officials recently announced the state would help fund an initiative by Garden State Offshore Energy to build a 350-megawatt wind farm 16 miles (26 kilometers) offshore. The state wants by 2020 many more of these parks, at least 3,000 megawatts worth, or about 13 percent of the state's total electricity needs."

Ohio roofs go green. Cincinnati leads push in the U.S. Published October 2, 2008, Columbia Daily Tribune. Cincinnati (Associated Press) -- "Officials want to see more green roofs on building tops in Cincinnati. The city council yesterday became the first in Ohio with a plan to channel grants and loans to residents and businesses to replace tar and shingles with vegetation. Supporters of the idea want to see Cincinnati become a leader in green roofs, a European-born movement that they say not only is pleasing aesthetically but reduces stormwater runoff, filters pollutants and cuts heating and cooling costs."

Oil, timber giants start biofuel firm. McClatchy Newspapers. Published March 3, 2008, Columbia Daily Tribune. Seattle - "In a move to speed the development of alternative fuels that don’t consume food crops, oil giant Chevron and timber behemoth Weyerhaeuser are setting up a joint venture called Catchlight Energy. The companies said Friday the venture will pursue new technologies for converting cellulose and lignin - the compounds plants are made of - into biofuels."

Out of Sight, Out of Clime: Burying Carbon In a Vault of Sea and Rock. The best place to store all that carbon dioxide from power plants might turn out to be volcanic formations off the U.S. west coast. By David Biello, Scientific American, July 14, 2008. -- "Volcanic rocks deep beneath the sea off the coast of California, Oregon and Washington State might prove one of the best places to store the carbon dioxide emissions that are causing global warming , a new study finds. In fact, the very instability that causes earthquakes and eruptions adds an extra layer of protection to keep the CO 2 from ever escaping."

Plug-In Hybrid From G.M. Is Nearly Ready for Testing. By Nick Bunkley. Published August 14, 2008, New York Times. Traverse City , Mich. — ""General Motors said Thursday that it had “essentially finished' designing its first plug-in hybrid car, the Chevrolet Volt, and would have production-ready prototypes within 10 days. The automaker still has considerable work to do on the car’s lithium-ion battery and other technology in the two years before the Volt is scheduled to go on sale, but completing the design is a milestone for what is arguably the most crucial car in decades for G.M."

Projects in the wind. Demand for turbines overwhelms makers, causes start-up delays. By Erin Ailworth, Boston Globe, October 8, 2008. -- "A new wind turbine at the Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod was supposed to start cranking soon, generating enough electricity to save about $660,000 a year. But the $4.6 million turbine project - like many others in Massachusetts and elsewhere - is in limbo because key parts of the machine have yet to arrive…. Blame a worldwide parts shortage. For all the talk about renewable energy and heated debates over the siting of wind turbines, the reality is the turbines can't be made fast enough to meet growing demand."

Pumping Hydrogen. By Jad Mouawad. Published September 23, 2008, New York Times. -- "On a strip of Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles, a futuristic experiment posing as an ordinary fuel station may be bringing the world one step closer to the hydrogen age. From the moment engineers started dreaming about hydrogen as an alternative to oil, they faced a nagging question: What should come first — the fuel-cell car or the hydrogen pump?"

Renewable Energy. Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

Renewable Energy Tax Credit Extended Again, but Risk of Boom-Bust Cycle in Wind Industry Continues ( Union of Concerned Scientists).

Report touts wind’s potential. Turbines could provide 20 percent of power. (Associated Press) Published May 13, 2008, Columbia Daily Tribune. Washington. - "Two decades from now, Americans could get as much electricity from windmills as from nuclear power plants, according to a government report that lays out a possible plan for wind energy growth. The report, a collaboration between the Department of Energy research labs and industry, concludes wind energy could generate 20 percent of the nation’s electricity by 2030, about the same share now produced by nuclear reactors. Such growth would pose a number of major challenges but is achievable without the need of major new technological breakthroughs, said the report released yesterday."

**Repower America. ( A project of The Alliance for Climate Protection). [Includes Videos]. "Repower America is the bold clean energy plan to “repower” our country with 100% clean electricity within 10 years. First described in a speech last July by Al Gore, Repower America means new industries with high-paying jobs. It means lower energy costs. And, it means substituting clean domestic sources of energy and a transition away from dirty coal and foreign oil. Read about the goal here. By making buildings and homes more efficient, ramping up renewable energy generation, constructing a unified national smart grid, and transitioning to clean and affordable plug-in cars, we can address our country’s economic and national security challenges—all while making huge strides to solve the climate crisis. Please join with Al Gore and more than two million others calling on our leaders to Repower America with 100% clean electricity within 10 years.

Revolutionary paper is stronger than steel. CNN.com, October 20, 2008. -- Tallahassee , Florida (Associated Press) -- "It's called 'buckypaper' and looks a lot like ordinary carbon paper, but don't be fooled by the cute name or flimsy appearance. It could revolutionize the way everything from airplanes to TVs are made. Buckypaper is 10 times lighter but potentially 500 times stronger than steel when sheets of it are stacked and pressed together to form a composite. Unlike conventional composite materials, though, it conducts electricity like copper or silicon and disperses heat like steel or brass. 'All those things are what a lot of people in nanotechnology have been working toward as sort of Holy Grails,' said Wade Adams, a scientist at Rice University. That idea -- that there is great future promise for buckypaper and other derivatives of the ultra-tiny cylinders known as carbon nanotubes -- has been floated for years now. However, researchers at Florida State University say they have made important progress that may soon turn hype into reality."

Rock Port’s wind turbines power up to power town. (Associated Press) Published April 20, 2008, Columbia Daily Tribune. Rock Port. - "Officials in this northwest Missouri town christened a four-turbine wind farm this week, making Rock Port the first U.S. city to get all of its electricity from wind power. The $90 million Loess Hills Wind Farm, built by St. Louis-based Wind Capital Group and the John Deere Corp. on bluffs west of Rock Port, generates five megawatts each day, more than enough for this town of 1,300. The farm is producing enough energy to power a second town of Rock Port’s size. Missouri Joint Municipal Utilities will buy excess power from the farm, expected to eventually generate 16 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year...."

Running on Empty: Cars that Never Need Gas. (Sierra Club). -"There are hybrids. There are electric cars that plug into a wall and get their juice from whatever mix the electric company is offering. And then there are electic cars that are charged by solar panels on the roof of one's house. The never need gas, and the power is free after the set-up cost...."

Seafloor could trap CO2, scientists say. Published July 16, 2008, Columbia Daily Tribune. Seattle -- "Scientists say a partial solution to global warming might lie beneath the seafloor off the coasts of Washington and Oregon. Deep volcanic rocks could serve as a kind of storage locker for carbon dioxide, trapping the greenhouse gas under great pressure with virtually no chance of leaking back into the atmosphere, says a study published yesterday in the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."

Scientists deploy ocean monitors. Washington (McClatchy Newspapers). Published November 4, 2007, Columbia Daily Tribune.- "Scientists have just finished deploying a worldwide network of 3,000 automated floating sensors that will provide unprecedented information about the oceans’ powerful effect on the world’s climate. The Argo network, named for the ship that carried the fabled Greek sailors, the Argonauts, covers the seas in unmatched scope and detail. Because water covers 75 percent of the Earth’s surface, what happens in the oceans affects rising sea levels, the warming of the atmosphere, the birth of tropical storms and hurricanes, and much of the world’s food supply. The sea also absorbs half of the excess carbon that’s blamed for global warming. 'Now we can accurately measure changing ocean temperature globally for the first time,' said Dean Roemmich, a marine scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego."

Scum of the Earth. Scientists see potential for fast-growing algae in biofuels and more. Published October 2, 2008, Columbia Daily Tribune. Borculo, Netherlands (Associated Press) -- " Set amid cornfields and cow pastures in eastern Holland is a shallow pool that is rapidly turning green with algae, harvested for animal feed, skin treatments, biodegradable plastics - and with increasing interest, biofuel. In a warehouse 120 miles southwest, a bioreactor of clear plastic tubes produces algae in pressure-cooker fashion that its manufacturer hopes will one day power jet aircraft. Experts said it will be years, maybe a decade, before this simplest of all plants can be efficiently processed for fuel. But when that day comes, it could go a long way toward easing the world’s energy needs and responding to global warming."

*Self-powered homes face law roadblock. Necessary insurance is not offered in Missouri . Published January 5, 2009, Columbia Daily Tribune. -- Kansas City (Associated Press) -- "Problems have arisen with a new Missouri law that was supposed to make it easy for residents powering their own homes to put in wind turbines or solar panels. The idea was for the homeowners to be able to send any excess power back to utilities. But the Missouri Public Service Commission, which oversees the utilities, is requiring homeowners to buy insurance before they start feeding electricity to the grid. And it appears that no Missouri insurance companies sell the insurance. Under the new rule, homeowners who produce 10 kilowatts or less of energy must carry $100,000 worth of liability insurance. Those who generate more than 10 kilowatts of electricity must have a $1 million liability insurance policy."

*Solar energy 'revolution' brings green power closer. Panels start solar power 'revolution. By John Vidal, environment editor, The Guardian, December 29 2007. "The holy grail of renewable energy came a step closer yesterday as thousands of mass-produced wafer-thin solar cells printed on aluminium film rolled off a production line in California, heralding what British scientists called "a revolution" in generating electricity."

**A Solar Grand Plan. By Ken Zweibel, James Mason and Vasilis Fthenakis. Scientific American Magazine - January, 2008. -"By 2050 solar power could end U.S. dependence on foreign oil and slash greenhouse gas emissions [and] supply 69 percent of the U.S.’s electricity and 35 percent of its total energy by 2050. A vast area of photovoltaic cells would have to be erected in the Southwest. Excess daytime energy would be stored as compressed air in underground caverns to be tapped during nighttime hours. Large solar concentrator power plants would be built as well. A new direct-current power transmission backbone would deliver solar electricity across the country. But $420 billion in subsidies from 2011 to 2050 would be required to fund the infrastructure and make it cost-competitive."

Solar is the Solution. By Steve Heckeroth. Mother Earth News. December 2007/January 2008. "We know that relying on coal, oil and natural gas threatens our future with toxic pollution, global climate change and social unrest caused by diminishing fuel supplies. Instead of relying on unsustainable fossil fuels, we must transform our economy and learn to thrive on the planet’s abundant supply of renewable energy. I have been studying our energy options for more than 30 years, and I am absolutely convinced that our best and easiest option is solar energy, which is virtually inexhaustable…. We already have the technology and energy resources we need to build a sustainable, solar-electric economy that can cure our addiction to oil, stabilize the climate and maintain our standard of living, all at the same time."

Solar Power, At Last? The long-sought mechanism for a superior solar cell may now be at hand. By Boonsri Dickinson , Discover Magazine, November 16, 2007. For years physicists have sought a revolutionary approach to solar energy. Instead of working on ordinary solar cells, which require many photons to produce a single electron, they have focused on quantum dots, which need only one photon to produce multiple electrons. This process, called multiple exciton generation (MEG), has so far worked only in toxic materials like lead. Now Arthur Nozik at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory has proved that MEG works in silicon, the material that constitutes most solar cells. The next step: Prove that MEG can be scaled out of the lab to become commercially viable.

Solar power from Saharan sun could provide Europe's electricity, says EU. · Huge £35bn supergrid would pool green sources · Brown and Sarkozy back north African plan. By Alok Jha, science correspondent, The Guardian, July 23 2008. -- "A tiny rectangle superimposed on the vast expanse of the Sahara captures the seductive appeal of the audacious plan to cut Europe's carbon emissions by harnessing the fierce power of the desert sun. Dwarfed by any of the North African nations, it represents an area slightly smaller than Wales but scientists claimed yesterday it could one day generate enough solar energy to supply all of Europe with clean electricity."

Solar Refrigeration: A Hot Idea for Cooling. How to build a solar refrigerator: The brighter the sun, the better it works. By Duane Schrag, Scientific American, October 20, 2008. -- "Fishermen in the village of Maruata, which is located on the Mexican Pacific coast 18 degrees north of the equator, have no electricity. But for the past 16 years they have been able to store their fish on ice: Seven ice makers, powered by nothing but the scorching sun, churn out a half ton of ice every day.... The solar energy hitting 54 square feet (five square meters) of land each year is the equivalent of all the electricity used by one American household, according to data from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Energy Information Administration, both part of the U.S. Department of Energy. Making cold out of hot is easier than one might think. A group of students last year at San Jose State University built a solar-powered ice maker with $100 worth of plumbing and a four-by-eight-foot (1.2-by-2.4-meter) sheet of reflecting steel. No moving parts, no electricity but give it a couple hours of sunshine and it can make a large bag of ice...."

Solar Water Heaters Now Mandatory In Hawaii. CNN Environmental News Network , June 30, 2008. -- "Hawaii has become the first state to require solar water heaters in new homes. The bill was signed into law by Governor Linda Lingle, a Republican. It requires the energy-saving systems in homes starting in 2010. It prohibits issuing building permits for single-family homes that do not have solar water heaters. Hawaii relies on imported fossil fuels more than any other state, with about 90 percent of its energy sources coming from foreign countries, according to state data."

**Some clever people think that global warming offers a huge business opportunity for companies who can find new ways of tackling climate change. Peter Day's World of Business, BBC Radio: Hot Stuff (part 2) : July 22, 2008. -- "Peter Day hears from a few small start up companies who seem to have few fears about embarking on projects which may have a huge impact on our world ... or might just fizzle out." Download podcast.

Spanish company to build one of world's largest solar power plants in Arizona desert. (Associated Press) Published: February 22, 2008, International Herald Tribune. Phoenix. -"A Spanish company is planning to build one of the world's largest solar power plants on 3 square miles of Arizona desert.... Abengoa Solar… could begin construction as early as next year on the 280-megawatt plant in Gila Bend.... It could be producing solar energy by 2011…. estimated to be enough to supply up to 70,000 homes at full capacity."

Tell GM to Offer Real Hybrid Solutions Today! "Hybrid technology has the potential to provide us with cleaner, more fuel-efficient options in every vehicle class, as exemplified by the Ford Escape Hybrid, Honda Civic Hybrid, and Toyota Prius. On March 20, General Motors (GM) vice chairman Bob Lutz admitted at the New York Auto Show that not making a vehicle like the Prius was “a mistake.” Yet GM continues to make that same mistake. Its new “two mode” hybrid SUVs, the Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon Hybrids, actually feature larger gasoline engines than most conventional versions of these models. The electric motor provides an additional power boost but only a modest gain in overall fuel economy."

30 electric cars companies ready to take over the road. Chris Morrison, VentureBeat CleanTech. January 10, 2008. -- "It’s official: Green car madness has taken over. After seeing more electric and hybrid vehicle startups than we could keep track of, we finally decided to start keeping count. We’ve compiled a list, below, of 27 ( update: the list has reached 30; thanks for the comments) startups, listed according to their release date, with additional information on fuel type, range, top speed and price."

Trina to supply cells for solar-powered plane. Yahoo News, July 14, 2008. Los Angeles (Reuters) -- "For travelers weary of watching air fares tick upward due to soaring fuel prices, here's an encouraging piece of news -- a plane that can fly around the world on solar power."

Trinity's 150 mpg Extreme Hybrid Indicates Reported Death of SUVs 'Greatly Exaggerated'. San Jose, Calif., July 22, 2008 /PRNewswire/ iStockAnalyst -- "'The SUV is not dead,' AFS Trinity CEO Edward W. Furia told a plug-hybrid industry group today, It's just in rehab, recovering from near fatal oil addiction. Despite a 37% decline in SUV sales during the past year,' Furia said, 'We expect a resurgence in SUV sales once plug-in SUVs with our Extreme Hybrid technology, and possibly plug-in SUVs from other companies, are available for sale'.... Furia added, 'After ride-and-drives in our 150 mpg SUV around the U.S. over the past four months, Congressmen, governors, police chiefs, fleet managers and the general public have all expressed surprise and tremendous enthusiasm that clean SUVs can be built.'"

Turning Carbon Dioxide Into Stone [Video]. NPR Science Friday, July 2008. -- "What if you could take CO2, pump it down a deep hole in the sea floor and turn it into something harmless? New research suggests the idea is not so far-fetched. David Goldberg, Taro Takahashi and Angela Slagle of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory published a study on the subject in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week."

Two Large Solar Plants Planned in California. By Matthew L. Wald. Published August 14, 2008, New York Times. -- "Companies will build two solar power plants in California that together will put out more than 12 times as much electricity as the largest such plant today, the latest indication that solar energy is starting to achieve significant scale. The plants will cover 12.5 square miles of central California with solar panels, and in the middle of a sunny day will generate about 800 megawatts of power, roughly equal to the size of a large coal-burning power plant or a small nuclear plant. A megawatt is enough power to run a large Wal-Mart store."

The U.S. Can Become a World Leader in Solar Power. Posted by Breakthrough Generation Fellow on July 16, 2008, Breakthrough Institute. -- "Energy experts in Europe predict that the U.S. can recapture its lost leadership position as the world's leader in solar manufacturing and development, but only if government investment continues. What we need, what we must demand, is investment to give American innovators the tools they need."

*U.S. Department of Energy. Energy efficiency and Renewable Energy

U.S. Green Building Council. Green Building Links.

U.S. Green Building Council. Research and Publications.

U.S. Passes Germany as Top Producer of Wind Power. By David Downey, San Diego Times, July 29, 2008. --"For a country with a reputation for being addicted to fossil fuels, it may come as a surprise that the United States is now the world leader in one green-energy category. During the first half of 2008, the U.S. surpassed Germany in total amount of electricity generated from the wind, according to the American Wind Energy Association.... Germany still has the ability to generate more electricity at any given moment, but the U.S. is getting more out of its windmill-like turbines, said Ryan Wiser, a scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory who tracks wind power."

UNI-SOLAR Laminates to Power World's Largest Rooftop Solar System for General Motors. Solar Power System to Produce 15 Million Kilowatt Hours of Renewable Energy Annually. Rochester Hills, Mich., July 8, 2008 ( PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network ) -- "Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. (ECD) (Nasdaq: ENER), announced today that its UNI-SOLAR(R) thin-film flexible solar laminates will power the world's largest rooftop solar power system. The 12-megawatt system is being installed on GM's assembly plant in Figueruelas, Zaragoza, Spain and will become operational in the fall of 2008. ECD will supply the solar laminates through its wholly owned subsidiary, United Solar Ovonic, LLC."

*Unleash the future [Videos] (Environmental Defense Fund). Includes videos on promising green technologies: solar, biofuels, wave, and geothermal.

US wind energy adds 1,400 MW of capacity.Trade group: US wind energy adds 1,400 MW of new capacity during second quarter of 2008. By Dirk Lammers, Associated Press,October 22, 2008, Yahoo Finance. -- "Sioux Falls, S.D. -- The U.S. added nearly 1,400 megawatts of new wind energy capacity during the second quarter of 2008, providing enough electricity to power more than 400,000 homes, according to an industry report released Wednesday."

Vehicle Technologies Program (U.S. Department of Energy)

What Iceland Can Teach America. (Environmental Defense Fund). -- …. "Iceland's commitment to harnessing renewable energy resources is absolutely inspirational. Their use of geothermal power is groundbreaking."

Where the Green Generation Gets its Power From. (earthdaynetwork): Wind, Solar Thermal, Solar Photovoltaics, and Geothermal Power.

Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program (U.S. Department of Energy)

The wind energy industry needs bipartisan cooperation on Production Tax Credit (PTC) extension. (American Wind Energy Association). -- "On June 17, [2008] the Senate again failed to move forward with the House of Representatives’ proposed one-year PTC extension. Bipartisan cooperation on Capitol Hill is needed to successfully move a PTC extension forward. Without rapid legislative action, the PTC will expire at the end of 2008. To maintain existing jobs and to continue growing thousands of new jobs, it is vital that Congress acts quickly to extend the PTC. Please contact your Members of Congress and urge them to work toward a bipartisan solution to extending the PTC.

Wind facility gets tax credit deadline. (Associated Press) Published April 17, 2008, Columbia Daily Tribune. Bloomfield, Nebraska. - "Nebraska’s largest wind farm must be generating electricity by the end of the year if private developers are to be assured of receiving federal production tax credits, a Nebraska Public Power District spokesman said. The tax credits are scheduled to expire at the end of the year unless Congress renews legislation that provides incentives to wind energy developers, NPPD’s Mark Becker said.... NPPD announced last month that it has entered into a 20-year contract to purchase wind-generated power from private development partners Midwest Energy and Elkhorn Ridge Wind. The partnership plans to build an 80 megawatt wind farm that will produce enough energy to power 25,000 residences per year...."

*Wind-farm plans lose power. Published December 22, 2008, Columbia Daily Tribune. -- Champaign, Ill. (Associated Press) -- "Grain farmer Mike Doyle has grown to love the big, spindly wind turbines that rise from his central Illinois prairie.... Doyle is paid just more than $35,000 a month for the seven wind turbines in his soybean and corn fields. Those turbines and thousands of 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 for many projects because of the global economic crisis. Companies that bankrolled much of the boom are among the meltdown’s biggest losers.... The country’s wind-power capacity has increased by 500 percent in the past 10 years, to just over 21,000 megawatts, according to the American Wind Industry Association. A one-megawatt wind turbine can generate enough electricity in a year to power up to 300 homes for a year...."

Wind Power Set to Become World's Leading Energy Source. By Lester R. Brown. Published on Wednesday, June 25, 2003 by the Earth Policy Institute. "In 1991, a national wind resource inventory taken by the U.S. Department of Energy startled the world when it reported that the three most wind-rich states - North Dakota, Kansas, and Texas - had enough harnessable wind energy to satisfy national electricity needs. Now a new study by a team of engineers at Stanford reports that the wind energy potential is actually substantially greater than that estimated in 1991."

With Free Bikes, Challenging Car Culture on Campus. By Katie Zezima, stopglobalwarming.org, October 23, 2008. -- "Biddeford, Me. — When Kylie Galliani started at the University of New England in August, she was given a key to her dorm, a class schedule and something more unusual: a $480 bicycle.... The University of New England and Ripon College in Wisconsin are giving free bikes to freshmen who promise to leave their cars at home. Other colleges are setting up free bike sharing or rental programs, and some universities are partnering with bike shops to offer discounts on purchases."

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