Displaced Tortoises for Solar in Mojave Roils Environmentalists

Construction of such large-scale green-energy projects has splintered environmental groups. When concern over global warming was at a peak, national organizations such as the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council threw their support behind industrial-scale wind and solar installations on public land. Now some smaller conservationist groups object to what they consider an environmentally...

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Green Tech States Are Not Necessarily Democratic

Most people would expect blue Democratic states to be eager to embrace clean tech and green jobs, the authors assert, with red Republican states resolutely declining to join in the action. However, according to the report, in the 10 states where clean tech jobs are growing the most quickly, only two can be considered traditionally Democratic – Hawaii and New York. Many of the remaining states are...

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Securing Skills for a Successful Offshore Wind Industry

Skills – Where Are We Now? At the moment we are facing a significant skills gap in the industry and this needs to be addressed to reach the positive employment figures which are possible. There are two levels to this skills gap — firstly, the professional level including project managers and engineers, and secondly the operational level which consists of staff including vessel crew members...

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The Demonization of Clean Tech: The Five Biggest Myths

As a longtime analyst at clean-tech research firm Clean Edge and contributor to the recently published book Clean Tech Nation (coauthored by Clean Edge colleagues Ron Pernick and Clint Wilder), I should be on the front lines defending the clean-tech moniker. But given the noticeable intensifying of false debates surrounding clean tech in the last year, it's worth taking a moment to examine...

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Studies Cite Increased Demand for Wind Power, Other Renewables

According to the Global Consumer Wind Study 2012 (GCWS), the desire for more renewable energy options was voiced by 85 percent of survey respondents, with 49 percent saying they'd have no problem digging deeper into their pockets to support companies committed to renewable energy in the product manufacturing process. Even more encouraging, those numbers spiked considerably when consumers were asked...

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Siemens to Cut 615 US Wind Energy Jobs as New Orders Dry Up

"The industry is facing a significant drop in new orders, and this has an unfortunate consequence on employment in this segment of the power industry," Munich-based Siemens said today in a message to employees that was obtained by Bloomberg. The cuts account for more than a third of the workforce that Siemens has built up in its U.S. wind-energy business, an operation that helped the company...

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19 Companies Urge Congress To Extend Wind Tax Credit

The diverse coalition of firms, which includes Ben & Jerry's, Johnson & Johnson, Levi Strauss, Starbucks, and Yahoo!, says that raising taxes on the wind sector would be bad for businesses that buy large amounts of wind electricity. These companies join a very large bi-partisan chorus of renewable energy supporters asking Congress to give the wind industry some certainty and put the sector...

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Distributed Generation Will Make Electric Grids More Secure, Expand Access

As our society continues to become more wired, the impact of a sudden power outage – such as what occurred in India in early August – becomes increasingly severe and disruptive. With more and more businesses – including mission critical facilities like hospitals, military bases, and water treatment plants – reliant upon access to large amounts of electricity and the Internet, blackouts can significantly...

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Brookfield Renewable Energy Likely To Vote Against Western Wind Management in Proxy Battle

The transaction was seen as a signal that Brookfield intends to bid at least C$2.25 for Western Wind in its upcoming sale, and so the company's stock has been trading for slightly more than C$2.25 since the announcement. Despite this, the Brookfield/Goodman transaction may not prove to be a good deal for Western Wind's other shareholders.  Goodman had not said how it intended to vote in the...

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The Big Question: What Can We Expect over the Next 12 Months?

Maria van der Hoeven, Executive Director, International Energy Agency Renewable energy continues to grow in the face of both economic crisis and subsidy reductions in key markets. The technology portfolio is expanding, with generation from wind, solar PV and bioenergy growing in double digits year-on-year. Hydropower continues to grow steadily and remains the largest renewable source in absolute...

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France Taxing Carbon Emitters in an Effort to Overhaul Consumer Energy Costs

Making more people eligible for so-called "social" utility rates will make energy more accessible, he said in a speech at an environment conference in Paris. Existing law allows for 1 million households to benefit, he said. The 2013 budget will include a "general tax" on businesses that contribute to air pollution, he said. The government also plans to review the CSPE tax on electricity bills that...

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