Research & Commentary: Colorado Renewable Portfolio Standard

Colorado legislators are bucking the national trend and considering a proposal that would boost the state’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS). The RPS requires utilities to obtain a specified percentage of their power from intermittent renewable sources by a certain date. Twenty-two of the 29 states with such mandates in place have considered changing those laws over the past two years.

Colorado’s current RPS requires cooperatives and their utility suppliers to get 10 percent of their electricity from renewables by 2020. SB 252 would increase the percentage, mandating 25 percent of their electricity come from renewable sources by 2020.

Supporters of the RPS say the mandates are necessary to reduce pollution, will lead to the creation of “green” jobs, and will only marginally increase electricity prices. However, there is little evidence the mandate will benefit the environment. Renewable sources such as wind and solar technologies are intermittent and thus require fossil fuel generators for backup. Running fossil fuel generators in this way can emit more pollutants than when used as primary power sources.

READ MORE:  http://heartland.org/policy-documents/research-commentary-colorado-renewable-portfolio-standard

The Quiet Gold Rush

On the many splendors of Canada’s tar sands.

Alberta, Canada – While we are sitting on the tarmac waiting interminably for Newark’s permission to take off, the man in the seat to my right turns and asks me if I call Calgary “home.” I explain mildly apologetically that I don’t, that this will in fact be my first trip across the 49th parallel, and that — alas — I am stopping there only in order to connect with another flight. From the city’s sprawling international airport I will continue on up to Fort McMurray, the boomtown gateway to Canada’s tar sands.

“Ah,” he says, his interest piqued. “Actually, I’m in the oil business myself. I’ve been in New York for meetings.” Then he leans in. “Fort McMurray, eh? That’s a real gold-rush sort of place.”

READ MORE:  https://www.nationalreview.com/nrd/articles/344665/quiet-gold-rush

EU climate change policy in crisis after MEPs vote against high CO2 prices

The European Union's climate change policy is on the brink of collapse today after MEPs torpedoed Europe's flagship CO2 emissions trading scheme by voting against a measure to support the price of carbon permits.

The price of carbon crashed up to 45 per cent to a record-low €2.63 a metric ton, after the European Parliament rejected a proposal to change the EU emissions-trading laws to delay the sale of 900m CO2 permits on the world's biggest carbon markets.

The European Commission measure, known as "backloading" was aimed at artificially raising the price of EU carbon permits by restricting supply after they fell to a record low in January due the economic slowdown and contraction in manufacturing across Europe.

The rejection of the measure is expected to trigger further falls in the price of carbon, to as low as €1 and could herald the end of an EU system which was aimed encouraging investment in "clean" technologies by pricing high CO2 emissions from smokestack industry or coal-fired power plants out of the market.

READ MORE:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/9997868/EU-climate-change-policy-in-crisis-after-MEPs-vote-against-high-CO2-prices.html

What I’d like to see this Earth Day: More fracking

Year after year, we are treated to a message of environmental doom and gloom and admonitions on Earth Day. On the back of this sentiment in wealthy countries, governments have invested billions of dollars in inefficient, feel-good policies – such as subsidizing solar panels and electric cars. But really, there are far better ways to improve environmental prospects for humanity and our planet. This Earth Day, we need more fracking, more wealth, smarter investments, and fewer inefficient subsidies.

READ MORE:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/what-id-like-to-see-this-earth-day-more-fracking/article11449919/

Oyster farmers support aquaculture leases for Inland Bays

Task force recommends legislation; clammers raise questions

 

Rehoboth Beach resident Andy Nowakowski has a passion for oyster farming.
It might be that his family has been raising oysters in Virginia for more than five years. Or maybe it's just the call of the water and salt air.

Whatever it is, the Cape Region native dreams of raising oysters in the Inland Bays, and new legislation could make that dream come true.

Nowakowski has attended nearly 30 meetings over the past year on developing an aquaculture industry in the Inland Bays. A task force organized by the Center for the Inland Bays unanimously approved a package of code changes to allow oyster farming.

While those involved in the task force see many benefits of promoting aquaculture, others – including active clammers – recall the devastation of the oyster industry in the mid-1970s, when disease and overharvesting resulted in the collapse of the industry. Since then, the state stopped leasing land in the Inland Bays; the bottom is now a public resource.

READ MORE:  http://capegazette.villagesoup.com/p/oyster-farmers-support-aquaculture-leases-for-inland-bays/985903

Overlapping wind energy initiatives spark claims of waste, as IRS increases tax credit

WASHINGTON –  A recent government report shows billions in taxpayer dollars are being swept away by pricey wind energy initiatives that often overlap, even as the IRS moves to up the value of a popular tax credit.

The Government Accountability Office recently identified 82 federal wind-related initiatives implemented by nine agencies in fiscal year 2011. The nearly seven dozen initiatives were fragmented across agencies and had overlapping characteristics, and several that financed deployment of wind facilities provided some duplicative financial support, the report found.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/08/government-report-finds-taxpayer-money-getting-blown-away-by-wind/#ixzz2RCLWy9J3

Another Solar Company Can't Take The Heat, Closes Despite $10 Million In Stimulus

A Pittsburgh, Pa. solar energy company has shut its doors four years after receiving nearly $10.2 million in tax credits from the Obama Administration as part of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.

Flabeg Solar U.S. Corp., a $30 million solar plant located near the Pittsburgh International Airport, opened its doors in 2009 and was said to provide 300 jobs. Now, just four years later, the plant has shut down and laid off more than 60 workers. In addition to this, 10 of its former employees have petitioned a federal judge for severance pay after they lost their jobs last month, according to PA Independent.

Robert Lampl, the attorney for Flabeg, said the company would probably seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from the workers who are suing over their severance pay.

READ MORE:  http://cnsnews.com/blog/joe-schoffstall/another-solar-company-cant-take-heat-closes-despite-10-million-stimulus