US wind capacity continued its impressive growth in the second quarter while fossil fuel consumption continued to fall. The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) just released their second quarter report, and it’s full of surprisingly upbeat news for a sector hard-hit by the recession. The resilience of wind power as a low-cost, carbon-free source of electricity is made clear by the (more…)
Archive for July, 2009
AWEA: Record US Wind Power Growth in First-Half 2009
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009Report calls for health-based transportation shift
Monday, July 27th, 2009
A new report just came out related to my recent blog on the need for more active transportation in America. It does a great job giving some historical context for federal surface transportation funding over the last two decades and shares a path forward based largely on (more…)
New Rochelle leads region toward bike-friendly future
Thursday, July 23rd, 2009
Most of the time we think of NYC innovating policy and then sharing it with the local suburbs and beyond. But this summer, New York City’s suburb of New Rochelle has passed a groundbreaking policy for the region that will hopefully make its way to NYC. The policy helps New Rochelle and Westchester County take the lead toward becoming a (more…)
New report predicts huge wind power growth ahead
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
A new wind power report just came out of the US Department Of Energy that bodes very well for future wind power growth. After a difficult year in 2009, record growth is expected to continue 2010-12. In fact, wind power is expected to be the biggest source of new electricity supply during (more…)
Tuvalu commits to 100% clean electricity by 2020
Monday, July 20th, 2009
Rising sea levels are something small island nations like Tuvalu and the Maldives cannot ignore. That is why the Pacific state of Tuvalu just joined the Maldives as a leader in renewable electricity generation. They committed to get all of their electricity from renewables like wind and solar by the year (more…)
SET goes solar (starting with my cell phone)
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009
photo by Jerry Markatos
I’m happy to report that Sustainable Energy Transition (SET) is now getting the bulk of its cell phone’s energy needs from solar power! After 250 blog posts over the past year, it’s nice to look back at this piece of tangible progress for SET’s operations. Thanks to Connect2Earth.org, a green online community supported by WWF, IUCN and Nokia, who gave SET the solar charger – we are further walking our talk. (more…)
Greenways: A cure for what ails us
Monday, July 13th, 2009
Photo by David Tulloch
Unfortunate news just came out of a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded report: Americans are losing the battle against obesity. This problem of growing obesity is related to many of our country’s greatest challenges. Luckily for us, there is a solution that can tackle obesity as well as many related difficulties simultaneously. (more…)
Some balance returning to US fuel inventories
Thursday, July 9th, 2009
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) just released its weekly reports on petroleum and natural gas supply and demand. They both showed the beginnings of a return to balance in the American fuel market. While demand remains low for oil and its refined products, supply is moving lower for equilibrium. The same is happening for (more…)
EIA: US emissions diving more than 4% in 2009
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
As I wrote last month would probably happen, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) lowered its estimate for fossil fuel energy demand in 2009, translating into a huge drop in greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions projections for coal, oil, and natural gas were all lowered in its July Short Term Energy Outlook — meaning, by my calculations, that US emissions are expected to fall (more…)
July solar price survey shows new record low in Europe
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
The monthly solar price survey by Solarbuzz.com just came out. And it showed retail prices fell another ~1% last month. Prices still have a ways to go before grid parity arrives, but its nice to see the continued progress. Europe is now enjoying another record low solar price for individual modules at (more…)