Opinion:
¶ “Entergy Surrender On Vermont Yankee Reactor Is Latest Evidence Of ‘Rapid-Fire Downsizing’ Of Nuclear Power In US” Mark Cooper, senior fellow for economic analysis, Institute for Energy and the Environment, Vermont Law School, makes his observations. [PR Newswire]
World:
¶ For the upcoming Australian election, the Coalition has announced it will realize $7.8 billion of savings from programs linked to carbon price and other emission reduction programs. This includes cuts to the Australian Renewable Energy Agency. [Business Spectator]
¶ Bloomberg New Energy Finance has released analysis which finds wind and solar power will make up more than half of new power capacity growth in China to 2030. By 2030 total installed capacity of renewable energy power plants will equal that of coal. [Business Spectator]
¶ IKEA is a huge supporter of renewable energy and has had installed 500,000 solar PV panels. At the present time, renewable energy schemes provide the company with one third of its energy supply. [Solar Panels UK]
¶ The former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, 71-year-old former leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has made it known that he is for the abandonment of nuclear power. He is considered still to be influential in Japanese politics. [The Japan Daily Press]
¶ The International Atomic Energy Agency, the world’s nuclear watchdog, has urged Japan to explain more clearly what is happening at Fukushima and avoid sending “confusing messages” about the disaster, the country’s atomic regulator revealed. [Yahoo!7 News]
US:
¶ According to the latest issue of the US Energy Information Administration’s “Electric Power Monthly,” renewable energy sources (biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar, and wind) provided 14.2% of the nation’s electric power during the first half of the year. [Green Building Elements]
¶ While influenced by the future cost of natural gas and other forms of energy, a new report forecasts the cost of solar will be competitive after New Jersey state subsidies expire, a fact that one New Jersey Utility is investing in. [GetSolar.com]
¶ The governor of Louisiana and CEO of Cool Planet Energy Systems have announced that the company will build three bio-refineries in Louisiana with a capital investment of $168 million. The project will consist of modular biomass-to-gasoline refineries. [KMSS TV33]
¶ Development of solar and wind energy in Missouri has been sluggish, despite a 2008 law that instituted a renewable energy standard. A lawsuit has been filed alleging that state government has interfered with fulfillment of the law’s mandate. [Salon]
¶ The idle Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant is loaded with fuel for the first time in more than two years, and utility officials say it will be ready to operate safely if regulators allow it to restart. [Omaha World-Herald]
¶ The complete decommissioning of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant “is likely to take decades,” according to information released by its owners. [BurlingtonFreePress.com]
¶ Vermont House Speaker Shap Smith said he will pursue whatever options are at his disposal to expedite a decommissioning process that could soon become the center of its own legislative controversy. [Barre Montpelier Times Argus]
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