Opinion:
¶ “‘We’ve been lied to,’ said ex-Prime Minister Koizumi” Former Prime Minister Koizumi changed from supporting nuclear power to opposing it when he discovered the nuclear industry was lying about safety, low costs, and reducing dependence on coal. [Asahi Shimbun]
Science and Technology:
¶ With its potentially high biomass yield and its suitability to fit into existing crop rotations, hemp could not only complement but exceed other available energy crops for manufacture of biofuels. [CleanTechies]
¶ Wind energy company Ogin Inc is seeking approval to install 40 of its “shrouded” turbines in Altamont Wind Resource Area, a wind farm with unusually high numbers of avian deaths, to test its theoretically more bird-friendly turbine design. [Go Lackawanna]
World:
¶ Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, called EMPA as an acronym for its German name, has had some success working on “power to gas,” a process that converts short-term excess electricity from renewables to hydrogen. [ScienceDaily]
¶ Passage of a new UK energy bill took 54 weeks. Though clean energy producers have been guaranteed a minimum price for their electricity industry sources say uncertainty over ambiguities is continuing to hold up investment decisions. [Scotland on Sunday]
¶ A man in central Newfoundland had power this past week while there were outages all across Newfoundland because he powered his home using wind and solar energy. The system cost around $30,000, but he says it will pay for itself in four years. [CBC.ca]
¶ A report identifying 9,300 megawatts of potential new sites of hydro-generated electricity in Northern Ontario says water-power expansion will help remote First Nations get rid of their outdated diesel-powered stations. [The Chronicle Journal]
US:
¶ EPA’s proposed standards to limit dangerous carbon pollution from new power plants will be published here in the government’s official newspaper, the Federal Register, kicking off a 60-day period for public comment. An online version is already available. [Energy Collective]
¶ With bipartisan support, legislation is moving through both houses to tweak the tax code to let clean energy developers form a master limited partnership, or MLP, a type of publicly traded company structure not subject to corporate taxes. [Kitsap Sun]
¶ In Wisconsin, renewable energy credits are only available for facilities that went on line after June of 2010. A proposed change would allow renewable sources like hydropower or biomass to earn credits at facilities were operating before 2010. [Sawyer County Record]
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