Please Note:
The internet has been running badly today, with most of the sites I tried to visit unavailable. I am sure there were important news items missed because of this.
World:
¶ Australia’s electricity demand has fallen sharply again, with the market operator conceding that power consumption will fall 3.1% below even its most recent downgraded forecasts – made just in November. [RenewEconomy]
¶ South Australia will in the next week reinforce its position as the leading mainland state on renewable energy as the completion of a major new wind farm brings its wind and solar energy production to around 40% of its total generation. [RenewEconomy]
¶ Bord na Móna signed a €50m deal to supply renewable electricity to Irish energy supplier Vayu for resale to its business customers. As part the deal, electricity produced by a new Bord na Móna landfill plant in Co Kildare, will be supplied to Vayu for 15 years. [Irish Examiner]
¶ Mainstream Renewable Power is on track to commission the 46 MW Oldman 2 project in Alberta, Canada in late summer despite a difficult winter construction season, as the Irish developer has erected the first of 20 Siemens 2.3MW 101 turbines. [reNews]
¶ In the early stages of the Fukushima Disaster, Japanese government officials had very little information. They assumed it was because TEPCO was not getting information from the plant, but this was untrue. TEPCO was not giving giving it to the government. [Asahi Shimbun]
US:
¶ Researchers from the University of Vermont released a report Tuesday detailing the impacts of climate change on Vermont. The report aims to translate the scientific certainty of climate change into a grim forecast that is expected to worsen over the next century. [vtdigger.org]
¶ Google Inc. is looking to make a deeper push into the billion-dollar U.S. energy market by developing tools to deliver power more efficiently, with hope that a “smart grid” would be an improvement, as solar and wind power become more prevalent. [MarketWatch]
¶ US Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday heralded America’s oil and gas boom but urged private investors and government leaders to aim, ultimately, to shift their investments away from carbon-intensive fuels. [Investing.com]
geoharvey 
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