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PODCAST INSIDE RENEWABLE ENERGY
IPCC Report: A Call for U.S. Lawmakers to Act
According to the newly released report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the technological resources are available to solve the world’s looming environmental problems. According to the IPCC, the answer is developing massive amounts of renewable energy, encouraging energy efficiency and creating a global greenhouse gas cap and trade system. So, the solutions are in front of us, but how will U.S. lawmakers respond to the challenges at hand? We’ll have a report on whether the talk in Washington can translate into action. …listen to the podcast

RE TOP NEWS

Obama Introduces National Low-Carbon Fuel Standard
U.S. presidential-hopeful Senator Barack Obama, along with Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, introduced legislation this week calling for a National Low Carbon Fuel Standard (NLCFS). The bill recognizes the steady growth of the U.S. renewable fuels market, including corn-based ethanol, cellulosic ethanol and biodiesel as key components in the fight against global warming.

The Age of the PV-Enhanced Industrial Park
A new industrial park is currently under construction in Grosselfingen on the edges of the mountainous Schwabische Alb region in Germany. The main focus of the building design? A 13,000 square-meter (approximately 120,000 square foot) solar electric power plant.

California Governor Promises to Fix CSI
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today announced that he is sponsoring legislation to fix an unintended flaw in legislation passed last year that is hindering the California Solar Initiative (CSI).

EPA Releases Top 25 Green Power Purchasers
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Green Power Partnership (GPP) announced an update to its green power purchaser Top Partner lists.

Wells Fargo to Finance Fifth Wind Energy Project
Wells Fargo & Company has committed to making an equity investment in the Fenton Wind Energy Project, Minnesota’s largest wind farm, and Wells Fargo’s fifth wind energy investment commitment in less than one year.

PSE Picks EI Solutions to Build Solar-Power Facility in Pacific Northwest
Puget Sound Energy (PSE) selected San Rafael, California-based EI Solutions to design and construct a $3.7 million, 500-kilowatt (kW) solar-power generating facility alongside the utility’s Wild Horse wind farm in central Washington.

PSCW Approves WPL’s Cedar Ridge Wind Farm Project
Wisconsin Power and Light Company (WPL), an Alliant Energy company, just received unanimous approval from the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSCW) on its Certificate of Authority (CA) application to construct Alliant Energy’s first wind farm, Cedar Ridge Wind Farm.

Wal-Mart Aims High with Solar Power Project
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. announced a purchase of solar power from three solar power providers, BP Solar, SunEdison LLC, and PowerLight, a subsidiary of SunPower Corporation, for 22 combined Wal-Mart stores.

Endesa to Buy GHG from Landfills in South Africa
Endesa and Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) have signed an agreement at the Carbon Expo in Cologne under which Endesa will buy 100 percent of the Certified Emissions Reductions from a portfolio of landfill gas-extraction projects developed by EMM.

Ashland and Cargill Form JV for Bio-Based Chemical
Ashland and Cargill have agreed in principle to create a new joint venture (JV) to develop and produce bio-based chemicals. The parties intend for the new stand-alone entity to become a leading global supplier of chemicals from renewable sources.

Degussa to Supply Chlorosilanes to Solar PV Manufacturer
Dusseldorf-based Degussa GmbH, and Erfurt-based PV Silicon Forschungs- und Produktions AG have signed a ten-year agreement for the supply of chlorosilanes, a raw material used in the production of polysilicon.

Australian Outback Gains Systems to Store Solar and Wind Energy
VRB Power Systems Inc. announced that AUS $1.83 million [US$1.5 million] has been made available by the Australian Government under the Advanced Electricity Storage Technologies program (AEST) to provide funding towards the deployment of a number of VRB Energy Storage Systems in remote solar and wind applications across Australia.

South Korea to Build Large Solar Power Station

National and European Policies to Better Promote Wind Energy: EWEA, Day 2

Gamesa Seeks to Build More Wind Turbines in Central Pa.

Via Gristmill.

Senate Foreign Relations Testimony on the grave threat to our nation’s security posed by global warming:

• Admiral Joseph W. Prueher (PDF), USN (Ret.), Former Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Pacific Command and Former Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China;
• General Charles F. Wald (PDF), USAF (Ret.), Former Deputy Commander, U.S. European Command; and
• Vice Admiral Richard H. Truly (PDF), USN (Ret.), Former NASA Administrator, Shuttle Astronaut and the First Commander of the Naval Space Command.

Memo to conservative global warming deniers: Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) asserts in his opening statement (PDF), “To adequately prepare our security and diplomatic forces for future threats, we need to understand how climate change might be a source of war and instability.”

This post was created for ClimateProgress.org, a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

Read the full story in Environmental Science & Technology.

Researchers all over the world are racing to bump up the efficiency of plastic solar cells, and, thus far, physicist David Carroll of Wake Forest University appears to be in the lead.

Last year, Carroll and his team approached 5% efficiency with these cells, nearly 2% more than other cells at the time. Now, Carroll and his team report online, on April 19 in Applied Physics Letters, that they have achieved another 20% increase, bringing the total efficiency to more than 6%.

Read the full story in Environmental Science & Technology.

Now that Congress has returned from its spring recess, members have begun drafting the funding bills for federal science agencies. The Bush Administration’s $7.2 billion proposed budget for fiscal year 2008 for the U.S. EPA is a $400 million cut from last year, marking the lowest overall funding request in this century in real dollars, critics say. The continuing erosion in EPA’s budget, including a sharp drop in funds for science research, is beginning to cripple the agency’s ability to do its job. Morale at the agency is at its lowest point in 25 years, according to several senior EPA scientists who spoke to ES&T on condition of anonymity.

Read the editorial in Environmental Science & Technology.

Via EarthTrends.

Restoring Nature’s Capital, a recent publication from the World Resources Institute (WRI), proposes an innovative strategy for business, governments, and civil society to reverse current ecosystem degradation. By treating natural systems as huge capital assets vital to our continued economic and social growth, the report takes a fundamentally human approach to valuing nature’s goods and services. According to the authors, sustaining healthy ecosystems and investing wisely in “nature’s capital” will depend heavily on the concept of governance: who makes decisions, how are they made, and with what information.

Read the full post at Green Car Congress.

The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, approved plans from Transport for London (TfL) for the implementation of a London-wide Low Emission Zone (LEZ) to cut emissions from the most polluting trucks, coaches and buses.

Via Green Car Congress.

The city of Birmingham, Alabama is switching the more than 600 diesels vehicles in its fleet to a B20 biodiesel blend.

At a launch ceremony, city mayor Bernard Kincaid said that the use of B20 will reduce the use of petroleum diesel by 172,000 gallons per year for approximately the same cost.

The B20 supplier selected through the City’s bid process is Allied Energy/Rice Oil Company in Birmingham. The company has an annual production capacity of 25 million gallons.

Read the full post at Biopact.

Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions are 43 per cent above the International Energy Agency’s average for developed countries per unit of GDP. 68 percent of this amount is related to stationary energy and transport.

The country’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) has now been allocated A$59.6 million (€36.6/US$49.6 million) over four years to increase research into renewable and non-renewable natural resources which can produce low emission transport fuels.

Read the full post at Biopact.

A few years ago, energy experts would have laughed if you said biofuels were going to attract massive investments and even impact OPEC decisions. Today, there is no longer a doubt that this is happening.

Fuad Siala, alternative energy sources analyst at the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, said at the World Refining & Fuels Conference organised by Hart energy conferences in Brussels yesterday that increased use of biofuels and other measures that steer consumers away from oil could prompt OPEC to rethink its investment plans.