Tag: energy

  • Save America’s Forests and Wild Lands from Anti-Environmental Congress

    The logging, grazing, mining and other extractive industries are mounting an intense attack on our nation’s public lands.  The December 2014 lame duck session of Congress saw an ugly brew of anti-conservation initiatives removing legal conservation protection from millions of acres of public lands. But this was just the tip of the oncoming extractive industries…

  • Radioactive Spikes from Nuclear Plants a Likely Cause of Childhood Leukemia

    – by Dr. Ian Fairlie, Ecologist On 23rd August, The Ecologist published very clear evidence of increased cancers among children living near nuclear power stations around the world, including the UK. The story sparked much interest on social media sites, and perhaps more importantly, the article’s scientific basis (published in the academic peer-reviewed scientific journal the Journal of Environmental Radioactivity) was downloaded over…

  • $629 Million in Taxpayer Dollars for Bioenergy

    – by Erin Voegele, March 19, 2015, Ethanol Producer Magazine On March 12, the U.S. Energy Information Administration published a report on direct federal financial interventions and subsidies in energy for fiscal year (FY) 2103. The report, which responds to a request from Reps. Fred Upton, R-Mich., chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce…

  • Planned La Pine, OR Biomass Facility Hinges on Market

    – by Dylan J. Darling, March 17, 2015, Bend Bulletin A wood-burning power plant remains a possibility for La Pine, with the city now taking the lead on the project from Deschutes County and the company behind it waiting for a change in the energy market. “It’s just been on hold due to market conditions,” said…

  • RWE Drops Biomass Power, Adds Biomass Thermal, Wind

    – by Anna Simet, March 12, 2015, Biomass Magazine While RWE Group reported it achieved its earnings targets for 2014 and EBITDA was significantly better than planned, low electricity prices and unusually mild weather negatively affected business performance, which dropped 25 percent from 2013 to 2014. Peter Terium, CEO of RWE, said that currently, 35 to 45…

  • RWE Drops Biomass Power, Adds Biomass Thermal, Wind

    – by Anna Simet, March 12, 2015, Biomass Magazine While RWE Group reported it achieved its earnings targets for 2014 and EBITDA was significantly better than planned, low electricity prices and unusually mild weather negatively affected business performance, which dropped 25 percent from 2013 to 2014. Peter Terium, CEO of RWE, said that currently, 35 to 45…

  • U.S. Added 254 Megawatts of Biomass Energy in 2014

    – by Erin Voegele, February 6, 2015 Biomass Magazine The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Office of Energy Projects has released the December edition of its Energy Infrastructure Update, reporting the U.S. added 254 MW of biomass energy capacity last year. In December, the U.S. added five biomass generating units with a combined capacity of 23 MW.…

  • What a 20-year Biomass Battle Tells Us About Environmental Justice Policy

    – by Brentin Mock, February 24, 2015, Grist It’s well-established that the Environmental Protection Agency has been quite flaccid when it comes to enforcing civil rights issues. The online news outlet E&E recently took the time to remind us how bad it is last week, reporting from Flint, Mich., where environmental justice complaints about a biomass energy plant built…

  • Out of the Garbage Can and Into the Fire

    – by Mike Ewall So-called “waste-to-energy” (WTE) is usually a euphemism for trash incineration, disposing of waste while making modest amounts of electricity and sometimes steam for heating purposes. Now, waste-to-fuels (WTF?) — turning waste into liquid fuels for transportation — is starting to emerge as a subset of WTE. Noting their acronym problem, the…

  • New Report Urges Western Governments to Reconsider Reliance on Biofuels

    – by Justin Gillis, January 28, 2015, New York Times Western governments have made a wrong turn in energy policy by supporting the large-scale conversion of plants into fuel and should reconsider that strategy, according to a new report from a prominent environmental think tank. Turning plant matter into liquid fuel or electricity is so inefficient that the…