Four surprising maps about American renewables

Climate Spectator

• BOBBY MAGILL 
 
• 19 JUN, 10:59 AM 
 

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Which States Have The Most Wind, Solar Or Biomass? New Maps Tell All

Forbes
by David Ferris, Contributor
8/27/2012

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Check Out This Renewable Energy App

Biomass Magazine
August 24, 2012

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Gridlock in D.C. may give edge to renewables

Des Moines Register
12:38 AM, Jul 2, 2012
Written by CHRISTOPHER DOERING
Gannett Washington Bureau


While oil and natural gas spend far more on lobbying, several factors are hindering a big shift in energy policy.

WASHINGTON — Big oil and natural gas companies vastly outspend and outman the renewable fuels industry on Capitol Hill, but the general gridlock in Washington gives advocates of wind, ethanol and other new-age sources an edge in the growing battle to overhaul U.S. energy policy.

“This Congress seems unable to make a national energy policy,” said Bruce Babcock, an Iowa State University economist. “The renewable fuels have an advantage in that they are part of current law, and it’s always easier to maintain current law than it is to change it.”

Among the factors that would make a major shift of U.S. energy policy difficult are the upcoming elections, the inability of lawmakers to reach a consensus on how to change the policy, and the high costs necessary to expand consumer access to fuels such as natural gas at U.S. filling stations.

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Register Special Report: Threats to Iowa's Bio-energy Industry

Des Moines Register
11:50 PM, Jun 16, 2012
Written by DAN PILLER

Fossil fuels' attacks on mandates, subsidies put renewables at risk

A surge in domestic oil and natural gas production and a decline in national political support for grain-fed biofuels threatens to cripple Iowa’s more than $20 billion renewable energy industry just as it has matured into a major force in the state’s economy.

The political battle, expected to continue beyond the November election, sets up a potential regional battle between the Midwestern grain interests and traditional fossil fuel strongholds in Texas and the Southwest.

The political energy map will change further with the emergence of states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York as major natural gas producers, with offshore wind farms in the Atlantic ocean arising to compete with Iowa and Midwestern wind.

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Electricity generation from non-hydro renewable sources varies by state

Financial (finchannel.com)
05/05/2012 02:20

The FINANCAIL -- Wind accounted for most non-hydro renewable generation in 2011, but sources of renewable generation vary from state to state.

However, the states with the most non-hydro renewable generation in 2011 also tend to have significant generation from wind. In 2011, renewable generation (including hydro) made up 13% of total generation.

In 2011, wind accounted for more than half of the non-hydro renewable generation in nine of the top ten states for non-hydro renewable generation. This pattern is in stark contrast to 2001, when wood-based fuels and other biomass accounted for the majority of non-hydro renewable generation in nearly all states. While solar is an important component of distributed generation, state-level solar estimates for utility-scale generation (presented here) are not yet available for all 50 states.

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EIA releases early version of Annual Energy Outlook

Biomass Power & Thermal
By Anna Austin February 29, 2012

The U.S. Energy Information Administration has made public an early release version of its 2012 Annual Energy Outlook. The report predicts biomass and wind electricity to dominate projected increases in U.S. non-hydro renewable electricity generation.

For biomass specifically, the EIA predicts a four-fold increase by the year 2035, accounting for 30 percent of the growth in non-hydro renewables. The report states that the quadruple increase is driven by two main factors: federal requirements to use more biomass-based transportation fuels—which leads to increased electricity generation as a co-product from liquid fuel facilities such as cellulosic ethanol refineries—and the co-firing of biomass with coal increasing over the projection period. This will be induced partially by state-level renewable portfolio standards, as well as favorable economics in regions with significant forestry residues, according to the EIA. It expects traditional industrial combined-heat-and-power generation in sectors such as the pulp and paper industry to continue to contribute to overall biomass generation.

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Wind, biodiesel subsidies promoted

DesMoinesRegister.com
11:46 PM, Dec. 13, 2011

Industries hope for extensions, but political tide is pushing against federal incentives

WASHINGTON — With subsidies for corn ethanol set to disappear at the end of the month, the rest of the renewable-energy industry is lobbying lawmakers to keep government incentives going.

The $1-a-gallon tax credit that undergirds the production of biodiesel also is due to expire Dec. 31, while tax incentives that support wind power and advanced forms of ethanol made from nonfood feedstocks are due to end a year from now.

The industries hope that Congress will include extensions of those subsidies in legislation that is needed to continue a variety of popular tax breaks that are expiring, including one that protects middle-income taxpayers from paying higher taxes under the alternative minimum tax.

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The challenge of wind turbine blade repair

RenewableEnergyFocus.com
07 November 2011
George Marsh

WITH A growing number of composite wind turbine blades now in service, rotor blade maintenance is becoming a major issue. George Marsh looks at the techniques used to inspect and repair blades, and experiences first hand a new system designed to speed up the repair process.

They call them skyworkers. Seen from a distance, they resemble ants as they manoeuvre around the blades of mighty wind turbines though, in fact, they are more comparable with spiders since they are supported and enabled to do their work by a web of ropes.

They are a new breed of worker in composite materials, combining reinforced plastic maintenance capabilities with abseiling/climbing skills. They are inspecting, cleaning and repairing the sometimes enormous rotor blades whose good condition is vital to wind turbine efficiency. For these members of a new breed of industrial worker, a head for heights is a key qualification.

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EPA, DOE to study contaminated lands for bioenergy potential

Biomass Power & Thermal
By Lisa Gibson November 08, 2011

As part of the RE-Powering America Initiative, the U.S. EPA is investing about $1 million to determine the capability of 26 different contaminated sites to host renewable energy projects. The studies will be carried out through project partner U.S. DOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Delaware City’s Standard Chlorine site in Delaware is among the superfund, brownfield and former landfill or mining sites being studied for potential to support biomass, solar, geothermal or wind projects. The other sites are in Vermont, New York, New Jersey, Georgia, Mississippi, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, New Mexico, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Montana, California, Arizona, Oregon and Washington, according to the EPA.

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Iowa gets $20 million energy grant

DesMoinesRegister.com
3:03 PM, Sep 8, 2011 by Dan Piller Comments

Iowa has received a $20 million grant from the National Science Foundation to study and promote bioenergy, wind energy, energy efficiency and energy policy.

The project will be led by Dr. Robert Brown at Iowa State University, who already heads ISU’s renewable energy studies. The new grant, awarded to smaller states that historically receive lesser shares of NSF grants, is a five-year award and will pull in talent from the University of Iowa, University of Northern Iowa, Iowa’s community and private colleges and even K-12 schools.

Co-leaders are P. Barry Butler, executive vice president and provost at the University of Iowa; Kevin Nordmeyer, the director of the Iowa Energy Center in Ames; and Chitra Rajan, associate vice president for research at Iowa State.

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IPCC: 80% renewable energy by 2050, wind power will have an increasingly important role

reve
may 11, 2011

The Global Wind Energy Council, (GWEC), welcomes the news, saying wind power will have an increasingly important role to play in the future energy mix.

Renewable energy sources are expected to contribute up to 80% of global energy supply by 2050, according to a new report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Following a review of 164 scenarios, the IPCC found that renewables will play the major role in any successful plan to combat climate change.

“The report clearly demonstrates that renewable technologies could supply the world with more energy than it would ever need, and at a highly competitive cost,” said Steve Sawyer, Secretary General of the Global Wind Energy Council. “The IPCC report will be a key reference for policy makers and industry alike, as it represents the most comprehensive high level review of renewable energy to date.”

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IPCC: 80% renewable energy by 2050, wind power will have an increasingly important role

reve
may 11, 2011

The Global Wind Energy Council, (GWEC), welcomes the news, saying wind power will have an increasingly important role to play in the future energy mix.

Renewable energy sources are expected to contribute up to 80% of global energy supply by 2050, according to a new report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Following a review of 164 scenarios, the IPCC found that renewables will play the major role in any successful plan to combat climate change.

“The report clearly demonstrates that renewable technologies could supply the world with more energy than it would ever need, and at a highly competitive cost,” said Steve Sawyer, Secretary General of the Global Wind Energy Council. “The IPCC report will be a key reference for policy makers and industry alike, as it represents the most comprehensive high level review of renewable energy to date.”

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Grassley calls for united front on tax credits for wind energy

Des Moines Register

11:36 PM, Apr. 27, 2011

Written by PERRY BEEMAN

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley on Wednesday told wind-energy advocates in Des Moines that they should make a united push for continued tax credits in Congress to avoid political problems that face the ethanol industry.

"Ethanol is partly in trouble ... because the ethanol industry is divided," Grassley, R-Ia., told the Iowa Wind Energy Association conference. "We don't want that in wind."

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Solar, Wind and Biomass worth $188 billion in 2010

RenewableEnergyWorld.com
By Dana Blankenhorn
March 14, 2011

The main renewable energy industries grew 35% last year, and revenues should double again this decade, according to the Clean Energy Trends 2011 report issued today by Clean Edge Inc., the Portland-based research company.

This boom has been going on for a decade and shows no signs of stopping, the report said. Since 2000 the market for solar photovoltaics (PV) and wind has grown 20-fold, with the price to install solar panels falling by nearly half, and the percentage of the country's venture capital invested in the space growing from less than 1% to last year's 23%.

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Going "All The Way" With Renewable Energy?

National Geographic
By Mason Inman
For National Geographic News
Published January 17, 2011

Political will seen as main green power obstacle, but practical issues remain

This story is part of a special series that explores energy issues. For more, visit The Great Energy Challenge.

In a world where fossil fuel provides more than 80 percent of energy, what would it take to go completely green? Could the world switch over to power from only the wind, sun, waves, and heat from the Earth in only a few decades?

The question seems a fanciful one, when world leaders are stymied over proposals for far less dramatic cuts in the carbon dioxide emissions from global burning of coal, oil, and natural gas. But two U.S. researchers, a transportation expert and an atmospheric scientist, decided the time had come to apply blue-sky thinking to one of the world's greatest challenges.

"We wanted to show that wind, water, and solar power are available to meet demand, indefinitely," says study co-author Mark Delucchi, of the Institute for Transportation Studies at the University of California Davis. He and Mark Jacobson of the civil and environmental engineering department at Stanford University began to tally the build-out that would be needed to supply renewable energy for all the world's factories, homes, and offices, as well as all transport—cars, planes, and ships.

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Wind, Hydro, Biomass May Cover 36% of EU Energy Needs by 2020

Bloomberg
By Kari Lundgren - Feb 10, 2011 6:15 AM CT

Power from wind farms, hydro-power and biomass plants may account for as much as 36 percent of energy consumption in the European Union by 2020, according to a report released by the region’s transmission system operators.

The use of non-fossil fuel generation across the EU could trim carbon dioxide released in 2020 by as much as 57 percent or as little as 26 percent compared with 2009, the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity said today.

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The Future Is Closer Than You Think for Some Forms of Alternative Energy, Says The Boston Consulting Group

TheBostonConsultingGroup.com
November 10, 2010

Advanced Biofuels, Concentrated Solar Power, and Solar Photovoltaic Power Are on Track to Change the Global Energy Landscape Far Earlier Than Many Assume
SAN FRANCISCO, November 10, 2010—For skeptics, alternative energy has long been more hype than genuine promise. Yet several alternative-energy technologies are approaching inflection points in their development, and the day when they could have a profound impact on the global energy landscape could come far sooner than is commonly assumed, says a new report from The Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

The report, released today and titled What’s Next for Alternative Energy?, examines the state of seven of the most significant alternative-energy technologies—advanced biofuels, electric vehicles (EVs), concentrated solar power (CSP), solar photovoltaic (PV), onshore wind, offshore wind, and clean coal through carbon capture and sequestration (CCS)—and assesses each one’s prospects in terms of three issues:

• Can it achieve cost competitiveness with conventional energy by 2020 and be economically viable without subsidies?

• Can it overcome barriers to rapid adoption once cost competitive?

• Can it reach penetration levels by 2025 that disrupt the status quo?

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US Energy Information Administration Indicates Growth in Renewable Energy

AZOCleantech.com

A recent data released by the US Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) indicates the growing role of renewable energy sources in the national growth.

The data indicates that in the first six months of 2010 the share of renewable energy power usage increased by 4.7% when compared to the increase in the power consumption from the primary energy which witnessed an increase of 2.7%. The hydropower production witnessed a reverse growth due to vagaries of weather conditions. During the period hydropower which used to lead the power production sources by 33% came down to 8%.

The power produced from renewable energy sources such as solar power and wind energy meets approximately 8.4% of the basic energy intake in the U.S. The consumption from renewable energy sources witnessed more than 4.7% growth when compared to the same period in 2009. Similarly energy consumption is also witnessing a steady growth comparable with the unstable period and increased by 2.7% though it lags behind the growth of 3.9% witnessed during the same period in the year 2008.

Wind energy has increased its percentage of growth by 21.4% and currently constitutes nearly 11% of the total renewable energy. The percentage of biomass power production increased by 4.9% and it accounts for 50% of the total renewable energy. Within the biomass industry bio-ethanol grew by 23.4% and bio-diesel witnessed a growth of 18.9% from their negative growth in the year 2008.

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The busy person’s guide to a 20 percent Renewable Power Standard

Biomass Digest
July 16, 2010 Jim Lane

For a long time there has been discussion of 20 percent renewable power standards in a wide assortment of countries. There’s squabbling about the exact percentages, and the merits of solar, wind, biomass, geo and hydro — but it’s a conversation that hasn’t gone away, and won’t.

Why? To meet the 2050 global carbon goals and provide power for a world population growing in numbers and affluence, a 20 percent RPS is a minimal standard, no more or less than a material first step.

With carbon legislation under consideration this month in the United States Senate, its worth looking at the impact of such a transition on the economics of power generation. These have been studied in depth many times, and industry conferences and the halls of academia and government could be effectively wallpapered with all the pages of impact analysis that have been generated.

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