New electricity capacity in USA – more than 60% comes from renewables
US Large-Scale Renewables Account For More Than 60% Of New Capacity http://cleantechnica.com/2015/10/28/us-renewables-account-60-new-capacity/
by Joshua S Hill
New figures reveal that US utility-scale renewable energy projects accounted for more than 60% of new energy capacity installed throughout the first three quarters of 2015. In new figures released by the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in its monthly Energy Infrastructure Update (PDF), it was revealed that renewable energy sources — including biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar, and wind — accounted for 60.20% of the total 7,276 MW of new electrical generation installed in the US during the first 9 months of 2015.
Wind alone made up 40.76% of all new capacity so far this year, with 2,966 MW of new generating capacity spread out over 26 new projects.
Second, among renewable energy technologies, was utility-scale solar, with 1,137 MW over 142 projects. Biomass was third, with 205 MW spread over 16 projects; geothermal steam fourth, with a 45 MW project; and hydropower fifth, with 27 MW across 18 projects.
“With Congress and numerous states now questioning the ability of renewable energy sources to meet targets called for in the Administration’s new Clean Power Plan (CPP), the explosive growth of wind, solar, biomass, hydropower, and geothermal in recent years confirms that it can be done,” noted Ken Bossong, Executive Director of the SUN DAY Campaign. “In fact, the latest FERC data suggest that the CPP’s goals are unduly modest and renewables will handily surpass them.”
Wind dominated even in the month of September alone, with 3 projects (or units, as FERC labels them) totalling 448 MW.
The three projects that came online during September were the 211 MW Rattlesnake Den Wind project, located in Glasscock County, in Texas; the 211 MW Logans Gap Wind project, located in Comanche County, Texas; and the smaller 25.6 MW Saddleback Ridge Wind Phase 2 Expansion Project, located in Franklin County, Maine.
Turnbull tangled in knots over climate change and coal policy
Malcolm Turnbull is a good debater, and in a democracy words and arguments matter. But sophistry cannot conceal the simple mathematics of climate change. We need to burn less fossil fuels, and no rhetoric can conceal the simple economics that you don’t need more mines to make less coal.
Turnbull fails debate, economics and science with dumb coal defence, Crikey
DR RICHARD DENNISS | OCT 28, 2015
Malcolm Turnbull doesn’t seem to understand the basic laws of the market — or the science of climate change, writes Dr Richard Denniss, chief economist at The Australia Institute.
Malcolm Turnbull either doesn’t understand how global commodity markets work or he is betting that most Australians don’t. Either way, the PM’s#coalisamazing moment yesterday was not a great way to start a new conversation about the reality of the Australian economy and the choices we face.
The Prime Minister dismissed calls for a global moratorium on new coal mines from the likes of Sir Nicholas Stern and former Reserve Bank boss Bernie Fraser by saying a moratorium was “not sensible from an economic point of view”. Let’s be clear, Nicholas Stern and Bernie Fraser are economists; the Prime Minister is not…….
Echoing the lines of the Minerals Council of Australia and his Resources Minister Josh Frydenberg, Mr Turnbull also went on to argue that exporting coal was ‘an absolutely critical ingredient’ in alleviating hunger and world poverty.
The Prime Minister’s debating skills are widely renowned, but while clever arguments might win court cases they don’t solve real world problems like climate change. Sadly for those hoping that our public debate might have turned a corner under our new PM, if we break his arguments down we see that not only are they flawed, they aren’t even that clever. Continue reading
Too hot to work: climate change ‘puts south-east Asia economies at risk’ #Auspol
Rising temperatures and humidity due to climate change are likely to increase the number of days with unsafe “heat stress”, putting south-east Asia at great risk of significant drops in productivity, a research firm said on Wednesday.
South-east Asia over the next three decades could lose 16% of its labour capacity due to rising heat stress, which could cause absenteeism due to dizziness, fatigue, nausea and even death in extreme cases, the British firm Verisk Maplecroft said.
The company predicted the biggest losses in productivity in Singapore and Malaysia, with 25% and 24% decreases from current levels. Indonesia could see a 21% drop, Cambodia and the Philippines 16% and Thailand and Vietnam 12%.
“Climate change will push heat stress impacts to boiling point, with significant implications for both national economies and the health of vulnerable workers,” said James Allan, head of environment at Verisk Maplecroft, in a statement.
The company…
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Climate change is real and it is happening now. #Auspol Time to “bend the curve”
This is evident in the increased frequency and intensity of storms, hurricanes, floods, heat waves, droughts and forest fires. These extreme events, as well as the spread of certain infectious diseases, worsened air pollution, drinking water contamination and food shortages, are creating the beginning of what soon will be a global public health crisis.
A whole new navigable ocean is opening in the Arctic.
Sea levels are rising, causing major damage in the world’s most populous cities. All this has resulted from warming the planet by only about 0.9 degrees Celsius, primarily from human activities. Since 1750, we have emitted 2 trillion metric tons
of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases. The emission in
2011 was around 50 billion tons and is growing at a rate of 2.2 percent per year. If this rate of increase continues unabated, the world is on target to warm by about 2 degrees…
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1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 