Definitive report on our heating planet
State of the Climate: Hottest Decade on Record, NYTimes.com, By JOHN COLLINS RUDOLF, July 28, 2010 The past decade was the hottest recorded, part of an unequivocal pattern of warming dating back 50 years, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report declared on Wednesday. Continue reading
Renewables, energy efficiency create more jobs than nuclear does
Energy efficiency programs also would produce more jobs.
Renewable Energy Would Create More Jobs Than Nuclear Power, Greentech Media, Elliott Negin, 29 July 2010, The Union of Concerned Scientists weighs in on the nuclear vs. renewables debate. “……If the federal government established a standard requiring utilities to obtain 25 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2025, it would create 297,000 new jobs, according to a 2009 analysis by my organization, the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Echoing our analysis, a February 2010 study by Navigant Consulting found that a 25 percent by 2025 standard would create 274,000 jobs.
Energy efficiency programs also would produce more jobs. A 2009 study by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy found that a national standard requiring utilities to institute programs reducing electricity demand by 15 percent and natural gas demand by 10 percent would generate more than 220,000 jobs by 2020.
Texas is blessed by a wealth of renewable sources. In fact, it has the technical potential to generate more than 17 times the electricity it used in 2008 from renewable energy, primarily from wind, bioenergy and solar. And it is beginning to take advantage of that bounty.Texas is a national leader in wind energy, generating more than 9,500 megawatts (MW) of installed capacity, thanks in part to the state’s renewable electricity standard. That standard requires utilities to increase their reliance on renewable resources to produce at least 5,800 MW (about 5.5 percent) of the state’s power needs by 2015. On March 5, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas reported a record high for instantaneous wind output of 6,272 MW. That met 19 percent of the total state customer demand, showing that Texas is on track to exceed the standard.
Likewise, Texas has been a leader on efficiency. It was the first state to adopt an energy efficiency resource standard, which required utilities to use efficiency to cut 10 percent of annual growth in power demand. This year the standard jumped to 30 percent of customer demand growth. Increased energy efficiency will translate into lower electricity bills.
Texas’s leadership on renewables and efficiency has meant more jobs. In 2007, Texas ranked second to California in numbers of businesses (4,802) and jobs (55,646) tied to the clean energy sector, according to 2009 report by the Pew Charitable Trusts.Can new reactor construction compete? According to a recent report by the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, even if new construction created 2,400 temporary jobs per site, a significant number of those jobs could go to workers overseas. All applicants seeking permits to build new reactors or building them now – including the South Texas Project — plan to use or are using foreign manufacturers and labor to build major reactor parts……..
So why is Christine Todd Whitman pushing nuclear power? Because the group she co-chairs, the benignly sounding Clean and Safe Energy Coalition, is a front for the nuclear industry. The industry trade organization, the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), created the coalition – which is little more than a website with a list of supporters — and is its sole funder. Whitman, who has been shilling for NEI for four years, has a right to earn a living, but your readers have the right to know she is a paid industry mouthpiece — a fact that she routinely fails to disclose — and that she is not giving them the whole story.
Renewable Energy Would Create More Jobs Than Nuclear Power : Greentech Media
In USA solar powered electricity now cheaper than nuclear
Having dropped below nuclear power, solar power is now one of the least expensive energy sources in America.
Study: Solar power is cheaper than nuclear | The Energy Collective, July 27, 2010 by OshaDavidson The Holy Grail of the solar industry — reaching grid parity — may no longer be a distant dream. Solar may have already reached that point, at least when compared to nuclear power, according to a new study by two researchers at Duke University. Continue reading
Subsidise wind energy, not nuclear – UK Energy Secretary
U.K.’s Energy Secretary Huhne Favors Subsidy for Wind Energy Over Nuclear, Bloomberg, By Kitty Donaldson – Jul 25, 2010 Energy Secretary Chris Huhne favors harnessing both offshore and onshore wind power, saying the U.K. won’t subsidize a new generation of nuclear power stations……. Continue reading
National Gross Feed In Tariff- Greens’ call for Australia
The policy would work alongside a gross national feed-in tariff, giving renewable energy investors certainty; and would see an increased renewable energy target.
Australian Greens Renew Call For National Gross Feed In Tariff : Renewable Energy News, 26 July 2010, A plan developed by the Australian Greens to provide Australia with 100 per cent renewable energy by 2050 includes a renewed push for a gross, national feed in tariff for renewable energy. Continue reading
Nuclear’s Brave New Confidence Trick to hijack Walk Against Warming
August 15 will be the day for “Walk Against Warming”. The nuclear lobby will try to use this occasion to promote nuclear power as a solution to global warming.
I like their slogan – “Brave New Climate”. It has echoes of “Brave New World” – a book in which the State exercised complete surveillance over people’s lives. And that would be the scenario, in a nuclear Australia. It’s an aspect not often discussed – but nuclear power is so dangerous, that it requires huge surveillance, and secrecy – indeed a Brave New World style influence on our lives.
Nuclear power far from being any solution to Climate Change, simply creates a new and potentially greater problem.
At the website below, a Double-sided A4 flyer can be downloaded, for printing off, and used to counter this attempt by the nuclear lobby to hikack the Walk Against Warming.
Nuclear Power & Climate Change — Friends of the Earth Australia
No credibility in Labor or Liberal’s Climate Non Policies
Gillard’s announcement should be measured against the Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan released last week by green group Beyond Zero Emissions and the University of Melbourne’s Energy Research Institute.
Zero carbon plan better idea than zero credibility, Sydney Morning Herald, PADDY MANNING.July 24, 2010 “……….Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s exercise in small-target politics in Brisbane yesterday confirmed both major parties are missing in action on climate this election. Continue reading
Here comes the sun – decentralised solar energy bill passed in USA
(USA) Here comes the sun, Beyond Nuclear 24 July 2010, The Senate Energy Committee yesterday approved Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) 10 million solar roofs bill (S. 3460). This bill would provide tax credits and other incentives to encourage people to install solar power on 10 million rooftops across the U.S. It would ramp up mass production of solar panels and thus likely reduce their cost. It’s an easy bill to support. Here is an article that describes the bill.
USA’s 10 Million Solar Rooftops Act
a homeowner who decides to install a 5-kilowatt solar system which, depending on location, would produce enough electricity to cover most, if not all, of an average electric bill (the solar panels would produce excess power during the day that can be sold back to the utility, covering some or all of the cost of electricity when the sun is not shining).
Here Comes the Sun: Ten Million Solar Rooftops, Renewable Energy World, by Greg Chafee July 21, 2010 Continue reading
Gillard – same old delaying tactics on Climate Change
report after report has shown [that a carbon market] is the most efficient and cheapest way to meet the targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
New policy, same old delay on carbon price scheme, The Age, LENORE TAYLOR, 23 July 2010, Julia Gillard has put the pretty wrapping paper of conviction and consensus around Kevin Rudd’s emissions trading backdown. But inside it’s the same poll-driven backdown. Continue reading
European Union looking to over 1 million renewable energy jobs
The biggest growth is anticipated to come from job creation in the consumer and small business sectors as homeowners focus on green lifestyles in order to enhance home energy efficiency, health, comfort and sustainability.
Green Jobs and Renewable Energy, ECOINSTITUTION, July 20, 2010 by davidhoward Renewable energy industry has proven its potential to create jobs. Under current policies, the European Union could create sizeable number of jobs: 950,000 direct and indirect full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs and increase to 1.4 million in the next decade. Continue reading
Detailed report on Europe’s Renewable Energy Policy
The report provides trends and information on renewable energy policies in Europe and analyzes some of the driving forces for the renewable energy sector
Europe Renewable Energy Policy Handbook 2010, GlobalData ReportStore, Jul-2010
GlobalData’s new report “Europe Renewable Energy Policy Handbook 2010” provides an in-depth analysis of the renewable policy initiatives in the European Union (EU) and the key countries in terms of strength of policy implementation. Continue reading
Australia: the electoral power of Climate Change activism
on July 12 Tony Abbott said the Opposition had “no plans to promote nuclear power”. This is a watershed.Politicians now fear the electorate’s environmental commitment, and its preparedness to punish lax environmentalism.So let’s use our electoral power.
Watershed for voting power – inMyCommunity – Perth, Western Australia, David Freeman , 20 July 2010, Continue reading
The nuclear fuel cycle and Climate Change
“When the Dust Settles” can now be viewed on You Tube
A final word on climate change | Coober Pedy Regional Times July 17, 2010 The ETU does not accept the argument that nuclear energy is an answer to the harmful impact on the world’s climate of burning fossil fuels.
Mr Simpson said you do not solve one problem by creating another, more dangerous one.
“How can anyone credibly argue that the answer to global warming or atmospheric pollution is to significantly increase the risk of people getting cancer or them giving birth to deformed babies? Continue reading
World’s hottest June, Australia’s driest
The Bureau reported that all states and territories in Australia experienced drier-than-average conditions in June…..
Warmest June on record globally. Better Panic Now !, 19 July 2010, (CNN) –– Last month was the warmest June on record worldwide, according to a report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.Warmer-than-average conditions were present across nearly all continents, including much of the United States, according to the organization’s State of the Climate report, released Friday. Continue reading
1 This month
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