Massachusetts got good news Tuesday when the U.S. Department of Energy announced that the state will receive $25 million from the federal stimulus package to build the Wind Technology Testing Center on Boston Harbor in the city’s neighborhood of Charlestown. When it is completed, the center will be able to test wind turbine blades up to 90 meters long. Currently, no blades are in use anywhere in the world that are more than 60 meters long and the U.S. has no facility that can test blades longer than 50 meters.
Longer blades will help in the creation of larger offshore wind power operations. It is hoped that the WTTC will lure companies from around the world not only to test their blades in the United States but also to design and make them here. At the same time, the DoE suggests, it will spur expansion of U.S. companies "who are part of the supply chain for wind turbine production – including fiber glass distributors, advanced composite materials manufacturers and others."
A total of $118 million has now been committed to wind development under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.
From a posting at the Department of Energy Web site:
"This is part of President Obama’s broad agenda to make sure that our country leads the world in capturing the clean energy jobs of the future," said Secretary [Steven] Chu. "As the world moves toward a significant expansion in wind power, the test blade facility will help make sure that the best, most efficient wind turbines are built right here in America. Not only will it create jobs and help us achieve energy independence, it will mean cleaner air, cleaner water and fewer greenhouse gas emissions."
"The clean energy technology sector is taking root and growing in Massachusetts, and hosting a national wind technology testing center will be a big boost," said Governor [Deval] Patrick. "Testing the next generation of wind turbines here will make Massachusetts a hub for the fastest-growing energy source in the world."
When selecting Massachusetts for this facility in June 2007, the Department of Energy pledged $2 million for the project. Since then, the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust has committed $13.2 million in grants and loans for design and initial development expenses, working capital and first year operating expenses. |
Construction is expected to begin in September be completed by the end of 2010.
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The rescue begins below and continues in the jump.
akmk warned us with a Hydro-power Legislation Alert: "Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican, Alaska, announced on Alaska Public Radio this week that she is working to get legislation passed that will amend a 1978 public utility act to include renewable energy sources and to classify hydro-power as renewable energy. Utility companies in Alaska are for it. Developers are for it. Public officials that like growth and development are for it. One huge problem. This legislative proposal comes about as a direct result of a resolution put forth by Alaska's Republican State Legislator (House) to seek federal funding for hydro-projects in Alaska ‘without restriction.’"
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The Overnight News Digest is posted and includes the story, US uptick doesn't mean crisis is over: top US economist
A Siegel had some words about Republican obstructionism in his diary, Serving up some Poison Pills: The Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy & Security (ACES) Act has moved from draft to a 900+ page submitted bill. To be clear, the ACES is far from a perfect bill, having been weakened from what was originally introduced. ...Sadly, the Committee Republicans evidently are not interested in a serious ‘No Regrets’ strategy, with introduction of serious amendments enabling discussion of how to make this bill better for the nation today and into the future. Rather than offering substantive amendments that would offer a tangible basis for discussing different philosophies about solving problems, the committee Republicans plan to introduce 450 Amendments that are almost entirely political gamesmanship, seeking to embarrass Democratic Representatives, when they aren't simply fossil foolish."
Teryn Norris also took a look at the Waxman-Markey Climate Bill Introduced in House — Does it Invest in Clean Energy?,: "The landmark Waxman-Markey 2009 American Clean Energy and Security Act was introduced in the House and the Breakthrough Institute has performed a preliminary analysis of how it would invest over 1 trillion dollars in cap and trade revenue between 2012-2025. Our key findings for this period ... finds that Waxman-Markey would spend about $9 billion annually on a range of things that could generously be classified as technology innovation. By contrast, the legislation would give $32 billion to utilities, $9 billion to heavy industries, and $11 billion to low-income consumers annually. This $9 billion is far less than what Obama promised ($15 billion) and far less than the $30 billion that three dozen energy scientists and experts, including several Nobel laureates, called for in a sign-on letter during the fall of 2007."
And so did Contributing Editor BarbinMD looked at those Republicans, too, in Republican Obstructionism: Will Offer 450 Amendments To Climate Change Bill?: "The Party of No is considering doing the only thing they know how to do with any legislation ... obstruct."
lineatus was up early for another Dawn Chorus: Invasion of the Birdie Snatchers: "One thing I've learned here: A catchy title is crucial. So technically, it should probably be ‘Invasion of the Birdie Displacers’ or ‘Invasion of the Breeding Cavity Snatchers,’ but... those just don't have the right ring. If this was Fox Noise, I could whip up a frenzy describing how our fine, native birds are under siege from alien hordes... but, nah. Although I might keep with their anti-elitist tone and curse Shakespeare (just this once)."
juliewolf had her own feathery diary, Birds of Spring: Parker River in May: "The Parker River Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island on Coastal Massachusetts is, by far, one of my favorite places to bird. It can be especially fun during migration time, when a lot of birds will stop by on their way one direction or the other. This time of year, we get many warblers, but often other surprises will pop up as well. Take, for example, this Merlin, which was looking around on the side of the road."
Merry Light pointed out that mountaintop removal isn’t the only damaging energy technology in mining Got gas?: "Energy companies drill a hole into the earth and fracture (frac) the ground around it to loosen up the tight sands of the gas-bearing strata by pumping a ‘proprietary mix’ of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene,xylene and hydrocarbon methanol phosphate (all very ugly toxic chemicals which have been proven to cause cancer), at high pressure to loosen the sands which hold the gas. This gas would then flow to the surface, being under pressure. They then supposedly pump the frac'ing fluid back out and dispose of it. This is not the only impact to the environment that gas drilling has. The drilling rig needs at least 5 acres of land to place a pad on - plus the road to the pad. Then there's the pipeline, to take the gas to market, the collection tanks, the exhaust fan buildings, the pits for waste - it goes on and on. Not to mention the Volatile Organic Chemicals which pollute the air with ozone and have recently laid a haze over our beautiful mountains."
Frankenoid was enjoying the warm weather in her weekly
Saturday Morning Garden Blogging Vol. 5.13 diary: "There were two major sightings in Denver this week: my naked toes, and the UPS man's knees."
We got totally played on ANWR wrote
erratic: "All those battles and arguments about how vital ANWR's oil was to America's liberty, all that vicious froth about how the anarchic eco-terroristic hordes of caribou-loving Luddites were unpatriotic, delusional fools, all those visions of an oil-less apocalypse, with abandoned SUV's on the sides of highways, and a War Machine that was out of gas, were a completely cynical ploy, a puppet-show for the masses. We got played. I suspected it at the time, but it's a hard thing to prove. It's an effective political tactic - pick a high-visibility battle over a specific topic/arena (eg ANWR) and make it a dramatic focal point, pretending that it's essential, when actually it has no tactical significance. ... So what got me thinking about ANWR today? A Washington Post article that Cuba has up to 20 billion barrels of off-shore oil (twice ANWR's estimated reserves), and negotiations to start extraction are beginning."
Nomoreimperialism was extremely unhappy about an appointment, as he wrote in Another Obama Friday Night Fail: "President Barack Obama has just nominated Clinton retread I.S. Moreno to be DOJ's top enviro lawyer. Under Clinton she was Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General of the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. She is currently corporate environmental counsel for General Electric where she defends GE from lawsuits related to GE being the most notorious Superfund polluter on the planet Earth."
Josh Nelson thinks China Envoy Nominee Huntsman Good on Environmental Issues, For a Republican: "Admittedly, on environmental issues, he is quite good for a Republican: ’Utah is uniquely positioned to meet our future energy needs. A clean, diverse, secure mix of energy resources is essential to maintain Utah's quality of life and economic development. We have the energy resources, people, and technological capabilities to accomplish this goal. We must develop the clean and renewable resources to meet the energy needs of our citizens and businesses and sustain our economy, meet environmental challenges of air quality and water quality, as well as climate change and greenhouse gas reductions.’ Unfortunately, he also supports unsustainable polices such as offering massive incentives for natural gas vehicles and spending taxpayer money to research ways to bury pollution underground. These are not productive polices and the repercussions could be disastrous if Mr. Huntsman tells his future Chinese counterparts otherwise."
NNadir evaluated Supercritical Water, Biomass Gasification, Hydrogen and Other Value Added Products From Protein.: "I don't believe our car CULTure lifestyle can be saved by any means indeed I'm not sure that much of anything can be saved by any means, though some approaches at trying to save something are less ridiculous than others. This is a diary about making gas from biomass, specifically proteinaceous biomass ... "
indycam informed us that France is going for solar power: "France opened up bidding Friday for an ambitious project to blanket the country in solar energy plants and push the country closer to the forefront of the fight against global warming."
Contributing Editor Devilstower evaluated the political factors behind the uneven distribution of carbon emissions in The United States is Not Carbon Flat: "Not only do some areas of America pump put much, much more CO2 than others, the location of those high and low carbon areas directly contributes to the political difficulty in getting anything done about restraining the growth in CO2. Whether through a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade program, the impact of emissions control and pricing will not be anything like uniform across the United States. It will result in large distributive consequences and income shifts, hitting some groups far harder than others."
mieprowan answered the question, Why garden in the desert?: "If people are going to live in the desert, it makes more sense to try to grow food than to insist it all be grown elsewhere and shipped in, if one can do it in some sort of manner that does not consume a lot of other people’s resources, which can be read to mean any resources."
wide eyed lib again went out Free Food: Foraging, Hudson River edition: "Every forager knows the advantages of having one place to forage. You learn the area well and know exactly where to look for all the plants. You witness those plants going through their life cycle-- from leaf to bud to flower to fruit to seed. It can feel like shopping at your favorite grocery store; the one where you know that those yummy, cheesy crackers are on the right hand side of aisle 6, 2nd shelf.But it's also nice to depart the familiar and explore new places. It might not be as productive in terms of the variety and quantity of food that you bring home, but it's infinitely satisfying to discover old friends in new places. Today I foraged along the Hudson River in a meadowed and thicketed area quite different from the wooded area I normally frequent. I was a little concerned that I might not find enough new plants for today's diary, but my fears were soon laid to rest."