Iberdrola Renovables stick new lawn BWEC second year shows a significant reduction in mortality Bat

Another year of pioneering research to investigate the interaction between bats and wind turbine Casselman Wind Power Project shows that a growing reduction in the whirlwind of speed, the wind speed necessary to start spinning the turbines and generate electricity during off-peak wind late summer and early fall to reduce bat mortality up to 93%. The study is published online November 1, 2010 Frontiers in Ecology and Environment Journal of the Ecological Society of America.

Iberdrola Renewables, the owner of the Casselman wind farm in partnership with an independent conservation group, Bat Conservation International (BCI), carry out the pioneering study on the project southwestern Pennsylvania wind energy.

Call NC wood questions

Two groups of Appeal NC Wood Court Two environmental groups are trying to turn the utilities, the Commission's decision, which would allow Duke Energy harvesting and burning trees for fuel for power plants. NC Utilities Commission said in October that Charlotte-based Duke can use the size of trees, to clarify the types of wood, which can be used under state law for 2007 of renewable energy. But the Southern Environmental Defense Center and Environmental Defense Fund have appealed to the NC Court of Appeals seeking to block the plan.

"The decision of the Commission allows companies to slash and burn forests in our state, no doubt," said Will McDow, a specialist in wood biomass with the Environmental Defense Fund said in a statement. "To give unlimited access to burn thousands of hectares of natural forest is unwise." Prior to the decision of the committee, Duke argued that green energy state law allows any type of wood, including whole trees, cut into fuel.

Our carbon habit 'must be kicked'

US ENERGY secretary Dr Steven Chu addressed the issue of climate change and the urgent need to move to carbon-neutral energy sources at a lecture series in Dublin.

The Nobel Laureate delivered the inaugural lecture at the Dublin City University's Nobel Lecture Series at the Helix yesterday.

Dr Chu won the 1997 Nobel Prize for Physics for his work in developing a technique to cool down an atom to a very low temperature in order to trap and manipulate it with light. He was appointed to his current position by US President Barack Obama in January 2009.

The lecture, entitled: 'A Random Walk in Science from Laser Cooling to Global Warming' covered Dr Chu's Nobel Prize-winning research and his current focus on climate change and renewable energy.

Record earnings for Emera

Emera Inc., the owner of Nova Scotia Power and other utilities, is reporting record earnings of $44.8 million, compared to $37.3 million the previous year, in third-quarter financial results released Friday.

"We have momentum in our business and this is translating into record earnings for the first three quarters of this year. In fact, Emera shares have provided an annualized total return to shareholders of 14.5 per cent over the last five years. This result is one that we are particularly proud of as it is proof that our strategy is working," Chris Huskilson, Emera president, told analysts during a conference call.

Emera’s stock was up 25 cents on the Toronto Stock Exchange late Friday, trading at $30.20 a share.

The Halifax-based company also reported profits of $151.5 million for the first nine months of this year, compared to $138.2 million for the same period in 2009.

Energy to 2050 – can it fit in with environmental objectives?

Successive editions of the International Energy Agency (IEA) annual ‘World Energy Outlook’ (WEO) have emphasized, with increasing degrees of concern, that the most likely energy scenario for the world is environmentally unsustainable. Given the expected population growth to 2030 and general improvement in living standards, continued dependence on fossil fuels will ensure that carbon emissions continue to rise sharply. Unless something changes dramatically, growth in both China and India is going to be based very much on the further exploitation of coal, oil and gas reserves. Apart from the environmental side, this will also bring with it important issues of resource depletion (particularly for oil) which will have both an economic and energy security of supply consequence. In the IEA’s reference (business as usual) scenario, nuclear experiences only a minor revival and the growth of renewable energy is also constrained by a mixture of economic and other factors, as exploiting abundant coal reserves provides the easiest route to growth.

Encouraging green options

Renewable Energy Policy 6 November, 2010 - With increasing emphasis on curtailing the risk of glacial retreat and its consequent impact over hydropower, the government plans to access alternative energy resources to ensure energy security.

The groundwork for the process of developing a road map for the country’s renewable energy has begun by formulating a policy that would direct the validation of instituting various forms of renewable energy in the country.

According to officials from the department of energy (DoE), the need to have a policy was felt, because of the government’s aim to shift to other alternative sources of energy, and diversify the risks arising out of overdependence on one resource.