Posted by pfairley on May 28, 2009
Benjamin Sovacool agrees that wind turbines kill birds and bats, but this University of Singapore public policy professor makes a convincing case that this fact desperately needs context. Reviewing avian mortality from power generation in the June issue of Energy Policy, Sovacool shows that — gigawatt-hour for gigawatt-hour — it is fossil-fired power by a longshot that will ground winged creatures.
Sovacool’s analysis estimates avian deaths throughout the fuel cycle for coal, oil and natural-gas fired power generation:
- Coal mining = 0.02 deaths per gigawatt-hour (GWh). For example, habitat destruction by mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia has killed approximately 191,722 Cerulean Warblers.
- Plant operations = 0.07 bird deaths/GWh. Electrocution at one well-observed power plant in Spain killed 467 birds over two years.
- Acid rain = 0.05 deaths/GWh. Cornell’s Laboratory of Ornithology estimated in 2002 that acid rain reduced the U.S. wood thrush population by 2–5%.
- Mercury emissions = 0.06 deaths/GWh. Impacts include hampered reproduction and survival, observed in everything from albatross and woodstorks to bald eagles. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Climate Change, Climate Science, Coal, Earth observation, Fossil Power, Natural gas, Wind power | Tagged: avian mortality, bats, Benjamin Sovacool, birds, Coal, energy, environment, University of Singapore, wind power | 3 Comments »
Posted by pfairley on May 20, 2009
President Obama gathered auto executives, auto workers, environmentalists, and top federal and California officials at the White House this week to unveil a new consensus on fuel economy standards. His plan will harmonize the federal government’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards (better know as CAFE) with tougher tailpipe standards for CO2 poised to take effect in California and 17 other states.
Obama traded up, according to close Detroit observer Jim Motavalli, who writes in the New York Times’ Wheels blog that the new-and-improved CAFE is “roughly equivalent to those proposed under California’s tailpipe greenhouse-gas program.” As Motavalli and others noted, automakers had no choice but to join Obama and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s march to higher efficiency, with the feds holding their much-tightened purse-strings.
CAFE will start rising in 2012 and reach 39 miles per gallon for cars and 30 mpg for trucks by 2016, with a fleetwide average of 35.5 mpg. That’s quite a jump from the current standards of 27.5 mpg for cars and 23.1 for trucks. It’s quite an acceleration from the CAFE boost approved by Congress and President Bush in 2007, which would have not have reached a combined average of 35 mpg until 2020.
This is very good news for technology developers. As your author documented in early 2008, the 2007 upgrade would have required minimal implementation of next-generation technologies — such as advanced electric drivetrains and light-weight composite parts — that will be required to put personal transport on a path to sustainability.
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This post was created for Energywise, IEEE Spectrum’s blog on green power, cars and climate
Posted in Energy Policy, Transportation | Tagged: cafe, corporate average fuel economy, Jim Motavalli, Obama, Schwarzenegger | Leave a Comment »
Posted by pfairley on May 19, 2009
Constellation Energy and Electricité de France boasted this week that they are closer to winning federal loan guarantees for a new reactor they want to build at Constellation’s Calvert Cliffs power station in Maryland. The $18.5 billion pool of funding they’re vying for will be critical to jump-starting the stalled U.S. nuclear industry. Construction problems in Finland and France with the reactor design slated for Calvert Cliffs — the EPR from Paris-based nuclear technology and services giant Areva — show why.
Bad news flows in constantly from Olkiluoto, the site on Finland’s coast where Areva is three years behind schedule on an EPR it is building for a Finnish utility — the first of the 1,600-megawatt reactors. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Nuclear Power, Nuclear safety | 2 Comments »
Posted by pfairley on May 18, 2009
Prospects for a “cash-for-clunkers” bill to stimulate new car sales in the U.S. are dimming amid dissatisfaction with the law’s slim environmental benefits. There are some creative options available to green the bill.
As Energywise reported, representatives in the House led by Michigan Democrat John Dingell converged on an automotive scrappage bill earlier this month that would provide cash vouchers worth up to $4,500 to buyers of new cars and trucks that get at least 22 miles to the gallon if they scrap an old one that gets no more than 18 mpg. Duke University researchers estimate that the reduced energy consumption from such a swap would make up for the energy required to manufacture the vehicle. But some senators were hoping for a more.
California Senator Dianne Feinstein is leading the charge. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Energy Efficiency, Fuels, Hybrid vehicles, Plug-in hybrid, Transportation | Tagged: CalCars, cash for clunkers, Der Spiegel, Diane Feinstein, Duke University, John Dingell, scrappage, The Manufacturer | Leave a Comment »
Posted by pfairley on April 14, 2009
The global wind power industry is bottoming out thanks to the global financing crisis. Everywhere but China, that is, according to a research update issued this week by consultancy Emerging Energy Research (Cambridge, MA).
EER adds up the impact of “a steady flow of wind industry CAPEX reductions, project postponements, order cancellations, and corporate downsizings on a scale never seen before in this relatively young segment of the energy sector.” They forecast a 24% decline in megawatts installed in the US this year over 2008, and a 19% decline in Europe.
Then there’s China, which EER calls “the only major market left standing in the face of the crisis.” EER projects a 59% jump in megawatts added there in 2009 — enough to make up for the U.S. and European losses.
Carbon-Nation readers will recall our June 2008 reporting on China’s wind sector that was already, then, notable for (a) its “endurance in the face of below-cost pricing” and, (b) low quality assurance that had even its trade association calling for slower growth. Looks like its too late for the latter.
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This post was created for Energywise, IEEE Spectrum’s blog on green power, cars and climate
Posted in Financing renewables, Integrating renewables, Power Grid, Renewable Energy, Wind power | Tagged: China, Emerging Energy Research, energy, renewables, Wind | Leave a Comment »
