New Massachusetts Guv, Charlie Baker, typical closet Tea Bagger and Koch Sock Puppet, opposed Cape Wind....well...before he was for it.
And the rest of the world marches on.....
PLEASE NOTE: There are limitations to WAVE ENERGY, yet it shows great economic promise. Coupled with WIND TURBINES? This bears watching!
Denmark Sets New Wind Power World Record
Carbon capture and the UN Economic Commission for Europe
January Marks National Radon Action Month
Which fossil fuels must remain in the ground to limit global warming?
WAVE ENERGY LOOKS VERY FAVORABLE FROM A COST STANDPOINT
From: Leon Kaye, Triple Pundit, More from this Affiliate
Published January 9, 2015 08:47 AM
DENMARK SETS NEW WIND POWER WORLD RECORD
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Denmark has long been one of the world's leaders in wind power. The country of 5.6 million has set a goal of generating 50 percent of its power from clean energy sources by 2020 and aims to be entirely fossil fuel-free by 2050. Those goals, especially the one for 2020, are well achievable: Denmark has announced it scored 39.1 percent of its energy from wind in 2014.
That statistic is quite a jump from 2013, when Denmark generated 33.2 percent of its electricity from wind, and it has more than doubled its wind power capacity from a decade ago (18.8 percent). The result is a country that has understandably dubbed itself the world's "Wind Power Hub." Considering the Danish wind industry's claim that it has built over 90 percent of the world's offshore wind turbines, Denmark's continued surge in wind power development, while stunning, has its origins in long-term planning.
Denmark's wind energy policy dates back to the 1970s, when the oil shocks resulting from the Middle East crises sent the energy import-dependent nation scrambling for new sources of power. At first nuclear energy was the preferred choice, with up to 16 locations across the country identified for future power plants. But an anti-nuclear energy campaign launched, eventually nudging the Danish parliament to abandon that option by the mid-1980s - even before the Chernobyl disaster spooked many countries into abandoning their more ambitious nuclear power plans. Meanwhile a nascent wind power sector began to take shape, eventually leading to today's giants such as Vestas and DONG Energy. Long before feed-in tariffs became commonplace in Europe, the Danish government launched such programs in 1990 to help scale wind power throughout the country.
Now Denmark has over 5,200 wind turbines in operation, with about 25 percent of those offshore. The Danish government is offering strong support for its wind power sector, with approximately EUR135 million (200 million) earmarked for wind power research and development and other energy technologies annually. Meanwhile coal, long the backbone of Denmark's energy infrastructure, is slowly being phased out. Denmark estimates less than 30 percent of its energy needs will come from coal by 2020.
Continue reading at ENN affiliate, Triple Pundit.
Wind power image via Shutterstock.
From: Ted Brekken, Oregon State University
Published January 8, 2015 06:59 AM
WAVE ENERGY LOOKS VERY FAVORABLE FROM A COST STANDPOINT
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A new analysis suggests that large-scale wave energy systems developed in the Pacific Northwest should be comparatively steady, dependable and able to be integrated into the overall energy grid at lower costs than some other forms of alternative energy, including wind power.
The findings, published in the journal Renewable Energy, confirm what scientists have expected - that wave energy will have fewer problems with variability than some energy sources and that by balancing wave energy production over a larger geographic area, the variability can be even further reduced.
The variability of alternative energy sources is one factor that holds back their wider use - if wind or solar energy decreases and varies widely, then some other energy production has to back it up, and that adds to the overall cost of energy supply.
"Whenever any new form of energy is added, a challenge is to integrate it into the system along with the other sources," said Ted Brekken, an associate professor and renewable energy expert in the College of Engineering at Oregon State University.
"By producing wave energy from a range of different sites, possibly with different types of technology, and taking advantage of the comparative consistency of the wave resource itself, it appears that wave energy integration should be easier than that of wind energy," he said. "The reserve, or backup generation, necessary for wave energy integration should be minimal."
Photo shows the Ocean Sentinel which has been deployed off the Oregon Coast, one of the nation's first wave energy testing devices. (Photo by Pat Kight, Oregon Sea Grant)
