Results: Calendar of Events
October 23, 2009
New York City has a plan to create 13,000 jobs over the next ten years, in part by retraining laid-off workers from the finance industry to build the city’s future in carbon trading. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg Thursday announced a comprehensive plan to grow New York City’s green economy. The 30 initiatives that comprise the plan aim to support and attract green businesses and entrepreneurs and provide specialized training to prepare New Yorkers for green jobs. Read more
October 23, 2009
(From L-R) President of Smart Product Innovations, Inc. Juno Beach, W. Scott Anderson, Mike Graham, Michael McNamara, and Alan W. Scarone, Associate Dean of Graduate Education and research Penn State.
Congratulations to REAP member W. Scotty Anderson Jr. and the team from ECO-Auger who just won the $125,000 ConocoPhillips Energy Prize for their ECO-Auger, a hydrokinetic device that converts moving water from river and ocean currents into renewable electric energy. The ECO-Auger’s hydraulic storage pressure compensation system guarantees constant energy output regardless of tidal current strength, according to a ConocoPhillips press release about the award. Designed with tapered helical leads on each end rather than sharp edges, the machine does not impact marine wildlife.
The ConocoPhillips Energy Prize is a joint initiative of ConocoPhillips and Penn State to recognize new ideas and original, actionable solutions that can help improve the way the nation develops and uses energy. A qualified panel of experts review entries and select up to five finalists. Concepts are judged on the basis of creativity, scalability, commercial viability, and sustainability. To read more about Anderson’s design and the contest, go here. 
October 22, 2009
Biodiesel totes
Rich Stromberg at Alaska Energy Authority is looking to give away for FREE five totes of old biodiesel. Here’s the description:
AEA has 5 large totes of fish-based biodiesel left over from a pilot project. The fuel is probably too old to run in engines, but it would be fine for a boiler/heater. Contact Rich at rstromberg@aidea.org
November 10, 2009
1 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the 1st Floor Conference Room at 3801 Centerpoint Drive in Anchorage
The Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS), the agency charged with regulating renewable energy development on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), is hosting a public workshop to discuss the framework to manage offshore renewable energy development. The workshop is open to the public and will consist of a presentation on the regulations, MMS research, and a question and answer session.
The Final Framework for Renewable Energy Development on the OCS was published in the Federal Register on April 29, 2009. The framework establishes a process for granting leases, easements, and rights-of-way for offshore renewable energy development. The new program also establishes methods for sharing revenues generated from OCS renewable energy projects with adjacent coastal States.
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 granted MMS the authority to regulate renewable energy development on the OCS. MMS has exclusive jurisdiction with regard to the production, transportation, or transmission of energy from non-hydrokinetic renewable energy projects, including wind and solar. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has exclusive jurisdiction to issue licenses for the construction and operation of hydrokinetic projects, including wave and current, but companies will be required to first obtain a lease through MMS.
For additional information on the MMS renewable energy workshop, please contact Rance Wall at rance.wall@mms.gov or call (907) 334-5321.
October 21, 2009
A little good news/ bad news out today on the wind energy front. The American Wind Energy Association reports the U.S. wind industry installed just over 1,600 MW more of wind power in the third quarter of 2009. bringing the total added capacity for the year to over 5,800MW. But the trade association als0 reports that turbine manufacturing – which can provide good jobs – still lags below 2008 levels, in both production and new announcements. To see the full report, click here
October 21, 2009
The New York Times’ Green Inc. Blog reports on a study ranking states by energy efficiency: California again claims the prize for most energy-efficient state, while Wyoming is holding steady in last place, according to new rankings from an efficiency advocacy group. Massachusetts has leaped from seventh in last year’s rankings to second, and Maine rose from 19th place to crack the top 10 for the first time, according to the survey, which was conducted by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy. Read more
October 19, 2009
From the Wall Street Journal: Iowa has become the second-largest producer of wind power in the U.S., and some credit an aggressive and supportive role played by local government. That support is seen in numerous ways: Wind-energy producers and equipment makers enjoy state tax breaks, and projects of 25 megawatts or smaller don’t need to be certified by the utilities board. In addition, producers know ahead of time that they will be able to recover their costs from customers, which makes them more likely to invest. Iowa counties, meanwhile, appreciate the revenue and the jobs that wind farms produce, and have few zoning regulations for wind turbines. Read more
October 17, 2009
From Margaret Bauman of the Alaska Journal of Commerce: Plans for its newly proposed coal-powered plant are grabbing headlines, but Cook Inlet Region Inc., an Alaska Native regional corporation headquartered in Anchorage, is still moving firmly ahead with plans for a multi-million dollar wind power project on Fire Island by 2011.
“We anticipate this will be enough to power 19,500 households,” said Jim Jager, director of corporate communications for CIRI. “It’s a big enough chunk of energy that you don’t want to say ‘no’ to it.”
Read more
October 17, 2009
From the Petroleum News: Energy is a crucial issue for the U.S. military and a recent study by retired senior military officers concluded that fossil fuel dependence and a fragile national electric grid are threats to U.S. military, economic and climate security. The study, “Powering America’s Defense: Energy and the Risks to National Security,” is by the CNA Military Advisory Board and is available online: www.cna.org/nationalsecurity/energy/. CNA, a nonprofit based in Alexandria, Va., began as the Center for Naval Analysis in the 1940s; its Web site says it pioneered operations analysis during World War II and has been researching and analyzing “the complex scientific, operational and policy challenges that are facing the public sector and public decision makers” for more than half a century. One of the members of the CNA Military Advisory Board, retired Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn, presented the report’s conclusions to Commonwealth North in Anchorage Oct. 6. Read more(subscription required)
October 17, 2009
From Margaret Bauman at the Alaska Journal of Commerce: A new boiler installed just weeks ago in the powerhouse in King Cove, on the Alaska Peninsula, is proving golden for a project that has already generated enough waste heat to save the area’s school district thousands of dollars in pricy diesel fuel. It’s the latest addition to the Delta Creek hydroelectric facility, a $5.7 million utility that came online in August 2008 as an alternative to diesel as the sole energy source. The significance of the new boiler is that the city will be able to take what is still a fair amount of surplus hydroelectric power, run it through the electric boiler and produce waste heat for the local school, in addition to waste heat already generated from diesel fuel used when hydro power runs lower in winter months. Read more
