Category: Effects
BOSTON (AP) — New England is decidedly short on coal mines and oil wells, but electricity grid watchers say a recent federal order could help the region finally unlock the power in the energy sources it does have.
A federal order issued last fall is intended to make it easier to construct transmission lines, costly and controversial projects that are notoriously tough to build.
More wires are badly needed in New England to connect customers to the region’s often remote sources of renewable power, which is needed because all six states have committed to using increasing amounts of renewable energy.
To date, the grid managers who plan transmission projects have focused almost exclusively on “reliability” — whether such projects would help keep power flowing when demand is high, such as on a stifling summer day.
But as part of the new FERC order, managers also must plan
Read More from the Article Source: http://bangordailynews.com/2012/01/23/business/new-rules-could-boost-new-england-renewable-power-2/
WASHINGTON – Many church-affiliated institutions will have to cover free birth control for their employees, the Obama administration announced Friday in an election-year decision certain to upset conservatives and add to the national debate about the reach of government.
Granting a concession, however, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said nonprofit institutions such as church-affiliated hospitals, colleges and social service agencies will have one year more to comply with the requirement than most other employers.
“I believe this proposal strikes the appropriate balance between respecting religious freedom and increasing access to important preventive services,” Sebelius said in a statement.
That’s unlikely to stop a determined effort by social conservatives to block or overturn the requirement.
The decision is “a radical incursion into freedom of conscience,” said Deirdre McQuade, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “Never before in U.S. history has the federal government forced citizens to purchase directly what violates
Read More from the Article Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120120/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_free_birth_control_religious_employers
Prepared by Siyenza Management for Africa Energy Indaba
Biogas is probably the best kept secret in the renewable energy industry.
Organic waste is one of the untapped sources of natural energy available today. “It’s a simple solution that can be deployed in as quickly as three days but people don’t know too much about it”, says Jonathan de Magalhães, Managing Director of Ubuntu Energy Solutions. While biogas is used all over the world –India for example has more than 4.5 million digesters–harnessing biogas energy in South Africa is practically unknown. Only a small number of digesters have been built successfully and commissioned to date – a loss to the renewable industry sector in the country since biogas fulfils all of the criteria relating to environmental sustainability, requires a relatively low technological input and is cost effective to implement.
Biogas typically refers to the gas which is produced by the biological breakdown of
Read More from the Article Source: http://www.energydigital.com/renewable_energy/turning-waste-into-energy-the-win-win-win-solution
LONDON, Dec. 28, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ –
Black Pearl Capital Partners (“BPCP”) today announced that it has acquired a 118 acre infrastructure site near Blackburn, UK. The site which formerly operated as the Sappi Paper Mill is BPCP’s latest UK acquisition in its strategy to develop renewable energy parks that focus on biomass power, water treatment and bio-fuels production.
The paper mill in Feniscowles, Blackburn is the third renewable energy site BPCP has obtained alongside Aeternum Capital, its co-investor and asset manager. Proposals for the site will include a renewable power generation facility as well as the potential for a residential redevelopment.
“We are excited about adding another renewable energy park to our portfolio,” said Reza Irani-Kermani, CEO of Black Pearl Capital. “The site in Blackburn is our third large brownfield site in the UK, and it has the potential
Read More from the Article Source: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/black-pearl-capital-partners-acquires-former-blackburn-paper-mill-as-it-continues-development-of-its-uk-renewable-energy-parks-2011-12-28