Energy Literacy Advocates Newsroom
Energy Literacy Advocates (ELA) is a non-partisan, non-profit, public education and advocacy group dedicated to improving the energy literacy of all sectors of our democracy in order to empower a comprehensive national energy policy that is responsible and sustainable. Stay tuned for updated energy news!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Expansion of Government Funding for Renewables Research
Obama's goal with these funds, Chu said, is to prepare the country to compete economically decades down the road, as well as meet the immediate challenges of climate change and energy demand.
In total, the stimulus package gave $39 billion to the Energy Department. The money is split between in grants, tax breaks and loan guarantees, with much of it going to renewable energy and conservation programs.
To read the full article, click here.
Labels: efficiency, energy, energy sources, renewables, u.s. energy policy
posted by Amanda Voss at 9:00 AM
0 comments
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
The Next Big Energy Exporter: Kansas?
The study, run by Joint Coordinated Systems, calculated the state's maximum wind potential at 19 gigawatts by 2030 and projected 1 megawatt of power annually each from solar and bio-energy.
The study found tremendous potential to market Kansas energy to places such as Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana and Georgia. This alternative energy exportation could create $23 billion in cumulative economic impact and 12,000 jobs from now through 2030.
To read the full article, click here.
Labels: energy, energy sources, renewables
posted by Amanda Voss at 9:13 AM
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Tuesday, April 28, 2009
International Consideration Grows for "Cash for Clunkers"
The Japanese government plans to introduce a “cash for clunkers” incentive this month.
Germany introduced a vehicle incentive program in January, with demonstrable success for new car sales. The U.S. government, as well as several other governments, is considering a similar program.
Labels: automakers, efficiency, energy policy, u.s. energy policy
posted by Amanda Voss at 7:48 AM
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Monday, April 27, 2009
New Policy Ushering in Renaissance for Nuclear Energy?
Cap and trade could be a big win for nuclear power. The nation's 104 operating nuclear plants produce already 20 percent of its electricity, making them, by far, the largest source of electricity that does not result in greenhouse gas emissions. If a cap and a price are imposed on carbon dioxide emissions, these plants could be among the biggest winners in the vast economic shifts that would be created by greenhouse gas regulations.
While U.S. energy companies have already filed 17 applications with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for 26 new reactor operating licenses, demonstrating growing buzz around nuclear power, the future of the industry still hangs on the uncertain support of the Obama administration.
To read the full article, click here.
Labels: climate change, energy sources, u.s. energy policy
posted by Amanda Voss at 7:43 AM
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Friday, April 24, 2009
Weighing the Cost of Proposed Energy Legislation
These higher prices would come as the result of proposed cap and trade legislation, currently under consideration in Congress. The proposed plan puts a price on the gases linked to global warming, and establishes a paid permit system for emissions.
While energy providers proposed that initial permits be offered free of charge, the president's budget assumes that allowances will be sold and uses the projected $650 billion in revenue to help people pay for higher energy costs and to develop new, more climate friendly energy sources.
"It should not be legislation that is designed to raise revenue. ... It should be something that is trying to achieve its objective of reducing carbon emissions in the country and that alone," said Glenn English, CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, which represents 42 million consumers in 47 states.
To read the full article, click here.
Labels: climate change, energy, environment, gas tax, global warming, u.s. energy policy
posted by Amanda Voss at 8:48 AM
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Thursday, April 23, 2009
Obama heralds "new era of energy exploration in America" on Earth Day
"The nation that leads the world in creating new energy sources will be the nation that leads the 21st century global economy," Obama said.
To read the full article, click here.
Labels: energy sources, renewables
posted by Amanda Voss at 8:26 AM
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Wednesday, April 22, 2009
New "Idea" for Transportation Future
Based upon the Rocky Mountain Institute's lightweight hyper-efficient vehicle concept, IDEA will be the name of the plug-in hybrid concept vehicle, due to be unveiled today in Washington, D.C.
The IDEA vehicle will get 100 mpge using a battery pack that is 40 percent smaller than other packs with similar range, with an EV-only range of 30 miles.
According to AutoBlog Green, the Bright Automotive group plans high-volume production of 50,000 units a year for the IDEA, beginning in late 2012.
To visit the Bright Automotive website, click here.
Labels: automakers, efficiency, renewables
posted by Amanda Voss at 7:17 AM
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Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Asia Ministers, OPEC Discuss Energy Spending
This meeting comes on the heels of the latest IEA report, issued April 10, citing that global oil supplies will be "severely constrained by today’s lower prices and lower investment."
While OPEC wants Asia, which the IEA estimates will account for more than half the increase in world energy demand between 2006 and 2030, to commit to using oil in the years ahead, Asian delegates warn that their countries may move to cheaper alternatives, especially nuclear power, if OPEC won’t contain future prices.
To read the full article in Bloomberg, click here.
Labels: oil companies, oil price, oil supply/demand
posted by Amanda Voss at 8:52 AM
0 comments
Monday, April 20, 2009
Congress Sets Deadline For Energy Bill
"I do know this, at the end of this first year of Congress there will be an energy bill on the president's desk," White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel told ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos."
This week the House Energy and Commerce Committee will begin hearings on one of the more controversial proposed legislation pieces, that would limit greenhouse gas emissions and require companies to acquire permits to release carbon into the atmosphere.
Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman has said he wants the bill, which includes measures to boost energy efficiency and develop clean energy technology, to pass the committee in late May and the House of Representatives later in 2009.
To read more, click here.
Labels: global warming, u.s. energy policy
posted by Amanda Voss at 11:38 AM
0 comments
Friday, April 17, 2009
Government Releases New Report on Biofuels
The renewable fuel standard calls for Americans to use 36 billion gallons of biofuel by 2022, up from the current 9 billion today.
The biofuels report argues that the nation needs to increase the amount of ethanol blended into gasoline, as well as make it easier for biofuels plants and pipelines to get government permits and make it easier to transport ethanol.
To read the full article in the New York Times, click here.
Labels: biofuels, energy sources, renewables
posted by Amanda Voss at 8:08 AM
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Thursday, April 16, 2009
United Kingdom Eyeing Green Car Subsidy
These latest UK proposals come as figures suggest that scrappage incentive schemes are reversing the slump in car sales across Europe.
The cash incentive will be available to offset the higher upfront costs of hybrid and electric cars, in particular the price of batteries in modern vehicles. It is part of the Government’s previously-announced £250 million plan to promote low-carbon transport over the next five years.
To read the full article, click here.
Labels: automakers, economy, efficiency
posted by Amanda Voss at 8:07 AM
0 comments
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
The New Frontier in Alternative Energy...From Outer Space?
In the few details revealed from the project, satellites in space will collect and store solar energy. Solar energy will later be beamed to Earth, where it will be collected by a station in Fresno, California. There it will be converted to electricity and distributed out on the power grid.
More details about the project are expected this summer.
Labels: energy sources, renewables
posted by Amanda Voss at 11:52 AM
0 comments
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
A New Oil Peak: The Peak of Consumption?
According to the Wall Street Journal, among those forecasting that U.S. consumption of gasoline has peaked are executives at the world's biggest publicly traded oil company, Exxon Mobil Corporation, as well as many private analysts and government energy forecasters.
This forecast, if correct, signals a profound transformation from America's gas-guzzling history. Results could be dramatic; not only for the companies that refine gasoline from crude oil but also for state and federal budgets and for consumers. Much of contemporary America, from the design of its cities to its tax code and its foreign policy, is predicated on a growing thirst for gasoline.
Reasons fueling the drop in consumption include the economic downturn, changes in the way Americans live and the transportation they choose, and a growing emphasis on alternative fuels.
To read the full article in the Wall Street Journal, click here.
Labels: economy, oil companies, oil price, oil supply/demand, peak oil
posted by Amanda Voss at 9:27 AM
0 comments
Monday, April 13, 2009
IEA Releases New Demand Forecast
The IEA is an energy policy adviser comprised of 28 countries. The organization said Friday that demand this year will likely fall by 2.4 million barrels a day to 83.4 million barrels, or 2.8 percent lower than last year.
"In other words, the IEA lowered its estimate the equivalent of the daily output of Iraq," analyst and trader Stephen Schork said in his daily Schork Report. While the percentage seems minor, markets reacted to the new forecast, sending the price of oil down.
To read the full Associated Press report, click here.
Labels: economy, oil price, oil supply/demand
posted by Amanda Voss at 10:29 AM
0 comments
Friday, April 10, 2009
Corn-Ethanol May Not Be the Root Cause Behind Food Price Woes
While corn-based ethanol may have contributed 10 to 15 percent in the rise of food costs, the CBO said other factors, such as skyrocketing energy costs, had an even greater impact than ethanol on food prices during that period.
Roughly one quarter of corn grown in the United States is now used to produce ethanol, and overall consumption of ethanol in the country hit a record high last year, exceeding 9 billion gallons, according to the CBO. Nearly 3 billion bushels of corn were used to produce ethanol in the United States last year — an increase of almost a billion bushels over 2007.
Yet ethanol's impact on future food prices is uncertain, the report says, because an increased supply of corn has the potential to eventually lower food prices.
To read the full article, click here.
Labels: economy, energy sources, renewables
posted by Amanda Voss at 7:32 AM
0 comments
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Administration Adviser Elaborates on Climate Change Policy
Current cap-and-trade legislation is under consideration in the House, with a goal voting date falling before Memorial Day.
While Obama lobbied heavily for auctioning off all emissions permits issued at the outset of a cap-and-trade system, the compromised economic situation has brought a re-evaluation of that strategy. Many industry leaders say that having to pay for all the allowances at first would drive up energy costs too quickly.
To read the full article in the Washington Post, click here.
Labels: climate change, economy, global warming, u.s. energy policy
posted by Amanda Voss at 8:58 AM
0 comments
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Ethanol Producer Files for Bankruptcy
Chief Executive Ron Miller said in a statement that the company is challenged by a difficult market environment for an industry that suffers from poor operating margins.
To read an analysis done by The Wall Street Journal, click here.
Labels: economy, energy sources, renewables
posted by Amanda Voss at 11:33 AM
0 comments
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Iconic Empire State Building to "Go Green"
The building is beginning a $500 million renovation, with $100 million specifically aimed at making it more energy efficient. In all, the project is expected to save about $4.4 million a year on energy.
Project coordinators aim to make the famous skyscraper, once the tallest in the world, a model of energy efficiency and conservation.
Labels: efficiency, energy, environment
posted by Amanda Voss at 8:55 AM
0 comments
Monday, April 6, 2009
Two Viewpoints on the 2009 Energy Bill
To offer further insight into this bill, and to allow for a study of contrasting opinions surrounding this legislation, we are linking to two articles - one supporting, one against - the ACES draft.
Arguing against this proposal is an article from Nicolas Loris, Research Assistant and Ben Lieberman, Senior Policy Analyst in Energy and the Environment in the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation. They contend that "The architects of ACES argue that the bill will create millions of clean energy jobs and help Americans save on energy costs, but in reality it will do just the opposite. Using taxpayer dollars to invest in inefficient energy sources while artificially driving up the costs of reliable energy with a cap-and-trade program will only cause more economic pain for the consumer—with no environmental benefit to show for it." To read the full article, click here.
In support of the ACES bill is an article from David Doniger of the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), published in the Huffington Post. He states that "The draft combines standards and incentives for rapidly deploying clean energy and energy efficiency technologies with firm economy-wide limits on the carbon pollution that is driving global warming." To read the full article, click here.
Labels: climate change, economy, global warming, u.s. energy policy
posted by Amanda Voss at 8:09 AM
0 comments
Friday, April 3, 2009
Largest Public Utility Group Buys Into Renewables
The Tennessee Valley Authority board gave President and CEO Tom Kilgore authority to sign contracts totaling up to 2,000 megawatts of renewable and clean energy by 2011, with some of the power entering TVA's seven-state system as early as 2010.
To read the full article released in the Associated Press, click here.
Labels: economy, energy, energy sources, renewables, u.s. energy policy
posted by Amanda Voss at 8:30 AM
0 comments
Thursday, April 2, 2009
New Google Tool Maps Out Renewable Energy Conflict
The tool, available on Google Earth, shows renewable-power developers areas which are amenable or not recommended by pulling together maps of endangered species habitats, national parks and other forms of protected land. Areas not recommended for development are highlighted.
Find the new ecological Google Earth mapping tool at www.nrdc.org/PathtoGreenEnergy.
Labels: environment, renewables
posted by Amanda Voss at 8:31 AM
0 comments
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Global Warming & Energy Bill Released by House Democrats
Sponsored by Reps. Henry Waxman of California and Ed Markey of Massachusetts, the bill would establish a cap-and-trade program curbing U.S. emissions to 20 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. It also creates a nationwide renewable electricity standard that reaches 25 percent by 2025, new energy efficiency programs and limits on the carbon content of motor fuels, and requires greenhouse gas standards for new heavy duty vehicles and engines.
To read the full article and learn more details about the bill draft, click here.
Labels: energy policy, environment, global warming, u.s. energy policy
posted by Amanda Voss at 9:46 AM
0 comments
