Senator Al Franken, and Minnesota political, university, and private sector leaders discussed how to build Minnesota jobs through energy innovations at a Humphrey Institute forum. "You go around Minnesota, you see a lot of what we're doing right,'' Franken said at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. Now, it's time to transfer those lessons to Washington, where a paralyzed federal energy policy has the country lagging behind other countries such as China and Germany."
The Rocky Mountain Institute’s Reinventing Fire (Chelsea Green, autumn 2011) concludes that nuclear power is neither economic nor necessary to eliminate U.S. use of oil and coal and reduce natural gas use by 2050. Last year, power generation from renewable sources, such as wind, wave, and solar, overtook that produced by nuclear power worldwide, according to the "World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2010-2011" issued by Worldwatch Institute – a trend that is expected to continue. The report states that China, not America or Europe, leads the global revolution in renewable energy. China is now #1 in five renewable technologies and aims to be in all. Minnesota with high wind energy potential and contiguous to other states with high potential is well situated to become a leader in wind energy technology.
Owned Renewable Energy
Sunday, 22 May 2011 - Eye On Issues - Energy
Impact of Renewables
Absentee
Local (Low) 1.5x
Local (High) 3.4x
Total Economic Impact
John Farrell points out that it is important to get local communities involved in both the planning and the ownership of renewable energy projects. See Ownership (and Money) a Cure for "Not In My Back Yard:"
Governor Dayton Vetoes "the Coal Pollution Expansion Act"
Governor Dayton vetoed House File 1010 (Senate File 86), which would have allowed electric utilities to import up to 2,500 megawatts of coal based electricity, on May 24.
In April the MN Senate passed SF 86, and in May the House passed HF 1010 which was then passed by the Senate. HF 1010 removed the ban on increased carbon dioxide emissions from coal plants and repealed Minnesota's greenhouse gas control plan. These were key provisions of the Next Generation Energy Act of 2007 passed on a bipartisan basis and approved by Governor Pawlenty. Before the Senate bill was passed, Michael Noble, Executive Director of Fresh Energy, Senator Scott Dibble, Representative Kate Knuth, and representatives of the Union of Concerned Scientists, American Lung Association, and youth of the Creation Care Movement spoke at a press conference. In a news release, Kate Knuth stated,
“Coal power is not the future for energy in Minnesota. It is inefficient, expensive for Minnesota ratepayers, and releases more pollutants that contribute to climate change than any other source of electricity. Innovative companies throughout our state are putting Minnesotans to work building our 21st century renewable energy economy. Why would we pull the rug out on job providers on the cutting edge in order to return to a dirty, expensive technology of the past?"
Climate Change and the Technology to Halt It and Save Lives
Mobilizing to Save Civilization
The New Energy Economy
Watch this excellent film on the internet
"The challenge is to save civilization itself," says environmentalist Lester Brown in this documentary based on his "Plan B" book. This video delivers a clear and unflinching message – either confront the realities of climate change or suffer the consequences of lost civilizations and failed political states.
Brown, together with other notable scholars and scientists, including Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman, Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, former Governor and Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, provides a glimpse into a new and emerging economy based upon renewable resources as well as strategies to avoid the growing threat of global warming. An enlightening film for the entire family.
Technology Available to Save Lives and Halt Global Warming
Friday, 08 April 2011 07:31 - Eye On Issues - Energy
In a recent report, Stanford researcher Mark Z. Jacobson and University of California - Davis researcher Mark A. Delucchi analyze what is needed to convert the world's current energy supplies to clean and sustainable sources. They conclude that this can be done with today's technology to produce energy at comparable costs to what we pay today. What is most needed is the societal and political will to make it happen.
Read Louis Bergeron's report on the study and watch a 2 minute YouTube of Professor Jacobson.
For more detail, listen to Professor Jacobson's seminar on his analysis of replacing current energy sources with carbon free renewables at Cornell University. His seminar includes the cost of pollution produced by alternative energy sources.You can download Part I and Part II of his study that appeared in the Scientific American.
Nuclear Safety Lax in both U.S. and Japan
Greg Palast, award winning investigative reporter for BBC, the Guardian, and the Observer, cautions that adequate safety precautions have not been observed and false test results have been reported by nuclear corporations in both Japan and the U.S. Read his article, "Tokyo Electric to Build US Nuclear Plants: The No BS Info on Japan's Disastrous Nuclear Operators." Bloomberg News points to decades of faked safety reports for Japanese nuclear plants: Japan Nuclear Disaster Caps Decades of Faked Reports, Accidents by Jason Clenfield - March 18, 2011
