October 6, 2010 - Technically they are well known source of "geothermal energy" and are not included in discussions of "green energy." Regardless of what you call them, they are an intriguing alternative energy source. They are Volcanoes. There are some obvious difficulties in tapping into an energy source that's prone to explosions and regularly emits molten rock. Nonetheless, Guatemala, Central America's biggest country, has set the goal of producing 60 percent of the its energy with geothermal and hydroelectric power by 2022. The government is offering tax breaks on equipment to set up geothermal plants and electricity regulators are requiring distributors buy greater proportions of clean energy.

Israeli-owned Ormat Technologies Inc has been operating two plants in Guatemala for three years and wants to expand but is weighing the risks of drilling more costly exploratory wells. the plants harness energy from water heated by chambers filled with molten rock deep beneath the ground. "There's a phase where you just have to drill and see," Ormat's representative in Guatemala, Yossi Shilon, told Reuters. "The problem is that you risk a very expensive investment and are not always satisfied with the results." Ormat's project is only a 20 MW station but Guatemala says the country has the potential to produce up to 1000 MW of geothermal energy, a third of projected energy needs in 2022.

Here's more from Sarah Grainger at Reuters.

September 22, 2010 - The Cape Wind project has divided Cape Codders into pro and anti factions, each side accusing the other variously of selfishness, greed, short sightedness, mendacity and worse. Stanley Fish, a professor of humanities and law at Florida International University, in Miami has a column in this week's NYTimes which provides perspective on this aspect and others of our local wind farm debate by way of rural New York.

A few years back, a column I wrote recounting a successful effort by an alliance of citizens to beat back wind-turbine interests in Andes, N.Y., provoked a massively negative response. I was accused (a) of elevating the views I enjoyed from the windows of my second home above the interests of the society in encouraging green energy, (b) of displaying the usual latecomer’s indifference to the needs of the locals who had been living in Andes forever and (c) of not knowing what I was talking about when I described the construction (massively disruptive), effects (awful on land, animals and people), contribution to the grid (minimal) and financing (tax credits and accelerated depreciation rates) of the 400-foot-high towers with a 52-foot circumference base and blades 130 feet wide whooshing through the air at 178 m.p.h.  more...

 

September 9, 2010 - Public meetings in Dartmouth and Martha's Vineyard are planned next week to discuss discuss Rhode Island’s ocean mapping project.  The project, formally called the RI Special Area Management Plan (SAMP), is evaluating environmental resources and human uses of RI and federal waters adjacent to Southeastern Massachusetts, and will be used to help identify potentially appropriate areas for offshore wind energy development.  In the wake of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed last month by Governor Deval Patrick and RI Governor Donald Carcieri committing both states to collaborate in permitting and developing offshore wind energy projects in an “area of mutual interest” in federal waters 12 miles southwest of Martha’s Vineyard, Governor Patrick requested that RI conduct two public meetings on the SAMP process.  The meetings will provide information on how the SAMP will be used to assist in planning for offshore development, and how it relates to the MOU signed by both states.  There will be a question and answer period, and written comments will be accepted by through September 24.  Comments should be directed to: Grover Fugate, RI Coastal Resources Management Council, Oliver Stedman Government Center, 4808 Rower Hill Road, Suite 3, Wakefield, RI, 02879.    

WHEN/WHERE:           

• Wednesday              September 15             6 p.m.
  UMass Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology, 2^nd floor conference room,
  706 South Rodney French Boulevard, Dartmouth
  
  
• Thursday                  September 16             5:30 p.m.
  Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School, Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Rd., Oak Bluffs 

September 7, 2010 - Hearings begin today at the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, which will decide whether utility National Grid's 15-year contract to buy half of Cape Wind's power is good for ratepayers. National Grid has agreed to pay 18.7 cents per kilowatt hour in the first year of Cape Wind's operation, with a 3.5 percent annual cost increase. The starting price is more than twice what the utility pays today for power from nonrenewable sources. Cape Wind supporters say that Cape Wind's benefit in helping the environment justifies the extra cost. Opponents say that there are less expensive ways to generate green energy and that Cape Wind comes with its own environmental cost.  Here's more from John Lindsay at Boston.com.