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The Environmental Protection Agency's rule to limit greenhouse gas emissions by power plants has been overturned by the Supreme Court. The 5-4 ruling said the EPA was wrong to not have "properly" considered the "punishing costs" of abiding by the rule. However, many utilities have already started to make changes to be in compliance

A new report from the European Commission has concluded that wind power is the renewable energy technology with the largest and most successful deployment over the last 20 years.

Wind energy has been utilized more successfully than any other form of renewable energy for the past 20 years, according to the European Commission Joint Research Center. Over the past two decades, wind energy's global installed capacity has grown from 3 gigawatts to 370 GW, the report said. The U.S. added 131 megawatts of installed wind capacity in the first quarter of 2015 with 68 new turbines, the American Wind Energy Association said. 

As more utilities make reliability and resiliency their twin mantras, none has had more success than Florida Power & Light

The cost of electricity from wind farms in the U.S. dropped in 2014 to the lowest point yet, according to the Energy Department. Prices for utilities with power purchase agreements have declined two-thirds since 2009. Falling costs and continued advancements are ensuring that wind remains a reliable source of renewable energy, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said. The Hill (8/10), ReNews.biz (U.K.) (8/11) 

Just as it was being called out for using the dirtiest mix of energy among Internet giants, Amazon Web Services  announced this week a deal to build an 80-megawatt solar farm to power its east coast data centers. It will invest $150 million towards construction of a solar farm in Virginia where the majority of its data centers exist - and where the incumbent utility Dominion Virginia relies on fossil fuels for all but 2 percent of its generation. 

Aspen, Colo., is one of the three cities in the nation to source 100% of its electricity from renewables, according to city officials. The city uses wind, solar and geothermal sources. "It was a very forward-thinking goal and truly remarkable achievement," said city Utilities and Environmental Initiatives Director David Hornbacher. The other two cities to have met their 100% renewable energy targets are Burlington, Vt., and Greensburg, Kan. 

California legislators are considering tough emissions proposals that would double buildings' energy efficiency, require 50% renewable energy use by state utilities and halve gasoline consumption by 2030. The oil industry is launching a major PR offensive to derail the effort, but Gov. Jerry Brown says he's determined to implement the policies. "It's absolutely necessary if we are to have any chance of stopping potentially catastrophic changes to our climate system," he said. 

The Xeros laundry system uses polymer bead technology to provide superior cleaning results as compared to conventional aqueous washing methods while saving up to 80 percent on water and up to 50 percent on utility costs.

Thanks to the enormous utility-scale solar plants that now dot the west, solar should be supplying 1% of US electricity by the end of this year, says Pete Danko at Breaking Energy.

San Diego Gas & Electric expects its new water-wise landscaping project at Century Park, its Kearny Mesa headquarters, to save the utility more than 4 million gallons of water a year, a 40 percent campus reduction.

The Climate Trust released a list of 10 trends that could shape the carbon market in 2016. The trends were identified through interactions with large companies, utilities, governments, and others.

Nuclear energy's resilience was never more apparent than during the COP21 climate talks in Paris. It was there that a famed environmentalist and the one who has cautioned against the effects of global warming said that the carbon-free energy form should figure a lot more prominently into utility power generation. Read more: http://www.environmentalleader.com/2016/02/11/scientists-say-climate-change-should-propel-nuclear-energy-to-prominence/#ixzz40U6A0Uhv

Google has purchased an additional 842 MW of renewable energy capacity for its global data center operations, bringing the company's total renewable energy portfolio to 2 GW worldwide. The announcement marks the largest purchase of renewable energy by a non-utility company to date.

The Global Sustainable Electricity Partnership wrote a letter to government officials around the world on Sunday asking for long-term policies that support low-carbon energy sources. The partnership is composed of CEOs and chairmen from 11 of the world's largest utilities, including American Electric Power and Iberdrola. The companies said they generated about one-third of the world's electricity in 2014, 60% of which came from clean energy sources such as wind and solar. 

Naturally alkaline Hawaiian bottled water brand Waiākea says it will be the first beverage brand to utilize PET bottles that degrade in 10-15 years - rather than 1,500 - after teaming up with Florida-based TimePlast.

A partnership between global customs and logistics company UPS and TerraCycle has reached a major milestone - by transforming hard-to-recycle items such as toothpaste tubes and snack bags into new products, the two organizations have diverted 40 million pounds of waste from landfills since 2012. TerraCycle has been utilizing UPS's expertise and technology solutions to scale its global recycling programs and customer base, which has allowed the company to turn 3.5 billion pieces of waste into useful products such as trash cans and park benches.

Salesforce is now sourcing 100% renewable energy for two of its office towers - Salesforce East and Salesforce West - in San Francisco through the San Francisco Public Utility Commission's CleanPowerSF program. Salesforce is CleanPowerSF's largest commercial customer to date.

Using forests to fuel power plants in Southeast US and Europe

North American Electric Reliability Corp. reported that California's power generation from wind and solar energy sources will reach 18,700 megawatts by 2020. The state targets 33% renewable energy generation within the next seven years. NERC added that the state needs to keep gas-fired power facilities to fill the gap in energy availability.

Norpac Fisheries Export is one of several companies that has found it profitable -- as well as environmentally helpful -- to track seafood catches along their entire supply chain and make sure they were not caught using illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) practices. Norpac's tracking system "actually saves us time and money," Managing Director Thomas Kraft said.