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An aide to Obama said Friday that the administration plans to add 20 gigawatts (GW) or more of wind power and 4 GW of geothermal and solar power by 2012 through loan guarantees and fast tracked national renewable energy requirements, like the Renewable Portfolio Standard. Last May the U.S. Energy Department estimated wind power could provide almost a quarter of U.S. electricity. Trade groups from the U.S. wind and solar industries were happy with the news, considering that the current economic environment for commercial credit has lowered all boats as it were, with all investment now endangered - not just investment in risky financial instruments, but even those investments in renewable energy that are essential to growing a stable economy. 4 votesBuzz up! No other country, in any single year, has added the volume of wind capacity that was added to the US electrical grid in 2007 with both wind and solar growing well over 40%, but with the credit crunch affecting all sectors of the economy, new projects could drop by as much as 50%, without help from the Federal government.

Scientists at The Nature Conservancy in Montana have completed the first analysis of where wind generation facilities can be located with minimal risk to the state's wildlife and the environment. Wind provides great promise for a clean and renewable source of energy, but each year wind generation facilities kill tens of thousands of birds and important pollinators such as bats. . And yet, wind energy development has moved forward with very little science-based analysis that might help prevent this kind of environmental harm. The impacts of wind generation are greater than just the immediate airspace. Most turbines take up 40-100 acres of land, so large-scale wind farms can span thousands of acres. Each facility also requires roads and transmission corridors.

In pursuit of Governor Deval Patrick's goal of 2,000 megawatts of wind power in Massachusetts by 2020, the Secretaries of the Executive Office of Transportation (EOT) and the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) announced a project to install a utility-scale wind energy project on state land adjacent to the Massachusetts Turnpike's Blandford Rest Area. "This wind energy project is good for the environment and it will help create jobs within our clean energy economy." -- Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick Following studies showing significant wind power potential, the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority (MTA) today issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to install wind power at the 68-acre site in western Massachusetts.

While harnessing more energy from the wind could help satisfy growing demands for electricity and reduce emissions of global-warming gases, turbulence from proposed wind farms could adversely affect the growth of crops in the surrounding countryside. Solutions to this, and other problems presented by wind farms - containing huge wind turbines, each standing taller than a 60-story building and having blades more than 300 feet long - can be found blowin' in the wind, a University of Illinois researcher says.

The UK's seas could provide enough extra wind energy to power the equivalent of 19m homes, according to an assessment by the government. The government's strategic environmental assessment (Sea) confirmed projections that an extra 25GW of electricity generation capacity could be accommodated in UK waters. This would be in addition to the 8GW of wind power already built or planned offshore, bringing the potential total electricity capacity of offshore wind to 33GW - enough to power every household in the UK.

The number of wind turbines is set to quadruple over the next decade under government plans to force through wind farm planning applications. Ministers have put wind power at the heart of a Renewable Energy Strategy, which is due to be released on Wednesday. It will outline how Britain is to meet its target of a 34 per cent cut in CO2 emissions by 2020.

Understanding wind energy can be a challenge. But it is no more complicated than the choices we are making on transportation. And just like those choices, wind is great for Pennsylvania's economy as well as our environment. Pennsylvania wind farms generate power about 70 percent of the time. But the amount of power is variable. That's why it is rated at 30 percent of capacity. It's like having a car that can go 100 mph but your average speed is much less.

The Guardian has a report on some new tidal power technology from a company in Wales inspired by ship propellers and wind turbines - Tidal power gets a boost from propeller and wind turbine techonology. Propellers on ships have been tried and tested for centuries in the rough and unforgiving environment of the sea: now this long-proven technology will be used in reverse to harness clean energy from the UK's powerful tides. The tides that surge around the UK's coasts could provide up to a quarter of the nation's electricity, without any carbon emissions. But life in the stormy seas is harsh and existing equipment - long-bladed underwater wind turbines - is prone to failure.A Welsh renewable energy company has teamed up with ship propulsion experts to design a new marine turbine which they believe is far more robust.

Visitors to Rehoboth Beach, Del., soon may be greeted by more than sand dunes, seagulls and beach umbrellas. If offshore wind advocates have their way, scores of 140-foot blades will be spinning in the ocean breeze nearly a dozen miles away, barely visible to the sunbathers.

Wind supplied more of Britain's electricity that water for the first time last year, while power generators preferred gas to coal and nuclear output continued to decline, according to new government data. Five percent of Britain's electricity came from renewable sources in 2007, up from 4.6 percent in 2006, as more wind farms started feeding clean electricity into the network, helping cut the country's carbon emissions.

New York City, United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com] Close to US $155 billion was invested in 2008 in renewable energy companies and projects worldwide, not including large hydro. Of this $13.5 billion of new private investment went into companies developing and scaling-up new technologies alongside $117 billion of investment in renewable energy projects from geothermal and wind to solar and biofuels. The 2008 investment is more than a four-fold increase since 2004 according to Global Trends in Sustainable Energy Investment 2009, prepared for the UN Environment Programme's (UNEP) Sustainable Energy Finance Initiative by global information provider New Energy Finance. Of the $155 billion, $105 billion was spent directly developing 40 GW of power generating capacity from wind, solar, small-hydro, biomass and geothermal sources. A further $35 billion was spent on developing 25 GW of large hydropower, according to the report.

For who believed that wind or solar power was a passing fancy or that it was only for the hippies or tree-hugging types, there might be an incentive beyond just protecting the environment.

# Responsible people see the very urgent need to do something to help our Global environment recover from our excesses. # Do we want our children to be able to breathe clean air and be able to enjoy Nature at its finest? # How can we immediately affect the Environment in a good way and in the shortest possible time? # Most experts agree that the destruction of fossil fuels [ coal, oil, gas etc ] creates massive amounts of harmful materials and that Alternative Energy sources must be found. They suggest alternatives to destroying the Planets Fossil Fuels would be one of the biggest steps we could take on the path back to a cleaner and healthier Planet. # Recent research has forced huge strides forward in Alternative Energy sources such as Wind and Solar Power technology, and in particular making that technology available to the average person for home use. After the initial costs of installation, annual bills could fall to less than 10% of a normal fuel bill!

Spanish wind power companies in the world's third-largest producer expect steady growth in capacity this year despite the credit crunch due to long-term investments, an industry spokesman said on Monday. Wind power business group AEE tallied 16,740 megawatts in installed capacity in Spain at the end of 2008, a rise of 1,609 MW for the year. "We expect a similar amount (of growth) this year," AEE president Jose Donoso said at a news conference.

One in four British homes could be fitted with solar heating equipment and 3,500 wind turbines could be erected across Britain within 12 years as part of a green energy revolution to be proposed by the government next week.

Abu Dhabi has taken a 20% stake in the London Array - the £3bn project to build the world's largest offshore wind farm in the Thames estuary. Masdar, part of Abu Dhabi's multibillion-pound drive to develop green energy technologies, is buying part of the 50% stake in the project held by the German-based utility E.ON.

In February, President Obama called for a doubling of the US renewable energy capacity within three years. Yesterday, Obama visited a wind energy company in Newton, Iowa and again emphasized the importance of new forms of power generation: "Now, the choice we face is not between saving our environment and saving our economy. The choice we face is between prosperity and decline. We can remain the world's leading importer of oil, or we can become the world's leading exporter of clean energy." vote nowBuzz up! With billions in stimulus dollars heading toward improving the electricity grid and building sustainable energy infrastructure, emission-free power may be coming to your neighborhood sooner than you think. Here are five of the biggest, most ambitious projects that are in the pipeline, both in the US and elsewhere.

The future of the world's largest offshore wind farm and a symbol of Britain's renewable energy future was thrown into doubt last night after it emerged that Shell was backing out of the project and indicated it would prefer to invest in more lucrative oil schemes.

Renewable energy has appeared as a large sector in the global energy combination because huge investments has occurred on a worldwide scale. Renewable energy is the form of energy which is constantly replenished by the environment like solar, wind, tide, geothermal, nuclear, bio fuel etc., and it is present in abundance without the fear of it getting extinct.

British buildings equipped with solar, wind and other micro power equipment could generate as much electricity in a year as five nuclear power stations, a government-backed industry report showed today. Commissioned by the Department for Business, Energy and Regulatory Reform (DBERR), the report says that if government chose to be as ambitious as some other countries, a combination of loans, grants and incentives could lead to nearly 10m microgeneration systems being installed by 2020.