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It seems cruelly ironic that tapping into Southern Nevada's vast solar energy potential could slowly drain our desert. Traditional solar thermal power plants that use wet cooled technology require millions of gallons of water over time in the process of converting solar rays into clean, renewable power for our community. Southern Nevada received some good economic news last month when Solar Millennium, a division of one of the world's top solar power generators, announced new plans to use a "dry-cooling" system on two proposed solar power plants in Amargosa Valley, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. This dry-cooling system will use 90 percent less water than previously planned.

A new state energy plan released Tuesday calls for more conservation, more use of renewable sources such as solar and wind power, a tougher New York building code and a disclosure requirement for a building's utility usage when it's sold. Gov. David Paterson said the plan he accepted from the State Energy Planning Board provides the blueprint for a continuing transition to a clean energy economy over the next decade. Initiatives for 2010 include the building sale disclosure and removing loopholes that have limited the effectiveness of the state's energy code. Both require legislative action. Others include procuring 100 megawatts more of solar energy statewide and requesting bids for an offshore Long Island wind project.

A new state energy plan released Tuesday calls for more conservation, more use of renewable sources such as solar and wind power, a tougher New York building code and a disclosure requirement for a building's utility usage when it's sold. Gov. David Paterson said the plan he accepted from the State Energy Planning Board provides the blueprint for a continuing transition to a clean energy economy over the next decade. Initiatives for 2010 include the building sale disclosure and removing loopholes that have limited the effectiveness of the state's energy code. Both require legislative action. Others include procuring 100 megawatts more of solar energy statewide and requesting bids for an offshore Long Island wind project.

"Facility Could Meet up to 75 Percent of Cape Cod and Islands' Electricity Demand CAMBRIDGE (April 28, 2010) - Leading environmental organizations hailed today's historic decision by Interior Department Secretary Ken Salazar to provide federal approval for Cape Wind, allowing the country's first utility-scale offshore wind farm to move forward. The announcement signaled the Administration's intentions to support renewable energy development off U.S. shores, a major component of a clean energy economy and reduced dependence on fossil fuels, the organizations said. Today's announcement ends a nearly nine-year environmental review process, much longer than is typical for a traditional coal power plant. The decision clears the way for Cape Wind to begin the permitting process and develop a 130 turbine wind farm in Nantucket Sound, which could meet as much as 75 percent of the electricity demand for Cape Cod and the Islands."

Possible article for LE? Grid parity seems to be approaching fast. Interesting point about the ' sweet spot'  for PV systems in the range of 4.7 to 20 MW.

A Michigan public university plans to test a floating wind turbine platform to demonstrate how wind energy could work on Lake Michigan. Grand Valley State University's Michigan Alternative & Renewable Energy Center received $1.4 million in federal funding to conduct the study. The university plans to have the platform installed by the fall of 2010. Meanwhile, We Energies plans to issue a request for proposals in early November that will be the start of a $3 million study sanctioned by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin to determine the feasibility of wind turbines on Lake Michigan. We Energies spokesman Brian Manthey said the energy utility is not involved in the Michigan study, but will collaborate with Grand Valley State to share information

"New Clean Technology to Generate Renewable Energy from Canals, Waterways, Spillways, Rivers, Streams, and Tidal Currents Hydrovolts offers new in-stream hydrokinetic turbines for distributed energy generation around the world. Featured on video by US Department of Energy Technology Assistance Program Large File! Right click link above and save to your computer for best playback. Videos now online at YouTube Hydrovolts"

There's a problem with this mythology: sometimes there's no invisible hand. Sometimes short-sighted government regulations give preference to bad technologies over good ones - stifling innovation and blinding us to our own ability to make progress.

I added the tag 'USA' to this bookmark. It is not the case in Europe, where efficiency has improved steadily. But it's also a debate of apples and oranges. Nuclear, fossil and renewable energy are as different as cricket, baseball and golf bats. And we do not calculate batting averages accross them.

Back in April, President Obama signed the JOBS Act and one of the most-heralded elements was so-called crowdfunding. The law sought to solve a major problem: it's hard to finance small-scale business ventures. Wall Street only cares about multi-m...