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Michigan Energy & Environment for Obama Team kicks off in Ann Arbor

By on March 20, 2012 in Barack Obama, Green Energy, President Obama

And they’re off!

Last night the Michigan Energy & Environment for Obama Team kicked off its effort to reelect President Obama at the Arbor Brewing Company in Ann Arbor. Environmental luminaries from around the state were in attendance in cluding Ken Berlin, the Director of the National Energy & Environment Team.

Berlin told us that the team formed 18 months go because “The environment is under bitter attack and needs to be defended. No one is going to do that if we don’t do it ourselves.”

Berlin says that cap-and-trade, a concept that actually originated with Republicans, will not be possible for “a very long time” because the GOP is “bitterly opposed to it” now.…


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Wolvernine Power’s coal-fired power plant permit issued today

By on June 29, 2011 in Green Energy, Michigan

I have been following the plans by Wolverine Power to build a new coal-fired power plant in Rogers City, Michigan pretty closely. In May of last year, I blogged about the denial of their permit by the Granholm administration. Then, in April this year, I wrote about how the zombie power plant had risen from the dead.

Today, the zombie became fully alive. Here’s the email that just hit my inbox:

Dear Interested Party,

On June 29, 2011, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) approved the Wolverine Power Supply Cooperative, Inc. Permit to Install application for the installation of two 300-megawatt circulating fluidized bed solid fuel-fired boilers and associated equipment in Rogers City, Michigan.

…


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GOP to UN-Green the Capitol?

By on December 16, 2010 in GOP, Green Energy, Politics, Republican-Fail, Republicans

Remember when Ronald Reagan pulled down the solar panels installed on the White House by Jimmy Carter under the guise of routine maintenance and cleaning and then never put them back up? Well a similar effort may be underway.

When she took over as Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi initiated the “Green the Capitol” initiative. Incoming Republicans are eyeing undoing the Green the Capitol effort.

Now, Democrats are headed to the minority and Republican leaders – who were skeptical of Pelosi’s program from the start – are preparing to trim the House budget. So will Green the Capitol see its own “footprint” reduced by the new majority?…


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I’m dreaming of a GREEN Christmas

By on December 13, 2010 in Green Energy

This is a reprint from last year that seemed timely. Enjoy!
Mrs. E and I are putting up our Christmas tree and decorations today so I thought a blog entry on the “greening of Christmas” might be a fun idea.

This blog entry will talk extensively about “Christmas” trees and decorations because the celebration of Christmas is one that most often involves the use of non-standard lighting decorations and trees inside the home. That said, anyone decorating with holiday lights or trees will find this discussion of interest.

There are two main areas where you can have a big impact on your carbon footprint around the holidays.…


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Fracking is SAFE! Just ask the “Energy Citizens”!

By on October 5, 2010 in Green Energy

Last night, Rachel Maddow had actor Mark Ruffalo on last night to talk about fracking in New York and Pennsylvania. By now, you’ve surely seen the scene from “Gasland” where the guy lights his tap water on fire. This is due to fracking wells that pump chemicals and water into the bedrock shale to fracture it and release the natural gas. As Maddow points out, the fracking is done several thousands of feet below where the aquifer is which, apparently, leads to ignitable tap water.

According to Ruffalo, the Delaware River Commission is getting ready to put upwards of 30,000 wells in there.…


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Obama announces $2 BILLION in solar power investments

By on July 3, 2010 in Barack Obama, Green Energy

Oh, lordy, lordy. This is some very good news. From the President’s Weekly Address.

[T]oday, I’m announcing that the Department of Energy is awarding nearly $2 billion in conditional commitments to two solar companies.

The first is Abengoa Solar, a company that has agreed to build one of the largest solar plants in the world right here in the United States. After years of watching companies build things and create jobs overseas, it’s good news that we’ve attracted a company to our shores to build a plant and create jobs right here in America. In the short term, construction will create approximately 1,600 jobs in Arizona.

…


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ACTION: OFA urges supporters to fight Murkowski Resolution

By on June 9, 2010 in Green Energy, Organizing For America

As you may know , the White House is fighting the so-called Murkowski Resolution that would ban the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson wrote a piece for the Huffington Post about this topic a couple of days ago.

Today, Organizing for America (OFA) is getting in on the act.

Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, with strong support from the big oil companies, has introduced a resolution that would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gas pollution — and dismantle the bipartisan Clean Air Act.

If her measure becomes law, the effects would be immediate.

…


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Permit for new coal-burning plant in Michigan: DENIED!!!

By on May 25, 2010 in Green Energy, Michigan

In a sea of bad, very bad and even worse news on the ecological/energy front, score one for the good guys. Last Friday, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment (MDNRE) denied a permit for the Wolverine Power Supply Cooperative, Inc. to build a new coal-fired power plant in Rogers City, Michigan.

While the permit was NOT issued, the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) issued a bit of a smack-down to Wolverine Power instead.

This permit denial has been a long time coming. The initial request was submitted in September 2007. Since then, groups like the Sierra Club and Clean Water Action of been on the forefront of pushing to deny the permit (along with several others.)

The permit request (No.…


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Capturing carbon in cement?

By on February 7, 2010 in Green Energy

This is probably going to look like a commercial for the Calera company but I’ll say right off the bat that I have no connection or financial interest in them.

What I do have is a scientist’s interest in them.

Here’s a statistic that shocked me: cement manufacturing is responsible for 5% of global CO2 emissions and in the U.S., cement production represents 2.9% of overall energy usage.

What Calera has figured out how to do is use CO2 from factory emissions to make concrete. And here’s the amazing part:

Calera estimates that each cubic yard of its concrete would soak up more than 1,000 lb of CO2.…

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The greenwashing of coal by exploiting Dr. Seuss

By on January 29, 2010 in Green Energy

I saw this over at Daily Kos this morning in a piece by Adam Siegel (cross-posted from his most-excellent blog Get Energy Smart! NOW!) and it’s enough to make you spit:

LoraxAg lines up $4.5M for clean coal gas plant.

[LoraxAg] is rounding up $4.5 million in its first institutional funding, with plans to use coal gasification technology to make farm fertilizer from almost worthless coal while creating no pollution.

Let’s just assume for a minute that LoraxAg’s process for converting coal into fertilizer actually “creates no pollution”. That’s not the only issue. Have you ever seen how coal is mined?…


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