In Tallahassee, Nopetro L.L.C. unveiled its state-of-the-art compressed natural (CNG) facility, making natural gas a real solution to expensive, polluting transportation. The station is the first part of a planned regional network to service privately owned CNG vehicles, government and commercial fleets.

Also expected to make use of the stations will be the Leon County School District, which is planning to transform its entire fleet of school buses to CNG. In addition, a portion of each sale will go to the school district.

Expectations for the planned network are high. Putnam hopes it will not only provide consumer goods with a practical, environmentally friendly way to travel across the state, but that it will also produce cost savings, benefiting consumers and the local economy. He hopes those savings will make it to local schools and governments, and eventually to taxpayers.

“This partnership is exactly what our legislature had in mind when it established natural gas as a key component of the state’s transportation policies,” said Putnam. “A network of natural gas fueling stations in major cities across our state will encourage commercial fleets and individual consumers to make the move into Florida’s energy future.”

Nopetro announced 18 additional cities that it plans to target in the next three years, including three in Georgia.

Natural gas can be environmentally dangerous to extract, leading many environmentalists to warn against its use. But it is also 33 percent cleaner than diesel and 25 percent cheaper, meaning that for better or for worse, it is here for the long haul.

Main photo credit: Nopetro L.L.C.

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In the Green Power Community Challenge, communities from across the country compete in renewable energy use. The program gives out two awards: one for the community achieving the highest percentage of green power in electricity use, and one for the community using the most green power.

Thirty-five communities participated, with representation coming from Illinois, Maryland, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Washington, California, Connecticut, Utah, Texas, Missouri and the District of Columbia. (Sure Oregon and California are expected to join any efforts toward renewable energy, but notice red states like Utah, Texas and Missouri are in the competition there too!)

And this year’s winners are…

• Washington, D.C., Green Power Community, which took home the prize for most kilowatt-hours of green power. Over the last year, D.C. government, businesses and residents used their collective purchasing power to buy more than 1 billion kWh of green power, constituting more than 11 percent of the district’s total electricity use.
• Oak Park, Ill., Green Power Community, which came in first for the highest percentage of green energy. Oak Park used clean energy to achieve an astounding 91.9 percent of its total electricity needs.

According to the EPA, the challenge blew past its original goals. Participants in the program used a collective 5 billion kWh of sustainable energy in the past year – the greenhouse gas reductions are equal to what would be done by turning off the electricity in 426,000 homes.

The EPA is continuing the program, currently inviting communities to participate in the 2012-2013 challenge. Winners get bragging rights and “special attention from the EPA.” This year’s achievements are certainly respectable, but imagine what kind of impact would be possible with a shinier prize. (Just a suggestion!)

Main photo credit: Johan Swanepoel/Shutterstock

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One ad, paid for by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, contained several contested claims relating to the Record Hill project, such as that King’s political connections allowed his company to receive a loan that he ended up profiting from. That ad was swapped out for another NRSC spot that features an assortment of citizens (who just happen to be members of an anti-wind group) complaining about how the turbines ruin their view. King’s campaign manager called on television stations to stop running both commercials, which he says constitute “deceptive advertising.”

So did King profit off wind power? Yes, but not to the extent claimed in the commercial. Until last year, King and his business partner held a 10 percent stake in the 22-turbine Roxbury project. But according to the independent candidate, he only earned $212,000 off the deal, not the “millions” claimed in the ad.

Was there a sweetheart government deal? The project did receive a $120 million government-backed loan, but it came through seven months after King sold his share in the project.

The advertisements, however, conveniently forget to mention that the Record Hill project paid the town of Roxbury $610,000 in taxes, bringing residential property taxes down significantly. The River Valley Sun Journal found that before the turbines residents paid $16.86 per $1,000 of property value. That number has dropped to $6.93.

After reaching out to television stations airing the current spot, King campaign manager Kay Rand said the campaign will take legal action if the ad continues ti air. Brian Walsh, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee said that his organization stands behind both ads. It’s unclear whether the stations will acquiesce to King’s demands, but in the past stations have pulled commercials found to be misleading. The decision is up to each individual channel.

For its part, the King campaign is also fighting back with its own commercial, starring a man named “Rolly” who sits with the turbines behind him and says, “My taxes went down and I can hunt here. What more could I want?”

Main photo credit: Shutterstock

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Since mid-July, the wolves have killed or injured at least 15 cattle in northern Stevens County, Wash. In response, the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife’s wolf policy coordinator, Steve Pozzanghera, stated that the department would be attempting to “remove” the entire eleven members of the pack.  The so-called “removal” effort will involve hiring marksmen and trappers, and possibly aerial hunters.

The challenge the wolves present is not simply that they are feeding on local cattle, but that experts believe they have now become dependent on the cattle.

“Once wolves become habituated to livestock as their primary food source, all of the wolf experts we’ve talked to agree that we have no alternative but to remove the entire pack,” said Fish & Wildlife Director Phil Anderson. “By doing that, we will preserve the opportunity for the recovery of gray wolves in balance with viable livestock operations.”

Surprisingly, at least some conservationists are in agreement with the agency’s findings and with the decision, despite the species’ being listed as endangered throughout the state. Mitch Friedman, executive director of Conservation Northwest, said he understood the solution even if he didn’t like it.

“As difficult as this situation with the Wedge Pack is to accept on a personal level, we understand and agree that pack removal is the right action at this point,” said Friedman. “We have been strong advocates for exhausting all non-lethal means possible to avoid this situation and are extremely disappointed that it has come to this.”

“There has to be a commitment on the part of all sides to allow wolves to occupy the landscape while protecting the rancher’s livelihood and maintain their ability to raise cattle,” Friedman continued.

While state law requires cattlemen to work with the state to find nonlethal measures to mitigate wolf-caused losses, when push comes to shove, a person’s right to protect his property will always prevail over the right of animal to live.

Main photo credit: Nagel Photography/Shutterstock

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Alexandre Guertin-Pasquier of the University of Montreal presented his research in Toronto this weekend at the Canadian Paleontology Conference. Guertine-Pasquier states the fossilized forest on Bylot Island is similar to current forests in southern Alaska. He points to similar plant diversity between the two environments, including willow, pine and spruce trees. Pollen found in the site also suggests the ancient forest flourished in a climate with an average temperature of 32 degrees Fahrenheit, significantly warmer than Bylot Island’s current average temperature of 5 degrees Fahrenheit.

The scientists were able to estimate the forest was at its peak between 2.6 million and 3 million years ago, a range determined through examination of the forest’s ancient sediment, particularly the soil’s magnetic particles. The Earth’s magnetic field affects movement of magnetic sediment in rocks, making them turn to the magnetic poles like a compass, so scientists were able to date the site’s sediment using the well-known history of the poles’ movement.

While forecasts predict that the climate on the Canadian Arctic’s Bylot Island won’t support a forest until the year 2100, there is a separate obstacle: Seeds must be brought to the area before any trees can grow. Migration is much easier for animals than plants, which must rely on creatures, wind and water to move a seed from place to place. For trees, it all depends on whether seeds are dispersed and taken to their new environment.

“Although it would of course take time for a whole forest to regrow, the findings show that our grandchildren should be able to plant a tree and watch it grow,” said Guertin-Pasquier.

Bylot Island is not the only place where warming temperatures could breathe new life into ancient forests. Drilling in the seabed off Antarctica revealed a 52-million-year-old rainforest that may also see revival. Scientists concluded that “without drastic changes,” the planet could be headed back to the temperatures that made possible.

Photo: View from the study site in June 2010. Credit: Alexandre Guertin-Pasquier

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A new technique, however, may offer a promising and less expensive alternative for creating solar cells.  Anirudh Sharma, a PhD candidate at Flinders University, has been working on a way to make large-scale plastic – instead of silicon-based – solar cells through the use of lamination.

“In the conventional method of fabricating plastic solar cells you have to deposit various materials sequentially on top of each other in a sandwich structure but over time the materials intermix, leading to device degradation,” Mr. Sharma said. “However my technique involves deposition of materials on two different electrically conductive surfaces, followed by lamination. It gives better control over the material intermixing and thus can give more stable and better performing devices.”

The technique also allows for the materials to be depositing through printing machines, which will make it scalable and cheaper.  According to Mr. Sharma it will also be more sustainable than silicon-based solar cells.

“For the past 50 years, the traditional solar panels which you see on rooftops have been made from silicon but these cells are very expensive to produce because silicon requires excessive amounts of energy to purify,” Sharma explained. “Plastic solar cells, on the other hand, are really light and flexible so they can be used to coat a whole range of different surfaces – they are portable enough to put them on day to day carry bags and even camping tents – and plastic itself is cheap as chips.”

Solar manufacturing in the U.S. has faced plenty of challenges – remember Solyndra? – partly because of unbeatably cheap silicon prices coming from China. A plastics-based design for solar cells may offer a lucrative new way to produce solar panels.

Main photo credit: Shutterstock

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This year’s winners hail from all over the United States, including red states like Texas and Arizona, proving that environmentalism doesn’t have to be tied up in politics. So who won this year? A full list from the EPA is available here, but these are my personal favorites:

• Dallas Area Habitat For Humanity, Frazier Courtyard Homes – In an effort led by Habitat, the Fair Park Partnership with Inner-city Community Development Corporation, the Dallas Housing Authority, the City of Dallas, and the Dallas Sustainable Skyline Initiative, 55 acres of crime-ridden, dilapidated public housing were transformed into a sustainable, healthy community of 40 affordable, LEED certified single-family homes. These homes not only save about one ton of carbon dioxide pollution per year each, they also save their owners up to 22 percent on energy costs. The success has led Dallas Habitat to build all of its homes to LEED standards.

• Frito-Lay, Incorporated-Beloit, GHG Emission Reduction Projects – Corn chips don’t exactly conjure images of environmentalism, but this Wisconsin facility has committed itself to a five-year sustainability strategy to focus on cutting greenhouse gas emissions through technological advances and employee engagement. Through a multi-pronged approach, the facility has cut costs on heat, electricity and fuel. One particularly stunning achievement: less than 1 percent of its waste ends up in landfills. The building became the first food-manufacturing site in the state of Wisconsin to receive the LEED Gold certification for existing buildings. Hopefully other food manufacturers will follow Frito-Lay’s example.

• Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA), Free Zoo & Trolley Too! – In an effort to encourage use of public transportation, RIPTA offered this program from May to September 2011 providing complimentary environmentally friendly bus service to the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, R.I. The number of passengers on the hybrid/diesel red trolley doubled on just the first day of the promotion.

Main photo credit: Shutterstock

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Yesterday, the government abruptly changed course, determining that it would not formally adopt that goal. The plan had drawn steep opposition from business groups and other communities who depend on local nuclear power plants for jobs and income. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s cabinet stated it would take the 2040 goal “into consideration” but would only offer its formal endorsement for a vague promise to open discussions with local governments and international communities to decide Japan’s energy future.

At a news conference following the announcement, Tadashi Okamura, chairman of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the original goal “was not a viable option in the first place.”

While Japan has 54 nuclear reactors across the country, many have been shut down following the meltdowns at Fukushima. Now only two plants remain open.

Yet the government’s decision to essentially abandon its 2040 goal – a goal that many questioned in the first place as not specific enough, not ambitious enough, or too ambitious – has drawn plenty of criticism from skeptics. The promise to end dependence on nuclear energy was originally made in July 2011 by then Prime Minister Naoto Kan, but while Prime Minister Noda has said he wanted to reduce Japan’s nuclear energy capacity, he also made moves to restart the industry.

Many doubt whether the government can adequately regulate nuclear power production. Yukio Edano, minister of economy, trade and industry, said the government will help build “the highest-level regulations and disaster-preparedness plans in the world.”

While the world will have to wait and see if the Japanese government can live up to that high standard, countries everywhere should learn a lesson about the dangers of becoming too dependent on one form of energy – whatever form that is. Allowing nuclear energy to dominate its electricity supply has left the country’s entire economy vulnerable.

Main photo credit: Shutterstock

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According to Recharge News, the new fee “plunged a knife into the heart of its renewables sector, leaving development dead in the water for the next few years.” The true impact has yet to be seen, but the new grid-access charge could amount to a 39 perent retroactive grid tax for PV operators.

The reason behind the price hike is surprising. Using a basic feed-in tariff that pays renewables high prices for their electricity over long-term contracts, solar and wind did very well in Bulgaria. Better, in fact, than anyone expected or projected.  Bulgaria’s aging power grid will soon be unable to handle it. The government needed to tamp down the industry’s success, so decided it would add require payment of a retroactive tax to access the energy grid.

Even though the renewables industry was doing well, the unexpected fee has left companies scrambling.

Investors said they would sue, and have looked into several possible bases. The regulator’s failure to hold a public discussion or inform the investors about the new fees constitutes a breach of contract, they say. On top of that, they also complained that the regulator breached competition rules, thereby abusing its position. Undeniably, they are looking at the money they owe to the banks – said to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars range – and worrying how they will ever pay them back. Even if the renewable energy companies win in court, industry insiders say many developers will not be able to meet the terms of their loans and will go bankrupt.

Main photo credit: Shutterstock

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This week’s news involves a bit of both. Shell Oil announced on Monday that it will be postponing the completion of its Alaskan Arctic wells until 2013. The reason behind the setback of a $4.5 billion, six-year investment? A spill containment dome — equipment required by environmental regulations — was damaged during a testing accident. It’s almost as if the environmental regulations are actually working!

“The time required to repair the dome, along with steps we have taken to protect local whaling operations and to ensure the safety of operations from ice floe movement, have led us to revise our plans for the 2012 – 2013 exploration program,” the company said in a statement. “In order to lay a strong foundation for operations in 2013, we will forgo drilling into hydrocarbon zones this year.”

While this isn’t the end of Arctic drilling, it is a wake-up call to Shell and other “Drill, Baby Drill!” advocates that are extracting oil from thousands of feet below Earth’s surface. Temperatures below freezing, icy waters and high swells make the region an especially dangerous one for offshore drilling.

Environmentalists have long opposed using the Arctic as an oil reservoir. “We think it’s crazy,” said Niel Lawrence, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council. “And the evidence is mounting that shows it’s crazy.” Greenpeace echoed those sentiments in an email: “Investors must now be asking whether investing such vast sums of money trying to exploit the fragile Arctic is really worth it.”

Other factions, unsurprisingly, are expressing different sentiments. “It’s a disappointment that this particular system is not ready yet,” said Marvin E. Odum, the president of Shell Oil.

This “disappointment” for Shell Oil may be a small bit of good news for the Pacific walrus, one of Alaska’s many victims of climate change and its receding ice.

Main photo credit: Shutterstock

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