tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57642838433338521012024-03-17T01:28:59.146-07:00The Business Side of GreenThe Business Side of Green Blog is where Peter Arpin gets to interact with the community on an ongoing basis. Here, Peter will share his thoughts and ideas when it comes to helping our community move towards a more sustainable future. Peter is also looking for your ideas and thoughts to promote and share through the Arpin Broadcast Network and its affiliates, Arpin Group, Arpin Van Lines and Arpin International Group.The Business Side of Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066760946785307421noreply@blogger.comBlogger2724125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764283843333852101.post-91741961959540456002019-11-18T04:24:00.000-08:002019-11-18T04:24:19.013-08:0074 trillion tons of fake snow over Antarctic could 'save coastal cities' from climate change, researchers say<h2 class="eyebrow">
74 trillion tons of fake snow over Antarctic could 'save coastal cities' from climate change, researchers say</h2>
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By Christopher Carbone</div>
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Spraying trillions of tons of fake snow may sound like something cooked up by a novelist writing about the year 2150, but according to a new study, it could stave off global sea rise and protect coastal cities.</div>
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This type of enormous feat of geoengineering would require energy from more than 12,000 wind turbines to provide power for massive seawater pumps and snow cannons, according to the researchers.</div>
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However, scientists are not advocating that humanity take up this approach; instead, they note that its "absurdity" shows the dramatic threat facing the world from climate change-related sea level rise.<br />
A range of different studies have found that rising sea levels, impacted by the melting of glaciers and the changing climate, could imperil cities across the world in the latter half of this century and beyond.<br />
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<picture><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2018/11/1470/828/antarctic-peninsula-NO-REUSE.jpg?ve=1&tl=1 2x"></source><source media="(min-width: 767px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2018/11/1862/1048/antarctic-peninsula-NO-REUSE.jpg?ve=1&tl=1 2x"></source><img alt="A new study estimates what it would take to protect coastal cities from rising seas with a major geoengineering project." height="200" src="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2018/11/640/320/antarctic-peninsula-NO-REUSE.jpg?ve=1&tl=1" width="400" /></picture></div>
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A new study estimates what it would take to protect coastal cities from rising seas with a major geoengineering project. <span class="copyright">(Vipersniper/iStock/Getty Images Plus)</span></div>
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Although it's not known if the entire west Antarctic ice sheet will melt, the scientists have speculated that sea levels will rise based on what they were during previous much warmer periods.<br />
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“As scientists we feel it is our duty to inform society about every potential option to counter the problems ahead,” Professor Anders Levermann, at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, who led the research, told The Guardian. “As unbelievable as [the proposal] might seem, in order to prevent an unprecedented risk, humankind might have to make an unprecedented effort.”<br />
The researchers' work uses computer models to determine how much water would have to be pumped from the ocean to the top of the ice sheet and then sprayed as snow to stabilize it. The study was published in the journal Science Advances.<br />
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The gargantuan effort would require 74 trillion tons of water and would have a hefty price tag, as well.<br />
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David Vaughan, director of science at the British Antarctic Survey and not part of the research, told the British publication: “Scientists have an important role in testing, and challenging ‘climate fixes’. I think [Levermann and colleagues] tread the tightrope well, examining and challenging this idea without becoming advocates. Indeed, they are careful to point out the severe side effects.”</div>
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The Business Side of Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066760946785307421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764283843333852101.post-64755276284197963392019-05-16T07:43:00.004-07:002019-11-18T04:24:31.529-08:00EPA Announces Availability of $87 Million in Funding to Improve Drinking Water for Schools and Small and Disadvantaged Communities<h1 class="page-title">
EPA Announces Availability of $87 Million in Funding to Improve Drinking Water for Schools and Small and Disadvantaged Communities</h1>
<strong>WASHINGTON</strong>—Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the availability of nearly $87 million in grant funding to assist states, tribes, and territories with improving drinking water.<br />
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“EPA is committed to ensuring all Americans, regardless of their zip code, have access to safe and clean drinking water,” said EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. “With these grants, EPA is fulfilling its core mission of providing states, tribes, and territories with the resources needed to protect children from lead exposure and other contaminants and ensure all American families have safe drinking water.”<br />
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States, tribes, and territories are eligible to receive funding from two new EPA drinking water grant programs established by the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act (WIIN):<br />
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<li>Under EPA’s new <em>Voluntary Lead Testing in Schools and Child Care</em> grant program, EPA will award $43.7 million in grants to fund testing for lead in drinking water at schools and child care programs. Testing results carried out using grant funds must be made publicly available.</li>
<li>Under EPA’s new <em>Assistance for Small and Disadvantaged Communities</em> grant program, EPA will award $42.8 million in grants to support underserved communities with bringing public drinking water systems into compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act. Funding can also be used for conducting household water quality testing, including testing for unregulated contaminants.</li>
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Under the Trump Administration, EPA has taken significant actions to modernize aging water infrastructure and reduce exposure to contaminants in drinking water:<br />
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<li>In 2018 the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds committed $9.6 billion in drinking water and clean water infrastructure loans and refinancing and disbursed $8.8 billion for drinking water and clean water infrastructure.</li>
<li>Over the past year, EPA’s Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program has issued eight loans totaling over $2 billion in WIFIA credit assistance to help finance over $4 billion for water infrastructure projects.</li>
<li>EPA is undertaking the first major overhaul of the Lead and Copper Rule since 1991. EPA anticipates releasing the proposed rule in summer 2019.</li>
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State, tribal, and territorial grant allotments for the two grant programs are available on EPA’s website. As a next step, program participants will be asked to submit workplans to EPA outlining their proposed project(s) for approval and funding. EPA will announce funding details for WIIN’s third newly-created grant program dedicated to reducing lead in drinking water systems in summer 2019.The Business Side of Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066760946785307421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764283843333852101.post-79614775402892664582019-03-28T06:37:00.001-07:002019-11-18T04:24:39.255-08:00Bipartisan Agreement: Energy Storage is The Future Of Renewable Energy/RNNThe Business Side of Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066760946785307421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764283843333852101.post-77681229042728863462019-03-14T12:34:00.001-07:002019-03-14T12:34:14.155-07:0013 Farmer Stories That Bring Honesty and Hope to Sustainable AgricultureFood Tank<br />
<img alt="This multigenerational farming family tells Food Tank about the challenges and opportunities facing sustainable agriculture." height="240" src="https://k48b9e9840-flywheel.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Food-Tank-Gilbert-Family-770x462.jpg" width="400" /><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Since last year, Food Tank’s Farmer Friday series has been telling the stories of farmers and ranchers focusing on sustainable farming practices. These practices include crop rotation, grassy waterways, preserving reconstructed wetlands, and farming on the contour. Many of these farmers are part of </span><span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nimanranch.com/&source=gmail&ust=1552587740632000&usg=AFQjCNGOoLmmqrsKUZ66wAmxj_2m3-14Zw" href="https://www.nimanranch.com/" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; border-left-color: transparent; border-right-color: transparent; border-top-color: transparent; box-shadow: rgb(172, 223, 255) 0px -5px 0px inset; box-sizing: inherit; color: #080808; cursor: pointer; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.25s linear 0s;">Niman Ranch</a></span><span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;">, a network of over 720 family farmers and ranchers across the United States who focus on raising livestock traditionally, humanely, and sustainably. </span></div>
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Food Tank is excited to share the stories of 13 remarkable farmers.</div>
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<span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://foodtank.com/news/2018/03/farmer-friday-aaron-williams-niman-ranch/&source=gmail&ust=1552587740632000&usg=AFQjCNFrwTFwtm2UADolsl9Qi3z2wBeK_Q" href="https://foodtank.com/news/2018/03/farmer-friday-aaron-williams-niman-ranch/" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; border-left-color: transparent; border-right-color: transparent; border-top-color: transparent; box-shadow: rgb(172, 223, 255) 0px -5px 0px inset; box-sizing: inherit; color: #080808; cursor: pointer; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.25s linear 0s;" target="_blank">Aaron Williams on Local Farming and Young Farmer Opportunities</a></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Following in his father’s footsteps, Aaron Williams is a second generation Niman Ranch producer on Williams Family Farm in Villisca, Iowa. After graduating from Iowa State University in 2013, Williams pursued his passion for caring for pigs, and Niman Ranch allowed him to do what he loves and make a living doing it. Williams Family Farm practices no-till farming to preserve the ground soil and, as a sixth-generation hog farmer, Williams emphasizes the importance of taking better care of the land so that it can be passed on to the next generation in an even better condition than when it started.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://foodtank.com/news/2018/04/farmer-friday-niman-ranch-gilbert-family/&source=gmail&ust=1552587740632000&usg=AFQjCNGtpUqAplclOatfVpgwmYTv6FjotQ" href="https://foodtank.com/news/2018/04/farmer-friday-niman-ranch-gilbert-family/" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; border-left-color: transparent; border-right-color: transparent; border-top-color: transparent; box-shadow: rgb(172, 223, 255) 0px -5px 0px inset; box-sizing: inherit; color: #080808; cursor: pointer; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.25s linear 0s;" target="_blank">Ag Is “Not a Question of Winners and Losers”</a></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;">The Gilberts are recognizing their responsibility not only to their land and the animals they raise, but also to their neighbors, everyone who eats Niman Ranch products, and everyone who wants to eat food and use the land in the future. Since 1998, the Gilberts have been selling hogs to Niman Ranch, a company that they feel truly appreciates their efforts as farmers, genuinely cares about their individual interests, and ensures their welfare. The Gilberts emphasize the importance of working together towards providing maximum nutrition in the most sustainable way, even if it means starting small and slowly gaining skills and knowledge from established farmers.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://foodtank.com/news/2018/03/farmer-friday-april-wilson-niman-ranch/&source=gmail&ust=1552587740632000&usg=AFQjCNHfOO1uxR3Fot7zs_2a7E6pXZ-x-A" href="https://foodtank.com/news/2018/03/farmer-friday-april-wilson-niman-ranch/" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; border-left-color: transparent; border-right-color: transparent; border-top-color: transparent; box-shadow: rgb(172, 223, 255) 0px -5px 0px inset; box-sizing: inherit; color: #080808; cursor: pointer; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.25s linear 0s;" target="_blank">April Wilson Wants People to Know Their Food</a></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;">April Wilson is a third-generation hog farmer on her family farm, </span><span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.sevenwfarm.com/&source=gmail&ust=1552587740632000&usg=AFQjCNFgkErHL_PHT4t_Z-6xwrp9tNAojQ" href="https://www.sevenwfarm.com/" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; border-left-color: transparent; border-right-color: transparent; border-top-color: transparent; box-shadow: rgb(172, 223, 255) 0px -5px 0px inset; box-sizing: inherit; color: #080808; cursor: pointer; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.25s linear 0s;">Seven W Farm</a></span><span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;">, and she stands by Niman’s philosophy that animals should be raised using humane practices. Being part of the Niman Ranch family has brought Wilson a new community that understands her hard work and values, and she appreciates the opportunity to give consumers a choice in how their animals were raised. Wilson actually moved away from her family farm after graduating college, but city life brought on the realization that farming is a part of who she is, and she decided to move back and carry on her family’s legacy of taking care of animals and the land.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://foodtank.com/news/2018/09/farming-better-isnt-enough-we-need-to-protect-land/&source=gmail&ust=1552587740632000&usg=AFQjCNHYXbE6nlqLVUbs12jAcoaHaguCEw" href="https://foodtank.com/news/2018/09/farming-better-isnt-enough-we-need-to-protect-land/" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; border-left-color: transparent; border-right-color: transparent; border-top-color: transparent; box-shadow: rgb(172, 223, 255) 0px -5px 0px inset; box-sizing: inherit; color: #080808; cursor: pointer; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.25s linear 0s;" target="_blank">Farming Better Isn’t Enough: We Need to Protect Land</a></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Integrity is what pulled Steve Peterson back to the Peterson Family farm in Decatur, MI in 1973, determined to reach a sustainable food system and treat the fields and woodlots with integrity. Jan and Steve have created a family of sustainable advocates, with their son Ted working on the farm part-time and their oldest son Luke, who received a Mina Ranch Next Generation Scholarship Award in 2008, now working as a conservation biologist in California. The Peterson family has always farmed hay and corn sustainably and raised their pigs naturally. Now, they are excited that the rest of the world is following suit at every level of the food system.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://foodtank.com/news/2018/11/farming-is-who-i-am/&source=gmail&ust=1552587740632000&usg=AFQjCNGF8j-NubPWcoEpoGkftZpc245uIg" href="https://foodtank.com/news/2018/11/farming-is-who-i-am/" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; border-left-color: transparent; border-right-color: transparent; border-top-color: transparent; box-shadow: rgb(172, 223, 255) 0px -5px 0px inset; box-sizing: inherit; color: #080808; cursor: pointer; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.25s linear 0s;" target="_blank">“Farming Is Who I Am”</a></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Fulfilling their ‘personal farm legacy,’ Deleana and Tim Roseland of Roseland Family Farms use sustainable farming practices such as grassy waterways and terracing on their land so that their farm can be carried on for generations. With unpredictable market conditions, the Roselands joined Niman Ranch in 2005 and radically changed their pig raising techniques, adjusting to the Niman Ranch’s high standards. Tim believes family farmers dedicated to how they raise their livestock are leaders in protecting people, animals, and environmental health.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://foodtank.com/news/2018/07/crowe-family-farms-niman-ranch-responsible-farming/&source=gmail&ust=1552587740632000&usg=AFQjCNFrD7519SMb-PE2X-SbwYWC20JFTQ" href="https://foodtank.com/news/2018/07/crowe-family-farms-niman-ranch-responsible-farming/" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; border-left-color: transparent; border-right-color: transparent; border-top-color: transparent; box-shadow: rgb(172, 223, 255) 0px -5px 0px inset; box-sizing: inherit; color: #080808; cursor: pointer; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.25s linear 0s;" target="_blank">Farming Sustainably “Is a Responsibility Not to Be Taken Lightly”</a></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Since 1969, the Crowe family has raised hogs on the </span><span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nimanranch.com/farmer/crowe-family-hog-farm/&source=gmail&ust=1552587740632000&usg=AFQjCNFdG0NltseuooqUxKj037V1paKIMg" href="https://www.nimanranch.com/farmer/crowe-family-hog-farm/" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; border-left-color: transparent; border-right-color: transparent; border-top-color: transparent; box-shadow: rgb(172, 223, 255) 0px -5px 0px inset; box-sizing: inherit; color: #080808; cursor: pointer; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.25s linear 0s;">Crowe Family Farms</a></span><span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;"> in Monroe City, MO. Adair Crowe is a sixth-generation farmer, and does everything he can to preserve and build better soils for the future. The Crowes practice sustainable agriculture by </span><span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/national/programs/?cid%3Dnrcs142p2_044349&source=gmail&ust=1552587740632000&usg=AFQjCNHhEXlfqR5N91MYeNKBugIsSU4HHg" href="https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/national/programs/?cid=nrcs142p2_044349" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; border-left-color: transparent; border-right-color: transparent; border-top-color: transparent; box-shadow: rgb(172, 223, 255) 0px -5px 0px inset; box-sizing: inherit; color: #080808; cursor: pointer; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.25s linear 0s;">rotating crops</a></span><span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;">, </span><span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.mda.state.mn.us/protecting/conservation/practices/contourfarm&source=gmail&ust=1552587740633000&usg=AFQjCNE8NHHr74tz2Z4OrQCthbJbkUP6cA" href="https://www.mda.state.mn.us/protecting/conservation/practices/contourfarm" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; border-left-color: transparent; border-right-color: transparent; border-top-color: transparent; box-shadow: rgb(172, 223, 255) 0px -5px 0px inset; box-sizing: inherit; color: #080808; cursor: pointer; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.25s linear 0s;">contour farming</a></span><span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;">, </span><span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs142p2_006954.pdf&source=gmail&ust=1552587740633000&usg=AFQjCNEmXlclsQr21OjqC4xna-7kqKixoA" href="https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs142p2_006954.pdf" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; border-left-color: transparent; border-right-color: transparent; border-top-color: transparent; box-shadow: rgb(172, 223, 255) 0px -5px 0px inset; box-sizing: inherit; color: #080808; cursor: pointer; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.25s linear 0s;">building terraces</a></span><span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;">, and using composted manure from the hogs. While Crowe does raise hogs the ‘old fashioned’ way, he also credits innovative technologies that help improve every aspect of farming and give him the responsibility to affect the food system long after he is gone. Niman Ranch allows Crowe to feel valued, understanding all of the hard work and reinforcing his ‘all in this together’ mentality.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://foodtank.com/news/2018/05/farming-sustainably-niman-ranch-alderland-farm/&source=gmail&ust=1552587740633000&usg=AFQjCNHslegTNkRnpANrtOrQh_WsWxlboQ" href="https://foodtank.com/news/2018/05/farming-sustainably-niman-ranch-alderland-farm/" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; border-left-color: transparent; border-right-color: transparent; border-top-color: transparent; box-shadow: rgb(172, 223, 255) 0px -5px 0px inset; box-sizing: inherit; color: #080808; cursor: pointer; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.25s linear 0s;" target="_blank">Farming Sustainably is the Key to “Ensure that the Farm Will be Here for our Children”</a></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;">After low hog prices hit in 1998, Paul and Andrea, who started </span><span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://showcase.netins.net/web/alderlandfarms/%23home&source=gmail&ust=1552587740633000&usg=AFQjCNFLemQmikwVFSgMb-TY-waDAfioxw" href="http://showcase.netins.net/web/alderlandfarms/#home" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; border-left-color: transparent; border-right-color: transparent; border-top-color: transparent; box-shadow: rgb(172, 223, 255) 0px -5px 0px inset; box-sizing: inherit; color: #080808; cursor: pointer; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.25s linear 0s;">Alderland Farm</a></span><span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;"> in New Providence, IA, were drawn to sell their hogs to Niman Ranch. Niman Ranch’s premium guarantee allowed them to bring their oldest son back to the farm—awarding him the </span><span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nimanranch.com/the-next-generation-scholarship-fund-awards/&source=gmail&ust=1552587740633000&usg=AFQjCNGmRUPe8LjZvyTXblqlOm5nQKWmBw" href="https://www.nimanranch.com/the-next-generation-scholarship-fund-awards/" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; border-left-color: transparent; border-right-color: transparent; border-top-color: transparent; box-shadow: rgb(172, 223, 255) 0px -5px 0px inset; box-sizing: inherit; color: #080808; cursor: pointer; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.25s linear 0s;">Niman Ranch Next Generation Scholarship Award</a></span><span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;"> twice—and allowing the Browns to keep their entire family together. The Browns have a passion for educating their community, and Paul’s passion for the community won him the 2014 Niman Ranch </span><span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nimanranch.com/2014-farmer-of-the-year/&source=gmail&ust=1552587740633000&usg=AFQjCNGlzluh5ni4xOxW-LyfmVzI6Jz9QQ" href="https://www.nimanranch.com/2014-farmer-of-the-year/" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; border-left-color: transparent; border-right-color: transparent; border-top-color: transparent; box-shadow: rgb(172, 223, 255) 0px -5px 0px inset; box-sizing: inherit; color: #080808; cursor: pointer; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.25s linear 0s;">Farmer of the Year Award</a></span><span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;">.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://foodtank.com/news/2018/12/future-family-farmers-help-communities-grow/&source=gmail&ust=1552587740633000&usg=AFQjCNFp7uRclmrPjE-G36v5DJAJzgu_vg" href="https://foodtank.com/news/2018/12/future-family-farmers-help-communities-grow/" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; border-left-color: transparent; border-right-color: transparent; border-top-color: transparent; box-shadow: rgb(172, 223, 255) 0px -5px 0px inset; box-sizing: inherit; color: #080808; cursor: pointer; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.25s linear 0s;" target="_blank">Future Family Farmers Help Communities Grow</a></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Scheer began farming by growing hay, corn, and soybeans while working other jobs in the city to support his passion for farming. As the farming community began to change and Scheer saw farms growing larger with fewer farmers running them, he joined Niman Ranch to secure his family farming lifestyle. He believes family farmers are the future of communities and agriculture. Scheer wants to inspire young and beginning farmers to get started, starting with his son Anthony, who is currently the youngest farmer to work with Niman Ranch.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://foodtank.com/news/2018/08/i-couldnt-think-of-a-reason-to-not-farm-sustainably-says-howe/&source=gmail&ust=1552587740633000&usg=AFQjCNGSQvON-nNuC7CgJrdwA23uh26Rwg" href="https://foodtank.com/news/2018/08/i-couldnt-think-of-a-reason-to-not-farm-sustainably-says-howe/" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; border-left-color: transparent; border-right-color: transparent; border-top-color: transparent; box-shadow: rgb(172, 223, 255) 0px -5px 0px inset; box-sizing: inherit; color: #080808; cursor: pointer; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.25s linear 0s;" target="_blank">“I Couldn’t Think of a Reason to Not Farm Sustainably,” Says Howe</a></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;">For Steve Howe, treating livestock humanely is a tradition that spans generations. Howe raises corn and alfalfa, all of which is used internally to feed the pigs, which then provide manure to fertilize the crops. Essentially, Howe cannot think of any reason to not farm sustainably, because it allows him to move forward and keep maintaining progress for multiple generations. Similar to other farmers, Howe joined Niman Ranch after the falling prices in the pig market. Now, Niman Ranch is like a family to him, and he believes mentorships and human connections such as this partnership is what will create opportunities for young farmers in the future.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://foodtank.com/news/2018/04/farmer-friday-niman-ranch-phil-kramer/&source=gmail&ust=1552587740633000&usg=AFQjCNGWM2rhW6soH-8yY708HD7JtvEelA" href="https://foodtank.com/news/2018/04/farmer-friday-niman-ranch-phil-kramer/" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; border-left-color: transparent; border-right-color: transparent; border-top-color: transparent; box-shadow: rgb(172, 223, 255) 0px -5px 0px inset; box-sizing: inherit; color: #080808; cursor: pointer; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.25s linear 0s;" target="_blank">Producing Better Pork</a></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Phil Kramer’s father was a Niman Ranch Hog Farmer of the Year Recipient and, for the past fifteen years, Kramer has been fulfilling his career dream of working with livestock and being outside. He emphasizes the consumer’s role in agriculture and their ability to decide how they want their food to be produced. Kramer prides himself on farming delicious, safe, and wholesome hogs, and, just as he enjoys gaining knowledge from other Niman ranchers, Kramer continues to encourage consumers to educate themselves on what they are purchasing. </span><span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;"> </span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://foodtank.com/news/2018/02/farmer-friday-interview-niman-ranch-farmer-randy-gadient/&source=gmail&ust=1552587740633000&usg=AFQjCNGj4c5wBaLn88063rZ3vJjB_YI2ZA" href="https://foodtank.com/news/2018/02/farmer-friday-interview-niman-ranch-farmer-randy-gadient/" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; border-left-color: transparent; border-right-color: transparent; border-top-color: transparent; box-shadow: rgb(172, 223, 255) 0px -5px 0px inset; box-sizing: inherit; color: #080808; cursor: pointer; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.25s linear 0s;" target="_blank">Quality Meat from Quality Care: An Interview with Niman Ranch Farmer Randy Gadient</a></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;">As a first generation hog farmer, Randy, along with his wife Gina and their two kids, run Gadient Farms in Northeastern Iowa. Niman Ranch has brought Randy a community of like-minded farmers who understand that animals come first and helps him instill the value of life in his kids at an early age. His daughter, Elle, was the first </span><span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://globegazette.com/news/local/scholarship-honors-north-iowa-farmer-environmentalist-phyllis-willis/article_a00d961a-ab9a-5cc6-85de-24d2c5b2f4f8.html&source=gmail&ust=1552587740633000&usg=AFQjCNFyBBZRPqaoeBKSDIhqn5aqDNXqBA" href="https://globegazette.com/news/local/scholarship-honors-north-iowa-farmer-environmentalist-phyllis-willis/article_a00d961a-ab9a-5cc6-85de-24d2c5b2f4f8.html" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; border-left-color: transparent; border-right-color: transparent; border-top-color: transparent; box-shadow: rgb(172, 223, 255) 0px -5px 0px inset; box-sizing: inherit; color: #080808; cursor: pointer; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.25s linear 0s;">Phyllis Willis Founders Scholarship</a></span><span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;"> recipient, awarded by Niman Ranch as an opportunity for young people to get an education and also be awarded for their hard work and passion for sustainable agriculture.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://foodtank.com/news/2018/02/farmer-fridays-scott-sibbel-interview-niman-ranch/&source=gmail&ust=1552587740633000&usg=AFQjCNF2xYYNY6HAtJS4we1chfRdFi3oBA" href="https://foodtank.com/news/2018/02/farmer-fridays-scott-sibbel-interview-niman-ranch/" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; border-left-color: transparent; border-right-color: transparent; border-top-color: transparent; box-shadow: rgb(172, 223, 255) 0px -5px 0px inset; box-sizing: inherit; color: #080808; cursor: pointer; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.25s linear 0s;" target="_blank">Scott Sibbel on Sustainable and Humane Farm Practices</a></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Sibbel Family Farm, south of Carroll, Iowa, has been in the Sibbel’s family since 1919, and since 2006, as an independent rancher and farmer, Scott has been committed to raising hogs and cattle according to Niman Ranch’s high standards and protocols. Scott’s hard work paid off in 2016 when he won the</span><span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nimanranch.com/2016-niman-ranch-farmer-appreciation-dinner/&source=gmail&ust=1552587740633000&usg=AFQjCNGo0Lm5tXEkpbRhn1pP6X-7vVUf1Q" href="https://www.nimanranch.com/2016-niman-ranch-farmer-appreciation-dinner/" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; border-left-color: transparent; border-right-color: transparent; border-top-color: transparent; box-shadow: rgb(172, 223, 255) 0px -5px 0px inset; box-sizing: inherit; color: #080808; cursor: pointer; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.25s linear 0s;"> </a><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nimanranch.com/2016-niman-ranch-farmer-appreciation-dinner/&source=gmail&ust=1552587740633000&usg=AFQjCNGo0Lm5tXEkpbRhn1pP6X-7vVUf1Q" href="https://www.nimanranch.com/2016-niman-ranch-farmer-appreciation-dinner/" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; border-left-color: transparent; border-right-color: transparent; border-top-color: transparent; box-shadow: rgb(172, 223, 255) 0px -5px 0px inset; box-sizing: inherit; color: #080808; cursor: pointer; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.25s linear 0s;">Farmer of the Year Award</a></span><span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;"> from Niman Ranch. Sibbel Family Farm builds a better food system simply by its method of farming—antibiotic free with no added hormones, good husbandry practices, and sustainable farming practices. Thanks to Niman Ranch, SFF can get their story to the consumer and receive positive feedback that keeps the family motivated and excited.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://foodtank.com/news/2018/06/niman-ranch-farmer-friday-ron-mardensen/&source=gmail&ust=1552587740633000&usg=AFQjCNFXsps87DbTOGfDzkAn--fXn-4P5g" href="https://foodtank.com/news/2018/06/niman-ranch-farmer-friday-ron-mardensen/" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; border-left-color: transparent; border-right-color: transparent; border-top-color: transparent; box-shadow: rgb(172, 223, 255) 0px -5px 0px inset; box-sizing: inherit; color: #080808; cursor: pointer; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.25s linear 0s;" target="_blank">To Cultivate a New Generation of Farmers, “We Need to Open Up to Young Folks”</a></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Ron grew up in a farming community, saw the potentials a farm life could offer, and now stands by the belief that his children would “not be the people they are today if they had not grown up on the farm.” Ron protects his land using sustainable farming methods such as </span><span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://foodtank.com/news/2018/06/niman-ranch-farmer-friday-ron-mardensen/&source=gmail&ust=1552587740633000&usg=AFQjCNFXsps87DbTOGfDzkAn--fXn-4P5g" href="https://foodtank.com/news/2018/06/niman-ranch-farmer-friday-ron-mardensen/" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; border-left-color: transparent; border-right-color: transparent; border-top-color: transparent; box-shadow: rgb(172, 223, 255) 0px -5px 0px inset; box-sizing: inherit; color: #080808; cursor: pointer; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.25s linear 0s;" target="_blank">crop rotation</a></span><span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;">, </span><span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.fao.org/docrep/006/y5146e/y5146e08.htm&source=gmail&ust=1552587740634000&usg=AFQjCNGvpZEFOk1nOUHLPDANTcolAT3VCA" href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/006/y5146e/y5146e08.htm" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; border-left-color: transparent; border-right-color: transparent; border-top-color: transparent; box-shadow: rgb(172, 223, 255) 0px -5px 0px inset; box-sizing: inherit; color: #080808; cursor: pointer; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.25s linear 0s;">minimum tillage</a></span><span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;">, and </span><span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.fao.org/docrep/006/y5146e/y5146e08.htm&source=gmail&ust=1552587740634000&usg=AFQjCNGvpZEFOk1nOUHLPDANTcolAT3VCA" href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/006/y5146e/y5146e08.htm" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; border-left-color: transparent; border-right-color: transparent; border-top-color: transparent; box-shadow: rgb(172, 223, 255) 0px -5px 0px inset; box-sizing: inherit; color: #080808; cursor: pointer; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.25s linear 0s;">grassy waterways</a></span><span lang="EN" style="box-sizing: inherit;">. For Ron, Niman Ranch perfectly aligned with his livestock care and philosophy, while simultaneously allowing him to be his own boss and ensure stable prices. Niman Ranch cuts out the worries of marketing and allows Ron to concentrate on taking better care of his pigs and maintaining his farming practices.</span></div>
The Business Side of Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066760946785307421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764283843333852101.post-53833231763712289482019-03-08T07:43:00.001-08:002019-03-08T07:43:36.480-08:00Trump Again Seeks Deep Cuts in Renewable Energy Funding/Bloomberg<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The question has been asked many times if renewables can sustain growth without govt incentives. We are heading into those choppy waters as Washington continues to look at major cuts in tax incentives and other financial credits.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Programs have financed research into electric cars, wind power</i></b></span><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>2020 budget would be cut to $700 million, from $2.3 billion</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<img alt="Wind farm in Colorado, U.S., " height="266" src="https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/isjvN3mFpJ.Y/v1/1000x-1.jpg" width="400" /><br />
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The Trump administration is again seeking severe cuts to the U.S. Energy Department division charged with renewable energy and energy efficiency research, according to a department official familiar with the plan.</div>
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The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy would see its $2.3 billion budget slashed by about 70 percent, to $700 million, under President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2020 budget request, which is set to be released on Monday.</div>
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The request is unlikely to be granted by Congress, especially with Democrats in charge of the House, but the figure represents an opening bargaining position for negotiations by the White House.</div>
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The Energy Department declined to comment and the White House Office of Management and Budget didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.</div>
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“It’s a shutdown budget,” said Mike Carr, who served as the No. 2 official within the division under President Barack Obama. “That’s apparently what they want to signal to their base -- they still want to shut these programs down.”</div>
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The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, which provides hundreds of millions of dollars a year in grants and other financial assistance for clean energy, has financed research into technologies ranging from electric vehicles to energy projects powered by ocean waves. It has been credited with financing research to help make the cost of wind power competitive with coal, and cutting the costs of LED lighting.</div>
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The Trump administration has tried to gut the program before, only to be rebuffed by Congress. Last year, the White House proposed cutting the agency’s funding by nearly two-thirds, but Congress instead provided $2.3 billion for the agency, more than three times the White House’s request.</div>
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“By pushing these ‘message budgets,’ they’re making sure that appropriators in both parties completely dismiss them,” said Jeff Navin, who served as acting chief of staff for Ernest Moniz, President Barack Obama’s energy secretary. “They’re so far out of the mainstream that they don’t actually influence the budget debate.”</div>
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In the past, Trump administration officials have defended the cuts, <a class="terminal-news-story" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/terminal/P5LTQ63H0JK0" itemprop="StoryLink" itemscope="itemscope" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Renewables Cuts Justified by Tech Advances: Energy Official">arguing</a> they are justified by the falling costs of renewables and other emerging </div>
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In testimony before a House panel Thursday, Daniel Simmons, the Energy Department assistant secretary who heads the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, said he couldn’t talk about the budget proposal. But he noted the division had recently completed funding announcements for research into hydrogen and batteries for heavy-duty trucks among other technologies.</div>
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Michigan Republican Representative Fred Upton told him at the hearing that lawmakers expects the office “to carry out the law as Congress intended and utilize the resources Congress provides.”</div>
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Meanwhile, conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation have called for the office to be eliminated entirely, saying energy innovation is best left up to the private sector.</div>
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The budget for energy efficiency and renewable energy “is completely out control and even with the reduction it would still be one of the largest budgets in the Energy line,” said Tom Pyle, who led Trump’s Energy Department transition team and serves as president of the American Energy Alliance, a free-market advocacy group.</div>
The Business Side of Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066760946785307421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764283843333852101.post-83463173832012713122019-03-06T10:34:00.000-08:002019-03-06T10:34:04.960-08:00Kansas Corn Farmers Awarded Nearly $218M In Suit Over GMO Corn <h1 class="post-title" itemprop="name">
Kansas Corn Farmers Awarded Nearly $218M In Suit Over GMO Corn </h1>
<div class="by-date">
<span class="submitted"><span content="2017-06-23T11:27:04-05:00" rel="sioc:has_creator"><span class="submitted-label">By</span> <span class="name">Dan Margolies & Amy Mayer</span></span></span></div>
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<img alt="Farmers complained when China rejected shipments of U.S. corn after finding unapproved varieties." src="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kcur/files/styles/medium/public/201706/corn_amy_mayer.jpg" height="225" width="400" />
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Farmers complained when China rejected shipments of U.S. corn after finding unapproved varieties.</div>
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<span class="credit">File: Amy Mayer</span>
/ <span class="agency">Harvest Public Media</span>
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<em><br /></em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
A
federal jury in Kansas City, Kansas, awarded nearly $218 million to
Kansas corn farmers after finding seed giant Syngenta AG was negligent
when it introduced strains of genetically engineered corn seed into the
marketplace that were not approved for import by the Chinese government.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The eight-member jury returned its $217,700,000 verdict after
an 18-day-long trial, the first of eight certified class actions
lawsuits against Syngenta brought in state court.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“We think the
verdict shows that this jury wanted to send a very strong message to
Syngenta,” says Patrick Stueve, a partner with Stueve Siegel Hanson, a
Kansas City law firm representing farmer-plaintiffs in the case. That
message, Stueve says, is that Syngenta should not put new genetically
engineered seeds on the market until key export markets have approved
them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Switzerland-based Syngenta issued a statement saying it was
disappointed with the verdict “because it will only serve to deny
American farmers access to future technologies even when they are fully
approved in the U.S.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The case concerned Syngenta’s Agrisure
Viptera and Agrisure Duracade, corn seeds containing genetically
engineered traits. Thousands of farmers sued the company after Chinese
officials rejected grain shipments containing traces of the strains in
2013.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“The case is without merit and we will move forward with an
appeal and continue to defend the rights of American farmers to access
safe and effective U.S.-approved technologies,” Syngenta said.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">China
is a major importer of U.S. corn. Farmers claimed the loss of the
Chinese market caused corn prices to plummet, resulting in total losses
to them of more than $5 billion.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The jury awarded full
compensatory damages, Stueve says, indicating jurors understood that
“access to export markets is critical for farmers. It drives their
prices higher.” The jury declined to award punitive damages.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stueve
says the judge is likely to rule soon on whether to group multiple
state cases into one trial this winter or to let them proceed
individually.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A separate but related case in Minnesota state
court was set to begin in April but a mistrial was declared on the
opening day and postponed until July 10.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Other class action cases
in state court are pending in Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa,
Nebraska, Ohio and South Dakota. Yet other lawsuits are waiting to be
certified as class actions.</span>The Business Side of Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066760946785307421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764283843333852101.post-24560567213026156762019-02-28T03:31:00.001-08:002019-02-28T03:31:32.318-08:00Public Entities Gathering for Renewable Electricity Aggregation in Texas/RNN<img height="212" src="https://www.renewablenownetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Texas-Renewables.jpg" width="320" /><br />
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Texas Energy Aggregation announced the formation of the Texas Power Pool, a new power purchasing option for <span class="xn-location" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Texas</span> public entities to utilize aggregated renewable energy. Texas Power Pool services include competitive procurement of utility-scale renewables and on-site solar for state agencies, higher education, cities, independent school districts, water districts, and other public entities across <span class="xn-location" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Texas</span>, including cooperative and municipal utility regions. The services are enabled by a Texas Comptroller’s Statewide Procurement Division contract awarded to Texas Energy Aggregation. Interested public entities can learn more from the <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2340176-1&h=1269499088&u=https%3A%2F%2Fcomptroller.texas.gov%2Fprograms%2Fseco%2Fresources%2Ftpp.php&a=State+Energy+Conservation+Office" rel="nofollow noopener" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2ea3f2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">State Energy Conservation Office</a> (SECO).</div>
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<b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Public entities have been slow to take advantage of renewables’ financial value</b></div>
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Corporate energy users in <span class="xn-location" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Texas</span> like Dow Chemical, Exxon-Mobil, Shell, and large municipal entities like the <span class="xn-location" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">City of Houston</span> have been procuring wholesale renewable wind and solar to reduce costs, hedge against energy price volatility, and achieve sustainability goals. <span id="spanHghlte0db" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">According to the</span> Business Renewables Center, 2018 was by far the most prolific year yet for corporate renewable deals. Public entities such as cities, schools and universities certainly have an increasing appetite for renewables, but have been slow to cash in on the green energy boom, often lacking the expertise or economy of scale to achieve a price below traditional grid power.</div>
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With projected rates below <span class="xn-money" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">three cents</span> per kilowatt-hour, competitively procured wholesale renewables are the lowest-cost purchasing option available in more than a decade. In sharp contrast, many retail energy contracts offer a “100% renewable” alternative at a higher cost by simply purchasing Renewable Energy Credits (RECs). “Faced with budget shortfalls, public entities are now aggressively seeking new ways to reduce costs,” says Texas Energy Aggregation President, TJ Ermoian.</div>
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<b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Texas Comptroller’s Office supports strategic power procurement</b></div>
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The Texas Comptroller’s Statewide Procurement Division is the central state organization for purchasing and, with the assistance of SECO, issued a request for proposals for electricity sourcing services that included renewable power purchase agreements. Through a competitive bidding process, the Comptroller’s office selected the <span class="xn-location" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Waco</span>-based <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2340176-1&h=1623374353&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.texasenergyabc.com%2F&a=Texas+Energy+Aggregation" rel="nofollow noopener" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2ea3f2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Texas Energy Aggregation</a> to offer electricity procurement services. SECO was later involved with Texas Energy Aggregation in naming these services the Texas Power Pool. Texas Energy Aggregation is an electricity consulting firm working in partnership with the non-profit Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), which seeks to accelerate the global transition to clean energy use and is providing technical and convening assistance.</div>
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“Power purchasing in <span class="xn-location" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Texas</span> has changed, but not so much for public entities,” explains Ermoian. “Wind and solar are the new disruptors to the energy industry, offering the lowest-priced generation, but it takes specialized experience and aggregated loads to achieve the scale necessary to get below <span class="xn-money" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">three cents</span> per kilowatt-hour. We are exceptionally fortunate to have the help and support of SECO and RMI.”</div>
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“Solar energy offers a compelling value proposition to consumers in <span class="xn-location" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Texas</span>, and across the country,” <span class="xn-person" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Kevin Brehm</span>, a manager at RMI, <span id="spanHghlt3196" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">states.</span> “Aided by increasingly favorable economics, this clean, reliable, renewable resource can provide compelling monetary, environmental, and grid benefits to a wide range of buyers. We are pleased to partner with Texas Energy Aggregation to expand the market for solar energy and provide these services to a greater number of Texans.”</div>
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<b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Business-as-usual has been costing taxpayers millions</b></div>
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When <span class="xn-location" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Texas</span> chose a competitive electricity market in 2002, many public entities selected an approved purchasing program to help them navigate their first energy contracts. Many have continued to utilize the same program without shopping other options. Loyal customers are often shocked to learn that some of the most widely-utilized programs do not competitively bid for energy retailers or wholesale energy supply for best pricing. Programs have also failed to offer competitive renewables procurement.</div>
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Lack of competition and transparency were two <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2340176-1&h=1058352288&u=http%3A%2F%2Ftlcsenate.granicus.com%2FMediaPlayer.php%3Fview_id%3D44%26clip_id%3D13249&a=reasons+targeted+by+the+legislature" rel="nofollow noopener" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2ea3f2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">reasons targeted by the legislature</a> (start at 2:02:20) that customers may be overpaying. Some contracts still demand complete confidentiality and prohibit users from divulging fees, contract terms, and rates, and even instruct customers on how to fend off Freedom of Information requests. Ermoian asks, “If they offer such great rates, one would want to crow about their successes, right? Competition is good. These are often multi-year, multi-million-dollar contracts with no transparency. <span class="xn-location" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Texas</span> taxpayers deserve to know if they are getting the best deal.”</div>
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<b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Texas Power Pool addresses the shortcomings of widely-utilized energy purchasing programs</b></div>
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Texas Energy Aggregation has represented over 100 municipal customers, been awarded five separate interlocal electricity purchasing agreements, advanced consumer protections, and won two national awards. Ermoian is especially passionate about schools and their budgets, <span id="spanHghlt4413" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">asserting,</span> “Many in my family are educators, and I understand the financial sacrifices they make for their passion and calling. Truly competitive energy purchasing will help keep more dollars in our schools.”</div>
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<span class="xn-person" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Mike Bendewald</span>, Chief Operating Officer with Texas Energy Aggregation, served over 9 years at RMI where he managed a grant to procure community-scale solar for public entities in <span class="xn-location" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Texas</span>. He now manages the Texas Power Pool, leading customer engagement and contract structuring. Texas Energy Aggregation’s consultant, <span class="xn-person" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Dan Seif</span>, also came to <span class="xn-location" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Texas</span> from RMI after co-founding RMI’s Business Renewables Center. More than 90% of the utility-scale renewable power purchase agreements negotiated nationwide over the last few years have been obtained by members of the Business Renewables Center.</div>
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“There is a short window of opportunity in the market to capitalize upon federal renewable energy tax credits which begin ramping down in 2020,” affirms Bendewald. Texas Energy has begun the process of collecting letters of interest from the largest state and other public entities, which already includes some of the largest state agencies, cities and schools. These non-binding endorsements of common goals will be used to release a request for proposal by the end of first quarter 2019 to lock in a firm price. “Once we can guarantee a rate under <span class="xn-money" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">3 cents</span> per kilowatt-hour, we anticipate additional participation that will further drive down the cost for all participants,” Bendewald explains.</div>
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Participants with existing energy contracts as far out as 2028 may qualify for additional rate discounts or upfront cash bonuses. This does not cancel or affect an entity’s existing contract in any way. Bendewald summarizes, “Current market conditions, technology and tax credits are making unheard-of opportunities available to public entities. Any entity seeking long-term budget certainty, lowest price, or sustainability goals should sign a letter of interest as quickly as possible to get these deals booked in 2019.”</div>
The Business Side of Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066760946785307421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764283843333852101.post-87946216229086954462019-02-28T03:29:00.001-08:002019-02-28T03:29:25.133-08:00Earth May Be 140yrs From Reaching C02 Levels Not Seen in 56 Million Yrs/RjNN<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, we reach CO2 levels that are historic. Hard to predict, right, the fallout. Our best approach is to mitigate the growth in carbon and prepare for climate changes that will impact our many assets and quality of life.</span><br />
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Total human carbon dioxide emissions could match those of Earth’s last major greenhouse warming event in fewer than five generations, new research finds.</div>
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A new study finds humans are pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere at a rate nine to 10 times higher than the greenhouse gas was emitted during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), a global warming event that occurred roughly 56 million years ago.</div>
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The results suggest if carbon emissions continue to rise, the total amount of carbon dioxide injected into the atmosphere since humans started burning fossil fuels could equal the amount released during the PETM as soon as 2159.</div>
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“You and I won’t be here in 2159, but that’s only about four generations away,” said Philip Gingerich, a paleoclimate researcher at the University of Michigan and author of the new study in the AGU journal <em style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology</em>. “When you start to think about your children and your grandchildren, and your great-grandchildren, you’re about there.”</div>
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Scientists often use the PETM as a benchmark against which to compare modern climate change. But the new study shows we’re on track to meet this benchmark much sooner than previously thought, as the pace of today’s warming far outstrips any climate event that has happened since the extinction of the dinosaurs.</div>
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“Given a business-as-usual assumption for the future, the rates of carbon release that are happening today are really unprecedented, even in the context of an event like the PETM,” said Gabriel Bowen, a geophysicist at the University of Utah who was not connected to the new study. “We don’t have much in the way of geologic examples to draw from in understanding how the world responds to that kind of perturbation.”</div>
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The exact environmental consequences of PETM-like carbon levels are unclear, but the increased temperatures will likely drive many species to extinction with the lucky ones being able to adapt or migrate, according to Larisa DeSantis, a paleontologist at Vanderbilt University who was not connected to the new study. In addition, it will take thousands of years for the climate system cool down, she said.</div>
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“It’s not just about 100 years from now; it’s going to take significant periods of time for that carbon dioxide to make its way back into the Earth’s crust,” DeSantis said. “It’s not a short-term event. We’re really committing ourselves to many thousands of years of a warmer world if we don’t take action quickly.”</div>
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<strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: HelveticaNeueLTStd-Bd; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Studying past climate change</strong></div>
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The PETM was a global warming event that occurred roughly 56 million years ago. Scientists are unsure what caused it, but during the event massive quantities of carbon dioxide were released into Earth’s atmosphere, rapidly spiking global temperatures by 5 to 8 degrees Celsius (9 to 14 degrees Fahrenheit). Average global temperatures during the PETM peaked at about 23 degrees Celsius (73 degrees Fahrenheit), about 7 degrees Celsius (13 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than today’s average.</div>
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Scientists think that during this time and the warm period that followed, the poles were ice-free and the Arctic was home to palm trees and crocodiles. It’s not the hottest Earth has ever been, but the PETM was the warmest period since the extinction of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.</div>
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Scientists can’t pin down exactly how much carbon was injected into the atmosphere during the PETM or exactly how long the event lasted. But their best estimates say between 3,000 and 7,000 gigatons of carbon accumulated over a period of 3,000 to 20,000 years, based on ocean sediment cores that show changes to carbonate minerals laid down during this time.</div>
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The massive carbon release and temperature spike drastically altered Earth’s climate, causing a major extinction of organisms in the deep ocean that are a key link in the marine food web. Land animals got smaller and migrated north to cooler climates. Some groups of modern mammals, including primates, appeared for the first time soon after the PETM, but scientists are unsure whether this happened as a direct result of the rapid environmental change.</div>
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<strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: HelveticaNeueLTStd-Bd; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Comparing past with the present</strong></div>
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Climate scientists use the PETM as a case study for understanding what environmental changes might happen under current human-caused climate change and when those changes might take effect. But they can only average carbon emissions during the PETM over the whole duration of the event — thousands of years. They don’t know what those emissions rates were like on a yearly basis, so it’s difficult to compare them to the pace of carbon emissions today.</div>
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In the new study, Gingerich found a way to mathematically compare modern carbon emissions to PETM emissions on the same time scale. The results showed current carbon emission rates are nine to 10 times higher than those during the PETM.</div>
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“To me, it really brought home how rapidly and how great the consequences are of the carbon we’re producing as a people,” Gingerich said.</div>
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Projecting current emissions into the future, Gingerich found that if emissions continue to rise, we could be facing another PETM-like event in fewer than five generations. The total carbon accumulated in the atmosphere could hit the lowest estimate of carbon accumulated during the PETM — 3,000 gigatons — in the year 2159. It would hit the maximum estimated emissions — 7,126 gigatons — in 2278, based on Gingerich’s calculations. Humans have emitted roughly 1,500 gigatons of carbon as of 2016.</div>
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“The fact that we could reach warming equivalent to the PETM very quickly, within the next few hundred years, is terrifying,” DeSantis said.</div>
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The findings suggest scientists may not be able to predict the environmental or biological changes that will happen in the coming years based on what happened during the PETM because today’s warming is occurring so much faster, according to DeSantis. What makes predictions harder is that today’s climate starts from a cooler baseline than the PETM and the species that inhabit Earth are different than those of 56 million years ago.</div>
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“It’s hard to compare biotic effects because the world during the PETM was quite different,” DeSantis said. “We live in a very different world today, with different groups of animals, with humans being the dominant species… but we know there are many negative consequences of dramatic warming on vast numbers of species, including our own.”</div>
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The Business Side of Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066760946785307421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764283843333852101.post-25461183612493217782019-02-18T05:04:00.000-08:002019-02-18T05:04:51.586-08:00The Four Seasons: Change Marks the Passing of a Year<h1 class="h1">
The Four Seasons: Change Marks the Passing of a Year</h1>
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<figcaption class="fig-cap" id="nointelliTXT">The passing of a year can bring a marked change in the weather and the surrounding environment. The four seasons — winter, spring, summer, autumn — can vary significantly in characteristics, and can prompt changes in the world around them. Let's take an overview of these four separate periods.</figcaption></figure><br />
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The annual cycle</h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Attributes of the seasons may vary by location, but there are still broad definitions that cross most of the boundaries.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the spring, seeds take root and vegetation begins to grow. The weather is warmer, and often wetter. Animals wake or return from warmer climates, often with newborns. Melting snow from the previous season, along with increased rainfall, can cause flooding along waterways, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the summer, temperatures may increase to their hottest of the year. If they spike too high, heat waves or droughts may cause trouble for people, animals, and plants. For example, in the summer of 2003, the high temperatures claimed more than 30,000 lives, according to Encyclopedia Britannica. Rainfall may increase in some areas, as well. Others may receive less water, and forest fires may become more frequent.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the autumn, or fall, temperatures cool again. Plants may begin to grow dormant. Animals might prepare themselves for the upcoming cold weather, storing food or traveling to warmer regions. Various cultures have celebrated bountiful harvests with annual festivals. Thanksgiving is a good example. "Thanksgiving in the United States is a historical commemoration but it has a spiritual dimension strongly associated with homecoming and giving praise for what has been bestowed upon us," Cristina De Rossi, an anthropologist at Barnet and Southgate College in London, told Live Science. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Winter often brings a chill. Some areas may experience snow or ice, while others see only cold rain. Animals find ways to warm themselves, and may have changed their appearance to adapt. "In a similar way to the Autumnal theme, Winter festivals celebrate the return of the light during a time of deepest physical darkness," said De Rossi. The Indian festival of Diwali, for example, which takes place between October and November, celebrates the triumph of righteousness, and of light over darkness. </span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Location, location, location</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The timing and characteristics of the seasons depends upon the location on Earth. Regions near the equator experience fairly constant temperatures throughout the year, with balmy winters barely discernible from warm summers. This is because it gets fairly constant light from the sun, due to its position on the outer curve of the Earth, according to the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For areas to the north and south, the seasons can change more significantly. People closer to the poles might experience icier, more frigid winters, while those closer to the equator might suffer hotter summers. Other factors can also affect the weather and temperature over the seasons; some areas experience dry summers as temperatures spike, while others might call summer their "wet season." A wet season is when the average precipitation of an area is 2.4 inches (60 millimeters) or more, according to the British Broadcasting Company (BBC). Mountainous regions might experience more snowfall than plains within the same latitude, while oceanfront property could see an increase in violent tropical storms as the weather shifts.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The time of year a region experiences a season depends on whether it is in the northern or southern hemisphere. The Southern Hemisphere experiences winter while its northern neighbors chart summer; the north sees the slow blossom of spring while the south brings in the autumn harvest.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The cycle of seasons is caused by Earth's tilt toward the sun. The planet rotates around an (invisible) axis. At different times during the year, the northern or southern axis is closer to the sun. During these times, the hemisphere tipped toward the star experiences summer, while the hemisphere tilted away from the sun experiences winter, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At other locations in Earth's annual journey, the axis is not tilted toward or away from the sun. During these times of the year, the hemispheres experience spring and autumn.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The astronomical definition of the seasons relates to specific points in Earth's trip around the sun. The summer and winter solstice, the longest and shortest day of the year, occur when Earth's axis is either closest or farthest from the sun. The summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere occurs around June 21, the same day as the winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere, according to NOAA. The south's summer solstice occurs around December 21, the winter solstice for the north. In both hemispheres, the summer solstice marks the first day of astronomical summer, while the winter solstice is considered the first day of astronomical winter.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Equinoxes are another significant day during Earth's journey around the Sun. On these days, the planet's axis is pointed parallel to the Sun, rather than toward or away from it. Day and night during the equinoxes are supposed to be close to equal. The spring, or vernal, equinox for the northern hemisphere takes place around March 20, the same day as the south's autumnal equinox. The vernal equinox in the southern hemisphere occurs around September 20, when people in the north celebrate the autumnal equinox.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The vernal equinox marks the first day of astronomical spring for a hemisphere, while the autumnal equinox ushers in the first day of fall. [Infographic: Earth's Solstices & Equinoxes Explained]</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But changes in the weather often precede these significant points. The meteorological seasons focus on these changes, fitting the seasons to the three months that best usher them in. December to February marks meteorological winter in the Northern Hemisphere and meteorological summer in the southern. March, April, and May are lauded as spring or autumn, depending on the location, while June through August are the months of summer for the north and winter for the south. September, October, and November conclude the cycle, ushering in fall in northern regions and spring in southern, according to NOAA.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The seasons can bring a wide variety to the year for those locations that experience them in full. The weather in each one may allow people to engage in activities that they cannot perform in others — skiing in the winter, swimming in the summer. Each season brings with it its own potential dangers, but also its own particular brand of beauty.</span></div>
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The Business Side of Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066760946785307421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764283843333852101.post-91924509448309308732019-02-16T08:10:00.001-08:002019-02-16T08:10:22.563-08:00Can offshore wind and commercial fishing coexist?/Christian Science Monitor<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Very good question:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">WHY WE WROTE THIS</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">New industries have a way of edging out old ones. As a fledgling offshore wind industry surges to life off New England's coast, fishermen and developers are searching for ways to share the sea.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Virginia Marise slides away from the dock into the pitch-black night. At 4 a.m., the only light comes from a flood light illuminating the deck of the boat and a handful of streetlights on land that disappear into the darkness as Captain Rodman Sykes maneuvers his boat out of the harbor, the black sky indistinguishable from the black sea.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a familiar scene to fishermen like Mr. Sykes. Commercial fishermen have headed out on these New England waters for some 400 years, casting their lines and nets overboard just as the sun peeks over the horizon. But at daybreak on this August morning, there’s a new sight. As the inky-black night gradually fades into the dim gray pre-dawn light, five red flashing lights appear all in a row on the horizon.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Those lights come from the five turbines making up the United States’ first offshore wind farm – the 30 megawatt Block Island Wind Farm. As the Virginia Marise draws closer, and the sky begins to blush pink, the turbines stand out on the horizon. The blades turn slowly in the slight breeze, generating electricity that flows through a cable buried in the seabed to Rhode Island’s Block Island.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The turbines and all the hardware that accompanies them spun to life in December 2016. So far, this is the only offshore wind power in the nation, and with just five turbines, it’s a small installation. But that’s soon to change. Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut have already selected larger projects which are set to be installed not far from the Block Island Wind Farm. And more are in the development pipeline in New York, New Jersey, and Maryland.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This flurry of activity has sparked agitation among the fishermen who have long been a fixture on the Eastern seaboard. Could fields of turbines disrupt their operations and the resource on which their livelihoods depend? Meetings with developers and permitting officials have been tense and, at times, explosive. A group of fishermen have even sued the federal government for leasing a tract of seafloor south of Long Island to an offshore wind developer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But despite the hostility, some fishermen have expressed the desire to find a way to share the seas. And that will to find common ground may be the first step toward coexistence.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“We’ve got two renewable resources. One in seafood, and one in wind,” says Eric Hansen, a Massachusetts scallop fisherman. “They shouldn’t have to compete.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The offshore wind industry may be just getting started in the United States, but in Europe, it’s been around for a few decades. And it isn’t small. As of 2017, 4,149 turbines were connected to the grid across the continent. So some American fishermen have looked to Europe for clues about what might happen as offshore power picks up on this side of the pond.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mr. Hansen is one of those American fishermen. He traveled to Britain with the Fisheries Survival Fund in June to see the wind farms for himself and to speak with fishermen.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The relationship between Europe’s offshore wind farms and local fishermen varies from country to country, but in some, like Belgium, fishermen are not allowed to enter wind farms. And even in places like Britain where fishermen can still fish among the turbines, Hansen learned that many choose not to, largely for fear of the damage that could result from tangling with the mechanical giants. Other fishermen have had to navigate around large swaths of turbine-filled ocean en route to fishing grounds, adding valuable time to their trips.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But a deeper concern that arose out of Hansen’s trip abroad was that offshore wind development might proceed without input from fishermen, as that is one gripe cited by European fishermen.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the US, rapid-fire political activity promoting offshore wind power in recent years fuels that fear. In August 2016, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker signed a bill requiring electricity distribution companies to buy long-term contracts for at least 1,600 megawatts of offshore wind power by 2027. This year, three other states – New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut – passed further legislation to promote and mandate offshore wind power. There’s also federal support for offshore wind, from an endorsement by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to funding for research and development.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2018/0904/Can-offshore-wind-and-commercial-fishing-coexist</span><br />
<br />The Business Side of Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066760946785307421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764283843333852101.post-24396416757806095652019-02-08T04:09:00.000-08:002019-02-08T04:09:39.724-08:00N.E. power supply auction closes with lower prices and a power surplus/PBN<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is good news. Through efficiency and local production of renewables, N.E> power supplies show stability, even a lowering of costs, and a surplus of suppliers. Managing our use and availability of energy is a very key component, in our view, of building a more sustainable future.</span><br />
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PROVIDENCE – New England’s annual power supply auction ended this week, with preliminary results showing the lowest clearing price in six years and a power supply surplus for the 2022-2023 season.</div>
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Holyoke, Mass.-based ISO New England Inc. is a federally regulated nonprofit that runs the electricity grid for the six New England states.</div>
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It holds the auction each year to ensure the region has enough electricity to meet consumer demand in three years. The auction also determines how much power generators will get paid for supplying the grid.</div>
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The closely-watched event, in which energy and utility companies bid to supply New England’s grid, can move stock prices and provide a look into the long-term direction of the energy market.</div>
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“This year’s auctions procured the resources needed for a reliable power system at a competitive price, while implementing new procedures to accommodate state-sponsored renewable resources,” said Robert Ethier, vice president of market operations for ISO-New England.</div>
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“It’s our responsibility to run these auctions and our wholesale markets under the rules approved by the Federal Energy Resources Commission, and we fulfilled that responsibility again this year,” he said.</div>
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It was the 13<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 12.75px; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">th</span> “forward capacity market” primary auction and closed at a preliminary clearing price of $3.80 per kilowatt month across New England, compared with $4.63 per kilowatt month in last year’s auction.</div>
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The primary auction ended with commitments of 34,839 megawatts to be available for the period from June 2022 through May 2023, with 1,089 megawatts of surplus supply, ISO New England said.</div>
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It was the first auction run under new rules which include a secondary substitution auction in which power generators interested in retiring a source can trade their capacity supply obligation to new state-sponsored power generators that didn’t clear in the primary auction.</div>
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The substitution auction closed with Vineyard Wind, an offshore wind project in development off the coast of southeastern Massachusetts, assuming an obligation of 54 megawatts, ISO New England said.</div>
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Vineyard Wind unsuccessfully sought to delay the auction so it would have more time to seek a federal waiver that would have allowed it to participate in the auction as a “renewable technology resource.”</div>
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The designation would have exempted the company from the auction’s minimum offer price rule.</div>
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Vineyard was one of three companies that bid about $135 million each in December to lease federal waters off the southeastern Massachusetts coast for development of offshore wind energy turbine farms.</div>
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ISO New England said offshore wind projects proposed for federal waters will be eligible for the next annual auction in February 2020.</div>
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Opponents of a proposed natural gas power plant in Burrillville by Chicago-based Invenergy said the low price and surplus from this week’s auction shows there is no need for the project.</div>
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“This low clearing price shows that there is plenty of supply relative to demand – more evidence that Invenergy is not needed,” said Jerry Elmer, senior attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation in Providence.</div>
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Invenergy has argued the opposite, saying the New England grid faces a potential 10,000-megawatt shortfall in coming years as old energy sources retire, and so-called renewable energy such as solar and wind won’t be enough to fill the gap.</div>
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Rhode Island gets nearly all electricity production from natural gas sources.</div>
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“It’s taken decades to build our wind, solar and hydro resources, yet they only meet 15 percent of our needs,” Invenergy said on the project’s website. “Our demand for energy requires a diverse portfolio of renewable sources and natural gas.”</div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Scott Blake is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Blake@PBN.com.</em></div>
The Business Side of Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066760946785307421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764283843333852101.post-61897841203445131542019-02-08T04:04:00.000-08:002019-02-08T04:04:02.023-08:00Lawmakers propose road usage fee on fuel-efficient vehicles/WMUR<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is one more sign of governments desperate to tax on any source of revenue. Instead of recognizing that cars with lower emissions deliver real benefits to a state, including cleaner air--less money to clean it--they impose what is, in essence, a penalty on efficiency? Really?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Governments, in fact, should look to cut spending versus desperately clinging to old sources of revenue. Moreover, they need to adjust their expectations, use some creativity, in managing budgets as the world changes around them.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #9f9f9f; font-family: SourceSansPro, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 22.4px;">Some say fee needed to replace declining tax revenues</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">CONCORD, N.H. —</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fuel-efficient vehicles have put such a big dent in gas tax revenues over the past few years that some state lawmakers say it's time for what they call a road usage fee.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The fee, which would essentially be a vehicle registration surcharge, would be aimed at vehicles with gas mileage over 20 mpg.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"If I have a pickup truck that gets 15 mpg, I'm paying a lot more for use on the highways than if I own a hybrid, which is getting 40-50 miles to the gallon," said Rep. John Graham, R-Bedford.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The tax would top out at just over $100 annually for vehicles that get more than 50 mpg.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"It saves us from, if tomorrow, everybody purchased an electric vehicle,” said Gary Abbott, executive vice president of Associated General Contractors. “The highway fund would be done, outside of registration fees."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some said the road usage fee would be a backward policy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"We need to get away from miles per gallon and the internal combustion engine, which is on its way out," said Rep. Lee Oxenham, D-Plainfield.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Whether I have a vehicle with a rating of 25 mpg or one with 40 mpg, that does not tell anyone whether that vehicle traveled 5,000 miles or 25,000 miles," said Rep. Peter Somssich, D-Portsmouth.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lawmakers agree that the state's crumbling infrastructure is in need of repair, but there has been gridlock in Concord over how to pay for it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"We do still have 252 municipal bridges that are on the red-list bridge list, and I believe there is a significant waiting list for bridge aid," said Barbara Reid of the New Hampshire Municipal Association.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While the new Democratic majorities are likely to be more open to tax or fee increases to fund infrastructure improvements, they may be more likely to heed the warnings of environmental groups such as the Sierra Club, which believes a road usage fee is too burdensome on people who are already doing their part to consume less.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"And this is on top of their registration fee forever," said Catherine Corkery of the New Hampshire Sierra Club.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hybrid and electric car owners in Hooksett were unenthusiastic about the proposed fee.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"It would make more sense to first increase the gas tax to get more people driving hybrid cars, and once that becomes a problem and we have so many people driving hybrid cars, then sure, then we can talk,” said Scott May, of Lyme.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I bought this car, for one, to save money on gas and also to be better for the environment,” said Kristen Hill, of Manchester. “(It feels like) a punishment on trying to do something right."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Follow this story to get instant e-mail alerts from WMUR on the latest developments and related topics.</span>The Business Side of Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066760946785307421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764283843333852101.post-48249250655787728202019-01-18T04:54:00.001-08:002019-01-18T04:54:30.758-08:00The Largest Clean Energy Investment in Nevada History Approved/RNN<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Great news and great story. Good investments getting made in Nevada. </span><br />
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The Public Utilities Commission of <span class="xn-location" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Nevada</span> (PUCN) this month approved NV Energy’s Integrated Resource Plan, which will bring 1,001 megawatts of new renewable energy projects to <span class="xn-location" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Nevada</span>, including, for the first time, 100 megawatts of battery storage capacity.</div>
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Three of the projects will be located in northern <span class="xn-location" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Nevada</span> and three will be located in southern <span class="xn-location" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Nevada</span>. All projects are expected to be completed and serving customers by the end of 2021.</div>
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“Earlier this year we made a promise to our customers that we would double our renewable energy by 2023 and today’s decision puts us closer to reaching that goal, as well as to our long-term commitment to serve them with 100 percent renewable energy,” said Doug Cannon, NV Energy President. “These six new projects, which represent the largest renewable energy investment in <span class="xn-location" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Nevada’s</span> history, will also bring great economic benefits to our state.”</div>
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These projects represent a direct investment of more than <span class="xn-money" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">$2 billion</span> in our state’s economy. Over 1,700 construction workers will be needed, and NV Energy required worksite labor agreements to ensure that union craftsmen will participate. Approximately 80 new long-term, permanent jobs will be created. In addition, the Integrated Resource Plan will benefit customers by reducing costs over the next 30 years when compared to relying on wholesale power markets.</div>
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These six projects will be added to NV Energy’s current portfolio of approximately 50 solar, geothermal, hydro, wind, biomass, and supported rooftop solar projects – bringing NV Energy’s total renewable energy portfolio to approximately 3,000 megawatts of renewable energy in <span class="xn-location" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Nevada</span>.</div>
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<b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Six New Power Purchase Agreements:</b></div>
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<li style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Battle Mountain Solar Project</b> – 101 megawatt solar photovoltaic project located near <span class="xn-location" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Battle Mountain</span>, Nevada. Includes 25 megawatts of battery energy storage for a four-hour period. It is being developed by Cypress Creek Renewables, which is a privately held solar developer with more than 3,200 megawatts of solar energy projects developed to date across 12 states, with an operational portfolio of 2,200 megawatts. The <span class="xn-location" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Battle Mountain</span>project’s 25MW of battery capacity will be the nation’s largest DC-coupled combined solar and battery storage system.</li>
<li style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Dodge Flat Solar Energy Center – </b>200 megawatt solar photovoltaic project located east of <span class="xn-location" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Reno, Nevada</span>. It is being developed by NextEra Energy Resources, LLC. The Dodge Flat Energy Center will integrate 50 megawatts of battery energy storage for four hours. NextEra Energy Resources, LLC is the world’s largest operator of renewable energy from the wind and sun and one of the largest wholesale generators of electric power in the U.S., with more than 19,000 megawatts of net generating capacity, primarily in 32 states and <span class="xn-location" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Canada</span> as of year-end 2017.</li>
<li style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Fish Springs Ranch Solar Energy Center </b>– 100 megawatt solar photovoltaic project located north of <span class="xn-location" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Reno, Nevada</span>. It is being developed by NextEra Energy Resources, LLC. The Fish Springs Ranch Solar Energy Center will integrate 25 megawatts of battery energy storage for four hours. NextEra Energy Resources, LLC is the world’s largest operator of renewable energy from the wind and sun and one of the largest wholesale generators of electric power in the U.S., with more than 19,000 megawatts of net generating capacity, primarily in 32 states and <span class="xn-location" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Canada</span> as of year-end 2017.</li>
<li style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Eagle Shadow Mountain Solar Farm</b> – 300 megawatt solar photovoltaic project located north of <span class="xn-location" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Las Vegas</span> on land owned by the Moapa Band of Paiutes. It is being developed by 8minutenergy Renewables, which is the largest privately-held solar and storage developer in <span class="xn-location" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">the United States</span>. To date, 8minutenergy Renewables has 10,700 megawatts of solar and storage under development in <span class="xn-location" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">California</span>, the Southwest, <span class="xn-location" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Texas</span>, and the Southeast, and has developed over 1,100 megawatts of solar power plants now in operation. The Eagle Shadow Mountain Solar Farm is unique because it is currently the lowest-priced solar project in the nation.</li>
<li style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Copper Mountain Solar 5</b> – 250 megawatt solar photovoltaic project in Eldorado Valley, just south of <span class="xn-location" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Boulder City, Nevada</span>. It is being developed by CED Southwest Holdings, Inc., a subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc., CED Southwest Holdings, Inc., owns and operates nearly 2,600 megawatts of renewable generating capacity serving 17 states.</li>
<li style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Techren Solar V </b>– 50 megawatt solar photovoltaic project in Eldorado Valley, just south of <span class="xn-location" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Boulder City</span>, Nevada. It is being developed by Techren Solar LLC and will be adjacent to Techren Solar I, II, III and IV, which currently are in the construction stage. With the addition of Techren Solar V, the total Techren project size will be 400 megawatts.</li>
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<br />The Business Side of Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066760946785307421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764283843333852101.post-48579551997445042532019-01-18T04:52:00.000-08:002019-01-18T04:52:02.560-08:00ORGANIC Farming vs Conventional/RNN<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We continue our series on recent controversy surrounding the benefits of organic farming:</span><br />
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<span class="s1" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If the world of sustainability were like a prizefighting league, one of its heavyweight champions would surely be Organic Farming, right? Well, recently a new challenger has stepped into the ring and has questioned the champion’s character and its claim of being truly sustainable. That challenger, to many peoples’ surprise, was “Conventional Farming.” In RNN’s last newsletter we featured an article entitled, “Organic Food Hurting the Climate?” This story was based on an international study provided by the highly respected Chalmers University of Technology, in Sweden, which truly hit organic farming with a big shot.</span></div>
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Well, like any great prize fight there’s always controversy and this article has provided a lot of it. Within three hours of the release of the newsletter, the story, in of itself, had over 500 click throughs, which is extremely good and shows a very high interest for such a short period of time. One of the people who clicked through and contacted RNN directly was Dr. Karen Weber, no stranger to the world of sustainability. Dr. Weber is truly world-renowned for her <img alt="" class="wp-image-5972 alignright lazyloaded" data-lazy-src="https://www.renewablenownetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/KarenWeber.jpg" data-was-processed="true" height="141" src="https://www.renewablenownetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/KarenWeber.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; float: right; height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 0px 15px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="128" />efforts and knowledge when it comes to going green. She is the Founder and Director of Boston Green Fest, President of Foundation for a Green Future, and has been recognized with more awards than we can list here. Dr. Weber took exception to the article and as a devoted fan to the heavyweight champion, Organic Farming, she came to its defense and wasn’t about to throw the towel in on its future. Rather, she felt a quick and strong counter was just what the doctor ordered against the challenger, “Conventional Farming.” So without further ado, let’s start round two of this battle with Dr. Weber’s response and we’ll let you, our audience, be the judge on whether there’s a winner, loser, or possibly a draw in this match-up.</div>
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<span class="s1" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">On Behalf of Organic Farming</b></span></h2>
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<span class="s1" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">By Dr. Karen L. Weber, Executive Director, Foundation for a Green Future, January 4, 2019</i></span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The issue should not be whether organic farming is causing increased climate change as pointed out by a<span class="Apple-converted-space" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span>recent <a href="https://www.renewablenownetwork.com/organic-food-hurting-the-climate/" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2ea3f2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Swedish study</a> (Stefan Wirsenius).<span class="Apple-converted-space" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span>The issue should be the importance of increasing our research goals to determine the touchpoints and direction that agriculture needs to head in order to satisfy the world’s growing demand in the most sustainable way.<span class="Apple-converted-space" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span>The approach of the researchers at Chalmers University of Technology to highlight the need for greater land use leading to loss of forest is misplacing the emphasis of sustainable/organic agriculture. It also pushes aside any other carbon use, such as the calculation of how much carbon is used in the production and transportation of pesticides and herbicides.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">When soil is built up and polyculture is the norm, farming is transformed to a point where food production can be increased in smaller spaces, root systems develop deep into the soil, there is less need for water and carbon is sequestered into the soil.<span class="Apple-converted-space" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span>The Land Institute of Salinas, Kansas is working to “</span><span class="s2" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">develop an agricultural system featuring perennials with the ecological stability of the prairie and a grain and seed yield comparable to that from annual crops. Through such a system, we can produce ample human food and reduce or eliminate impacts from the disruptions and dependencies of industrial agriculture.” </span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">It has been found by farmers in Niger that agroforestry can double the yield of conventional farms.<span class="Apple-converted-space" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span>Trees such as <i style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Faidherbia albida </i>are grown in the fields with maize.<span class="Apple-converted-space" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span>They fix nitrogen, protect the plants from wind and water erosion, and when their leaves drop they compost important organic matter into the soil (Crews, et al., 2014).<span class="Apple-converted-space" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span>Agriculture should not have to eliminate forests, but work alongside them.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Conventional agriculture has removed trees from across the midwest of the United States, uncountable acres of Amazon rainforest, and far more across the globe. If indeed large scale organic farming is creating issues for our environment, it is not a question of stopping organic farming, or upping conventional farming.<span class="Apple-converted-space" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span>It is a question of finding the appropriate sustainable solutions for feeding our world in a manner that is respectful to our land and water resources while providing healthy food for us. </span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">There are 10,000 years of agricultural history to rely on and amazing minds in our world today.<span class="Apple-converted-space" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span>We are fully capable of finding answers to our food dilemma using natural means to fight off plant pests, increase yields, and maintain our environmental integrity without falling back on the methods we have been using over the past 60-80 years that strip our soils of their value, pollute our groundwater and impair our health.<span class="Apple-converted-space" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span>Let us turn this discussion on its head and look at a way forward. In the meantime, let us not belittle a form of agriculture that reduces pollutants and strives to put us in a better direction.<span class="Apple-converted-space" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span>Let us work to make organic farming and sustainable agriculture the norm for generations to come.</span></div>
The Business Side of Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066760946785307421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764283843333852101.post-79701362658421190312019-01-09T05:12:00.003-08:002019-01-09T05:12:45.856-08:00Pollution got worse in 2018 thanks to 2 overlooked sectors/Bloomberg <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Surprising we have overlooked segments? Why? There's plenty of data out there on all verticals. Why should these verticals not be closely tracked and see improvement?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>OVERALL POLLUTION in the U.S. increased 3.4 percent year over year in 2018, the second-biggest year-over-year increase in the past 20 years. / BLOOMBERG NEWS FILE PHOTO/ROBYN BECK</b></span></span><br />
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NEW YORK – In the debate over climate change, the heaviest polluters – think: power plants, trucks and cars – get the most attention from policy makers. New research suggests a broader view might be called for.</div>
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A pair of often-overlooked sectors posted the largest rises in carbon dioxide pollution in the United States in 2018. Emissions generated by industrial manufacturing jumped 5.7 percent, according to research firm Rhodium Group. Commercial and residential buildings generated ten percent more emissions.</div>
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Those increases drove the 3.4 percent rise in overall pollution, the second-biggest year-over-year increase in the past 20 years. Transportation, which remains the U.S. economy’s largest source of carbon-dioxide, rose about 1 percent.</div>
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The increase in pollution from buildings highlights a particular problem for policy makers. It’s strongly related to the weather – a warmer winter in 2017 suppressed demand for heating fuel and makes the return to normal in 2018 look like a spike. And while regulators can raise efficiency standards and change building codes for new construction, there’s not much they can do to control energy use in existing homes and offices.</div>
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Manufacturing production increased last year, buoyed by a generally robust economy. But great news for factories can be a headache for carbon-cutters. “The industrial sector is still almost entirely ignored” by climate policy makers, the Rhodium authors write.</div>
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These “forgotten sectors,” as the Rhodium authors call them, together make up about a third of U.S. carbon dioxide, with industrial sources contributing 22 percent and buildings 11 percent in 2016, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.</div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Eric Roston is a reporter for Bloomberg News.</em></div>
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<br />The Business Side of Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066760946785307421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764283843333852101.post-17445371805700087732019-01-07T05:06:00.000-08:002019-01-07T05:06:05.248-08:00Newport council poised to join Middletown in renewable energy plan/Newport.com<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another great example of communities coming together to make solid, long-term decisions around energy.</span><br />
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Newport council poised to join Middletown in renewable energy plan</h1>
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NEWPORT — The city is proposing to join forces with Middletown to purchase renewable electricity that would result in significant savings for both communities.</div>
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The city of Newport now uses a total of about 13.93 million kilowatts of electricity per year while Middletown uses almost 5 million kilowatts of electricity each year. Both communities are planning to cover 50 percent of their electricity needs through credits received through the use of solar energy.</div>
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The City Council will take up on Wednesday the award of a 20-year contract to NRG Energy of San Francisco to receive “fixed net-metered credits” that would represent approximately a 35 percent discount on today’s National Grid electric rates.</div>
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The Middletown Town Council approved the contract with NRG last September.</div>
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Under the agreement, NRG Energy will develop a solar farm in Warwick whose energy will feed into National Grid’s electric grid. National Grid would give the city and town bill credits based on the amount of kilowatt hours produced, and the town will pay NRG for the credits it receives.</div>
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Under the agreement, Newport is expected to receive $381,000 in savings during the first year of the project, savings of $2.07 million after five years, and savings of $14.87 million during the life of the contract.</div>
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Middletown would achieve savings of $152,000 during the first year of the project, savings of $835,000 after five years and about $4.4 million during the life of the contract.</div>
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The projected savings from the communities represent both municipal and school department facilities. These projections assume a 1.73 percent increase in rates over the next 20 years and some degradation in the solar production.</div>
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Public entities are allowed to enter into virtual net metering arrangements with renewable energy developers.</div>
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“I would characterize the virtual arrangement as receiving all of the benefits in this case of owning our own solar array energy project without having to own the project nor build it or finance its construction,” City Manager Joseph R. Nicholson Jr. wrote in a memorandum to City Council members.</div>
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The project and the terms of the contract were presented to City Council members Thursday night by Julian Dash, managing partner of Clean Economy Development, LLC, of Providence.</div>
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Newport and Middletown hired the company as a consultant at the end of 2017 to explore net metering energy opportunities to achieve savings on utility bills. Net metering allows customers with eligible renewal energy systems like solar power and wind power to receive credits on their electricity bills.</div>
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Clean Economy put out a request for proposals in early 2018 that eight firms responded to. Besides NRG Energy, they included Energy Development Partners of Providence; Green Energy Development of North Kingstown; NuGen Capital of Bristol; Southern Sky Renewables of Warwick; Nexamp, Inc., of Boston, Massachusetts; Sol Systems, LLC, of Washington, D.C.; and Turning Point Energy of Denver, Colorado.</div>
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NRG was deemed to provide the best value to the communities, since it will pay all capital and development costs to bring the project online and will be responsible for the ongoing operating, maintenance and system performance.</div>
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So, during the first year of the contract, NRG Energy will have a contract volume of 6.96 million kilowatts provided to the city by National Grid, according to Dash’s presentation. The net meter credit rate set by the state Public Utilities Commission is 15.47 cents per kilowatt.</div>
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The value of the bill credits on the city’s electric bills in the first year would be $1.08 million. The city would pay NRG $696,688 for those credits it received. Thus, the city’s savings would be $381,005 for the first year.</div>
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Newport and Middletown could have sought to cover a greater percentage of their electricity needs under the contract, but agreeing to 50 percent gives the communities flexibility if they want to enter a second agreement with another company in the future, Dash said.</div>
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The name on the contract and supporting documents is NRG Energy, but Dash pointed out the company recently sold its renewable energy business, assets and obligations to Clearway Energy Partners. This new company will retain NRG Renewables President Craig Cornelius as CEO at its headquarters in San Francisco, California, according to online reports.</div>
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The Business Side of Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066760946785307421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764283843333852101.post-78379973405400772962019-01-04T05:36:00.000-08:002019-01-04T05:36:11.639-08:00The massive floating device created to clean up plastic in the ocean has broken<h1 class="pg-headline">
The massive floating device created to clean up plastic in the ocean has broken</h1>
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<span class="metadata__byline__author">By Gisela Crespo, <span style="color: #006598;">David Williams</span> and <span style="color: #006598;">Amanda Jackson</span></span></div>
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<span class="metadata__source-name" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="el__storyelement__header"><strong><span style="font-family: Thread-00001ad0-Id-0000000f;">Cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch</span></strong></span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><cite class="el-editorial-source"><strong><span style="font-family: Thread-00001ad0-Id-0000000d;"> (CNN)</span></strong></cite>A 2,000-foot-long system created to clean up plastic pollution in the Pacific Ocean is broken and being towed back to port for repair.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Ocean Cleanup System 001, a U-shaped floating barrier created by the organization The Ocean Cleanup, arrived in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in October. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ocean garbage patches are formed by rotating ocean currents called "gyres" that pull marine debris (litter, fishing gear, and plastic) into one location, according to the <span style="color: #006598;">National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</span>. The are several of these patches in the ocean, including two in the Pacific. The one known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is located between Hawaii and California, and it's about double the size of Texas, or three times the size of<strong><span style="font-family: Thread-00001ad0-Id-00000010;"> </span></strong>France. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After several months at sea, it was determined the system failed to retain plastic, the organization announced earlier in December. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, a 60-foot section of the device has broken free from the system, the organization announced December 29. The entire floating system, along with over 4,400 pounds of plastic it has recovered, is being brought back to shore. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"We are, of course, quite bummed about this as 1) we hoped to stay out for a bit longer to collect more data on plastic-system interaction, and 2) it introduces an additional challenge to be solved," <span style="color: #006598;">Boyan Slat, Ocean Cleanup's CEO, said in a blog post.</span> "At the same time, we also realize that setbacks like this are inevitable when pioneering new technology at a rapid pace."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The device is 2,000 feet long with a 10-foot skirt that hangs below it, under the water. <span style="color: #006598;">It set sail from San Francisco in September</span>, with the goal of cleaning half of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in five years. </span></div>
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<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">0.25</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">0.5</li>
<li aria-checked="true" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item vjs-selected" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Normal</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">1.25</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">1.5</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">2</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="theo-submenu theo-menu-content theo-menu-content-animatable theo-menu vjs-menu vjs-hidden" role="presentation">
<div aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-primary-background theo-menu-header" role="button" tabindex="-1">
Subtitle Options</div>
<ul class="vjs-menu-content theo-menu-content" role="menu">
<li aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitem" tabindex="-1"><span class="theo-settings-control-menu-item-title">Font family</span><span class="theo-primary-color theo-settings-control-menu-item-value">Default</span></li>
<li aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitem" tabindex="-1"><span class="theo-settings-control-menu-item-title">Font color</span><span class="theo-primary-color theo-settings-control-menu-item-value">Default</span></li>
<li aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitem" tabindex="-1"><span class="theo-settings-control-menu-item-title">Font opacity</span><span class="theo-primary-color theo-settings-control-menu-item-value">Default</span></li>
<li aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitem" tabindex="-1"><span class="theo-settings-control-menu-item-title">Font size</span><span class="theo-primary-color theo-settings-control-menu-item-value">Default</span></li>
<li aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitem" tabindex="-1"><span class="theo-settings-control-menu-item-title">Background color</span><span class="theo-primary-color theo-settings-control-menu-item-value">Default</span></li>
<li aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitem" tabindex="-1"><span class="theo-settings-control-menu-item-title">Background opacity</span><span class="theo-primary-color theo-settings-control-menu-item-value">Default</span></li>
<li aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitem" tabindex="-1"><span class="theo-settings-control-menu-item-title">Window color</span><span class="theo-primary-color theo-settings-control-menu-item-value">Default</span></li>
<li aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitem" tabindex="-1"><span class="theo-settings-control-menu-item-title">Window opacity</span><span class="theo-primary-color theo-settings-control-menu-item-value">Default</span></li>
<li aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitem" tabindex="-1"><span class="theo-settings-control-menu-item-title">Character edge style</span><span class="theo-primary-color theo-settings-control-menu-item-value">Default</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="theo-submenu theo-leaf-submenu theo-menu-content theo-menu-content-animatable theo-menu vjs-menu vjs-hidden" role="presentation">
<div aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-primary-background theo-menu-header" role="button" tabindex="-1">
Font family</div>
<ul class="vjs-menu-content theo-menu-content" role="menu">
<li aria-checked="true" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item vjs-selected" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Default</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Monospaced Serif</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Proportional Serif</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Monospaced Sans-Serif</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Proportional Sans-Serif</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="theo-submenu theo-leaf-submenu theo-menu-content theo-menu-content-animatable theo-menu vjs-menu vjs-hidden" role="presentation">
<div aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-primary-background theo-menu-header" role="button" tabindex="-1">
Font color</div>
<ul class="vjs-menu-content theo-menu-content" role="menu">
<li aria-checked="true" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item vjs-selected" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Default</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">White</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Yellow</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Green</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Cyan</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Blue</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Magenta</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Red</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Black</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="theo-submenu theo-leaf-submenu theo-menu-content theo-menu-content-animatable theo-menu vjs-menu vjs-hidden" role="presentation">
<div aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-primary-background theo-menu-header" role="button" tabindex="-1">
Font opacity</div>
<ul class="vjs-menu-content theo-menu-content" role="menu">
<li aria-checked="true" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item vjs-selected" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Default</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">25%</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">50%</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">75%</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">100%</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="theo-submenu theo-leaf-submenu theo-menu-content theo-menu-content-animatable theo-menu vjs-menu vjs-hidden" role="presentation">
<div aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-primary-background theo-menu-header" role="button" tabindex="-1">
Font size</div>
<ul class="vjs-menu-content theo-menu-content" role="menu">
<li aria-checked="true" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item vjs-selected" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Default</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">50%</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">75%</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">100%</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">150%</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">200%</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="theo-submenu theo-leaf-submenu theo-menu-content theo-menu-content-animatable theo-menu vjs-menu vjs-hidden" role="presentation">
<div aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-primary-background theo-menu-header" role="button" tabindex="-1">
Background color</div>
<ul class="vjs-menu-content theo-menu-content" role="menu">
<li aria-checked="true" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item vjs-selected" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Default</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">White</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Yellow</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Green</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Cyan</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Blue</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Magenta</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Red</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Black</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="theo-submenu theo-leaf-submenu theo-menu-content theo-menu-content-animatable theo-menu vjs-menu vjs-hidden" role="presentation">
<div aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-primary-background theo-menu-header" role="button" tabindex="-1">
Background opacity</div>
<ul class="vjs-menu-content theo-menu-content" role="menu">
<li aria-checked="true" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item vjs-selected" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Default</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">0%</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">25%</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">50%</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">75%</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">100%</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="theo-submenu theo-leaf-submenu theo-menu-content theo-menu-content-animatable theo-menu vjs-menu vjs-hidden" role="presentation">
<div aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-primary-background theo-menu-header" role="button" tabindex="-1">
Window color</div>
<ul class="vjs-menu-content theo-menu-content" role="menu">
<li aria-checked="true" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item vjs-selected" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Default</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">White</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Yellow</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Green</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Cyan</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Blue</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Magenta</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Red</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Black</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="theo-submenu theo-leaf-submenu theo-menu-content theo-menu-content-animatable theo-menu vjs-menu vjs-hidden" role="presentation">
<div aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-primary-background theo-menu-header" role="button" tabindex="-1">
Window opacity</div>
<ul class="vjs-menu-content theo-menu-content" role="menu">
<li aria-checked="true" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item vjs-selected" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Default</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">0%</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">25%</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">50%</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">75%</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">100%</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="theo-submenu theo-leaf-submenu theo-menu-content theo-menu-content-animatable theo-menu vjs-menu vjs-hidden" role="presentation">
<div aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-primary-background theo-menu-header" role="button" tabindex="-1">
Character edge style</div>
<ul class="vjs-menu-content theo-menu-content" role="menu">
<li aria-checked="true" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item vjs-selected" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Default</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">None</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Drop Shadow</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Raised</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Depressed</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Uniform</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-describedby="XAa1288xAa1648UAa" aria-hidden="true" aria-label="Modal Window" class="vjs-error-display vjs-modal-dialog vjs-hidden " role="dialog" tabindex="-1">
<div class="vjs-modal-dialog-description vjs-offscreen" id="XAa1288xAa1648UAa">
This is a modal window.</div>
<div class="vjs-modal-dialog-content" role="document">
</div>
</div>
<div aria-describedby="TTsettingsDialogDescription-XAa1288xAa1652" aria-labelledby="TTsettingsDialogLabel-XAa1288xAa1652" class="vjs-caption-settings vjs-modal-overlay vjs-hidden" role="dialog" tabindex="-1">
<div role="document">
<div aria-level="1" class="vjs-control-text" id="TTsettingsDialogLabel-XAa1288xAa1652" role="heading">
Caption Settings Dialog</div>
<div class="vjs-control-text" id="TTsettingsDialogDescription-XAa1288xAa1652">
Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.</div>
<div class="vjs-tracksettings">
<div class="vjs-tracksettings-colors">
<fieldset class="vjs-fg-color vjs-tracksetting">
<legend>Text</legend><label class="vjs-label" for="captions-foreground-color-XAa1288xAa1652">Color</label><select id="captions-foreground-color-XAa1288xAa1652"><option selected="" value="#FFF">White</option><option value="#000">Black</option><option value="#F00">Red</option><option value="#0F0">Green</option><option value="#00F">Blue</option><option value="#FF0">Yellow</option><option value="#F0F">Magenta</option><option value="#0FF">Cyan</option></select><span class="vjs-text-opacity vjs-opacity"><label class="vjs-label" for="captions-foreground-opacity-XAa1288xAa1652">Transparency</label><select id="captions-foreground-opacity-XAa1288xAa1652"><option selected="" value="1">Opaque</option><option value="0.5">Semi-Transparent</option></select></span></fieldset>
<fieldset class="vjs-bg-color vjs-tracksetting">
<legend>Background</legend><label class="vjs-label" for="captions-background-color-XAa1288xAa1652">Color</label><select id="captions-background-color-XAa1288xAa1652"><option selected="" value="#000">Black</option><option value="#FFF">White</option><option value="#F00">Red</option><option value="#0F0">Green</option><option value="#00F">Blue</option><option value="#FF0">Yellow</option><option value="#F0F">Magenta</option><option value="#0FF">Cyan</option></select><span class="vjs-bg-opacity vjs-opacity"><label class="vjs-label" for="captions-background-opacity-XAa1288xAa1652">Transparency</label><select id="captions-background-opacity-XAa1288xAa1652"><option selected="" value="1">Opaque</option><option value="0.5">Semi-Transparent</option><option value="0">Transparent</option></select></span></fieldset>
<fieldset class="vjs-window-color vjs-tracksetting">
<legend>Window</legend><label class="vjs-label" for="captions-window-color-XAa1288xAa1652">Color</label><select id="captions-window-color-XAa1288xAa1652"><option selected="" value="#000">Black</option><option value="#FFF">White</option><option value="#F00">Red</option><option value="#0F0">Green</option><option value="#00F">Blue</option><option value="#FF0">Yellow</option><option value="#F0F">Magenta</option><option value="#0FF">Cyan</option></select><span class="vjs-window-opacity vjs-opacity"><label class="vjs-label" for="captions-window-opacity-XAa1288xAa1652">Transparency</label><select id="captions-window-opacity-XAa1288xAa1652"><option selected="" value="0">Transparent</option><option value="0.5">Semi-Transparent</option><option value="1">Opaque</option></select></span></fieldset>
</div>
<div class="vjs-tracksettings-font">
<div class="vjs-font-percent vjs-tracksetting">
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<span class="metadata__source-name"><span class="el__storyelement__header"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8 million tons of trash goes into ocean a year.</span></span></span></div>
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<div class="zn-body__paragraph">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Slat told CNN earlier this year that the patch contained an estimated 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic, weighing 80,000 metric tons. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Joost Dubois, head of communications at The Ocean Cleanup, told CNN in September the system was expected to be able to recover 50 tons of plastic from the ocean each year. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During a regular inspection on December 29, an Ocean Cleanup team found that part of the system had detached.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"It's important to note that both the 580-meter main section and the 18-meter end section are both completely stable; all bulkheads are intact, and the end section has two stabilizers affixed to it, so rollover is not possible," Slat said in the blog post. "Also, because no material was lost, there have been no safety risks for the crew, environment or passing marine traffic."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The company is investigating the cause of the break and believes the system will be back in operation this year.</span></div>
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Issues with plastic collection</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Earlier in December, the organization said the system is concentrating the plastic, but it's not able to hold on to it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Eventually, the only way to truly see how the system would perform was to put in the environment it has been designed for," the organization said. </span></div>
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<svg fill="currentColor" version="1.1" viewbox="0 0 48 48" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><defs><clippath id="theo-chromecast-rings-mask-2"><path d="M 0 -36 h 44 V 0 H 0 Z"> </path></clippath> </defs> <path class="theo-chromecast-outer" d="M 2 10 a 4 4 0 0 1 4 -4 h 36 a 4 4 0 0 1 4 4 v 28 a 4 4 0 0 1 -4 4 H 28 v -4 h 14 V 10 H 6 v 6 H 2 Z"> <path class="theo-chromecast-inner" d="M 10 14 h 28 v 20 H 26.74 A 26 26 0 0 0 10 17.26 Z"> <g class="theo-chromecast-rings" clip-path="url("#theo-chromecast-rings-mask-2")" fill="none" stroke-width="4" stroke="currentColor" transform="translate(2 42)"><circle cx="0" cy="0" r="30" stroke="none"> <circle class="theo-chromecast-ring theo-chromecast-ring1" cx="0" cy="0" r="3" stroke-width="6"> <circle class="theo-chromecast-ring theo-chromecast-ring2" cx="0" cy="0" r="12"> <circle class="theo-chromecast-ring theo-chromecast-ring3" cx="0" cy="0" r="20"> <path class="theo-chromecast-ring theo-chromecast-ring4" d="M 0 -20 A 20 20 0 0 1 20 0" stroke-linecap="round"> </path></circle></circle></circle></circle></g> </path></path></svg></div>
<span class="theo-button-tooltip vjs-hidden">Start casting</span></button><button aria-disabled="false" aria-live="polite" class="theo-vr-button theo-controlbar-button vjs-control vjs-button vjs-hidden" title="" type="button"><span class="vjs-control-text">Watch in VR</span><span class="theo-button-tooltip vjs-hidden">Watch in VR</span></button></div>
<div class="theo-menu-animatable theo-menu vjs-menu vjs-hidden">
<div class="theo-tertiary-background theo-menu-animation-container">
<div class="theo-menu vjs-menu theo-menu-content-animatable vjs-hidden" role="presentation">
<div aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-primary-background theo-menu-header" role="button" tabindex="-1">
Subtitles</div>
<ul class="vjs-menu-content theo-menu-content" role="menu"></ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="theo-menu-animatable theo-menu vjs-menu vjs-hidden">
<div class="theo-tertiary-background theo-menu-animation-container">
<div class="theo-menu vjs-menu theo-menu-content-animatable vjs-hidden" role="presentation">
<div aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-primary-background theo-menu-header" role="button" tabindex="-1">
Language</div>
<ul class="vjs-menu-content theo-menu-content" role="menu"></ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="theo-menu-animatable theo-menu vjs-menu vjs-hidden theo-settings-control-menu" style="left: 0px;">
<div class="theo-tertiary-background theo-menu-animation-container">
<div class="theo-menu vjs-menu theo-menu-content-animatable vjs-hidden" role="presentation">
<div aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-primary-background theo-menu-header" role="button" tabindex="-1">
Settings</div>
<ul class="vjs-menu-content theo-menu-content" role="menu">
<li aria-disabled="false" aria-label="Open the video quality settings menu" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item" role="menuitem" tabindex="-1"><span class="theo-settings-control-menu-item-title">Quality</span><span class="theo-primary-color theo-settings-control-menu-item-value"><span class="theo-settings-control-menu-quality-automatic">Automatic</span> Automatic <span class="theo-primary-color theo-settings-control-menu-item-hd-label vjs-hidden">HD</span></span></li>
<li aria-disabled="false" aria-label="Open the video speed settings menu" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item" role="menuitem" tabindex="-1"><span class="theo-settings-control-menu-item-title">Speed</span><span class="theo-primary-color theo-settings-control-menu-item-value">Normal</span></li>
<li aria-disabled="false" aria-label="Open the subtitle options menu" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item vjs-hidden" role="menuitem" tabindex="-1"><span class="theo-settings-control-menu-item-title">Subtitle</span><span class="theo-primary-color theo-settings-control-menu-item-value">Options</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="theo-submenu theo-leaf-submenu theo-menu-content theo-menu-content-animatable theo-menu vjs-menu vjs-hidden" role="presentation">
<div aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-primary-background theo-menu-header" role="button" tabindex="-1">
Quality</div>
<ul class="vjs-menu-content theo-menu-content" role="menu">
<li aria-checked="true" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="Set video quality to Automatic" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item vjs-selected" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Automatic</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="theo-submenu theo-leaf-submenu theo-menu-content theo-menu-content-animatable theo-menu vjs-menu vjs-hidden" role="presentation">
<div aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-primary-background theo-menu-header" role="button" tabindex="-1">
Speed</div>
<ul class="vjs-menu-content theo-menu-content" role="menu">
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">0.25</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">0.5</li>
<li aria-checked="true" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item vjs-selected" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Normal</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">1.25</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">1.5</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">2</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="theo-submenu theo-menu-content theo-menu-content-animatable theo-menu vjs-menu vjs-hidden" role="presentation">
<div aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-primary-background theo-menu-header" role="button" tabindex="-1">
Subtitle Options</div>
<ul class="vjs-menu-content theo-menu-content" role="menu">
<li aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitem" tabindex="-1"><span class="theo-settings-control-menu-item-title">Font family</span><span class="theo-primary-color theo-settings-control-menu-item-value">Default</span></li>
<li aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitem" tabindex="-1"><span class="theo-settings-control-menu-item-title">Font color</span><span class="theo-primary-color theo-settings-control-menu-item-value">Default</span></li>
<li aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitem" tabindex="-1"><span class="theo-settings-control-menu-item-title">Font opacity</span><span class="theo-primary-color theo-settings-control-menu-item-value">Default</span></li>
<li aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitem" tabindex="-1"><span class="theo-settings-control-menu-item-title">Font size</span><span class="theo-primary-color theo-settings-control-menu-item-value">Default</span></li>
<li aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitem" tabindex="-1"><span class="theo-settings-control-menu-item-title">Background color</span><span class="theo-primary-color theo-settings-control-menu-item-value">Default</span></li>
<li aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitem" tabindex="-1"><span class="theo-settings-control-menu-item-title">Background opacity</span><span class="theo-primary-color theo-settings-control-menu-item-value">Default</span></li>
<li aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitem" tabindex="-1"><span class="theo-settings-control-menu-item-title">Window color</span><span class="theo-primary-color theo-settings-control-menu-item-value">Default</span></li>
<li aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitem" tabindex="-1"><span class="theo-settings-control-menu-item-title">Window opacity</span><span class="theo-primary-color theo-settings-control-menu-item-value">Default</span></li>
<li aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitem" tabindex="-1"><span class="theo-settings-control-menu-item-title">Character edge style</span><span class="theo-primary-color theo-settings-control-menu-item-value">Default</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="theo-submenu theo-leaf-submenu theo-menu-content theo-menu-content-animatable theo-menu vjs-menu vjs-hidden" role="presentation">
<div aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-primary-background theo-menu-header" role="button" tabindex="-1">
Font family</div>
<ul class="vjs-menu-content theo-menu-content" role="menu">
<li aria-checked="true" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item vjs-selected" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Default</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Monospaced Serif</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Proportional Serif</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Monospaced Sans-Serif</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Proportional Sans-Serif</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="theo-submenu theo-leaf-submenu theo-menu-content theo-menu-content-animatable theo-menu vjs-menu vjs-hidden" role="presentation">
<div aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-primary-background theo-menu-header" role="button" tabindex="-1">
Font color</div>
<ul class="vjs-menu-content theo-menu-content" role="menu">
<li aria-checked="true" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item vjs-selected" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Default</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">White</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Yellow</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Green</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Cyan</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Blue</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Magenta</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Red</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Black</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="theo-submenu theo-leaf-submenu theo-menu-content theo-menu-content-animatable theo-menu vjs-menu vjs-hidden" role="presentation">
<div aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-primary-background theo-menu-header" role="button" tabindex="-1">
Font opacity</div>
<ul class="vjs-menu-content theo-menu-content" role="menu">
<li aria-checked="true" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item vjs-selected" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Default</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">25%</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">50%</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">75%</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">100%</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="theo-submenu theo-leaf-submenu theo-menu-content theo-menu-content-animatable theo-menu vjs-menu vjs-hidden" role="presentation">
<div aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-primary-background theo-menu-header" role="button" tabindex="-1">
Font size</div>
<ul class="vjs-menu-content theo-menu-content" role="menu">
<li aria-checked="true" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item vjs-selected" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Default</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">50%</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">75%</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">100%</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">150%</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">200%</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="theo-submenu theo-leaf-submenu theo-menu-content theo-menu-content-animatable theo-menu vjs-menu vjs-hidden" role="presentation">
<div aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-primary-background theo-menu-header" role="button" tabindex="-1">
Background color</div>
<ul class="vjs-menu-content theo-menu-content" role="menu">
<li aria-checked="true" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item vjs-selected" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Default</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">White</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Yellow</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Green</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Cyan</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Blue</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Magenta</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Red</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Black</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="theo-submenu theo-leaf-submenu theo-menu-content theo-menu-content-animatable theo-menu vjs-menu vjs-hidden" role="presentation">
<div aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-primary-background theo-menu-header" role="button" tabindex="-1">
Background opacity</div>
<ul class="vjs-menu-content theo-menu-content" role="menu">
<li aria-checked="true" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item vjs-selected" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Default</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">0%</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">25%</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">50%</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">75%</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">100%</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="theo-submenu theo-leaf-submenu theo-menu-content theo-menu-content-animatable theo-menu vjs-menu vjs-hidden" role="presentation">
<div aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-primary-background theo-menu-header" role="button" tabindex="-1">
Window color</div>
<ul class="vjs-menu-content theo-menu-content" role="menu">
<li aria-checked="true" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item vjs-selected" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Default</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">White</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Yellow</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Green</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Cyan</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Blue</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Magenta</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Red</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Black</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="theo-submenu theo-leaf-submenu theo-menu-content theo-menu-content-animatable theo-menu vjs-menu vjs-hidden" role="presentation">
<div aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-primary-background theo-menu-header" role="button" tabindex="-1">
Window opacity</div>
<ul class="vjs-menu-content theo-menu-content" role="menu">
<li aria-checked="true" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item vjs-selected" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">Default</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">0%</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">25%</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">50%</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">75%</li>
<li aria-checked="false" aria-disabled="false" aria-label="" aria-live="off" class="theo-menu-item vjs-menu-item theo-subtitle-options-menu-item" role="menuitemcheckbox" tabindex="-1">100%</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="theo-submenu theo-leaf-submenu theo-menu-content theo-menu-content-animatable theo-menu vjs-menu vjs-hidden" role="presentation">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="el__storyelement__header"><span style="font-family: Thread-00001ad0-Id-0000000d;">Plastic waste harming world's oceans </span></span> <span class="el__storyelement__gray"><span style="font-family: Thread-00001ad0-Id-0000000d;">05:01</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The organization says it is working to identify the cause. One of the possible problems is that the system is not moving fast enough. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"It appears that the system occasionally travels slower than the plastic, which provides the caught plastic with the opportunity to leave the system again." </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The organization also said the system, which they have named Wilson, is creating an effect on the current as it interacts with water, resulting in small patches of plastic moving and accumulating around the system. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The organization has also observed that the system creates waves, possibly preventing plastic from entering the mouth of the device. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"We will continue testing and monitoring the system until we feel confident to make any modifications, if necessary, which will then be applied in a later shift," the organization said. "We are confident these tests will teach us more about the current status of Wilson, which will hopefully allow us to soon make the cleanup system fully operational." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some critics questioned the ambitious ocean cleanup system even before it reached the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Miriam Goldstein, the director of ocean policy at the Center for American Progress, said deploying a device of that size will create its own environment, and sea life will grow on it or underneath it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Goldstein also questioned the efforts to collect plastic in the middle of the ocean instead of focusing on stopping waste from reaching the ocean in the first place. </span></div>
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The Business Side of Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066760946785307421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764283843333852101.post-16297717766567975432019-01-03T11:12:00.001-08:002019-01-03T11:12:21.682-08:00Emissions from New England power plants fall again/Mass Live<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Such a positive trend. This is a cornerstone of building a cleaner, brighter future. Smartly powering our lives will lead to an amazing quality of life.</span><br />
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<img alt="Twin cooling towers at the Brayton Point coal plant, which closed for good in 2017. Demolition of the towers is now underway. " height="266" src="https://image.masslive.com/home/mass-media/width600/img/breakingnews/photo/2018/12/31/brayton-point-b4e6f722ca441351.jpg" width="400" /><br />
<span style="background-color: #f0f0ed; color: #616161; font-family: "Benton Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.32px;">Twin cooling towers at the Brayton Point coal plant, which closed for good in 2017. Demolition of the towers is now underway. (</span><cite style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #616161; font-family: "Benton Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.32px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Mary Serreze</cite><span style="background-color: #f0f0ed; color: #616161; font-family: "Benton Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.32px;">)</span><br />
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Air pollution from the region's power plants continued to decline in 2017, continuing a long-term trend, according to a <a href="http://isonewswire.com/updates/2018/12/20/regional-air-emissions-2017-long-term-reduction-trends-conti.html" style="border-bottom-color: black; border-bottom-style: solid; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1565c0; cursor: pointer; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 2px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">new draft report</a>from ISO New England.</div>
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Across six states, nitrogen oxide emissions decreased by 6 percent, sulfur dioxide by 11 percent and carbon dioxide by 7 percent over 2016 levels, according to the entity's annual electric generator air emissions report.</div>
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Total generation was down by 3 percent, reflecting an overall drop in demand for electricity. A smaller portion of the power was generated by fossil fuels, and more by renewables. ISO New England is the "independent system operator" that runs the region's wholesale power markets.</div>
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The emissions report, released earlier this month, comes as New England continues to see rapid change in its power mix.</div>
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For instance, in 2017, Brayton Point, the massive 1,500-megawatt coal plant in Somerset, <a href="https://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/05/last_coal_plant_in_massachuset.html" style="border-bottom-color: black; border-bottom-style: solid; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1565c0; cursor: pointer; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 2px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">closed for good</a>. Two remaining coal plants in New Hampshire face an <a href="https://energynews.us/2018/08/16/northeast/new-englands-last-coal-fired-power-plants-face-uncertain-futures/" style="border-bottom-color: black; border-bottom-style: solid; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1565c0; cursor: pointer; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 2px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">uncertain future</a>.</div>
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Pilgrim Nuclear Station in Plymouth is due to shut down in 2019, removing 680 megawatts of capability -- enough to power 600,000 homes. Two other nuclear plants remain -- Millstone in Connecticut and Seabrook in New Hampshire. The two atomic energy plants <a href="https://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2018/12/nuclear_solar_offshore_wind_wi.html" style="border-bottom-color: black; border-bottom-style: solid; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1565c0; cursor: pointer; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 2px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">recently won</a> "zero-carbon" energy contracts with Connecticut utilities.</div>
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Separately, Massachusetts plans to procure 3,200 megawatts of offshore wind by 2035, which could provide a fifth of the state's energy. One project, the 800-megawatt <a href="https://www.masslive.com/politics/index.ssf/2018/05/vineyard_wind_scores_major_mas.html" style="border-bottom-color: black; border-bottom-style: solid; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1565c0; cursor: pointer; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 2px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Vineyard Wind</a>, hopes to start construction in 2019.</div>
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Massachusetts also has launched <a href="https://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2018/11/mass_opens_gateway_to_new_sola.html" style="border-bottom-color: black; border-bottom-style: solid; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1565c0; cursor: pointer; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 2px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">incentives</a> for 1,600 megawatts of new solar capacity across the state.</div>
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The new ISO New England report contains some interesting data. While coal generation fell by 870 gigawatt hours in 2017, utility-scale solar and wind increased by 995 gigawatt hours, more than making up for the loss.</div>
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Still, 48 percent of the region's electricity was generated by natural gas, and 31 percent by nuclear power. Coal and oil each represented only 1 percent. Wind, solar, hydro, and other renewables made up the difference.</div>
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In fact, power sourced hydro generation grew 15 percent over the year in New England, with solar and wind up 31 percent.</div>
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The numbers showed a spike in petroleum oil use for power generation during December 2017, when a deep cold snap caused wholesale natural gas prices to soar.</div>
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ISO New England has been tracking the power sector emissions numbers since 2001. Since that year, the sector has seen a near-eradication of sulfur dioxide emissions, a three-quarters drop in nitrogen dioxide and a one-third cut in carbon dioxide emissions.</div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Benton Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">The fact that the power sector has grown cleaner now leaves transportation as the biggest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in Massachusetts.</span><br />
<br />The Business Side of Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066760946785307421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764283843333852101.post-76390330321328488562018-12-29T07:58:00.001-08:002018-12-29T07:58:49.471-08:00Organic Food Hurting the Climate?/RNN<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not quite the question we expected to be posing today. But one that needs exploring. At the end of the day we want to use practices that preserve, not use up, our natural capitol.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This should spur an interesting debate and counter-research.</span><br />
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<img height="181" src="https://www.renewablenownetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Organic-Food.jpg" width="400" /><br />
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Organically farmed food has a bigger climate impact than conventionally farmed food, due to the greater areas of land required. This is the finding of a new international study involving Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden.</div>
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The researchers developed a new method for assessing the climate impact from land-use, and used this, along with other methods, to compare organic and conventional food production. The results show that organic food can result in much greater emissions.</div>
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“Our study shows that organic peas, farmed in Sweden, have around a 50 percent bigger climate impact than conventionally farmed peas. For some foodstuffs, there is an even bigger difference — for example, with organic Swedish winter wheat the difference is closer to 70 percent,” says Stefan Wirsenius, an associate professor from Chalmers, and one of those responsible for the study.</div>
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The reason why organic food is so much worse for the climate is that the yields per hectare are much lower, primarily because fertilisers are not used. To produce the same amount of organic food, you therefore need a much bigger area of land.</div>
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The ground-breaking aspect of the new study is the conclusion that this difference in land usage results in organic food causing a much larger climate impact.</div>
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“The greater land-use in organic farming leads indirectly to higher carbon dioxide emissions, thanks to deforestation,” explains Stefan Wirsenius. “The world’s food production is governed by international trade, so how we farm in Sweden influences deforestation in the tropics. If we use more land for the same amount of food, we contribute indirectly to bigger deforestation elsewhere in the world.”</div>
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Even organic meat and dairy products are — from a climate point of view — worse than their conventionally produced equivalents, claims Stefan Wirsenius.</div>
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“Because organic meat and milk production uses organic feed-stock, it also requires more land than conventional production. This means that the findings on organic wheat and peas in principle also apply to meat and milk products. We have not done any specific calculations on meat and milk, however, and have no concrete examples of this in the article,” he explains.</div>
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<strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: HelveticaNeueLTStd-Bd; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A new metric: Carbon Opportunity Cost</strong></div>
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The researchers used a new metric, which they call “Carbon Opportunity Cost,” to evaluate the effect of greater land-use contributing to higher carbon dioxide emissions from deforestation. This metric takes into account the amount of carbon that is stored in forests, and thus released as carbon dioxide as an effect of deforestation. The study is among the first in the world to make use of this metric.</div>
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“The fact that more land use leads to greater climate impact has not often been taken into account in earlier comparisons between organic and conventional food,” says Stefan Wirsenius. “This is a big oversight, because, as our study shows, this effect can be many times bigger than the greenhouse gas effects, which are normally included. It is also serious because today in Sweden, we have politicians whose goal is to increase production of organic food. If that goal is implemented, the climate influence from Swedish food production will probably increase a lot.”</div>
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So why have earlier studies not taken into account land-use and its relationship to carbon dioxide emissions?</div>
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“There are surely many reasons. An important explanation, I think, is simply an earlier lack of good, easily applicable methods for measuring the effect. Our new method of measurement allows us to make broad environmental comparisons, with relative ease,” says Stefan Wirsenius.</div>
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The results of the study are published in the article “Assessing the efficiency of changes in land use for mitigating climate change” in the journal <em style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Nature</em>. The article is written by Timothy Searchinger, Princeton University, Stefan Wirsenius, Chalmers University of Technology, Tim Beringer, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, and Patrice Dumas, Cired.</div>
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<strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: HelveticaNeueLTStd-Bd; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">More on: The consumer perspective</strong></div>
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Stefan Wirsenius notes that the findings do not mean that conscientious consumers should simply switch to buying non-organic food. “The type of food is often much more important. For example, eating organic beans or organic chicken is much better for the climate than to eat conventionally produced beef,” he says. “Organic food does have several advantages compared with food produced by conventional methods,” he continues. “For example, it is better for farm animal welfare. But when it comes to the climate impact, our study shows that organic food is a much worse alternative, in general.”</div>
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For consumers who want to contribute to the positive aspects of organic food production, without increasing their climate impact, an effective way is to focus instead on the different impacts of different types of meat and vegetables in our diet. Replacing beef and lamb, as well as hard cheeses, with vegetable proteins such as beans, has the biggest effect. Pork, chicken, fish, and eggs also have a substantially lower climate impact than beef and lamb.</div>
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<strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: HelveticaNeueLTStd-Bd; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">More on: The conflict between different environmental goals</strong></div>
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In organic farming, no fertilizers are used. The goal is to use resources like energy, land, and water in a long-term, sustainable way. Crops are primarily nurtured through nutrients present in the soil. The main aims are greater biological diversity and a balance between animal and plant sustainability. Only naturally derived pesticides are used.</div>
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The arguments for organic food focus on consumers’ health, animal welfare, and different aspects of environmental policy. There is good justification for these arguments, but at the same time, there is a lack of scientific evidence to show that organic food is in general healthier and more environmentally friendly than conventionally farmed food, according to the National Food Administration of Sweden and others. The variation between farms is big, with the interpretation differing depending on what environmental goals one prioritises. At the same time, current analysis methods are unable to fully capture all aspects.</div>
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The authors of the study now claim that organically farmed food is worse for the climate, due to bigger land use. For this argument they use statistics from the Swedish Board of Agriculture on the total production in Sweden, and the yields per hectare for organic versus conventional farming for the years 2013-2015.</div>
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<strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: HelveticaNeueLTStd-Bd; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">More on biofuels: “The investment in biofuels increases carbon dioxide emissions”</strong></div>
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Today’s major investments in biofuels are also harmful to the climate because they require large areas of land suitable for crop cultivation, and thus — according to the same logic — increase deforestation globally, the researchers in the same study argue.</div>
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For all common biofuels (ethanol from wheat, sugar cane and corn, as well as biodiesel from palm oil, rapeseed and soya), the carbon dioxide cost is greater than the emissions from fossil fuel and diesel, the study shows. Biofuels from waste and by-products do not have this effect, but their potential is small, the researchers say.</div>
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All biofuels made from arable crops have such high emissions that they cannot be called climate-smart, according to the researchers, who present the results on biofuels in an op-ed in the Swedish Newspaper Dagens Nyheter: “The investment in biofuels increases carbon dioxide emissions.”</div>
The Business Side of Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066760946785307421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764283843333852101.post-18551992819242766142018-12-26T04:14:00.000-08:002018-12-26T04:14:15.338-08:00Rising Waters Are Drowning Amtrak's Northeast Corridor/Bloomberg<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><u>The logistics of our daily life is extremely complicated and, if we think about it, daunting. Moving people, freight, coordinating millions of miles of transportation is embedded into daily life?</u></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><u>What if, then, comes along rising tides that start to disrupt our infrastructure? There are major cities sitting in the Northeast Corridor serviced by Amtrak. Hubs for commerce, sports, arts. Home to millions. What if their ride home gets washed away? Will life change? What fails next?</u></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By the middle of this century, climate change is likely to punch a hole through the busiest stretch of rail in North America. Parts of Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor route, which carries 12 million people each year between Boston and Washington, face “continual inundation.” Flooding, rising seas, and storm surge threaten to erode the track bed and knock out the signals that direct train traffic. The poles that provide electricity for trains are at risk of collapse, even as power substations succumb to floodwaters. “If one of the segments of track shuts down, it will shut down this segment of the NEC,” warned members of Amtrak’s planning staff. “There is not an alternate route that can be used as a detour.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That was the conclusion of a three-volume, multi-year climate study undertaken with first Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. and then Stantec Inc. Although the report was completed in April 2017, its conclusions were kept private until this November, when a partially redacted version was obtained by Bloomberg through a public records request. Titled “Amtrak NEC Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment,” the document outlines the severe threat facing one 10-mile section of the 457 miles of track, much of which runs perilously close to water.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On a recent afternoon near Wilmington, Del., the danger already seemed imminent. North of the city, the distance between the tracks and the Delaware River was alarmingly narrow, even at low tide. Closer to downtown, puddles dotted the West Yard Substation, which powers this section of rail, as well as the Wilmington maintenance yard, one of the few in the country that can repair electric locomotives. Only a slender cobblestone footpath separated Amtrak’s Consolidated National Operations Center, which monitors and controls traffic along the corridor, from the edge of the Christina River. The single access road leading to Amtrak’s only training center for engineers was underwater on a day with no rain.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The climate threat certainly isn’t limited to Delaware. Kristina Dahl, a senior climate scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, has projected which portions of the corridor will experience what she calls “chronic inundation,” defined as flooding an average of at least twice a month. Dahl provided Bloomberg with data showing when chronic inundation is expected to reach portions of the Northeast Corridor.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The authors of the climate risk report wrote that they chose to focus on the section of track in Delaware because of its low elevation, its proximity to the two rivers, and its concentration of critical facilities. They called moving or elevating the track “extreme.” Instead, they recommended building temporary flood barriers that can be installed along the river before a storm, and then removed “to maintain aesthetics and passenger views.” Those walls would require 12 to 30 days to put up, and would cost $24 million per mile of track.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most important, the authors of the climate report recommended that the same detailed calculations be performed on the rest of the Northeast Corridor, and that the company begin working with state and local governments to prepare for the risks they described. More than a year and a half later, Amtrak, a private company whose stock is primarily owned by the federal government and which depends on congressional funding to operate, has yet to repeat its analysis for the network as a whole.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Amtrak has since de-emphasized the threat of climate change in its public documents, even scrubbing the phrase entirely from its most recent five-year strategic plan. “We don’t see any fundamental risks to the integrity of the corridor,” Stephen Gardner, Amtrak executive vice president and chief commercial officer, said in an interview in November.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Christina Leeds, an Amtrak spokeswoman, said in an email: “Elevation or relocation of the infrastructure is likely to be expensive, disruptive, or impractical, and given the current levels of federal and state funding for Amtrak and the Northeast Corridor, well beyond our means.” She added that the company already faces “$40 billion worth of pressing—largely still unfunded—basic state-of-good-repair risks.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The report’s authors estimated the initial cost of protecting the study area to be $78 million, based on the premise that water levels around Wilmington would rise 2 feet by 2050. That reflects the median of possible warming scenarios, according to Climate Central, a research group in Princeton, N.J. Other estimates are almost twice as high.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the redacted portions of the report is an analysis of the full costs and benefits of protecting the corridor against climate change, making it impossible to know if the company has determined it would save more money by keeping the corridor open than it would have to spend to save it. The disclosure of that information “could possibly cause public confusion,” the company said in a statement explaining its redactions. And anyway, says Allan Zarembski, director of the railway engineering and safety program at the University of Delaware, built-out urban environments leave little land available. “The cost of relocating the track is not the big issue,” he says. “The big issue is, where do you relocate it?”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Amtrak kept the report from Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki, Delaware Governor John Carney, and the Northeast Corridor Commission, whose role, according to its website, is “facilitating collaborative planning” among Amtrak, the federal government, and states along the corridor. After inquiries from Bloomberg about whether Amtrak had distributed the report, Amtrak sent a copy to the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, which received it earlier this month, according to spokesman Michael Globetti.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Talking about climate doesn’t work with Congress, says Sarah Feinberg, former administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, which has oversight of Amtrak. “There are enough problems in the Northeast Corridor that you do not need to lead with climate change,” she says.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not long after it received the results of the climate report last year, Amtrak released its five-year strategic plan; the first item, under “threats,” was “environment/climate change.” This year’s edition made no mention of climate change. Amtrak also submits annual reports to the Carbon Disclosure Project, a nonprofit clearinghouse for the risks climate change poses to companies. Its latest report, dated this May, cited half as many risks as it had in the three previous years. Gone were the threat hurricanes would pose to demand for train service, the effect extreme temperatures would have on operating costs, and the expectation that sea level rise would require increased capital.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Leeds attributed the removal of climate change from the five-year plan to an “editing error,” (Following Bloomberg’s inquiry, Amtrak added “environment/climate change” to that plan’s list of threats.) She also said Amtrak’s decision to identify fewer climate impacts in its carbon disclosure “was based on how resource-intensive the CDP reporting process is and does not represent a decrease in potential impacts.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gardner, the Amtrak executive, says the company is taking a piecemeal approach to managing climate risk. “This is about, as we recapitalize those assets, how do we put them in a resilient position for the future,” he said. But if the Northeast Corridor starts to go underwater, Gardner added, Amtrak won’t be the only entity with an issue. “We’re in the heart of all our cities,” Gardner said. “If there’s a risk, there’s a risk to much more than us.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>The Business Side of Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066760946785307421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764283843333852101.post-83845716247577020142018-12-20T04:21:00.001-08:002018-12-20T04:21:52.894-08:00Nine states and DC agree to create cap-and-trade program for transportation/Washington Examiner<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is great news and another very good example of states taking the lead in the "business side of green" For too long we've been limited on an important tool to use in economic development (at least here in the US)...cap-and-trade. The Northeast once again takes the lead.</span><br />
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<span class="ArticlePage-articleBody-firstLetter" style="box-sizing: border-box;">N</span>ine Northeastern states and Washington, D.C., announced Tuesday that they will attempt to create a regional cap-and-trade program to limit emissions from transportation, the nation’s largest source of carbon pollution.</div>
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The partners agreed to create a system within a year that caps the region’s transportation emissions and sets up a market of pollution permits so entities can trade in auctions for the right to emit carbon.</div>
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The <a data-cms-ai="0" href="https://www.transportationandclimate.org/nine-states-and-dc-design-regional-approach-cap-greenhouse-gas-pollution-transportation" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 123, 255) !important; font-size: 1rem !important; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation;" target="_blank">agreement</a> contains little detail, such as which types of entities would be regulated and have to trade in pollution permits.</div>
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The revenue from putting a price on transportation fuels would go to investments in “low-carbon and more resilient transportation infrastructure” such as mass transit, electric buses, and electric vehicle charging stations.</div>
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The states participating in the initiative with D.C. are Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia.</div>
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“Emissions from transportation account for the largest portion of the region’s carbon pollution and ambitious reductions are needed within the next decade to avoid dangerous impacts to public health, infrastructure, and the environment,” the states said in a statement. “Advancing low-carbon transportation solutions presents an opportunity for our region to improve the way people and goods move from place to place while addressing the threats posed by carbon and other pollution.”</div>
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About 28 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions come from transportation, recently passing the power sector as the most polluting. Reducing emissions from transportation is considered more difficult because it would require consumers to shift away from gasoline-powered vehicles to electric ones.</div>
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The Trump administration has also proposed relaxing stringent fuel efficiency standards for vehicles set by the Obama administration, which, if finalized, is expected to further discourage cleaner vehicles.</div>
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In the power sector, emissions have decreased significantly in the U.S. because cleaner energy sources such as natural gas and renewables have replaced coal due to falling costs.</div>
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“We don't have the same degree of cost-effective alternatives for transportation as we do in the power sector,” Noah Kaufman, an economist at Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy who studies carbon pricing, told the <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Washington Examiner</i>. “It’s not as simple as switching from coal to natural gas and renewables. We still need the cost of alternatives to fall to compete with internal combustion vehicles. It’s about changing consumer behavior, which is more difficult.”</div>
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The new transportation partnership is modeled after a similar cap-and-trade <a data-cms-ai="0" href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/nine-states-plan-to-cut-carbon-emissions-30-percent-by-2030-to-combat-climate-change" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 123, 255) !important; font-size: 1rem !important; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation;" target="_blank">program</a>established by Northeastern states in 2009 targeting carbon emissions in the power sector.</div>
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That pact, called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, includes six of the nine states that signed the transportation agreement: Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont.</div>
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Under that plan, regional emissions are to be capped at about 78.2 million tons of carbon dioxide per year in 2020 and reduced to roughly 55.7 million tons in 2030. That 2030 goal represents a 65 percent drop from 2009 levels.</div>
The Business Side of Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066760946785307421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764283843333852101.post-3834247828935921792018-12-19T04:10:00.001-08:002018-12-19T04:10:17.531-08:00Offshore Wind Auction Sets Record/RNN<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">More good news as we head into Christmas (Merry Christmas and thank you for being part of the RNN family): Wind energy continues to blow strong economic gains. That should continue as the technology improves and siting speeds up.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Friday, December 14, three companies claimed winning bids for Massachusetts offshore wind. Areas could support approximately 4.1 gigawatts of commercial wind generation, enough to power nearly 1.5 million homes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Acting Director Walter Cruickshank on Friday announced the completion of the nation’s eighth and highest grossing competitive lease sale for renewable energy in federal waters. Last Friday’s lease sale offered approximately 390,000 acres offshore Massachusetts for potential wind energy development and drew competitive winning bids from three companies totaling approximately $405 million in winning bids. If fully developed, the areas could support approximately 4.1 gigawatts of commercial wind generation, enough electricity to power nearly 1.5 million homes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“To anyone who doubted that our ambitious vision for energy dominance would not include renewables, today we put that rumor to rest,” said Secretary Zinke. “With bold leadership, faster, streamlined environmental reviews, and a lot of hard work with our states and fishermen, we’ve given the wind industry the confidence to think and bid big.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The provisional winners of today’s lease sale are:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Provisional Winner<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Lease Area<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Acres<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Winning Bid</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Equinor Wind US, LLC<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>OCS-A 0520<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>128,811<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>$135,000,000.00</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Mayflower Wind Energy, LLC<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>OCS-A 0521<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>127,388<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>$135,000,000.00</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Vineyard Wind, LLC<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>OCS-A 0522<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>132,370<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>$135,100,000.00</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The following companies participated in today’s lease sale:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Cobra Industrial Services, Inc.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">East Wind, LLC</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">EC&R Development, LLC</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">EDF Renewables Development, Inc.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Equinor Wind US, LLC</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Innogy US Renewable Projects, LLC</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Mayflower Wind Energy, LLC</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Northeast Wind Energy, LLC</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">PNE WIND USA, Inc.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Vineyard Wind, LLC</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">wpd offshore Alpha, LLC</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The three lease areas auctioned today are located 19.8 nautical miles from Martha’s Vineyard, 16.7 nautical miles from Nantucket, and 44.5 nautical miles from Block Island. A map of the lease areas can be found here.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“This auction will further the Administration’s comprehensive effort to secure the nation’s energy future,” said BOEM Acting Director Cruickshank. “The Commonwealth of Massachusetts and members of the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Task Force have been great partners throughout this process. We look forward to working with them and the lessees as we move forward with next steps for developing offshore wind energy in a responsible manner.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before the lease is executed, the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission will conduct an anti-competitiveness review of the auction, and the provisional winner will be required to pay the winning bid and provide financial assurance to BOEM.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The lease will have a preliminary term of one year, during which the lessee may submit a Site Assessment Plan (SAP) to BOEM for approval. The SAP will describe the facilities (e.g., meteorological towers or buoys) a lessee plans to install or deploy for the assessment of the wind resources and ocean conditions of its commercial lease area.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Following approval of a SAP, the lessee will then have four and a half years to submit a Construction and Operations Plan (COP) to BOEM for approval. This plan will provide a detailed proposal for the construction and operation of a wind energy project within the lease area.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once BOEM receives a COP, it will conduct an environmental review of the proposed project and reasonable alternatives. Public input will be an important part of BOEM’s review process. If BOEM approves the COP, the lessee will then have a term of 33 years to construct and operate the project.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before today’s lease sale, the highest grossing offshore wind lease sale was held in December 2016 for the lease area offshore New York that received a winning bid of over $42 million.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After Friday’s auction, BOEM has 15 active wind leases. These lease sales have generated more than $473 million in winning bids for nearly two million acres in federal waters. Money received from offshore wind lease sales go to the United States Treasury.</span>The Business Side of Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066760946785307421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764283843333852101.post-2258376440051880622018-12-19T03:59:00.001-08:002018-12-19T03:59:19.360-08:00Boston Bans Plastic Bags/RNN<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Boston is a great city. Fantastic quality of life. It just got better with the ban on plastic bags. Nice Christmas present for those of us seeking an elimination of plastic bags.</span><br />
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Boston, the latest major city to ban plastic bags, for some it has been a long time coming.</div>
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Boston will begin implementing a citywide plastic bag ban starting Friday in an attempt to reduce litter and curb the environmental harm caused by single-use plastics.</div>
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The measure, signed by Boston Mayor Martin Walsh last December, will take effect just before this year’s holiday shopping season.</div>
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City Councilor Matthew O’Malley, who represents Boston’s 6th District, said he began working on the ordinance in 2016 and believes it will be “enormously beneficial” to the city.</div>
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“If you walk around any given street, you may see a plastic bag that’s caught up in a tree or down in a storm drain,” O’Malley said. “We’re seeing a lot of cities and states, quite frankly, step up in terms of better sustainability and environmental practices, such as implementing some sort of plastic bag ordinance.”</div>
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The plastic bag ordinance will solely apply to “checkout bags” used at stores and will not include newspaper bags, produce bags, laundry and dry cleaner bags, or trash bags, the <a href="https://www.boston.gov/departments/environment/reducing-plastic-bags-city-boston" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2ea3f2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">City of Boston website</a> states. Retailers can keep recyclable paper bags, compostable bags and reusable bags in stock and can sell other compliant bags as well.</div>
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Inspections will begin Friday for 20,000 square foot and larger retail establishments and on July 1, 2019 for establishments smaller than 10,000 square feet, according to the website.</div>
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Bill Rennie, vice president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, said the association’s main concern with the plastic bag ban is whether it will increase costs for retailers across the city.</div>
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“Plastic bags certainly are less expensive than the alternatives, which you’ll see most people switch to a heavier paper bag,” Rennie said. “There’s, of course, the 5-cent fee that will be added to help offset those bag costs.”</div>
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Rennie said there are currently about 90 ordinances across Massachusetts that are similar to the Boston plastic bag ban. He also said, due to the number of similar ordinances, the association would like to see a statewide standard set in place.</div>
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“All of these are different from town and town, and that patchwork of ordinances or regulations can be very problematic,” Rennie said. “In general,…<a href="https://dailyfreepress.com/blog/2018/12/10/boston-plastic-bag-ban-to-begin-this-friday/" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2ea3f2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">MORE</a></div>
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<pre style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-family: "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Allan,Zoe. "<a href="https://dailyfreepress.com/blog/2018/12/10/boston-plastic-bag-ban-to-begin-this-friday/" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2ea3f2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Boston plastic bag ban to begin Friday</a>" Retrieved from The Daily Free Press</pre>
The Business Side of Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066760946785307421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764283843333852101.post-16643181616677697862018-12-13T07:15:00.005-08:002018-12-13T07:15:57.681-08:00Kilmartin announces $4.1M for environmental projects from Volkswagen settlement/ProJo<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It will be interesting to watch how states manage and invest their monies from this settlement. Here's an example from RI</span><br />
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<img alt="MORE THAN $4 MILLION in grants has been allocated to environmentally friendly projects in Rhode Island from funds received in a settlement with Volkswagen over the sale and leasing of diesel vehicles with illegal and hidden emissions-control defeat device software. / BLOOMBERG FILE PHOTO/KRISZTIAN BOCSI" height="266" src="https://assets.pbn.com/uploads/2018/12/1x-1-7-696x464.jpg" width="400" /><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b>MORE THAN $4 MILLION in grants has been allocated to environmentally friendly projects in Rhode Island from funds received in a settlement with Volkswagen over the sale and leasing of diesel vehicles with illegal and hidden emissions-control defeat device software. / BLOOMBERG FILE PHOTO/KRISZTIAN BOCSI</b></span></span><br />
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PROVIDENCE – R.I. Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin announced Wednesday $4.1 million in grants for environmentally friendly projects, funded with money awarded in a settlement with Volkswagen related to the company’s sale and leasing of diesel-fuel vehicles equipped with illegal and undisclosed emissions-control defeat device software in Rhode Island.</div>
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The grants were awarded to 16 local initiatives, with allocated amounts varying from $10,000 to $850,000.</div>
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“A silver lining of Volkswagen’s malfeasance is being turned into a benefit for Rhode Island,” stated Kilmartin. “It is through this settlement that we can have a real impact on the health and well-being of our citizens and support environmentally beneficial projects right here in Rhode Island. We chose grants based on the ability to most improve the quality of life for Rhode Island citizens, to further reduce harmful emissions from our environment, improve the health of our waterways, offset climate change hazards and create environmentally sound educational opportunities for students. I am especially excited about the Sabin Point Beach project, which will aid remediation efforts to finally reopen the Upper Bay beach to swimming after having been closed for decades and provide recreational opportunities for thousands who might not otherwise have access.”</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">The initiatives are as follows:</strong></div>
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<li style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; margin-left: 21px; margin-top: 20px;">City of East Providence Stormwater System Remediation Project to Re-Open Sabin Point Beach to Swimming ($850,000) – To support the East Providence effort to reopen Sabin Point Beach to swimming</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; margin-left: 21px; margin-top: 20px;">URI Environmental Mapping and Data Development Projects ($835,000) – For two projects, one to collect data and conduct analysis related to the conservation of salt marshes as sea level rises, and one to update aerial photography for mapping and planning statewide</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; margin-left: 21px; margin-top: 20px;">HousingWorks RI/Rhode Island Alliance for Healthy Housing ($500,000) – To support several projects: Through the Alliance, HousingWorks RI at Roger Williams University will coordinate statewide efforts to promote healthy housing by working with regulatory agencies, public and nonprofit social service agencies, and businesses and academic institutions to expand a smartphone/tablet-based coordinated referral program; develop healthy homes training modules and materials for contractors, builders, code inspectors and home-visiting health professionals; and coordinate an outreach/educational campaign about the importance of healthy housing and resources that exist to help Rhode Islanders live in safe and healthy homes</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; margin-left: 21px; margin-top: 20px;">Green & Health Homes Initiative ($500,000) – To continue its housing intervention program to create safe, energy-efficient and stable housing for families in poverty</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; margin-left: 21px; margin-top: 20px;">R.I. Department of Transportation TRIP Mobility Challenge ($500,000) – To support a public-private partnership to test and research factors and new electric-vehicle technologies as they relate to the improvement of mobility for Rhode Islanders</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; margin-left: 21px; margin-top: 20px;">HEALTH Home Asthma Response Program ($300,000) – To provide HARP for up to 250 eligible children with severe asthma. The program helps families reduce children’s exposure to asthma triggers</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; margin-left: 21px; margin-top: 20px;">Salty Brine State Beach Solar Panel Installation Project ($200,000) – To fund a rooftop solar array to lower costs and energy consumption at the state beach</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; margin-left: 21px; margin-top: 20px;">HEALTH Lead Poisoning Prevention Program ($150,000) – To be used by the R.I. Department of Health to address childhood lead poisoning and asthma</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; margin-left: 21px; margin-top: 20px;">John (Jay) Cronan Fishing Access Project ($130,000) – To build a passage for migratory fish at the John (Jay) Cronan Fishing Access on the Pawcatuck River in Richmond</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; margin-left: 21px; margin-top: 20px;">URI Bird Laser Deterrent Research Project ($50,000) – To fund research and development on a prototype laser as a bird-deterrent system</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; margin-left: 21px; margin-top: 20px;">Farm Fresh Rhode Island ($25,000) – To support the Farm Fresh Harvest Kitchen project, a culinary training program for youth in the custody of the R.I. Department of Children, Youth, and Families</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; margin-left: 21px; margin-top: 20px;">Rhode Island Schools Recycling Club Food Waste Reduction Program ($22,500) – To support a multiphased program with Rhode Island students designed to study and reduce food waste in Rhode Island schools</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; margin-left: 21px; margin-top: 20px;">Hospital Idle Project ($17,500) – To support technologies and practices that lower the amount of time engines idle on Rhode Island ambulances</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; margin-left: 21px; margin-top: 20px;">Farm Hazardous Waste Removal ($10,000) – To support the R.I. Department of Environmental Management’s efforts to help farmers self-identify and catalog their unusable pesticides, and work with a contractor to collect and dispose of them</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; margin-left: 21px; margin-top: 20px;">School Hazardous Waste Removal ($10,000) – To help Rhode Island schools conduct chemical audits to identify hazardous chemicals on premises and to hire local contractors to dispose of them</li>
</ul>
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<br />The Business Side of Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066760946785307421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764283843333852101.post-70763526659519294162018-12-13T07:08:00.001-08:002018-12-13T07:08:31.339-08:00Exeter puts emergency freeze on solar-energy projects/ProJo<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do we, at times, have too much a good thing? Here we see a municipality struggle to keep up with the demand for new permits on solar. Not a bad problem to work with. It suggest that demand is good, and investors are seeing good returns.</span><br />
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EXETER — Saying 12 proposals for utility-scale solar projects have overwhelmed the ability of the planning board and the two-day-a-week planner, the Town Council on Monday night passed an emergency, temporary moratorium on all but rooftop solar development.</div>
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In its first full meeting since voters chose several new members, the council voted 3-to-1 to pass the emergency ordinance affecting ground-mounted, solar photovoltaic projects.</div>
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Town Planner Ashley Hahn-Sweet handed out 11-by-17-inch spreadsheets to the council that listed 11 proposed solar projects. Another came in Friday, she said, after the sheets had been photocopied.</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">How to regulate</strong> solar projects has dominated discussions for at least a year. The Planning Board began in 2017 to write comprehensive rules that would govern solar projects larger than rooftop installations.</div>
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While the Town Council repeatedly sent the Planning Board back to the drawing board on their solar zoning rules, a renewable-energy developer, Mark DePasquale of Green Development, also proposed a change in the zoning ordinance. His plan, referred to as the Green plan, affected 15 specific properties where the company planned to install enough solar arrays to feed a new substation.</div>
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The Town Council at that time, whose majority favored the Green plan, adopted DePasquale’s ordinance, over the objections of townspeople who filed into the Metcalf Middle School cafeteria twice last summer and fall.</div>
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Then when the Planning Board submitted its proposal, called Solar Draft 8 — referred to as Solar 8 for short — the council adopted it, although one council member realized he had accidentally voted for Solar 8 when he meant to vote against it.</div>
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At the revote, the Green rules were reinstated. Then came the election, and instead of three pro-Green council members calling the shots, the council changed to four members favoring Solar 8 and one of the former Green backers.</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Planning Department</strong>, meanwhile, was getting applications that had to be considered under changing rules, with different requirements.</div>
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Hahn-Sweet’s chart indicated which rules were in effect when each project was proposed, and where the project was in the process.</div>
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Just keeping track of where each project was under which set of rules, she said, took up 90 percent of her time, and as a part-time planner, she works only two days a week.</div>
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Council President Calvin A. Ellis read the emergency moratorium out loud to about 150 people in the Wawaloam Elementary School cafeteria.</div>
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Daniel W. Patterson, formerly the council vice president and now the only member of the pro-Green majority who got reelected, asked what the emergency was. The moratorium’s wording said that proposed solar projects “pose serious threats to the public health, safety and welfare of the residents of Exeter through the potential overdevelopment of areas of town in a manner that conflicts with the town’s comprehensive plan.”</div>
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Hahn-Sweet and Planning Board Chairman Michael DeFrancesco said the threat to municipal resources was that the 12 major solar proposals overwhelmed the town’s ability to consider them, especially with conflicting zoning rules.</div>
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The moratorium is for 60 days. In that time, DeFrancesco said, the Planning Board will have submitted Solar 9 for the council’s consideration, and will have been able to untangle what each current project needs to go forward.</div>
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The council passed the moratorium 3 to 1, with Patterson the sole vote against it.</div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">— <a href="mailto:dnaylor@providencejournal.com" style="background-size: 5px 1em; box-shadow: white 0px -0.175em inset, rgba(97, 139, 178, 0.8) 0px -0.2em inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #698096; display: inline; font-family: "Roboto Condensed", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-kerning: normal; font-size: 18.662px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 10px; text-decoration-line: none; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: white -0.05em -0.05em, white -0.05em 0.05em, white 0.05em -0.05em, white 0.05em 0.05em; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s;">dnaylor@providencejournal.com</a></em></div>
The Business Side of Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066760946785307421noreply@blogger.com0