Bioenergy News - RenewableEnergyWorld.com

Rising Energy Dependency Endangers Europe’s Economy

Zoë Casey — Fri, 24 May 2013 13:59:00 GMT

The issue of energy may have been overshadowed by that of tax at yesterday’s EU summit of Heads of State in Brussels, but its growing importance and impact on Europe’s economy is one that cannot be ignored. As the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, Europeans are paying a lot for their energy – prices are 37% higher than those in the US and 20% hi

Tracking and Analyzing Energy Legislation Across the US

James Montgomery, Associate Editor, RenewableEnergyWorld.com — Thu, 23 May 2013 15:02:00 GMT

A new online database created by Colorado State University's (CSU) Center for the New Energy Economy (CNEE) aims to serve anyone interested in clean energy legislation in any state in the U.S., or even those who are crafting policy themselves.

UK Urged to Boost Clean Energy Over Natural Gas

Alex Morales, Bloomberg — Thu, 23 May 2013 12:25:00 GMT

Britain, under pressure to build new power stations, could save as much as 100 billion pounds ($150 billion) through 2050 by spending on wind, nuclear and carbon capture rather than gas, the government’s climate adviser said.

US Equipped to Grow Serious Amounts of Pond Scum for Fuel

Tom Rickey, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory — Thu, 23 May 2013 12:00:00 GMT

A new analysis shows that the nation's land and water resources could likely support the growth of enough algae to produce up to 25 billion gallons of algae-based fuel a year in the United States, one-twelfth of the country's yearly needs.

Warning Scotland Against Independence: Renewables Will Suffer, Says Ed Davey

Kelvin Ross, Deputy Editor, Power Engineering International — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:31:00 GMT

UK Energy Secretary Ed Davey has warned that Scotland will damage its standing as a prime mover in renewable energy if it votes to become independent.

Outlook for US Energy Independence Gaining Confidence

Power Engineering Editors — Wed, 22 May 2013 11:33:00 GMT

A survey conducted by the KPMG Global Energy Institute shows that a majority of energy executives believe the U.S. can reach energy independence by 2030. The survey also showed a decrease in the number of executives who believe the U.S. will never gain energy independence.

Renewable Energy Research Initiative Launched in UK

Kelvin Ross, Deputy Editor, Power Engineering International — Tue, 21 May 2013 12:00:00 GMT

A new inquiry investigating the role of renewable power generation in the UK’s future energy mix has been launched.

Poll: 87 Percent of Illinois Voters Want More Renewable Energy

Carl Levesque, AWEA — Tue, 21 May 2013 12:00:00 GMT

Wide majorities of likely Illinois voters believe it is important that the state maintain its commitment to increase its use of renewable energy and support legislation that would achieve that goal by fixing the state's broken renewable portfolio standard (RPS) law, according to a Zogby poll released this week.

French and German Ministers Call for 2030 Renewable Energy Targets

Phillippa Jones — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:25:00 GMT

Writing in France’s prestigious centre-left daily newspaper Le Monde, Peter Altmaier, the German environment minister, and Delphine Batho, his French counterpart, underlined the need for a 2030 renewable energy target and highlighed the importance of renewables in transforming the European economy, improving energy security and reducing greenhouse

Asia Report: Tweaking India's Domestic Content Policy

Renewable Energy World Editors — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:00:00 GMT

India's solar energy policy contains domestic content requirements for solar cells and panels, but initially these excluded thin-film technologies — a big help to First Solar among others. But as expected, new proposals aim to close that loop.

Goldman Sachs to Invest $486 Million in Japan Renewable Energy

Shigeru Sato, Bloomberg — Mon, 20 May 2013 08:46:00 GMT

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. plans to invest as much as 50 billion yen ($487 million) in renewable energy projects in Japan in the next five years, tapping demand for electricity produced from solar and wind-power generators.

EU Should Scrap Energy Subsidies to Fight Warming, Poland Says

Ewa Krukowska, Bloomberg — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:36:20 GMT

The European Union should scrap fossil fuel and renewable energy subsidies and set a target to cut oil imports to remain the leader in the fight against global warming, according to Poland's environment minister.

Breakdown: Penetration of Renewable Energy in Selected Markets

Paul Gipe, Contributor — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:00:00 GMT

The penetration of renewable energy into the electricity supply mix has been much in the news recently. During the first quarter, Portugal generated three-quarters of its electricity with renewable energy. Meanwhile, in Germany, one-fifth of all electricity was generated with renewables, most of that from new sources of renewable energy, such as wind and solar. And recently, at a conference in San Francisco, attendees heard calls for generating not just 100 percent of electricity supply with renewable energy, but far more — 200 percent to 300 percent of generation — in order to meet the need for heating, cooling, and transportation as well.

Moniz Unanimously Confirmed As New DOE Chief

James Montgomery, Associate Editor, RenewableEnergyWorld.com — Thu, 16 May 2013 19:55:25 GMT

Ernie Moniz has been unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the next Secretary of Energy, in a 97-0 vote (with three nonvoters). He succeeds Stephen Chu who held the position for four years.

The Finnish Hydrogen Roadmap: Hydrogen to Join Electricity in Ending Traffic Pollution

Jussi Solin, Technical Research Center of Finland — Thu, 16 May 2013 12:00:00 GMT

Global expectations for hydrogen are currently sky-high. Transport applications stand at the threshold of commercialisation, while ahead lies an investment boom in the hydrogen distribution network. The changeover to hydrogen based on natural gas would already mean a potential saving of billion in Finland's balance of payments. If hydrogen could then be produced from domestic renewable raw material, our car and bus traffic would eventually be practically self-sufficient and leave a significantly reduced carbon footprint. The above was revealed in the Finnish hydrogen roadmap published recently.

The Economic Case for Divesting from Fossil Fuels

Garvin Jabusch, Green Alpha Advisors — Wed, 15 May 2013 12:00:00 GMT

Securities of fossil fuels firms, as an economic sector, may soon be on the decline.

Out of the Shell: Oil Giant's Big Biofuels Ambitions

Jim Lane, Biofuels Digest — Tue, 14 May 2013 14:22:47 GMT

In this era of "repeal the RFS" efforts from API, would you be surprised that Shell regards the US Renewable Fuel Standard as "one of the more effective frameworks out there"?

Finland's New Energy Solutions

Tue, 14 May 2013 12:00:00 GMT

You may not know much about Finland, but you certainly know the powerhouse technology company that became a household name across the globe and drove the nation’s economic expansion through the 1990s-2000s. Nokia generated a quarter of Finnish economic growth from 1998-2007, prompting a new term, ‘the Nokia effect’, to describe economic development

Connecticut Seeks to Literally Water Down its RPS, Could it Happen in Your Region?

Jennifer Runyon, Managing Editor, RenewableEnergyWorld.com — Fri, 10 May 2013 19:07:46 GMT

Since I live in New Hampshire and write about the global renewable energy industry, once in a while small local news that might appear to be of minor importance to my neighbors leaps out at me as something that could end up having a huge impact on the renewable energy industry.

Europe Sinks Its Flagship Carbon Trading Scheme

Paul Hockenos, International Correspondent — Fri, 10 May 2013 13:34:47 GMT

All German Chancellor Angela Merkel had to do was pick up the phone and dial her people in Brussels. Had she done so before the European Parliament's (EP) key vote last month on April 19, her party's representatives could easily have saved the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), Europe's flagship mechanism for reducing carbon emissions. But the woman once hailed as "the climate chancellor," didn't make the call, a consequence of differences of opinion on the ETS within her ruling center-right coalition, she said. The impotent ETS is now withering on the vine, where it may remain until it is dead altogether.