Earlier this month, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) released the findings of a report they commissioned on the job impacts of a federal renewable electricity standard (RES). The "Jobs Impact of a National Renewable Electricity Standard" study, conducted by independent, third-party researchers at Navigant Consulting, Inc., found that a 25 percent by 2025 national RES would result in 274,000 more renewable energy jobs over business as usual.
In a just-released study, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) found that "if Congress passed climate and energy legislation that strengthened the energy efficiency and renewable energy standards in [the ACES bill] the House of Representatives approved last June, consumer electric and natural gas costs would be $113 billion lower by 2030, and emitters would pay 4 percent less in compliance costs." Read the entire analysis here.
A new report finds that Twin Cities building owners could save up to $10 million a year by implementing day shift cleaning. The report, "Clean Sweep: How a New Approach to Cleaning Buildings in the Twin Cities Can Protect Our Health and the Environment While Securing Jobs and Saving Money," was released today by the Blue Green Alliance and SEIU Local 26. It finds that a day shift cleaning transition could save 4-8 percent in office building energy costs, and adopting green cleaning practices--which encourages the use of less toxic cleaning products--would protect the health of janitorial and office workers in commercial office buildings.
The Institute for Policy Integrity at the New York University School of Law surveyed top economic experts on climate change and summarized their findings in a new report.
For the fifth year in a row, energy efficiency has again been found to be the cheapest, fastest, and cleanest source of energy. That's the finding of a new report by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), released yesterday in Washington, D.C. It costs far less than new fossil energy, new nuclear energy, or new renewable energy. It stands to reason that if we can save energy more cheaply than we can produce it, that "frees up" the energy saved for other uses. That's an energy "source." From society's perspective, saving energy is the same as producing new energy.
Posted by: Linda Taylor in wind, transmission, report on
Sep 18, 2009
The electric transmission system in Minnesota and the Midwest operates near or at capacity much of the time. In 2007, legislation was passed that required a statewide study to identify locations in the transmission grid where a total of 1,200 megawatts of relatively small renewable energy projects (between 10 and 40 megawatts of power) could be operated with little or no change to the existing infrastructure. The study, or Dispersed Renewable Generation Study (DRG), was prepared by electric line experts at Minnesota utilities and managed by a stellar technical review committee, under contract with the Minnesota Office of Energy Security. It was intended to find out if smaller wind energy projects can connect into the lower voltage distribution lines, thereby avoiding the costs and constraints of connecting to the high voltage transmission lines.
Every four years, the Minnesota Department of Commerce's Office of Energy Security is required to issue the State Energy Policy and Conservation Report, or "Quad Report." The Quad Report describes the state's energy system, its structure, costs, and environmental impacts. The 2008 report, released September 15, identifies energy reliability as the administration's energy policy going forward, which is defined as focusing on utility operations, investment in electric transmission, power quality and service standards, and economics. It makes a general nod toward community renewable energy development as well. While it's certainly a good background explanation of the energy system in the state, as are earlier quad reports, it spends only three pages on energy conservation, which belies its name and primary reason for being.
According to a new report released today by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), energy efficiency provisions in the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES - H.R. 2454) with improvements could create more than 569,000 new jobs nationwide in the next 10 years and provide hundreds of dollars in annual savings for every household in America.
Yesterday, Moving Cooler: An Analysis of Transportation Strategies for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions was released by the Urban Land Institute (pdf) with the support of a strong array of public and private sponsors.
As Members of Congress debate whether or not the United States will place first ever limits on the gases that are changing our climate, the Union of Concerned Scientists has prepared a summary of what's at stake for us in Minnesota, including impacts for our farms, forests, cities, and shipping on Lake Superior.
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