I had a bunch of stuff left over from the week that was interesting but didn’t really warrant a post all to itself. So strap in and get ready for a special rapid fire Sunday edition of the renewable energy roundup. Lets go!
Whats this you say? Congress is doing something with itself? Holy crap! After ranking as the most do nothing congress in history last year, the new crop of Democrats seem to be doing something about the problem of global warming.
They still sell a lot of oil, but it seems that Chevron is dipping its toes into the renewable energy game. At this stage its little more than green-washing to make themselves look better, but if they get a good profit perhaps they will take more serious moves towards promoting renewables.
There will soon be a new 1000 MW wind farm in the mid Atlantic region, every little bit helps.
Want to know more about the international biodiesel conference going on this week? Well it seems that they will be blogging it in case you cant make it to San Antonio from Feb. 4-7th.
Seems like Spain is moving forward with its plans to generate a lot of wave power. Ocean Power Technologies, just got awarded a contract for the operation and regular maintenance of the wave energy plant for up to 10 years.
Down down down in the cold cold cold the wind blows blows blows.
Oregon has a new shiny logo to go with their new biodiesel plans. Looks nice to me.
Check out this very interesting idea to teach students about wind power, by installing wind turbines at the school. Children may turn out to be the future after all.
A nice assemblage of good news. I like even a small wind farm because it establishes a presence and expertise in an area. It is easier to convince people to do something again than it is to do it the first time. I do fear the prime areas for the vvery large turbines are getting scarce. I am hoping smaller scale models could take advantage of lower wind speeds and still provide decent power for local needs. I don’t know how well it works but I always thought this unit from the ever createive Japanese looked interesting.
I am always entertained by marketing and it’s effect on people. I agree that the Oregon logo looks nice but more importantly, what are they doing? Good things for the most part. They want to make and use biofuel locally, admirable. If they use soybeans as the feedstock perhaps they can grow it on fallow fields to affix nitrogen to the soil for the next crop (save a little money on fertilizer). I am a big fan of tightly integrated systems. Sadly, big business seems to have lost sight of them.
This old (10-28-05) article also mentions Chevron’s investment in RE, Shell gets a nod as well – makes Exxon look like dirt. BP touts their own efforts but they are decried by some as greenwashing. Usually change is external but it be far more efficient to have the current fuel companies evolve. It would be nice if they took the bit and ran with it, but I suggest we keep the gressroots efforts going for now :)