When the stories of Cape Wind first surfaced,  sides were immediately taken.  Walter Cronkite, a long-time resident of the Cape, was firmly standing with the opposition. 

The Obama administration released guidelines Thursday for companies to apply directly for $3 billion in aid for renewable energy projects. This money is from the original stimulus package. The Treasury and Energy Departments hope that by providing direct funding they will be able to jump start projects that have had difficulty finding funding in the current economic conditions. Reuters

The U.S. wood pellet business is booming. European coal-fired utilities, facing regulations that require them to generate 20% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020, are switching from coal to wood pellets, Russell Gold in the Wall Street Journal reports.

Burning wood pellets is considered carbon-neutral because the carbon released by burning pellets is equal to the carbon released by decaying trees. Coal, on the other hand, stores carbon in the earth which it is only released when burned.

China is investing billions into becoming the superpower of green energy according to a report in the New York Times.

Southern Company and American Electric Power, two of the largest coal-burning utilities in the nation, are withdrawing from the FurtureGen project. The companies indicated that they would conduct their own clean coal research. NewYork Times.

The Los Angeles Times today reported that “Coal-fired power plants are the largest source of heat-trapping gases that cause global warming, but President Obama’s plan to fight climate change would result in the nation burning more coal a decade from now than it does today.”  It was further noted:  “The administration’s plan, the centerpiece of a 700-page legislative package, proposes strict limits on emissions of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide.”LA Times, clean coal

Today the Southern Environmental Law Center was at last on the side of Dominion Resources Inc. The two have often been at odds with each other.

Case Presentation

Issue:  Does it make sense to invest in wind farms?
Conclusion: For consumers – yes.  For business – yes.
Editors’ note:  Our Love Affair with Green has quotes from James Gordon, Cape Wind’s Chief Executive on the day of his legislative victory

Despite public posturing for a clean environment, the families with names such as Kennedy,  Melon, and Welch have become NIMBYs – not in my backyard.   Using the legal system to deprive residents of energy alternatives, they have used the courts to preserve their private playground in public waters.
On …

In a Reuters piece this week,  Deborah Zabarenko writes: “Counting the climate-warming carbon dioxide locked up in forests could offer a cheaper way to curb the greenhouse gas than by considering only emissions from industry and fossil fuels, according to a new study….“the world’s forests hold some 2 trillion tons of carbon.