by NAW staff on Thursday 04 September 2008

The U.S. wind industry has raced past the 20,000 MW installed capacity milestone, achieving in two years what had previously taken more than two decades, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) reports.

Wind now provides 20,152 MW of electricity generating capacity in the U.S. But a delay in extending the production tax credit (PTC) could place 2009 projects on hold and discourage manufacturing investment, according to AWEA. The PTC is currently set to expire at the end of the year.

EERE News 8/8/2008

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Wind & Hydropower Technologies Program on August 5th announced funding awards to seven national laboratories to address challenges to the integration of substantial amounts of renewable energy into the Nation’s electric system.

Thursday 31 July 2008 by: Anne Trafton, MIT News

MIT's Professor Daniel G. Nocera has discovered a way to do large-scale solar power generation. Scientists mimic essence of plants' energy storage system.

In a revolutionary leap that could transform solar power from a marginal, boutique alternative into a mainstream energy source, MIT researchers have overcome a major barrier to large-scale solar power: storing energy for use when the sun doesn't shine.

EERE Network News - May 28, 2008

May 14 2008 10:19PM KXMCTV Minot

Spring planting across much of North Central North Dakota is on hold for a little while as farmers wait for the ground to dry down enough to head back out into the field.

About three-quarters of the crop is in the ground so far and farmers but it's all come at quite a cost. Fertilizer prices have doubled from last fall and are now at a record high for nitrogen.

(John Rensvold, Dakota Agronomy Partners) "It can't go high enough. It just won't quit going up. A lot of that because it's a commodity and it's driven by a free market system."

This is the initial announcement for the Fifth Annual Ammonia Fuel Conference -- AF V. This year's meeting will be held in Minneapolis on Monday-Tuesday, September 29 - 30, and there will be a lab tour of the University of Minnesota wind-to-ammonia synthesis lab on Wednesday morning October 1. As in the past, we will have an excellent technical agenda covering all areas of ammonia as a fuel.

Meeting Organizers --
John Holbrook, AmmPower, 509-396-2082, john.holbrook@charter.net
Norm Olson, Iowa Energy Center, 515-382-1774, nolson@iastate.edu

Dan Nagengast, Director of the Kansas Rural Center, March 4, 2008

As gas prices have climbed, the focus on renewable energy has greatly increased in the U.S. But the interest goes beyond simply fueling vehicles and extends to providing electricity for the nation. Wind energy is one way to do that. In fact, President Bush would like 20 percent of the nation's electrical power to come from wind by the year 2030.

By HILARY BRUECK, Special to the Star Tribune

Growing up, Bill Smyrl loved visiting his aunt and uncle on their ranch in rural New Mexico. But when evening came and darkness fell, young Smyrl, now a University of Minnesota chemical engineering professor, thought twice before turning on a lamp. They lived too far out in the country to be hooked up to power-company lines, so they relied on a small-scale wind generator to keep the lights on.

NYTimes.com
Wednesday April 30, 12:35 pm ET
By KEITH BRADSHER and ANDREW MARTIN

XUAN CANH, Vietnam — Truong Thi Nha stands just four and a half feet tall. Her three grown children tower over her, just as many young people in this village outside Hanoi dwarf their parents.
The biggest reason the children are so robust: fertilizer.

Ms. Nha, her face weathered beyond its 51 years, said her growth was stunted by a childhood of hunger and malnutrition. Just a few decades ago, crop yields here were far lower and diets much worse.

by NAW Staff on Friday 04 April 2008

Canada has unveiled its integration of renewable energy on the farm (IREF) Web site, which is a complete repository of technical information and online tools for analyzing the potential for integrating renewable energy sources onto individual farms.