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.

As you may know, about 50% of the electricity in the U.S. is made by coal burners, and coal is being increasingly touted as the fuel of the future. And also the chemical feedstock of the future, especially for ammonia and methanol, and as the thermal source for those crop to ethanol facilities. Unfortunately, this just cements the position of fossil fuels and CO2 pollution (= fossil fuel combustion byproduct trash dumped into our atmosphere) in "renewable" fuels. It puts the "non-renewable" into renwable fuels. How's that for some truely twisted logic?

so the outlandish idea contained in this PDF: http://tinyurl.com/5lqvup was sent to Matt Simmons last year and his folks are actually doing something very close to it (at least partly) now: http://tinyurl.com/5hud8y

I've been hearing a bit about T. Boone Pickens and his energy plan so this morning I thought I'd take a look. I very much dislike some things this man has done (Swiftboat Veterans for Truth? Riiggghhtttttt ...) but I think I can forgive him after seeing this:

The United States is the Saudi Arabia of wind power.

The recent Al Gore Speech has had one great effect - widespread news, publicity for the idea, at least for a day. he made the evening national news...so far, so good. And he focussed a lot of people on the tremendous wind resource that our country just happens to have.

Somehow, some constructive and positive news about energy happened this week - and no, its not the temporary decline (by ~ 10%) in the price of crude oil. Give it time - it will bounce back, and eventually resume its upward price trajectory. First there was T. Boone Pickens' plan and his website (http://www.PickensPlan.com), and then Al Gore's speech (see previous posting). There was also Jerome a Paris' commentary and further explanation of how either plan could work (see

By now, people are quite aware that oil prices are going up and up and up (see http://www.oilnergy.com if you need convincing, especially the "Brent Crude" section for the last year and last 20 years). What follows are some thoughts on the fact that as of May 21, lots of Peak Oil Denialists finally woke up and smelled the empty gas can.

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.

Cash Crop

Cash crop, won't stop, a farmer from harvesting,

Wind crop, won't flop, for climate change is our destiny,

Farming the earth, farming the wind, what does it really mean,

To extract, an exact, amount of food and energy.

adrianakau2aol.com

Well now ... Senator Grassley and I were having a little chat after the Estherville Rotary meeting, Michael Tideman captured us together, and wrote a bit about what we do. A very nice bit of visibility, this ...