Two authors, with very different styles, approaches and opinions, write books about oil and our energy future. Reading them together, it is easy to imagine a provocative and enlightening panel with the two authors. But the real takeaway are the points on which they both come to very similar conclusions. Kenneth Deffeyes, the author of [...]
There is general agreement that, below a certain size, the transaction costs of a renewable energy project become prohibitive relative to the scale of the benefits. Typical transaction costs include the time and cost involved in: The many legal documents and agreements – land leases, power purchase agreements, financing, agreements among partners and owners, construction [...]
What’s next in the fight for a comprehensive federal policy on energy and climate change? After the US Senate’s abject failure to even take up, let alone pass, a version of legislation for which the House had already done the heavy lifting, some are tempted to give up, to assume that nothing can happen for [...]
Hovering in the background of several current energy and sustainability-related news stories is the question of tax breaks and subsidies for energy. In the wake of the BP oil spill disaster, the Senate Finance Committee will discuss a possible rollback of oil and gas tax incentives, partly to fund clean energy incentives and job creation. [...]
Massachusetts’ largest wind power installation to date began operating in Princeton in December 2009. Two 1.5 MW Fuhrlander wind turbines were installed by the municipal utility in Princeton, MA, the Princeton Municipal Light Department in a partnership with the Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company. The turbines are expected to produce about 40% of the [...]
A 1.65 MW Vestas V-82 wind turbine installed at the Falmouth Wastewater Treatment Plant was dedicated on January 16, 2010. The installation is part of a Massachusetts energy management pilot program for wastewater and drinking water treatment and pumping facilities. The plant treats just under 400,000 gallons of water per day. In 2007, the facility [...]
The Massachusetts DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) has a state-wide energy management pilot program underway to reduce the energy use and greenhouse gas emissions of drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities. Initiated in December 2007, the program’s intent is to reduce the energy use and greenhouse gas emissions of the facilities by 20%. The energy [...]
2 600kW wind turbines were installed at the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority’s Deer Island facility in August, 2009. The 2 turbines are expected to generate 2 million kWh of electricity each year, a savings of about $250,000 to the MWRA ratepayers. Water treatment, especially on the scale of Deer Island, is a hugely resource intensive [...]
A 1.5 MW Fuhrlander FL-1500 wind turbine was dedicated at the Massachusetts Military Reservation on Cape Cod in early November, 2009. It is the 2nd largest wind turbine installed in Massachusetts, and the largest installed since 2007. (A 1.65 MW turbine is coming on line in Falmouth shortly.) The turbine was installed to reduce the [...]
