Edmonton, Alberta, Canada- A Canadian billboard advertising company has refused an already paid-for ad from Greenpeace.
In an apparent attempt to hush opposition to larger and more powerful clients, who are currently spending millions promoting dirty energy, the advertising company refused this “outrageous” billboard ad.
Yes- the Great White North (or is that now oil-spill Brown?) are bought and paid for by oil, too!
So much is being spent, even opposition as un-controversial as this is being silenced.
There have been numerous recent spills and millions being spent by the dirty energy industries in pro fracking, pro-drilling, and pro…um “pipeline-ing”- millions being spent promoting the Keystone XL
___________ (you fill in the blank)
All in the name of trying to “clean up” their images and shift grassroots, groundswell public opinion that is already swelling against them.
Feel free to fill in that blank in the comments below….
Cuomo proposed competitive bidding to attract large-scale solar projects. … NYSERDA, has set out a plan to realise Cuomo’s goal, which the authority says could bring 269 MW of solar to the state from 2012-2015, and 110 MW some time after. NYSERDA calls the plan ‘aggressive but achievable’.
To attract industry investment, the state must provide a more consistent policy for long-term growth, say solar advocates. To that end, they have been pushing for a solar feed-in tariff (FiT)
(We ask “why only Industry Investment? Why only Solar?”),
…solar renewable energy credits (SRECs), or other methods to move the industry beyond developing hundreds of megawatts of solar into thousands of megawatts.
Cuomo also is opening up new opportunity for big solar projects through his new ‘Energy Highway’ initiative to upgrade the state’s aging infrastructure. As part of the (‘Energy Highway’ ) initiative, his office issued a formal solicitation in April 2012 seeking ideas … to fix various energy problems…. so that it reaches its target of getting 30% of its electricity from renewable energy by 2015 and more beyond that. The state hopes to draw $2 billion in private investment.
The article goes on to mention our local utility LIPA’s involvement, achievement and proactive stance in delivering utility scale solar at minimal cost to ratepayers.
Now if we could just get them all to agree that homeowners, non-homeowners and the public at large should be more easily and readily able to
Sell their rooftop solar into the grid at a realistically profitable price (similar to what they pay the big corporations).
Generate more energy than they use (this is already too limited – to only 5% above use in most cases!)
Have access to participate in off-property “virtual metering”, “community” or “cooperative” projects (like community wind in Minnesota) where individuals can invest their money to generate any viable renewable energy (wind and eventually ocean/wave as well) and sell it to and through the grid. Millions of apartment dwellers can never be investors, and are relegated to be just “consumers”, never providers.
That’s not to say individuals shouldn’t do what they can with solar on their roof, but if we need more, why not pay New Yorkers for it and allow more?
News flash: it is not a free market out there. These types of projects are near impossible to do because current tax code and utility laws are set up to keep the already picked winners in their monopolized place at the top, and keep what I’d like to call “democratic energy” from expelling them from that position.
No: you cannot invest in renewable energy except through megacorporation stocks or a small generator on your property that only offsets your use.
This is the number one thing keeping renewable energy and the “green economy” in it’s so-called place. It is going to take a “green revolution” to get there.
Governor Cuomo it’s a start, but a half one at best. Why are we soliciting mega corporations, with development money that guarantees no results, This, when the average New Yorker, who would love to, cannot invest in renewable energy other than offsetting only their own household use and only on their own home, or by buying stock in, say BP, as one of the few mega companies with a dedicated solar division? That doesn’t allow New Yorkers, to do more!
That’s the question that defines All Our Energy’s entire existence.
Would you like to invest in renewable energy? Let’s find out how to do that and get things done differently, together!
As a follow up to our previous post, Global Wind Day Photo Contest, from January 20, 2012 the folks at Global Wind Day have announced the winners of their 2012 photo contest.
What a coincidence! We were just thinking about that and what a great article that would make!
Take a minute and click on that article to see the top 10 myths…
And we want to add myth number 11:
Another extremely laughable myth we have seen, even perpetuated on the renewable energy documentary “The Next Frontier: Engineering the Golden Age of Green”; otherwise one of the best we’ve ever seen, and goes basically something to the effect of :
wind turbines suck /steal all the energy out of the wind, making the wind stop – jeesh!
Rather than think this is just some anti-wind propaganda, more than likely it is the misunderstanding of the concept of wind turbulence. When that wind that has just run through a wind turbine, it creates swirling currents, just like when you stir your coffee. This takes a reasonably short distance to
dissipate (usually expressed as 5 times the size of the turbine), By then, it has fully rejoined the wind flow as it would exist, turbine or not, usable again at another turbine. Usable for any other use mother nature would otherwise have. Most assuredly, the wind would keep going because the reason for the wind has not changed: differences in temperature (gradient) and pressure create the wind. So until the air travels from a higher to a lower concentration, or something stops hot air rising, cold air falling etc, the wind will not stop.
Britain’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) are putting up a very large wind turbine (looks like 2 megawatt) right at their headquarters at their reserve (preserve) called ” the Lodge”.
It challenges the anti-renewable energy falsehoods and propaganda that keep saying, as Mr Gipe puts it so well;
“wind turbines are bird-dicing mega-machines and bird lovers oppose the use of wind energy.”
What a great way to confront this laughable(to the educated-unfortunately very infuriating for those duped by the lies), false information and fake environmentalism in the name of stopping renewables. That is finally being met head on by this British group who believe that
“As one of the UK’s leading environmental organisations, it is important that we play a pro-active role in leading action towards meeting national carbon reduction targets – particularly given our concern about the threat of climate change to birds and wildlife.”
A bold move in the right direction by the RSPB and we commend their taking the lead by example, to set and keep the record straight, and keep their cause from being hijacked.
As mentioned in our previous post Global Wind Day Photo Contest, we want to remind everyone that the date is fast approaching.
What is Global Wind Day?
Global Wind Day is a worldwide event that occurs annually on 15 June. It is a day for discovering wind, its power and the possibilities it holds to change our world.
It is also a day for discovery of the work that has already begun by pioneers around the world. In more than 75 countries around the world, wind farms are in operation, generating energy from a clean and renewable source.-GlobalWindDay.org
We hope you got your photo contest entries in on time.
Check out the Events Map where you can search for local and all other worldwide Global Wind Day events.
The nearest ones to our local area are the Greenpeace-related Energy Week Boston, MA and in Ocean City, NJ where the Sierra Club have organized a kite flying event open to all, to show the power of wind.
It’s no coincidence that these places are where offshore wind projects Cape Wind and the planned NJ offshore projects (Garden State, Fisherman’s Energy, Blue Water -plus, some are just proposals) are close to becoming a reality, and it’s on people’s minds.
Maybe next time, we’ll be holding an event ourselves! What kind of fun wind-related event would you like to be a part of? Let us know!
