Good news and bad news in the wind world this month

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Excerpt: Let’s start with the good news. An extension to the Production Tax Credit (PTC) has found bipartisan support in Congress. Recent news tells of Democrat and Republican Congressmen from wind states Washington and Iowa recommending an extension of the PTC. Others on both sides of the aisle feel the s …

Quantifying the cost obstacles for windpower (and solar)

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Excerpt: The low cost of natural gas gets frequent mention in reports and releases because the fuel brings a new low price to the production of electricity. Bloomberg Energy (Bloomberg.com/energy/) tracks the cost for fuels, and on May 2, posted a price of about $2.28/million Btus. What are the implicati …

Finally, we have bipartisan support!

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Excerpt: In some of my past show recaps, you'll sense my frustration with the dissent between parties over renewable energy decisions—particularly the PTC. One former member of FERC noted at a recent wind event that Democrats and Republicans used to agree on clean-energy policy until, basically, Solyndra. …

Dallas O&M Conference Recap

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Excerpt: I don't always get a chance to do much site seeing at these shows, but I did get to see a fair share of Dallas while here for Wind Energy Update's O&M Summit. On the way to my hotel, the taxi driver informed me that this was where Kennedy was shot (I know, but give me a break. It was before my t …

A Recap of ABB’s Automation and Power World 2012

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Excerpt: I learned something new today. The George Brown Convention Center in Houston is huge! Seriously, it's ginormous. I know this because I practically walked the entire two miles around the whole thing looking for the door. Once I approached the loading center, I figured it was time to ask for help. Sho …

Lessons in leadership

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Excerpt: In 1968, an impressionable Air Force sergeant waited at a short, hilltop airstrip in South Vietnam for a lift to the rear area. In early afternoon, an Army Buffalo–a small twin engine cargo plane–landed and unloaded a few things. The pilot got out through a top hatch, stood on the wing, look …

Who’s winning the clean energy race?

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Excerpt: It's a fact: clean energy investment growth is a direct result of clean energy policies. PEW Environment Group's recent report "Who's Winning the Clean Energy Race? 2011 Edition" shows which countries are competeing to become leader of the clean energy sector.  The group has put this information …

AWEA Seminar: Financing, Investment and My First Time in NY

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Excerpt: I spent four months in Ireland in college. The local girls there weren't so familiar with Ohio (they asked if it was close to where Paris Hilton lived), but they had been to New York. I'd traveled my way around Paris, London, Berlin and more, but I could not say the same. Four years later, I know I' …

Wind innovations of the future

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Excerpt: I found this article on the future of wind on Treehugger.com. It features nine designs for wind turbines of the future. The designs include airborne turbines, turbines for low wind-speed sites, bladeless wind power (we've featured this Windstalk before!), wind turbine lenses, vertical axis turbines …

Lessons in leadership

Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: In 1968, an impressionable Air Force sergeant waited at a short, hilltop airstrip in South Vietnam for a lift to the rear area. In early afternoon, an Army Buffalo–a small twin engine cargo plane–landed and unloaded a few things. The pilot got out through a top hatch, stood on the wing, looked a …