In Boulder, Colorado, a city known for its entrepreneurial spirit, environmental enthusiasm, and “go local” attitude, the government has turned its attention to going local in energy. Since the city let its 20-year franchise agreement with the incumbent utility, Xcel Energy, expire without renewal, we are in the midst of (more…)

Few places in the U.S. are as well suited to developing renewable energy as the contaminated sites known as “brownfields.” But as communities from Philadelphia to California are discovering, government support is critical to enable solar and wind entrepreneurs to make use of these abandoned lands. (more…)

Whenever I’m at a party and someone hears that I work at a utility they usually begin grilling me on wind. Why doesn’t it make up a bigger portion of our energy mix? Why aren’t we doing more? Don’t you guys care about the environment? Whoah! By this time I feel like I’m in the ring with Mike Tyson during his prime. (more…)

Wind energy has been a highly attractive form of renewable energy that is free and easy to harness. Large scale utilization of wind energy will greatly reduce global warming as well as climate change. Many countries around the world are implementing wind initiatives and programs, in an effort to decrease (more…)

Three years after unveiling his plan for U.S. energy independence, which won praise from environmentalists for its reliance on wind power, Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens is back with a proposal to convert the U.S. trucking fleet to natural gas. But as his new plan gains traction, questions arise over how green it really is.

Remember the Pickens Plan? (more…)

In a report issued by Clean Edge, Inc. on March 14th, combined revenue for solar, and wind power, along with biofuels, increased 35.2 percent over the last year, leaping from $139.1 billion to 188.1 billion. And in the ten years since the market research firm specializing in the clean tech sector has been releasing annual industry reports, solar power alone has exceeded (more…)

I’ve added a hot new business plan to the list I’m now featuring. I spoke yesterday with Joe Speace, CEO of “Project Renewable Energy” near Kansas City, whose raising capital for a wind farm that will feature compressed air energy storage (CAES). This looks quite strong.

Storage will be a big deal soon, as the (more…)

It may seem like wind farms are a relatively new form of green technology, but they have actually been around for years—decades, even.

In fact, the UK’s first commercial wind farm, located at Delabole in Cornwall, celebrated its 20-year anniversary with a multimillion-pound renovation. Delabole (more…)

How great is it when one good thing creates a bunch of other good things? According to national averages provided by the American Wind Energy Association, the 201-megawatt Nobles Wind Farm in southeastern Minnesota created approximately:

• 200 construction jobs (more…)

France will soon join other European countries like England, Scotland, and Denmark in generating electricity from offshore wind projects free from the environmental impacts associated with carbon or nuclear energy. This week French officials are announcing a plan to install six hundred wind turbines capable of producing 3,000 megawatts of energy. (more…)