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Initiative aims to reinvent utility industry the Minnesota way
ore efficient use of energy is eroding demand. Customers want more options to manage their energy use and even generate a share of their own energy with solar arrays. Massive investments are required to maintain and improve the grid, and new environmental regulations require a continued shift to cleaner energy sources. But how the utility is facing that future, one that requires billions of dollars in capital investments at a time when sales are flat or declining, is relatively unique. [ read more … ]
German Financial Giant Allianz Reducing Coal Investments
German financial group Allianz SE says it will over the next six months decrease investments in companies using coal and boost funding on those focused on wind power.
CEO Oliver Baete said Tuesday that Allianz will no longer invest in companies if more than 30 percent of sales come from coal mining or if they generate more than 30 percent of electricity from coal. [ read more … ]
Germany enters brave new world of decentralized power
The theory of a decentralized power system — one that does not rely on standard steam-fired electric generators — has been around for a long time. But now some applications of it are coming into commercial reality. In Germany, they will most likely involve rooftop solar photovoltaics feeding battery storage systems for saving and using the power generated on-site, but it will also include a variety of other technologies such as electric heat pumps and chargeable electric vehicles. [ read more … ]
Buffett’s Grandson Seeks Own Investment Route: Social Change
“Howard is on a search to find where he can have the most impact,” said William B. Eimicke, a professor at Columbia University who taught Mr. Buffett, and now teaches a class jointly with him. “This is an actualization of where he’s been focused.” For Mr. Buffett, the hope is that i(x) will essentially become a baby Berkshire Hathaway with a conscience. “We’re looking at the long-term horizon and investments that are doing more than avoiding bad, but are actually trying to improve the world,” Mr. Buffett said. “It’s about taking the potential for capitalism to the next level.” [ read more … ]
Massive waves, howling winds test turbines in ‘mini ocean’
The University of Maine is opening a first-of-its-kind “miniature ocean” today that can demonstrate how everything from floating wind turbines to coastal cities may react to “some of the worst storms possible anywhere on Earth.” The impetus for the $13.8 million project — which involves a massive wave pool tied to a rotating wind machine — is to accelerate the development of renewable ocean energy technologies like offshore wind and tidal devices, said Habib Dagher, director of the university’s Advanced Structures & Composites Center in Orono, Maine, which will operate the new Harold Alfond W² Ocean Engineering Lab. It also can prepare local communities for more intense storms associated with climate change by simulating future conditions, he said. [ read more … ]
Opinion: Iowa’s Climate-Change Wisdom
But here’s the catch: Even if every coal-fired plant shuts down, land misuse still accounts for an estimated 30 percent of the world’s carbon emissions. The soils in the United States, like those of nations around the world, have lost calamitous amounts of carbon. This is where Iowa’s new climate narrative has emerged as a great story for the nation and other countries heading to Paris. Despite the fact that the United Nations General Assembly declared 2015 to be “the international year of soils,” a global soil carbon sequestration campaign — one that recognizes direct links between climate mitigation, regenerative agriculture and food security — rarely ranks at the top of any high level accords, or even conversations. [ read more … ]
U.S. must be candid about hurdles facing Obama agenda — AGs
U.S. negotiators must make clear to the international community that the centerpiece of the Obama administration’s domestic climate agenda is “unlikely to survive” court challenges, two attorneys general who are opposing the rule said. In a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey (R) and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) said they expected their many legal arguments against the Clean Power Plan — including that it gives U.S. EPA too much authority over the nation’s energy policy — to win in court. [ read more … ]
Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.