The growth in renewable energy has been in the news quite a bit lately, and the expansion of wind energy has gotten some attention in
Minnesota's own Star Tribune. More growth is expected in the wind industry thanks to a recent 5-year extension of federal tax credits. Xcel Energy is the nation's leading wind-power utility (if only nearly all of the rest of their energy didn't come from coal...).
Xcel customers, did you know that you can pay a little extra each month to
get some or all of your energy from wind power?? Get more information
here.
More good news - apparently low prices for bitumen (a heavy type of oil) may cause producing the bitumen to cost more than it can be sold for. If this happens,
oilsands producers may have to cut production!
Lastly, the U.S. Senate has started debating the first comprehensive energy bill since 2007. According to
the New York Times, the bill has some benefits for the fossil fuel industry but would also help renewable energy producers and programs to improve energy efficiency. Look for more on this debate process in the coming weeks!
Paying extra for renewable energy has plusses and minuses. This Grist article explains how it works and touts the benefits (http://grist.org/climate-energy/are-renewable-energy-certificates-a-scam/). But there are problems, too. For one thing, this kind of program relies on high voltage power lines criss-crossing the country side. These lines are vulnerable to weather or vandalism. Some studies show that they cause adverse health effects. They certainly make you feel like you are living in some industrial dysotpia like Blade Runner, the power companies use them to generate a guaranteed rate of return (used to be 12% but it may be a bit lower now), and they are used by utilities to continue raising prices. The NoCapX2020 folks have covered all the arguments (http://nocapx2020.info/). For another things, these "buy renewable" programs do nothing to encourage individual states and regions to build their (our) own renewable infrastructure. So, we can buy wind power from North Dakota (or coal power - all electrons look alike) but that doesn't encourage La Crosse to put more solar panels over parking lots or on school roofs or try wave generation in the river or put wind turbines on the bluffs. In addition, as this article (http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/qa-alecs-new-tactics-to-weaken-renewable-laws) points out, if a state has Renewable Portfolio Standards (x% must be produced from renewable sources) but then allows unlimited use of Renewable Energy Credits (what you get when you buy renewable wind power from in or out of state sources), it undercuts one of the major goals of RPS - to switch energy generation in a state from dirty to clean sources. So, it's not necessarily a bad thing to pay extra for clean energy, but just be aware that it may in fact be undercutting incentives for our communities and states to build their own renewable power generation capacity (which also serves to keep energy dollars in the community).
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