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Germany set another record with renewable energy. A new report by the German Association of Energy and Water Industries BDEW highlights, in the first half of 2011, renewables accounted for fully 20.8 percent of power production, as Der Spiegel reports.Throughout the past decade, Germany has fundamentally transformed the way it produces electricity. The country increased its share of renewable electricity from 5 percent in 2000 to 18 percent in 2010. Over time, Germany has consistently met its legislated targets ahead of schedule, and appears poised to outdo itself again in the next years. The goal by the current center-right government of Chancellor Angela Merkel is to draw at least 35 percent of production from renewables by 2020. The opposition parties claim that 40 percent or even more is realistic.Today, wind and biomass are the pillars of Germany’s renewable sector. The main driver of the 2011 development, however, has been photovoltaic — in a country that is as sunny as the state of Alaska. Reports Der Spiegel:
via Germany sets renewables record | Grist.
Wikio
In a call to arms this afternoon at the National Clean Energy Summit, Vice President Joe Biden made the case for continued investments in renewable energy, explaining that “we have to unleash” innovation in the sector to stay competitive and rise to the environmental and economic challenges of the day.
“If we don’t develop renewable energy, we will make the biggest mistake in this nation’s history,” he explained a crowd of over 700 policymakers, investors, students and other business professionals in Las Vegas.
He also criticized political opponents of clean energy investments who have fought to de-fund major R&D and deployment programs, explaining “the President and I are not going to listen to those voices.”
Biden did not lay out any new policy priorities in today’s speech. Instead, he used the platform to reiterate the Obama Administration’s support for investing in renewable electricity and fuels. In his January State of the Union Address, Obama called this period of history “our generation’s Sputnik moment,” and outlined a broad plan to get 80% of the nation’s energy from clean resources by 2035.
With the potential for significant reductions in long-term spending on certain energy programs, the Administration may find it [...]
Corrections and Apologies: To the single Serbo-Croation living in Putnam County, I apologize publicly for not having made an ethnic joke about you but to be honest I can’t think of one. But if you’re willing to send one along I promise to work it into a future column the very next time I discuss using šljivovica as a massage lotion. [...]
I’ve been covering stories on energy conservation for the past ten years and during the past two covering what little we were doing in Putnam County along those lines. There has been a commission, once headed by Vinnie Tamagna where nothing got done other than to play politics, and then by Tony Fusco where a great deal was accomplished, gathering the information the county would need in order to move forward with energy – and money-saving conservation practices and programs. However, the commission was never allowed to implement ideas nor even to see information allegedly gathered by the county on energy use. We were told the county had an energy audit performed but was forbidden from viewing that information. Why? [...]
In a recent Iona College poll commissioned by the right-leaning Westchester County Association, 78% of Republicans (vs 50% of Democrats) said that Albany was so dysfunctional that all incumbents should be voted out of office. Yet, nearly half of the same voters said they were favoring Greg Ball in the upcoming election. Of course, none of that makes sense so I’m asking my Republican readers, if you’re so dead-set against Albany incumbents, why are you supporting one? Write and tell us why. We really need to figure this out. [...]
“These are the marks of a great society, not the flag-waving jingoism of thousands of people on the Mall in Washington, D.C. bemoaning a nation that never was and desiring a nation that was never meant to be.” [...]
Tea Bagger’s, egged on by Sarah Palin, are increasingly pressuring the “Liberal” media. WHAT LIBERAL MEDIA IS SHE REFERRING TO? News That Matters? Because, folks, I’m it. She says there’s a ‘sickness and darkness’ about me but we’ve never even met and I know she’s not a subscriber. [...]
Greg Ball made the news again this week as a week without the Ballster in the news is NOT like waking up in the middle of a root canal. This time he’s claiming that the nominating conventions for his state senate race were “illegal”. What galls the Ball is that he didn’t win. In fact, he lost by a long shot. He does plan a primary race against Mary Beth Murphy assuming he can muster enough support to get on the ballot. So look for a cast of characters from out-of-town going door-to-door seeking your signatures for his petitions. Do we smell the final end of his political career? [...]
In the meantime, the Ballster’s State Senate campaign website claims he’s a champion of woman’s rights. I’m assuming he means the right to remain barefoot, the right to remain pregnant and the right to remain in the kitchen, but not the right to be barefoot and pregnant and milking goats in the barn. [...]
Weather for this weekend is a mixed bag. Nice today, a little rain possible for tomorrow morning and Sunday will be cool, cloudy and windy. But hey, that’s spring! So, what to do? Get on the outside of things anyway. Take a hike. Work in the garden. Read the Sunday NY Times in a sheltered spot and don’t come in until you’re done. In any other words: stay away from anything with a cathode ray tube. Everyone knows that watching television on weekends is the leading cause of brain tumors, blindness, halitosis and hemorrhoids. [...]
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