US modernizes Native Indian land regulations for renewables development

The US Department of the Interior has announced the final regulations that will streamline the leasing approval process on Native Indian land for commercial development, including renewable energy projects. Currently held in trust by the federal government, the new leasing process will expedite the expansion of Native Indian land to generate investment and create jobs in their communities.

Senate gives green light to Pentagon green energy

The Senate last week gave the green light to the Pentagon's investment in green energy. By a vote of 62-37 on Wednesday, November 28, the Senate backed an amendment that would delete a provision in the defense bill prohibiting the military from spending money on alternative fuels if the cost exceeded traditional fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas and oil. The Pentagon has opposed the provision that a sharply divided Senate Armed Services Committee added in May. The Navy and Air Force have pushed to use more biofuels to operate its aircraft and ships, with military leaders suggesting a greater reliance on alternative sources in the next decade to ease dependence on foreign oil.

DOE funding decision soon on pilot wind floaters off California

A public-private group expects the US Energy Department (DOE) to decide soon on whether to provide funding to support its proposal for a pilot wind project in the Pacific Ocean off California that will demonstrate floating tension-leg turbine platform technology.

Sany Wind-Farm Company asks judge to consider Obama suit

An affiliate of Sany Group Co., China’s biggest machinery maker, urged a U.S. judge to consider its lawsuit challenging President Barack Obama’s decision to block a corporate transaction on national security grounds. Lawyers for Ralls Corp. told U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson during a hearing last week that Obama violated the company’s constitutional rights by shutting down a planned Oregon wind-farm project without explanation or any opportunity to seek to change the President’s mind.

Nonprofit sues federal agency to stop Kibby Mountain wind farm

A nonprofit organization filed a federal lawsuit last week in a last-ditch effort to prevent the planned expansion of the Kibby Mountain wind farm in northwestern Maine. The Friends of the Boundary Mountains filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Portland against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, claiming the federal agency neglected several federal laws in late September when it provided a permit to TransCanada Maine Wind Development Inc.

Fracking companies embrace solar to cut carbon emissions

The vast majority of hydraulic fracturing sites in the U.S. are powered by emissions-spewing, noisy diesel engines. So, Ron Hyden, who’s seen a lot during his four decades in the oil patch, is eager to show off something new: a machine used in fracking that relies on gravity and electricity generated from solar panels to send sand into a labyrinth of tubes before it’s shot underground to prop open tiny cracks in natural gas- or oil-bearing rock.

Just 2% of U.S. geothermal power could supply 2,500 times our energy needs

MIT estimates that just 2% of the heat below the United States at depths of 3-10 kilometers would be enough to supply 2,500 times the nation's current energy needs. The compelling part about geothermal energy is that it isn't as cost-intensive as solar or wind. It's also far more reliable - available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at consistent, predictable levels. That means more geothermal energy can be uploaded to the grid far more efficiently and on a larger scale than either solar or wind.

Large waste-to-fuel project hangs on federal subsidy renewal

A $40 million project near Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport that would convert agricultural waste such as chicken manure into natural gas, electricity and certified-organic fertilizer has run afoul of the 2013 expiration of a federal renewable-energy incentive said to be crucial to the economics of the venture. The Sonoma County Farms to Fuel Project had a green light from local government to start construction, approval for $35 million in low-interest state bond financing, a $3.37 million state matching grant and a market for about half the estimated plant revenue. But the project has been on hold for months, after it became apparent it wouldn’t be finished and on line by the end of next year, the current sunset for a federal business energy investment tax credit equal to 30 percent of project costs for renewable-energy sources.