Archive | Americas

RSS feed for this section
Hurricane Sandy damage in New York (Creative Commons)

Can New York’s Electricity Market Rules Change the World?

Can electricity market rules deliver technical innovation, environmental pollution reductions, and social benefits – while reducing the cost of electricity? Those are some of the rather ambitious aims of New York State’s “Reforming the Energy Vision” policy package. The Brooklyn-Queens Demand Management Program will be the first attempt to put their ambitions to the test. […]

Read full story
09_05_micem_b

Safe Electrification of Argentina’s Poorest Homes

A compact, safe and quick-installation system for the electrification of slum dwellings has been developed in Argentina. Professionals from a number of Argentinian electrical associations and standards organisations came together to develop MICEM (‘Módulos de Instalación Concentrada de Electrificación Mínima’) which translates as ‘Compact Installation Modules for Minimal Electrification’. The project included the design of […]

Read full story
Cape Wind will be America's first offshore wind farm - Photo: John Nyberg/stckxchng

U.S. Offshore Wind Turbines Now a Near-Certainty

The installation of more than 100 wind turbines off the coast of the United States is now a near certainty. The first power is expected to flow from the turbines during 2013. Cape Wind Associates plan to build 130 wind turbines with a generation capacity of 420 MW near the island of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, […]

Read full story
Argentina has huge resources of wind power - photo: Enrique Botta/stckxchng

Argentina’s Wind Power Balancing Act

Argentinians have been purchasing fossil fuels for electricity generation at prices that are well in excess of the cost of wind power. The country has massive wind power potential. The problem has been accessing the capital needed to exploit that potential. The China Development Bank Corporation has agreed to provide Grupo Isolux Corsan SA project […]

Read full story
The aftermath of Superstorm Sandy

The Fight Against Climate Change Must be Obama’s Legacy

On Tuesday last week the earth breathed a sigh of relief as Barack Obama was re-elected as President of the USA. Although the popular vote – if not the final electoral college result – was close in America; the overwhelming majority of the rest of the World was supporting Obama. A BBC poll in 21 […]

Read full story
Barack Obama - Photo: BeckyF/Flickr

Why it’s best that Obama and Romney don’t mention Climate Change

The second American presidential debate took place on Tuesday and the general consensus was that Barack Obama had the better of it, reversing the damage to his campaign from his lacklustre performance in the first. In a debate described as ‘combative’ and ‘feisty’ one of the key exchanges was on energy policy. Over twelve minutes […]

Read full story
Photo: - scazon

Policy Patchwork for Renewable Energy in Canada

The phrase ‘renewable energy in Canada’ makes no sense. “Canada is a confederation and not a federation. And that distinction is really important for understanding how energy flows – it doesn’t matter whether that is electricity, gas or oil,” says Professor Michal Moore from the Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy at the University […]

Read full story
Uruguay flag - stckxchng

Wind Is The Cheapest Power Source in Uruguay

Wind Is The Cheapest Power Source in Uruguay. Uruguay’s state utility UTE is purchasing wind-generated electricity at less than half the price per MW hour that it pays for power generated from fossil fuels. The average winning price in a recent Uruguayan auction for three 50MW wind power projects was US $63.70 per MWh. The cost […]

Read full story
Rio de Janeiro in Brazil - Photo: Ruy Alexandre/stckxchng

Wind Power in Brazil is Cheaper than Gas

Wind power in Brazil can compete directly with natural gas and the price of Brazilian wind projects is showing a steady downward trajectory, according to Mauricio Tolmasquim, president of EPE, the Brazilian national energy agency. In August EPE had announced the winning bid prices in an auction to provide 1.5GW of wind capacity to come […]

Read full story