ENERGY - Archive - Independence Institute

Salazar approved solar project a bust 0
- October 2, 2011
Almost a year ago to the day the Department of Interior issued a press release boasting that Secretary Ken Salazar had “approved the first large-scale solar energy plants ever to be built on public lands.” As with Obama administration renewable energy initiatives, there were the promises of massive amounts of electrical power and “green jobs.”
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NREL: Big Green Empire 0
- September 30, 2011
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) located in beautiful Golden, Colorado, is the federal government’s primary research facility for renewable energy for the Department of Energy (DOE). According to its Web site, NREL has enjoyed an enormous budget increase over the last two years. As the economy slowed in 2007, NREL saw its budget decrease
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Mining for green jobs 0
- September 30, 2011
Another day, another story about a solar company moving part of its operation to China. This time it’s Advanced Energy in Fort Collins, which will lay off 5 percent of its labor force and move “more of its manufacturing to China as it works to increase profitability,” according to the Coloradoan. Advanced Energy was one
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Abound Solar's connections to $400 million 0
- September 25, 2011
This column appeared originally on Townhall Finance. Crony capitalism Abound: anatomy of a taxpayer-guaranteed loan By Amy Oliver Cooke By now it’s obvious that the Solyndra scandal never should have happened. It’s not even a case of Monday morning quarterbacking. A number of people involved could see the disaster coming. There is a larger principle
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Boulder's ballot measures won't stop global warming 0
- September 23, 2011
Bummer for Boulder — the city’s ballot measures likely won’t have any impact on global warming. Supporters of 2B and 2C hope that they can reduce the city’s carbon emissions and thus help save the planet by establishing a municipal utility that generates power from a combination of renewables and natural gas. But these efforts
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Boulder's Utopian Utility Effect 0
- September 22, 2011
Utopian Utility Effect (UUE): a romanticized perception that a group, such as a municipality, can provide reliable, reasonably priced, global warming-friendly electricity more efficiently than its current power provider. Specifically for supporters of 2B and 2C, Boulder’s ballot measures to form its own utility, UUE seems to mean, “a local energy utility can reduce our carbon
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