Renewable Energy

Max Eliot stopped just inside the door at the state’s new Wind Technology Testing Center in Charlestown, eyes wide at the nearly 160-foot fiberglass blade bolted to a far wall, left hand tight around a set of model wind blades he made for his sixth-grade graduation project. Overhead, a large blade from Clipper Windpower of California undulated as workers in a control room used remote controls to replicate the stress a working turbine would endure in its lifetime. It’s here that turbine manufacturers like Clipper, or blade makers like TPI Composites in Fall River, send the blades they have...

China's government on Friday rejected a U.S. antidumping ruling against its makers of solar power equipment and Chinese manufacturers warned possible higher tariffs might hurt efforts to promote clean energy. The conflict has worsened U.S.-Chinese trade tensions. The two governments have pledged to cooperate in developing renewable energy but accuse each other of violating free-trade pledges by subsidizing their own manufacturers. "The U.S. ruling is unfair, and the Chinese side expresses its extreme dissatisfaction," said a Commerce Ministry spokesman, Shen Danyang, in a statement.

WESTFORD — The first visitors to New England's largest privately owned solar energy park nearly missed it. Nestled on a plateau more than half a mile from the road, the state-of-the-art array is hidden from view, surrounded by woods at the edge of the old Fletcher Quarry. Restless after a long bus ride from Cambridge, the fifth-grade students from Shady Hill School were eager to see firsthand how the sun's energy was being harnessed. But the meeting proved elusive. There was no sign marking the site of the Westford Solar Park.

The fifth annual Living Green Renewable Energy Fair will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday in and around Old Town Hall, in Derby Square. Organized by the Salem Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with the city's Renewable Energy Task Force, the fair will feature about 40 vendor booths with information on green products, services, and healthy environmental practices. The Salem Beautification Committee will hold a plant sale fund-raiser where fairgoers can purchase an assortment of home-grown perennials, a variety of annuals, and a selection of hanging baskets.

Four years after Governor Deval Patrick announced ambitious plans to blunt the impact of global warming, the state is falling behind in its efforts to reduce emissions of gases that trap heat in the atmosphere, according to the first comprehensive review of the administration's climate change goals. The report by MassINC, a nonprofit, independent think tank in Boston, found that the state is not on track to meet its interim goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions to 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.

President Obama's campaign and a super PAC supporting his reelection began blitzing swing states this week with television advertisements depicting the president as a champion of green energy and Mitt Romney as a pawn of big oil companies. The attack against Romney is a return-fire to the Republican front-runner's charge that Obama is overly focused on renewable resources, deliberately driving up gas prices, and delaying projects like the Keystone XL Pipeline. But an examination of the two men's records reveals that Obama and Romney are hardly at opposite ends of the energy policy...

WASHINGTON -- House Democrats in the first weeks of the new Congress plan to establish a dedicated fund to promote renewable energy and conservation, using money from oil companies. That's only one legislative hit the oil industry is expected to take next year as a Congress run by Democrats is likely to show little sympathy for the cash-rich, high-profile business. Whether the issue is rolling back tax breaks -- some approved by Congress only 18 months ago -- pushing for more use of ethanol and other biofuels instead of gasoline, or...

WASHINGTON - Senate majority leader Harry Reid has found a refuge in the nation's preoccupation with record energy prices. While the push by President Bush and congressional Republicans for more oil drilling is resonating with voters, the Nevada Democrat is focused on solar and other renewable energy sources, which happen to be more abundant in his home state than almost anywhere else in the country. At some political risk for the gold miner's son, Reid also is leading the opposition to new coal-burning power plants planned for Nevada, where unions and the...

For people like Ronald Cascio, who fuels his pickup with a soybean oil derivative, and J.D. Doliner, whose home is partly solar powered, the high price of energy isn't a worry. That doesn't mean their renewable energy preferences come cheap. In fact, it requires an extra financial commitment to wean one's home or vehicle off fossil fuels. Nonetheless, a growing number of Americans are embracing cleaner technologies and more energy-efficient lifestyles. It makes them feel good and, depending on how high prices rise for traditional energy sources, they say renewables might...

REYNOLDS, Ind. -- This farming hamlet is aiming to generate its own electricity and natural gas, using everything from municipal trash to farm waste, hog manure, and even town sewage. If the experiment works, Reynolds and its 500 residents will be the nation's first community to use renewable resources to meet the energy needs of all their homes and businesses. Dubbed Biotown USA, the project is the brainchild of Indiana's Department of Agriculture. State officials hope to break ground in November on a $10 million "technology suite," a privately funded center that will...

WESTFORD — The first visitors to New England's largest privately owned solar energy park nearly missed it. Nestled on a plateau more than half a mile from the road, the state-of-the-art array is hidden from view, surrounded by woods at the edge of the old Fletcher Quarry. Restless after a long bus ride from Cambridge, the fifth-grade students from Shady Hill School were eager to see firsthand how the sun's energy was being harnessed. But the meeting proved elusive. There was no sign marking the site of the Westford Solar Park.

A longtime Interior Department official who has headed the Bureau of Land Management for the past three years, Bob Abbey, is retiring. The 60-year-old Abbey has directed the land management agency since 2009, sharply increasing its focus on renewable energy, along with its traditional duties of managing oil and gas leases on federal lands, mostly in the West. A former Nevada state director for the land management agency, Abbey oversaw approval of 29 large-scale renewable energy projects, including 16 solar farms.

The state's highest court has rejected a bid by the owner of a beachfront property on Martha's Vineyard to intervene in the state's approval of the Cape Wind project's deal to sell electricity to National Grid. Thomas Melone argued that Cape Wind's giant wind turbine farm would have "adverse effects" on him. He said it would alter the view from his property, diminish its value, and that oil or other contaminants could find their way to his property. But the Supreme Judicial Court said today that that didn't give Melone the right to challenge...

By Deirdre Fernandes, Globe Staff Newton is poised to become the first municipality in the state to buy all its electricity from renewable sources, Mayor Setti Warren announced Tuesday. Starting on July 1, city buildings, schools and streetlights will all be illuminated by electricity generated by such sources as wind and solar power. "We're really proud of this accomplishment," Warren said. "It's part of our overall effort in the City of Newton. " Cities and local governments have a leading role to play in pushing for a more...

The Fukushima crisis is eroding years of Japanese efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming, as power plants running on oil and natural gas fill the electricity gap left by now-shuttered nuclear reactors. Before last year's devastating tsunami triggered meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, Japan had planned to meet its carbon emissions reduction targets on the assumption that it would rely on nuclear power, long considered a steady, low-emissions source of energy.

A deplorable feature of today's public discourse on issues is that too many proponents and opponents support their positions with falsehoods. The April 19 Globe included a letter from Cindy Luppi of Clean Water Action ("Many joining to build infrastructure for clean energy"), which claimed that a renewable energy standard of 25 percent would deliver $263 billion in new investment and nearly 300,000 jobs, and save consumers $95 billion on utility bills by 2030. But as for the first two — investment and jobs — I am skeptical.

A Vermont renewable energy industry group is calling for the state to expand the amount of power Vermont gets from generators paid above-market prices set by the state. But other business groups say they worry that expanding the state's so-called standard offer program will drive up electric rates. Renewable Energy Vermont's Gabrielle Stebbins says standard offer rates help promote growth in the industry, reducing Vermont's reliance on imported oil and creating jobs in the state.

A coalition that's pushing for a referendum to set a state minimum for renewable energy fell short of the voters' signatures needed by Monday's deadline to force a November vote. While Maine Citizens for Clean Energy missed the deadline to file the petitions with state election officials, the group promised to continue to gather signatures in hopes of sending a ballot initiative to voters next year. At least 57,277 voters' signatures must be certified to put the proposal on the ballot.