NW Energy Coalition – For a clean and affordable energy future

Washington’s Clean Energy Initiative (also know as I-937) was passed by voters in November 2006 and requires the state’s major electric utilities to gradually increase the amount of new renewable resources in their electricity supply to 15% by 2020.

Since 2006, The Clean Energy Initiative has generated about $7.5 billion in renewable energy investments in this state, especially in our struggling rural communities, and all-time-record efficiency savings for energy consumers. More investments, more savings and more jobs will come to us as long as we keep the pathway open…

If things continue as they are now, a new report concludes, by 2050 the Western states will be using a lot more coal-fired power and natural gas than they would if companies invested the same amount of money in renewables, energy conservation and a more flexible grid.

Read the full article online at Oregon Public Broadcasting.

A group of salmon advocates is siding with wind developers in their battle against system operator Bonneville Power Administration (BPA).

High seasonal river flows resulting from runoff from large snowpacks caused an overabundance of hydropower and left no room on the grid to accommodate wind power. This led the BPA to curtail wind production this spring, which angered wind developers and prompted them to file a complaint with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERCFederal Energy Regulatory Commission (U.S. DOE)) in June.

Read the full article online.

This entry is part of a series, click to view more articles > The Energy Activist – Summer 2011» If you care about creating jobs – as virtually all political and opinion leaders say they do – then you enthusiastically endorse full development of our energy efficiency and renewable energy potential. “The notion that we [...]

Amory Lovins, Chairman and Chief Scientist of Rocky Mountain Institute, highlights why efficiency and renewables such as wind and solar will better meet the world’s energy needs than nuclear power.

Wind turbines in the Bonneville Power Administration’s transmission grid generated over 3,000 megawatts for the first time yesterday, producing enough electricity to serve a city three times the size of Seattle for an hour…

Wind farm developers may be cheered by the results from a new public radio poll. It found broad support for wind energy among both urban and rural Northwest residents. The finding comes amidst nagging opposition to some new wind farms from upset neighbors. The opinion survey was a collaboration of the Northwest Health Foundation, the polling firm Davis, Hibbitts and Midghall and public radio stations across the Northwest.

Coalition Senior Policy Associate Steve Weiss is quoted in today’s New York Times article on the challenges of using smart grid technology to balance the Northwest’s huge base of hydroelectric power with its fast-expanding collection of wind farms.

Read the full article at The New York Times

Complaints about the supposedly high costs of renewable energy by political pundits and candidates around the state are vastly misleading and need correction. In an Oct. 11 Missoulian story, Public Service Commission candidate Bill Gallagher is quoted as saying that renewable energy in Montana has raised electricity rates “without generating any real benefits.” Meanwhile, PSC candidate Travis Kavulla claims that renewable energy requirements for our utilities are “going to add costs to the consumer without adding any real value for them.” Let’s set the record straight…

Read the full Op-Ed online at The Missoulian.

The Interior Department approved the first solar projects on public land Tuesday, a move aimed at shifting the type of energy development on federal property in the years to come.

The two ventures greenlighted in the California desert — the Imperial Valley and Chevron Lucerne Valley solar projects — could provide energy for hundreds of thousands of homes, though neither would start generating electricity for more than a year, at the earliest…