Recent News Stories

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May 7, 2013 How to Power the World without Fossil Fuels

Mark Jacobson says he can run the planet solely on wind, water and solar energy. First stop: New York State

Three times now, Mark Jacobson has gone out on the same limb. In 2009 he and co-author Mark Delucchi published a cover story in Scientific American that showed how the entire world could get all of its energy—fuel as well as electricity—from wind, water and solar sources by 2030. No coal or oil, no nuclear or natural gas. The tale sounded infeasible—except that Jacobson, from Stanford University, and Delucchi, from the University of California, Davis, calculated just how many hydroelectric dams, wave-energy systems, wind turbines, solar power plants and rooftop photovoltaic installations the world would need to run itself completely on renewable energy.

The article sparked a spirited debate on our Web site, and it also sparked a larger debate between forward-looking energy planners and those who would rather preserve the status quo. The duo went on to publish a detailed study in the journalEnergy Policy that also called out numbers for a U.S. strategy.

http://salem.patch.com/articles/planning-board-gets-first-crack-at-footprint-power-plans

May 3, 2013Planning Board Reviews Footprint Power Plans

The Planning Board reviewed Footprint Power's plan to convert the Salem Harbor Power Stationinto a state-of-the-art natural gas plant during a public hearing Thursday night that drew a small crowd of area residents to Bentley Elementary School.

Throughout the nearly three-hour meeting, Footprint representatives took turns explaining how the natural gas plant, which is slated to replace the current coal-fired facility, will be smaller, cleaner — and much better looking.

Rather than vote Thursday, board members opted to revisit Footprint's three permit applications at their next meeting on May 16.

Before the meeting was opened up for discussion, Footprint Power CEO Peter Furniss and other company representatives guided the roughly 75 area residents in attendance through a brief Powerpoint presentation.

April 25, 2013 US EPA to propose rules on wastewater from power plants

Burning coal in a power plant creates byproducts called fly ash and bottom ash. That ash contains a lot of bad stuff - mercury, lead, arsenic, to name a few.

While some plants ship the dry ash to landfills that accept hazardous materials, others mix the ash with water to make a slurry, which is moved into holding ponds.

Eventually, the water in those ponds is released into the nearest waterway.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency acknowledges that the slurries from coal-fired plants account for more than half the toxic pollutants dumped into U.S. waters by regulated industries.

Now, after being sued by two environmental groups over the issue, the agency is preparing to set the first-ever federal limits on toxic metals in wastewater from coal-fired power plants.