Henry Harrell"s Blog: September 16 Green Energy News

Headline News:

“What can Kodiak teach the world about renewable energy? A lot.” • Since 2007, Kodiak Island has transformed its grid so that it now generates almost 100% of its power with renewable energy. The electric rates are stable and have actually dropped slightly since 2000. It is a model with lessons for remote communities from the Arctic to the equator. [KTOO]

Wind turbines on Kodiak Island (Photo: Eric Keto | Alaska’s Energy Desk)

MetStat is a company that provides analysis on precipitation and weather event frequency to industries like utility companies that need to know where to put their infrastructure so it won’t be damaged by extreme weather events. It has now released an analysis of Hurricane Harvey. It found that the storm was a once in 25,000 year event. [CleanTechnica]
“Sachs: Big Oil will have to pay up, like Big Tobacco” • Here is a message to investors in the oil industry, whether pension and insurance funds, university endowments, hedge funds or other asset managers: Your investments are going to sour. The growing devastation caused by climate change is going to blow a hole in your fossil-fuel portfolio. [CNN]
A report from Carbon Tracker concluded that phasing out unprofitable coal plants in the United States could end up saving consumers $10 billion per year by 2021, while boosting the country’s competitiveness. It said that by the mid-2020s it will be cheaper to replace 78% of the existing coal power plants in the US than keep them running. [CleanTechnica]
Hurricane Irma cut the power to about 6.7 million customers across Florida, and though about two-thirds of them had power back by Thursday, the outages could last weeks in some areas. Some homeowners, some businesses, and even some cities were able to take advantage of the Sunshine State’s solar power while the grid was down. [InsideClimate News]

Henry Harrell"s Blog