Henry Harrell"s Blog: June 7 Green Energy News

Headline News:

Universities in the US, Germany and elsewhere are testing the Xcel Energy Colorado unveiled a power plan that it estimates could save customers $215 million, cut carbon emissions by half, and increase its renewable energy sources to 55% of its electricity portfolio by 2026, according to a filing the utility submitted to the Colorado PUC. The plan is to retire 660 MW of coal-burning power plants. [The Denver Post]

Solar array supplying power to Xcel (Denver Post file photo)

Every area of the globe has warmed since instrument records began in 1880, NASA data shows. The planet isn’t warming equally, however. The fastest temperature increases are taking place at the poles. That Arctic, for example, is warming at more than twice the rate of the rest of the globe, melting glaciers, sea ice, and permafrost. [Axios]
Research from the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Overseas Development Institute, Oil Change International, and the International Institute for Sustainable Development found that the US Government spent $26 billion in both 2015 and 2016 on support for fossil fuels. Of this, $15 billion was for production and $1 billion for exploration. [CleanTechnica]
concept of “dual use farming,” as some advocates call it, where crops grow below canopies of solar panels. They are finding they grow just fine, and in some cases, better than crops in full sun. In Minnesota, over half of solar farms built in 2016 and 2017 were dual use. [Scientific American]
The tariff on imported solar panels led US renewable energy companies to cancel or freeze investments of over $2.5 billion in large installation projects, along with thousands of jobs, the developers told Reuters. New spending plans for building or expanding US solar factories to take advantage of the tariffs came to 40% of that amount. [Reuters Africa]

Henry Harrell"s Blog