July 23, 2012

Wind, solar subsidy in Mass. set for review
Boston Globe-The array of solar panels recently installed on Ian Bowles's slate roof in Jamaica Plain should pay off for him in less than a decade, but the green power the state's former top environmental official generates may cost other utility customers for many more years. Massachusetts now generates enough wind and solar energy to power 38,000 homes. It produces 118 megawatts of solar energy, up from 3 megawatts in 2007 and nearly half of the state’s goal of 250 megawatts by 2017. The state also produces 61 megawatts of wind energy, up from 3 megawatts in 2007 but far from the goal of 2,000 megawatts by 2020.

Wind energy is key for Pennsylvania
Patriot-News
Economies of scale and excellent manufacturing by companies such as General Electric have made wind turbines more efficient, powerful and cheaper, dropping wind power to a low 5 cents per kilowatt-hour. In Pennsylvania, from Bucks to Erie counties, ...

Wind power playing a role in counties' economic growth, A new turbine project ...
Bend Bulletin
Wind turbines like these, combined with agricultural production, have helped the Columbia River Gorge area lead the state over the last three years in economic output and employment, state economist Mark McMullen says. The Associated Press file photo ...

New Solar Panel Designs Make Installation Cheaper
PlanetSave.com
The cost of installing solar panels can exceed the cost of the solar panels themselves, including the cost of the other equipment, such as inverters, cables, etc. The labour cost of installing solar panels alone is 30% of the system cost, on average ($300 for ...

WHY WE’RE SCREWED
Econono Monitor
As the Global Financial Crisis rumbles along in its fifth year, we read the latest revelations of bankster fraud, the LIBOR scandal. This follows the muni bond fixing scam detailed a couple of weeks ago, as well as the J.P. Morgan trading fiasco and the Corzine-MF Global collapse and any number of other scandals in recent months. In every case it was traders run amuck, fixing “markets” to make an easy buck at someone’s expense. In times like these, I always recall Robert Sherrill’s 1990 statement about the S&L crisis that “thievery is what unregulated capitalism is all about.”

Drought’s Footprint New York Times (martha r)

U.S. poverty on track to rise to highest since 1960s Associated Press (Hugh)

Bungled Bank Bailout Leaves Behind Righteous Anger Neil Barofsky, Bloomberg

The Minimum Wage Is So Low That It’s Immoral – and Foolish Richard Eskow, Huffington Post

Barclays and the Limits of Financial Reform Alexander Cockburn, The Nation (Richard R). Obit here.

In Ohio dozens of community members against fracking packed council chambers to show their support of a proposed community-rights based ban on fracking.