Free Republic

Sanjay Wagle was a venture capitalist and Barack Obama fundraiser in 2008, rallying support through a group he headed known as Clean Tech for Obama. Shortly after Obama’s election, he left his California firm to join the Energy Department, just as the administration embarked on a massive program to stimulate the economy with federal investments in clean-technology firms. During the next three years, the department provided $2.4 billion in public funding to clean-energy companies in which Wagle’s former firm, Vantage Point Venture Partners, had invested, a Washington Post analysis found. Overall, the Post found that $3.9 billion in federal grants...

Proof electric cars DO cause more pollution than normal ones: Study shows impact is worse than petrol-powered vehicles Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2100936/Study-shows-impact-electric-cars-worse-petrol-powered-vehicles.html#ixzz1mNkAhlSk

See the YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UwFdPu9fDg&feature=youtu.be See NAVSEA's Facebook presence: https://www.facebook.com/NAVSEA

... A new mini-report from the environmental group Climate Nexus points out that climate change is poised to wreck Valentine’s Day, or at least change it significantly, by threatening chocolate production. That’s right. Global warming is very bad for chocolate. Research from the International Center for Tropical Agriculture found last year that as temperatures rise, the principal growing regions for cocoa could shrink. Other elements of the Climate Nexus report say similar changes are already affecting the best sugar cane areas of the world, and are partially responsible for a 30% decrease in sugar production in Indonesia in 2011. Also,...

Chu: Expect more loan guarantee failuresBy Ben Geman - 02/10/12 05:47 PM ET Energy Secretary Steven Chu again warned Friday that more recipients of Energy Department green technology loan guarantees will likely collapse even as he touted the strength of the program overall. The warning comes as many Republicans are continuing to assail the green energy loan program as a risky use of taxpayer dollars. “We have always known that there were inherent risks in backing innovative technologies at full commercial scale, and it is very likely that there will be other companies in the portfolio that won’t succeed,” Chu...

Even the worst of presidents cannot stop the best of times, and it's beginning to look as if an unprecedented energy boom just might save President Barack Obama's re-election, despite his undying efforts to thwart energy development. He's worked hard at it, you know, and few things I've read sum it up better than a Wall Street Journal article by Stephen Moore. He interviewed Harold Hamm, an oil-company CEO who first discovered the Bakken oil fields in Montana and North Dakota, which was a bit like discovering gold in California in the 19th century but more than that. This is...

Fisker Automotive, the maker of an exotic electric sports car that is being built with help from a $529 million federal government loan guarantee, has announced layoffs at its Delaware plant as it tries to persuade the Department of Energy to send it more public funds. The company says 26 Fisker employees have been let go from the Delaware factory where renowned automotive engineer Henrik Fisker promised to one day begin producing affordable electric sedans. A Delaware newspaper also reported that subcontractors working on the car venture have been let go. Fisker was one of a handful of auto companies...

The program has shown poor results, and the agency that oversees training has stopped referring people. Government-funded training for so-called green jobs has come to a near standstill in Snohomish County, having produced lackluster results. Nationwide, about $500 million in Recovery Act funds were allocated to train nearly 125,000 people for green careers. Nearly a year and a half later, the audit found, only 52,762 people had been trained and 8,035 had found jobs. The program's underwhelming success rate, both nationally and locally, has people worried. The modest success rate of green training programs didn't come as a surprise to...

(CNN) -- The Green Party welcomed comedian Roseanne Barr as a presidential candidate Friday, following her Twitter announcement. A spokesman for the grassroots movement said she completed the party's requirements to run under the Green banner and will promote their platform ahead of the 2012 election. Scott McLarty, national media coordinator for the party, said Barr and Jill Stein, the other candidate that met the qualifications, are committed to ending the influence of corporate money on politics and elections and served as active participants in the Occupy Wall Street movement. "She's showing that she really is understanding what the Green...

Posted by Gateway Guest Blogger on Thursday, February 2, 2012, 5:50 PM Posted by The P/Oed Patriot Accoridng to You Tube: “Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, goes on Fox Business to discuss the Obama Administration’s failed investments of taxpayer dollars into ‘green’ programs.”

Gov. Jerry Brown said Sunday that cap-and-trade fees could help pay for high-speed rail, and that the cost would be well under the $100 billion forecast by the California High-Speed Rail Authority just three months ago. “It’s not going to be $100 billion,” Brown said. “That’s way off.” The voter-approved project would create a 220-mph train from San Francisco to Anaheim with eventual connections to Sacramento and San Diego. According to a transcript of the interview in the Sacramento Bee, Brown said, “Phase 1, I’m trying to redesign it in a way that in and of itself will be justified...

Shine some light on potential energy savings - and get some free bulbs, too. The Home Depot's store in Sacramento will offer a free workshop on energy-efficient light bulbs, the store will give away 200 CFL bulbs to attendees. The compact fluorescent lights are among the replacement options for traditional incandescent bulbs now being phased out. This educational workshop will detail the phase-out and various lighting options as well as provide handy tips for installing specialty light bulbs, fixtures and dimmer switches.

BEIJING - China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) on Saturday expressed its deep concern over the United States' anti-dumping and anti-subsidy probe into Chinese exports of wind towers. "The act will not only hamper bilateral cooperation in the field of new energy and harm the interests of US industries, but also go against global efforts to tackle the challenges of climate change and energy security," the MOC said in a statement on its website. The merchandise covered by the investigation is steel towers that support the engine and rotor blades for use in wind turbines with electrical power generation capacities in...

Chinese solar panel manufacturers flooded the US market with their products at the end of last year in anticipation of potential duties on those products, a coalition of US solar manufacturers said on Wednesday, a charge that some top Chinese companies rebutted. The US International Trade Commission voted last month to allow the case to proceed and for the Commerce Department to announce preliminary duties this year. A preliminary decision is expected on Feb. 13. CASM’s statement comes a day after President Barack Obama said in his annual State of the Union speech that he was creating an enforcement unit...

We all love the idea of solar energy and there are plans for 26 solar projects in the deserts of California. One is underway, but there's a big problem -- the desert tortoise is in the way. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that over a thousand tortoises could be harmed by the construction. Advocates say the projects will bring much needed clean energy and jobs to the region and that there's a way to protect the tortoises.

Noticed that ugly Sheila Jackson-Lee (H-U-G-E version of Cynthia McKinny) got her usual place by the aisle (probaby trampled over a dozen people, punched some out, stomped toes, kicked them in the b@lls and left bloody bodies laying on the floor) so she could be seen talking like long time buddies to the POS. Wearing that bright outfit, she looked like a GIANT GREEN PUMPKIN.

Despite Solyndra, Obama to Boost Green EnergyJanuary 23, 2012 With a Solyndra-scandal-be-damned attitude, President Obama is expected to revive his push for new green fuel sources in Tuesday's State of the Union address, claiming that they will boost jobs and help clean the environment. Industry sources who met with policy officials at the White House last week say the president will hint at an emerging administration plan to propose increased spending on green fuel sources and radical changes in how the government and Americans power machines in the future. [See a collection of political cartoons on energy policy.] "He wants...

Our new movie has done what no other anti-global warming alarmist movie has managed to do and that is to break through the Hollywood guard and make it into theaters. An Inconsistent Truth opens at the Regal Hollywood 27 in Nashville on January 27. Plans are to expand from there. All that depends on you. You can purchase your advance tickets at http://www.fandango.com/nashville_tn_movietimes?date=1%2F27%2F2012&featureId=v555723 Check out the trailer on our YouTube page. http://www.youtube.com/user/AnInconsistentTruth?feature=guide And pass this along to as many people as possible. We have a great opportunity to finally get the truth out about global warming and stop the socialists...

Green America Applauds President Obama's Rejection of Keystone XL PipelineJan 18, 2012 Green America strongly commends President Obama for his wise decision, announced this afternoon, to reject the dangerous Keystone XL pipeline. The proposed pipeline would extend nearly 2,000 miles from Alberta, Canada, to the Texas Gulf Coast. This Canadian project poses severe consequences for human health and the environment while further entrenching the dirty fossil fuel economy and failing to generate lasting jobs. Investment in clean energy generates 3-4 times as many jobs as investments in fossil fuels. "This is the right decision, a brave decision, and one that...

Drivers are paying more at the pump than they have in any other January. While there are several reasons for the high prices, including increasing demand from developing countries and Iranian saber rattling, the federal government is doing its part to keep gasoline prices high by mandating the impossible. According to The New York Times, companies that supply motor fuel paid $6.8 million in fines in 2011 for not using enough cellulosic derived biofuel in gasoline. The companies will face even steeper fines in 2012 when the congressional mandate to use cellulosic biofuels goes up from 6.6 million gallons to...

Willard & Kelsey Solar Group LLC laid off about 40 people indefinitely at the beginning of January until changes to its production line are completed, a company official said Monday. Michael Cicak, the company's chief executive officer and chairman of the board, would not say when the changes would be completed or when the laid-off employees could return to work. "We have some technical people in here improving the efficiency of the assembly line," Mr. Cicak said, adding that the Perrysburg-based facility still has about 30 employees. He said Willard & Kelsey has a little more than 80 employees when...

The recent news that Michigan corporate welfare “winner” GlobalWatt is being evicted from its Saginaw headquarters for nonpayment of rent is a reminder that even when no taxpayer cash changes hands, government “incentive” programs can hurt real people in a number of ways. GlobalWatt is (yet another) solar energy company that won a state and local government tax break/subsidy deal and that could have been worth as much as $42 million had the company met performance milestones. The deal was trumpeted by announcements from the company and Michigan corporate welfare officials of “500 potential Saginaw jobs,” at a time when...

Activist Kerry Kennedy apparently has more than just a humanitarian interest in the outcome of the trial over the environmental damages caused to Ecuadorian rain forests. It was revealed today that Ms Kennedy, who is the ex-wife of Governor Andrew Cuomo and former president John F. Kennedy's niece, has a financial stake in the contentious legal battle. ~snip~ Local courts recently ordered Chevron to pay $18billion in damages-which the company is now appealing- and if the decision is upheld, $40million of that money could go straight to Ms Kennedy. ~snip~ Just a few months after penning the article, she was...

It’s not every day that the New York Times makes a compelling case against government giveaways. But a recent page-one article underscored that the Solyndra scandal was only the tip of the solar-subsidy iceberg. Huge companies like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, General Electric, utilities including Exelon and NRG, and even Google are receiving government guarantees that ensure large profits with virtually no risk — except to the taxpayer. The Times ascribes to the Obama administration a “gold-rush mentality” when Congress expanded green-power incentives in 2009, despite a paralyzing federal deficit. The chief executive of NRG, which received $5.2 billion in...

WASHINGTON — When the companies that supply motor fuel close the books on 2011, they will pay about $6.8 million in penalties to the Treasury because they failed to mix a special type of biofuel into their gasoline and diesel as required by law. But there was none to be had. Outside a handful of laboratories and workshops, the ingredient, cellulosic biofuel, does not exist. In 2012, the oil companies expect to pay even higher penalties for failing to blend in the fuel, which is made from wood chips or the inedible parts of plants like corncobs. Refiners were required...

In 2011 the Environmental Protection Agency provided $1 million in grants to 46 different non-profit and tribal organizations to promote what it called “environmental justice.” Since 1994, a little-noticed EPA program has handed out a total of $23 million in such grants to 1,253 organizations, for stated purposes that observers are questioning. President Bill Clinton and the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) were responsible for implementing “environmental justice” as part of the EPA’s mission. In early 1990, following a lobbying push by the CBC, the EPA established the Environmental Equity Workgroup. In 1994 it was renamed the Office of Environmental Justice.

Friday, 06 January 2012 09:12 Amanda Carey, Capital Research Center A careful look at the history of environmental activism shows how the movement has been unravelling. Now it seems to be dead in the water. In 2012, three years into President Barack Obama’s first term, green activists are asking, “What went wrong?” Where are all the new laws and regulations regulating energy use and the natural resource production? Where are the public-private partnerships signalling a new era of enironmentalist problem-solving? Where’s Al Gore? Shouldn’t he be lurking over President Obama’s shoulder, smiling, as the President signs yet another green jobs...

What makes a "green" job? A Minnesota hair salon once identified its hair stylists as being in green jobs. Another business claimed a bartender was green. But after two years of study, state labor market researchers have come up with a more conservative view of the new and emerging jobs in the "green" sector. Funded through a stimulus grant of $1.6 million, the state scoured job descriptions at thousands of companies and talked to many of them one by one about the nature of their job openings. Minnesota now defines a green job as one that is directly related or...

As Michigan’s coal industry has been decimated in part by increased federal environmental regulations, some experts are concerned energy bills will skyrocket. Consumers Energy announced it was canceling its plans for a clean coal plant near Bay City. Consumers Energy also announced it didn’t anticipate operating its seven coal-fired plants past January 2015. At the same time it’s shutting down coal plants, Consumers Energy proposed hiking its electric-rates by $147 million this year. The Michigan Public Service Commission limited the increase to $118 million. Michigan’s coal-burning power plants supplied 60 percent of the electricity used in the state, according to...

Solar Company Scraps Factory, Leaves Mich. in DarkGrant applications don't match up with solar company's other information. By Scott McGrew | Monday, Jan 2, 2012 | Updated 2:59 PM PST A San Jose-based company has pulled out of plans to build a multimillion-dollar solar cell factory in Saginaw, Mich. GlobalWatt CEO Sanjeev Chitre blamed the shutdown on the poor economy and competition from overseas; however, many critics are wondering if there really was much of a factory to shut down. Far from a mega-factory promised in early paperwork, GlobalWatt's Saginaw operations actually employed slightly more than a dozen workers. GlobalWatt...

Each Chevy Volt sold thus far may have as much as $250,000 in state and federal dollars in incentives behind it – a total of $3 billion altogether, according to an analysis by James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Hohman looked at total state and federal assistance offered for the development and production of the Chevy Volt, General Motors’ plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. His analysis included 18 government deals that included loans, rebates, grants and tax credits. The amount of government assistance does not include the fact that General Motors is currently...

However, most commentators gave short shrift to the most important—in a sense, the only—outcome of the meeting. This was, of course, the agreement to hold yet another conference in yet another nice location (Qatar) about a year from now. The Durban conference was the seventeenth conference of its kind. They have been held annually since 1995 in places such as Geneva (in July 1996) and Bali (in December 2007). Don’t hold your breath for one to be held in Newark, New Jersey, or Fargo, North Dakota. Snip . . . The Progressives are well aware that their opposition to geoengineering...

A wind farm that was to be the first such large-scale operation in central Minnesota is about a year behind schedule. Edina-based Geronimo Wind Energy has the necessary permits to build the 95-megawatt wind farm. But the company hasn't been able to find a utility company willing to buy its energy. Geronimo spokesman Charlie Daum attributed the delay to a slow market. "That's really the only thing that's holding us back right now," Daum said, adding that the situation was "not a concern as much as a frustration." By now, as many as 60 turbines, each about 400 feet high,...

The environmental movement moves so fast its champions seem to rarely stop for reality checks. There was the wonderful idea of using corn to create fuel for vehicles that had the entirely foreseeable yet some how unforeseen result of adding to world hunger by gobbling up edible crops and driving up food prices. There was the terrific brainstorm to create energy with giant windmills somehow without anticipating that the big blades would shred thousands of innocent birds trying to fly from here to there. There have been so many of these unintended, but reasonably foreseeable consequences you really have to...

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Wednesday unveiled rules for coal-fired power plants that mean costly investments passed on to consumers, but also health benefits. Hundreds of older plants — which together make up the largest remaining source of unchecked toxic air pollution in the United States — will have to cut emissions or shut down. "By cutting emissions that are linked to developmental disorders and respiratory illnesses like asthma, these standards represent a major victory for clean air and public health," Lisa Jackson, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, said in a statement.

The founder and former chief executive of troubled Bixby Energy, an alternative energy startup, will appear in U.S. District Court in St. Paul this afternoon after being arrested this morning by federal agents. Bob Walker, also the retired founder of mattress maker Select Comfort Corp., is scheduled to appear before Magistrate Judge Janie S. Mayeron at 2 p.m., Jeanne Cooney, community relations director for the U.S. Attorney's office said today. The charges against Walker will be revealed in court, Cooney said. Last Wednesday, Ramsey-based Bixby Energy admitted to defrauding investors of between $2.5 million and $7 million and agreed to...

Europe pledged Wednesday to press on with new charges for airline carbon emissions across its airspace as of January 1, after scoring a key victory over US rivals in the EU's top court. The decision was welcomed as vindication by the European Union, which told US airlines to get ready to obey the law in the same way EU companies respect American regulations. But it was not without collateral damage, with industry sources fearing a possible trade war after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned of reprisals ahead of the ruling. A high-ranking source in the aviation sector told...

As Gov. Jerry Brown participated in a Capitol menorah-lighting ceremony this week to mark the onset of the Jewish holiday Hanukkah, he uttered a secular prayer for a miracle that would make California a model of carbon-free energy.Today's miracle, he said, "is not to find more oil, but to utilize the sun," adding, "when we continue to use our intelligence, we're going to take that sun through the miracle of modern science and technology, and we're going to light up California, our cars, our homes, our air conditioners."It was one of several recent events at which Brown disparaged global-warming agnostics...

Power Plant Closures Due to Environmental Regulations to Take Toll on TownsPublished December 20, 2011 | Associated Press For more than 90 years, the coal-fired power plant in Glen Lyn, Va., has been churning out electricity and contributing to local prosperity. Of late, it has generated nearly a quarter of the revenue for the $1 million budget of the town. Yet when the plant ultimately shuts down to comply with new federal air pollution regulations by the end of 2014, says Town Manager Howard Spencer, so too might the community of 200. "If the town lost all of that revenue,"...

Interview with James Delingpole, from the Uncommon Knowledge series at the Hoover Institute. 48 minutes. Variety of topics covered include the Euro, Climategate, the UK riots, etc.

San Francisco residents may soon have a chance to power their homes and businesses with "100 percent" certified green energy. But it won't come cheap. Under the CleanPowerSF program adopted Tuesday by the city's Public Utilities Commission on a 4-0 vote, San Francisco's 330,000 utility customers would be able to get all their power from wind, solar and other renewable sources, starting as early as July 1. On the downside, typical residential customers would also see their bills rise - at least in the short run - by anywhere from $7 to $54.50 a month, depending on their usage. That's...

Should we act on climate change now or wait? While an international majority of scientists believes climate change is real, a minority of scientists and majority of politicians want you to wait. After all, behavior change should not be mandated or government regulated - especially without proof. UBS Wealth Management, a financial services company working with high/ultra high net worth clients, published a comprehensive report to its investors in January of 2007 titled "Climate Change: Beyond Whether." Its findings suggest we can follow one of three paths: 1) Take a wait-and-see approach 2) Act now and risk investment if nothing...

Teaming up with the Department of Agriculture (which has a cheery Rotary Club ring to it), the Navy has purchased 450,000 gallons of biofuel for about $16 a gallon, or about 4 times the price of its standard marine fuel, JP-5, which has been going for under $4 a gallon. You won’t be surprised to learn that a member of Obama’s presidential transition team, T. J. Glauthier, is a “strategic advisor” at Solazyme, the California company that is selling a portion of the biofuel to the Navy. Glauthier worked – shock, shock – on the energy-sector portion of the 2009...

President Obama says retrofitting federal buildings should goose job numbers upward, reduce agencies' energy bills and help the envirionment. In a Dec. 2 White House memorandum he directed federal departments and agencies to implement energy efficiency upgrades to buildings over the next two years. According to the memo, the federal government will enter into more than $2 billion in performance-based contracts for federal building energy efficiency by December 2013. Agencies are required to implement energy conservation measures in federal buildings, focusing on those with the greatest return on investment and a payback time of less than 10 years, consistent with...

DURBAN, South Africa (AP) — An all-encompassing climate deal "may be beyond our reach for now," the U.N. chief said Tuesday as China and India delivered a setback to European plans to negotiate a new treaty that would bind all parties to their pledges on greenhouse gas emissions. The European "road map" toward a new accord that would take effect after 2020 is a centerpiece of negotiations among 194 countries at a U.N. climate conference in the South African coastal city of Durban. It has been presented as a condition for Europe to renew and expand its emissions reduction targets...

Electric car maker Aptera Motors is closing after failing to woo enough investors to bring a new sedan to market. Aptera CEO Paul Wilbur said the Carlsbad, Calif.-based company closed its doors Friday and laid off all 30 of its employees. The company was hoping to get a $150 million loan from the Department of Energy but needed to raise matching funds, Wilbur said. He said Aptera had trouble drumming up interest from investors, who have been spooked by the difficulties other small electric car makers have had. Palo Alto, Calif.-based Tesla Motors Inc., for example, has racked up millions...

General Motors will buy Chevrolet Volts back from any owner who is afraid the electric cars will catch fire, the company's CEO said Thursday. In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, CEO Dan Akerson insisted that the cars are safe, but said the company will purchase the Volts because it wants to keep customers happy. Three fires have broken out in Volts after side-impact crash tests done by the federal government. Akerson said that if necessary, GM will recall the more than 6,000 Volts now on the road in the U.S. and repair them once the company and federal...

The economy stinks. Employers aren’t hiring. The big money is staying on the sidelines. We hear these stories every day, and it’s certainly depressing. But as the Wall Street Journal notes, there is one exception to this rule which is providing some hope and relief in a number of areas across the country. If you got all of your information from White House press releases, you might think it’s in the “green economy,� and the development of solar panels, organic roof tiles or bovine flatulence inhibitors. (Go ahead… click on the link. I dare you.)But no… the boom in jobs...

U.S. blocks key fund in climate agreement: reportLONDON | Thu Nov 24, 2011 9:03pm EST LONDON (Reuters) - The U.S. is refusing to sign a flagship global climate fund as negotiations intensify ahead of the UN climate summit next week, the Financial Times reported on Thursday. It quoted U.S. officials as saying the United States, backed by Saudi Arabia, had still not agreed to adopt a blueprint for the Green Climate Fund. Countries agreed to create the fund last year to channel up to $100 billion a year by 2020 to help developing countries fight climate change and a U.N....

Sundrop Fuels, Inc., a gasification-based drop-in advanced biofuels company today announced that it has agreed to purchase about 1,200 acres of land near Alexandria, Louisiana, for the planned construction and operation of the company’s first production facility. The inaugural Sundrop Fuels plant will use sustainable forest waste combined with hydrogen from clean-burning natural gas to produce up to 50 million gallons annually of the world’s first ready-to-use, renewable “green gasoline.” Located in Rapides Parish a few miles outside of Alexandria, the Sundrop Fuels advanced biofuels plant will cost approximately $450 to $500 million to build and will be financed in...