Harvard Study Finds: The Rent Is Way Too High
By Peter Coy December 09, 2013


Rent Is Too Damn High Party Founder Jimmy McMillan
Photograph by Kathy Kmonicek/AP PhotoSource: Joint Center for Housing Studies



Since the 1980s, rents (right scale) have risen, while incomes (left scale) have fallen. Both series are adjusted for inflation

If you can’t afford to own, you can rent. But what if you can’t afford to rent, either? Millions of Americans are in precisely that situation, according to a study released today by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. The availability of apartments, especially cheaper ones, hasn’t nearly kept up with demand, and the problem has worsened since the 2007-09 recession, the study says.

“In 1960, about one in four renters paid more than 30 percent of income for housing. Today, one in two are cost burdened,” according to the study, America’s Rental Housing.

“Cost-burdened” means you’re paying more than 30 percent of income for housing and “severely cost-burdened” means you’re paying more than half. “By 2011, 28 percent of renters paid more than half their incomes for housing, bringing the number with severe cost burdens up by 2.5 million in just four years, to 11.3 million,” according to the Harvard study, which was conducted with partial funding from the MacArthur Foundation.

The boom in housing prices made ownership unaffordable for many families, and the subsequent bust forced others into foreclosure. You would think that all of those foreclosed homes would make great rental properties, and they have. “Remarkably,” though, the study says, “soaring demand was more than enough to absorb the 2.7 million single-family homes that flooded into the rental market after 2007.”

The result of the spike in rental demand is a seller’s market...

Record outdoor radiation level detected at Fukushima plant

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Dec. 6 it detected the highest estimated radiation level for an outdoor location at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.

The reading of 25 sieverts per hour was taken on steel piping near an exhaust stack for the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors, TEPCO said.

The utility earlier said high radiation levels of at least 10 sieverts per hour were found on the piping.

TEPCO measured airborne radiation at eight locations around the piping to calculate surface radiation on two spots with particularly high readings, and found about 25 sieverts per hour and about 15 sieverts per hour, the company said...

Power to the People
vision for a climate-neutral Denmark...
The Danish Energy Association's vision for a climate-neutral future

The Danish Energy Association has published its vision for a climate-neutral Denmark. The Power to the People vision is a set of specific proposals stating how Denmark can become climate-neutral by 2050. The vision also sets out how Denmark can move away from the oil economy, allowing it to maintain high security of supply when the oil and gas start running out.

The vision involves using energy much more efficiently and replacing the vast majority of traditional fossil fuel consumption with electricity.

The elements of the vision are as follows:

Energy consumption will become 30 per cent more efficient

Sustainable energy will cover 80 per cent of energy consumption

Most oil and petrol consumption will be phased out. Aircraft and ferries will account for the remaining oil consumption

80 per cent of petrol cars will be replaced with electric cars, and the rest will run on biopetrol and biodiesel

20 per cent of the oil and gas boilers in homes will be replaced with electric heat pumps, and the remaining homes will use solar heating and district heating

35 per cent of the oil and gas boilers in industry will be replaced with electric boilers, and the remaining energy will come from solar heating, biomass and district heating

CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) systems will be built at Danish CHP plants, which will generate electricity from a combination of biomass and coal. The CCS systems can not only remove the CO2 emissions from the smoke from the power station – they can even help to reduce CO2 emissions from aviation, shipping and agriculture.

How Denmark Turned an Efficiency Obligation Into Opportunity

Energy distribution companies in Denmark are surpassing nationwide conservation goals.

Midwest Energy News, Dan Haugen
October 10, 2013


In the U.S., there’s rising anxiety and speculation about how flat or falling electricity demand could affect utilities’ long-term business models.

In Denmark, on the other hand, electric companies have long operated in a slow- or no-growth market, and they continue to invest in further lowering customers’ energy use.

The Danish efficiency scheme has become the model for a new European Union efficiency law currently being implemented, and it could offer ideas and inspiration for U.S. policymakers, too, as they attempt to design incentives that can convince electric utilities to take a lead role in helping customers use less of the very product they sell.

Denmark has steadily invested in energy conservation ever since the 1970s energy crisis, when an Arab oil embargo caused fuel shortages and skyrocketing prices. As President Reagan was pulling solar panels off the White House roof, Denmark continued to spend money improving its building and power plant efficiency...

West Virginia Landfills Will Now Accept Unlimited Amounts Of Often Radioactive Fracking Waste
BY KATIE VALENTINE ON DECEMBER 8, 2013

A memo released earlier this year in West Virginia gives the state’s landfills the ability to accept unlimited amounts of fracking waste, the AP reports.

The memo will create an exception for the state’s natural gas industry to longstanding laws on landfill waste, which stipulate that landfills can only take 10,000 or 30,000 tons of solid waste each month, depending on their classification. Now, fracking operations can send unlimited amounts of their solid waste — known as “drill cuttings” and composed of dirt, water, sand and chemicals — to landfills each month.

Bill Hughes, chairman of the Wetzel County Solid Waste Authority in West Virginia, told the AP he thinks the state needs to look into the potential health risks of drill cuttings. This October in Wetzel county, a landfill that before was only able to accept 9,999 tons of solid waste each month accepted more than 40,000 tons, about 75 percent of which was from drill cuttings.

“Landfills have never seen a ton of waste they don’t want ...

Largest Private-Sector Union In Canada Says ‘No’ To The Northern Gateway Pipeline
BY KATIE VALENTINE ON DECEMBER 6, 2013 AT 1:05 PM


Climate protesters in a November event in Victoria, B.C.
CREDIT: LEADNOW/FLICKR


The largest private-sector union in Canada has pledged its opposition to the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline, joining more than 100 First Nations groups and other unions who have vowed to fight the project.

On Thursday, the British Columbia director of Unifor signed the Save the Fraser declaration, an accord that aims to ban all tar sands projects from First Nations territory and from the ocean migration routes of the Fraser River salmon. In a speech, Gavin McGarrigle, Unifor’s B.C. director, said a “good jobs revolution,” with opportunities in clean energy and expansions in public transit, would bring better opportunities to B.C. than the pipeline would.

“The Enbridge Northern Gateway Project seeks to massively increase oil exports as if climate change wasn’t real,” he said. “It proposes to travel through our communities and First Nations with profit as the first motive instead of respecting our environment and social obligations to each other. It creates few jobs in Canada compared to its scale and exports more of our natural resources even faster.”

Unifor has been outspoken about oil and gas development before — last month, the union released a paper calling for a moratorium on all new oil and gas fracking in Canada, citing environmental risks and the need to preserve the desires of First Nations to keep their lands free from energy development. On Thursday the union vowed to join First Nations in protesting the project if it were to proceed.

“We signed in solidarity, so we’ll be there in solidarity to support them...

Is Chile the Next Star in Renewable Energy?
December 6, 2013

For years there has been a lot of talk about clean energy in America, China, and Europe, but a new player has entered the field of play: Latin America. Eager to kick their dependence on coal, oil, and other fossil fuels, these nations are beginning to ramp up their investment in renewable power.

Whereas Brazil used to be the only country that had any sort of significant investment in the sphere, recently countries like the Dominican Republic and Uruguay have stepped up their games, but no one has come close to the green power shift undertaken by Chile.

Fortuitous location

Chile’s location and access to an abundance of clean energy has the country primed for growth. It’s Atacama Desert has levels of solar irradiance that the rest of the world can only dream about, there are strong winds both on and offshore waiting to be harvested, and its location next to tectonic plates make geothermal energy a tempting option going forward. In September 2013, Chile’s government voted to pass legislation for even more ambitious renewable energy levels nationwide, upgrading the existing law mandating that 10% of the nation’s energy portfolio come from renewable sources by 2020 to an impressive 20% by 2025.

Cost of electricity

Chile has a high demand for electricity led by a massive energy-intensive mining industry, and this coupled with high prices from importing fossil fuels, in addition to an inefficient electricity grid, results in an enormous electricity bill. The higher costs for standard grid electricity (an average of $0.25 per kilowatt-hour in Chile compared to about $0.10 in America) mean it will be easier for renewables to reach grid parity.

World leader in solar irradiance

Northern Chile is the home of the Atacama Desert, which receives the highest levels of solar irradiance on the planet. If Germany can lead the world ...

How Big Will the Solar Market Be in 2014?
by Travis Hoium, The Motley Fool Dec 8th 2013

The challenges in the solar industry over the past three years has really come down to one simple economic concept: supply and demand. There's currently about 70 GW of solar module capacity available in the market and only about 32 GW was installed last year. That imbalance resulted in a plunge in module prices and the death of a lot of solar manufacturers worldwide.

But 2013 has seen stability emerge in the solar market and capacity was likely reduced slightly as companies went out of business. Demand is also up and could reach 37 GW in 2013, according to analysts at JP Morgan. They also think that installations will grow to 46 GW in 2014 as China and Japan increase demand.

If those predictions come true, that's great news for the solar industry. Demand is picking up in sustainable markets, and we should see consistent growth as the cost of solar comes down and the cost of other energy sources goes up.

The impact on solar companies
Increasing demand has resulted in stable pricing in the second half of 2013, and that's been a boon for manufacturers. Once struggling to break even, SunPower , Canadian Solar , JinkoSolar , and Trina Solar are now profitable and trends look to be in their favor.

Take a look at the gross margin trends over the past year ...

Natural Resources Defense Council
Jake Schmidt’s Blog
China is Acting on Climate Change & the Country Can do More
Posted December 6, 2013

The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) doesn’t go to China very often. But when she does it generates a lot of attention. After all, Administrator McCarthy and the EPA are important actors in implementing President Obama’s Climate Action Plan. They also know quite a bit about how to address local air pollution as they have played a central role in America’s effort to significantly clean the air over the past 40 years. Both of those issues – carbon and air pollution – are front and center in the mind of Chinese officials at this very moment. So as Administrator McCarthy heads to China next week it is important to look at China’s climate actions with clear eyes. The truth is quite simple: China is acting on climate change and it can do more.

Some may use this trip to rail against U.S. efforts to address carbon pollution. They’ll argue that the U.S. shouldn’t act because China isn’t doing anything to control its air pollution. I’m sure they’ll use the air pollution spikes in China that are making front page news as a prime example. This is an argument that we’ve heard for many, many years. The American public doesn’t seem to buy it as poll after poll shows that the U.S. should act aggressively to curb climate pollution. So even if the American public perceives that China isn’t acting on climate change, they clearly aren’t arguing for putting the brakes on carbon pollution standards that save lives, create jobs, and address climate change. But the premise that “China is doing nothing” to address climate change is wrong. So let’s look at what is happening in China.

China committed internationally to cut its carbon pollution. As a part of the Copenhagen Climate Summit the Chinese committed to cut their carbon pollution intensity by 40-45% below 2005 levels by 2020. They followed up by enshrining that target in domestic law and set interim targets through 2015, with specific targets per province. Intense action is happening throughout the country to meet these targets.

China has become a global leader on clean energy deployment. Last year China was the leading investor in renewable energy, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The country invested over $66 billion in renewable energy in 2012. And while the totals for this year aren’t final, it is clear that the pace of clean energy deployment in China continues to surge with recent data showing that China doubled its pace of adding renewable energy capacity in the first 10 months. As a response to their air pollution challenge they have significantly increased their renewable goals in recent months. We expect even more renewable energy action to be unveiled in the coming months.

Air pollution has quickly risen to the top of China’s political agenda....

Ice Energy Delivering 250 kW Of Electric Capacity For Maine Energy Storage Pilot
by Renew Grid on December 05, 2013

Energy storage solutions provider Ice Energy will deliver 250 kW of electric capacity for utility Central Maine Power Co. (CMPCO) as part of a thermal energy storage pilot program that was approved by the Maine Public Utilities Commission (MPUC).

To manage the peak electric load created by the region's demand for air-conditioning, the MPUC is exploring non-transmission alternatives to meet the reliability needs in the Boothbay Harbor area, according to Ice Energy.

The company says it will deliver the capacity for GridSolar, the coordinator of the program, in the form of Ice Bear systems deployed across CMPCO's Boothbay sub-region. Ice Energy notes that Ice Bears provide a cooling alternative to traditional air-conditioning by shifting the electricity consumption required to run the units from day to night to create and store cooling energy in the form of ice.

Each Ice Bear unit provides peak demand reduction by thermal energy storage and can also provide demand response, Ice Energy adds.