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Article filed under Stop Incineration, Waste to Wealth | Written by admin | No Comments | Updated on Jun 25, 2012

You Can Fight City Hall

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/fight-city-hall/

Dear Mayor Bloomberg, Recently, you generously gave over $50 million to the Sierra Club to work on reducing the use of coal for energy based on environmental concerns.  At the same you have announced a policy of building garbage incinerators in NYC.  There is a contradiction here, as burning garbage pollutes far more than burning… Continue reading

Article filed under Energy | Written by John Farrell | 2 Comments | Updated on Oct 17, 2011

The Challenge of Reconciling a Centralized v. Decentralized Electricity System

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/challenge-reconciling-centralized-v-decentralized-electricity-system/

As Americans transition their electricity system to the 21st century, they should ask this question.  Does it make sense to pursue strategies such as accelerating the development of new high-voltage power lines that reinforce an outdated paradigm of electricity delivery, or should scarce energy dollars be spent to add new clean, local energy to the… Continue reading

Article filed under Energy | Written by John Farrell | No Comments | Updated on Nov 8, 2010

Cost of Fossil Fuels Makes Renewables a Harder Sell?

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/cost-fossil-fuels-makes-renewables-harder-sell/

This story on Sunday suggests that utilities are pulling back from investments in renewable energy over concerns about the cost. 

Invenergy…had a contract to sell [wind] power to a utility in Virginia, but state regulators rejected the deal, citing the recession and the lower prices of natural gas and other fossil fuels.

“The ratepayers of Virginia must be protected from costs for renewable energy that are unreasonably high,” the regulators said. Wind power would have increased the monthly bill of a typical residential customer by 0.2 percent.

Based on what price forecast?  The following chart illustrates the complexity of relying on fossil fuel prices when making decisions about renewable energy.  Note that wind and solar prices are relatively stable (i.e. zero).

The chart does a good job of showing the futility of predicting natural gas prices, but the timeline smooths out coal price changes, particularly by region.  Here’s a closer look at coal prices since 2007, courtesy of the federal EIA:

Utilities that are making shortsighted decisions about renewables based on current fossil fuel price trajectories are going to get burned, and so are their ratepayers. 

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