If we understand Obama and Clinton Wall Street global corporate neo-liberals are trying to bring to the US the same global corporate campus/global factory model that devastated Asian nations---we know any policies they push as GREEN or environmental are PROGRESSIVE POSING. The goal is consolidating all US state energy systems into one national energy grid so what will be one global energy corporation will control that grid and as Kissinger stated-----CONTROL A NATIONS ENERGY AND CONTROL YOU WILL CONTROL THE NATION. So, regional energy corporations like Exelon now cover all of Middle and East in northern states while a few others are now controlling the south and west coast. These will simply merge----as we are watching with our telecommunications corporations ----now simply Comcast/Verizon----which will merge as well into one corporate monopoly. This is what Clinton/Bush/Obama have been doing and all these hundreds of billions of dollars called new green energy industries simply went to developing technology that will allow this national energy grid be built-----and the bulk of that energy channeled to global corporate campuses/global factories.
Google in San Francisco uses more energy than the entire state of California to fuel its global Google corporation. It was forced to create its own energy source. Remember, energy sustainability is using LESS ENERGY----and global corporations are simply building platforms for their super-sizing energy use and making sure they control all energy distribution to their corporate campuses.
THIS IS WHAT SMART METERS WILL DO----PUSHING CITIZENS MORE AND MORE TO OFF-PEAK HOURS JUST TO BE ABLE TO AFFORD ORDINARY ELECTRICITY.
Look who is now a GREEN ENERGY AND SUSTAINABILITY corporation-----GREEN GOOGLE-----the largest consumer of energy in the nation. Now since Google is a Green energy business it gets billions of dollars in Federal funding to build the energy grid it needs for its super-sized consumption. OH, THAT IS WHAT ALL THOSE SOLAR FIELDS ARE ABOUT----NOT FOR CITIZENS AND THEIR ENERGY GRID. So this global behemoth is now our US green energy source---AND NO LOCAL, GREEN ENERGY ECONOMY WANTED. You see how green energy in each state is being sold to a global corporation like Google while pretending that state is diversifying its energy----and Maryland is completely tied to this global corporate capture of our 'green energy'.
Renewable energy
Google is helping to power the world with clean energy. Our goal is 100% renewable power, and so far we’ve committed to purchase over 2 gigawatts of renewable energy – equivalent to taking nearly 1 million cars off the road and making us the largest non-utility purchaser of renewable energy in the world. Separately, we’ve also committed to invest over $2.5 billion in renewable energy projects, which also makes us one of the largest corporate investors in renewable energy in the world. We believe that through these two initiatives, we're creating a better future for everyone.Using green power at Google
We are committed to powering 100% of our operations with clean energy and have signed contracts to purchase over 2GW of renewable energy -- equivalent to taking nearly one million cars off the road -- making us the largest corporate renewable energy purchaser in the world.
We pilot new technology on our campuses
When testing new renewable energy technologies on our campuses, we evaluate them against a few criteria: They must make good business sense, have potential for long-term significant impact and transform the industry. For example, in 2007, we installed the largest corporate solar panel installation of its kind—1.7 MW—at our Mountain View campus. We’ve grown the size of the system to 1.9 MW, and it generates enough electricity to power 30% of the peak load of the buildings on which it sits.
More on how we pilot new green technology
We purchase green power near our data centers
To reach our 100% renewable energy goal, we’re buying clean electricity directly from wind and solar farms around the world, and working with our utility partners to make more renewable energy available to us and others. Here’s an overview of our renewable energy purchase commitments to date:
Baltimore as an US International Economic Zone with technology and global health care as the current driver of this global economy will have to build the same situation as Google because all of the industries they intend to bring will need massive internet capacity and with that massive energy needs. When Maryland assesses its green energy infrastructure built these several years of O'Malley we saw one off-shore windfarm----we saw several national natural gas corporations -----and that was about it. The total green energy hitting our Maryland energy grid-----NOT MUCH. Lot's of Green energy subsidy and green energy tax breaks----not much green energy to our citizens and homes. Johns Hopkins partnered with global energy corporations on the other hand----
LOTS OF ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE------BATTERY STORAGE----ENERGY CABLES HAVING THE NEWEST TECHNOLOGY ENERGY CONDUCTION CAPABILITY.
Bernie Sanders and Vermont have lead the nation in being GREEN and environmental. Below you see their response to these several years of green energy subsidy and tax credits-----GREEN ENERGY GRID 100% TO RESIDENTIAL USE.
The next Mayor of Baltimore can reverse the current INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ZONE AS HAVING CONTROL OVER ALL ENERGY----by fighting for control over green energy subsidy coming from the Federal and state level and make sure it is building an infrastructure of green energy for citizens and small businesses.
What I like about this Vermont stat is the broad mix of renewable sources and the fact they are not bringing in global corporations to create and operate these. Hydro-retrofitting is a great source as is bio-mass when not tied to being simply waste disposal for massive global corporate campuses and factories. It is only GREEN and environmental when the economy is as well. I like Burlington's small business economy with folks having worked on these issues for decades now interjecting some of the newer renewables as wind and solar----I do not like the cap and trade and market-based selling that allows one region to ignore pollution by buying another region's green gains. This artificially inflates what a city or state is actually doing so quit that Vermont! As important you see Vermont has not sold its electricity utility to global corporations so what they are doing goes right to residents.
Largest City In Vermont Now Gets All Its Power From Wind, Water And Biomass
by Ari Phillips Sep 15, 2014 10:16 am
CREDIT: AP/Wilson Ring
Water flows through the Winooski One hydro-electric plant in Winooski, VT. The Burlington Electric Department's recent purchase of the facility, located in the Winooski River between Burlington and the city of Winooski, enabled it to reach 100 percent renewable power.
The 42,000 people living in Burlington, Vermont can now feel confident that when they turn on their TVs or power up their computers they are using renewable energy. With the purchase of the 7.4 megawatt Winooski One hydroelectric project earlier this month, the Burlington Electric Department now owns or contracts renewable sources — including wind, hydro, and biomass — equivalent to the city’s needs.
“We’re now in a position where we’re supplying Burlington residents with sources that are renewable,” said Ken Nolan, manager of power resources for Burlington Electric Department, earlier this month. “The prices are not tied to fossil fuels — they’re stable prices — and they provide us with the flexibility, from an environmental standpoint, to really react to any regulation or changes to environmental standards that come in the future.”
According to Nolan, the utility will get about one-third of its power from the Joseph C. McNeil Generating Station, one-third from wind energy contracts, and one-third from the hydroelectric stations Winooski One and Hydro-Québec. The McNeil power station is a biomass facility that primarily uses wood chips from logging residue leftover from the harvesting of wood for other products.
Vermont has a statewide goal of getting 90 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2050, including electricity, heating, and transportation. Christopher Recchia, the commissioner of the Vermont Department of Public Service, told the Associated Press that Burlington’s achievement shows that they’re able to make this transition cost-effectively and “in a way that makes Vermonters really positioned well for the future.”
The Washington Electric Co-operative, which has about 11,000 customers across central and northern Vermont, also reached the 100 percent renewable milestone earlier this year. Both utilities acknowledge that when renewable sources aren’t readily available — if the wind isn’t blowing or water levels are low — they will purchase traditional fossil fuel-generated electricity. However, when the wind is strong and water levels are high more than enough electricity is generated and the surplus can be sold to other utilities. On average, they will be selling more than they buy.
In a fancy accounting measure, (This is not progressive) both Burlington and Washington Electric sell renewable energy credits for the power they produce to utilities in southern New England, where their value is highest, before then buying less expensive credits from other sources to offset those they just sold. While this could be criticized as a questionable practice it also helps keep prices low and adheres to the rules of RGGI.
RGGI, or the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, is a nine-state market-based regulatory program to cap and reduce power sector CO2 emissions across much of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic. A RGGI auction earlier this month sold almost 18 million carbon allowances and generated $87.8 million for reinvestment by the RGGI states in a variety of initiatives including energy efficiency, renewable energy, and greenhouse gas abatement programs. All of the available allowances were sold.
As Vermont takes initiative to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, a new report by a team of University of Vermont and other scientists estimates the local impacts of climate change on the state. In an effort to downscale global climate models to convey local impacts the researchers looked at climate change in northern Vermont and southern Quebec. They found that annual precipitation will increase by between a third and half an inch per decade and average temperatures will rise by around five degrees Fahrenheit by 2050.
They also found that annual snowfall at six major ski resorts in the region could decrease around half by the late this century and that the growing season will get about six weeks longer. Vermonters may be most distraught to learn that these climate changes are likely to significantly reduce the number of days suitable for making maple syrup. Vermont is the largest producer of maple syrup in the country, providing around 40 percent of the entire supply.
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If it was not so sad it would make you mad. Here in Maryland the progressive posers are going wild using all kinds of green talking points and talking about creating green jobs for yet another election cycle all while saying they would use the NATURAL GAS EXPORT TERMINAL corporation's 'green energy' contribution for building an export terminal. What is the greatest producer of methane and climate-change gas? FRACKING AND NATURAL GAS WHICH THIS SAME MARYLAND ASSEMBLY JUST PASSED AND GUARANTEED FRACKING WILL BE SUPER-SIZED AS NATURAL GAS BECOMES AN EXPORT.
So, in Maryland we go to Dominion from Virginia to get funding for green energy economy development. Then we see the same cast of characters----THERE IS PUGH FOR MAYOR OF BALTIMORE allowed to pose progressive with green jobs---and as with decades of history ---all this green funding will go to JOB TRAINING JOB TRAINING JOB TRAINING. How are you going to reduce CO2 when you are preparing to frack and export and build massive energy infrastructure for many global corporate campuses? No doubt they will use cap and trade and buy Vermont's REAL renewable credits to say they reduced Maryland's or just say they reduced it and back it with skewed data.
Baltimore has had serious energy infrastructure installation tied to energy cable and batter storage facilities these several years and as always---they bring workers from out of the area to do these 'green energy' jobs.
JOB TRAINING JOB TRAINING JOB TRAINING! Is a Wall
Street global corporate neo-liberal's way of saying---you are never going to get a job.
THE BALTIMORE SUN ALWAYS ALLOWS ESTABLISHMENT CANDIDATES LOTS OF FREE CAMPAIGNING IN WRITING ARTICLES TO MAKE THEM LOOK PROGRESSIVE. PUGH IS QUEEN OF BALTIMORE AS AN ENVIRONMENTAL WASTELAND.
Maryland Senate OKs increasing state's renewable energy standard
Associated PressA measure to increase Maryland's renewable energy standard has passed the state Senate.
The vote was 31-14 Wednesday.
The bill increases requirements to use energy sources like wind and solar to 25 percent by 2020. That's up from the current goal of 20 percent by 2022.
The House passed a similar bill last month 92-43. The two chambers will need to pass the same version of the measure before Monday at midnight to send the bill to Gov. Larry Hogan.
This legislative session has been a positive one for clean energy in Maryland.
On Monday, Hogan signed a bill setting a new 40 percent greenhouse-gas reduction target for 2030. The measure builds on a 2009 state law that required Maryland to reduce emissions 25 percent by 2020 from 2006 levels.
'Dominion is required to pay Maryland $8 million per year over the next 5 years as a condition to build a natural gas export facility in Southern Maryland. The Public Service Commission, which set the condition, requires the money to be used to promote energy efficiency, curb climate-altering pollution and develop renewable energy'.
Maryland lawmakers push renewable energy boost, green jobs program
Erin CoxContact ReporterThe Baltimore Sun
As world leaders meet in Paris, Maryland lawmakers propose increasing renewable energy sources here.Three influential Democratic lawmakers want to increase how much of Maryland's electricity comes from renewable sources, as well as spend $40 million on training for the "green jobs" they expect to be in higher demand.
Sen. Catherine Pugh, Del. Dereck Davis and Sen. Rich Madaleno announced Tuesday they will co-sponsor legislation to require 25 percent of the state's electricity to come from renewable sources by 2020, accelerating the state's current goal to reach 20 percent by 2022.
At the same time, they propose spending a $40 million pool of cash from an energy company settlement on job skills training, hoping to put people to work installing solar panels or improving the energy efficiency of buildings.
"This is not a choice between addressing climate change and improving our economy," said Davis, chairman of the Economic Matters Committee and a Prince George's County lawmaker. "It's both."
The annoucnement came as world leaders are gathered in Paris this month to negotiate how to reverse the effects of climate change.
Pugh, the Senate Majority Leader, called the proposal a way to encourage "meaningful jobs" that could support a family.
Advocates estimate the switch would create 2,000 new jobs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of taking 563,000 cars off the road each year.
The higher percentage of renewable energy source for electricity, however, would come at a cost to rate payers. Since renewable energy can be more costly than coal-fired power plants, the switch would cost about 52 cents per rate payer per year, according to analysis by Sustainable Energy Advantage. Advocates commissioned that analysis last year when they last tried to speed up the state's renewable energy goals.
Davis said that the plan to increase renewable energy sources faltered last year because many complex issues take more than a year to get through the General Assembly. He said he was confident that the legislators could build on last year's discussions and get the measure passed.
Governor Larry Hogan's spokesman declined to comment on the proposal, which has not yet been drafted.
Environment Secretary Benjamin H. Grumbles in October endorsed a related proposal to further curb greenhouse gas emissions since the state was on track to exceed a goal to reduce those.
Hogan's administration last year did not recommend a way to spend the $40 million the state is expected to receive over the next five years from Dominion, an energy company based in Richmond, Va.
Dominion is required to pay Maryland $8 million per year over the next 5 years as a condition to build a natural gas export facility in Southern Maryland. The Public Service Commission, which set the condition, requires the money to be used to promote energy efficiency, curb climate-altering pollution and develop renewable energy.
Environmentalists with the Chesapeake Climate Action Network also backed the proposal. which will have several other Democratic sponsors in the legislature.
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'Chief among the obstacles, according to Parsons, is the need to make computer components much more power efficient. Even then, the electricity demands would be gargantuan.
"I'd say they're targeting around 60 megawatts, I can't imagine they'll get below that," he commented. "That's at least £60m a year just on your electricity bill."'
I love how they put progressive spin on everything------like the Department of Energy is spending tens of billions of dollars modeling switchgrass growth projections. Super-computers are the new skyscraper of what makes a nation appear strong. Unlike what this article makes one think super-computers are used for Wall Street derivatives markets----industrial/NSA surveillance -----high-speed internet global corporations and their competition and marketing-----and storing/selling of all personal and government data for massive data files to be used and sold across all industries, and yes, SMART CITY TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS. They are good for deep-space research which is a plus to me.
'Titan will help U.S. scientists pioneer research into climate change, biofuels, nuclear energy, new materials and other crucial fields, which will help them create the next wave of car batteries, switchgrass ethanol and improved weather forecasting tools -- all developed in America'.
OH, THAT'S WHAT ALL THIS GREEN ENERGY SUBSIDY AND FUNDING IS DOING--BUILDING THIS STRUCTURE FOR SUPER-COMPUTERS NEEDED FOR GLOBAL MARKETS.
They will have to raise home energy rates on US homeowners quite a bit to have citizens paying these bills! As BGE/EXELON rate increases soar-----remember, they are building all this energy infrastructure with rates we pay and we are going to be pushed out of ordinary energy access down the road.
Supercomputers: Obama orders world's fastest computer
By Chris Baraniuk Technology reporter
Image caption The president has asked US scientists to build the fastest supercomputer President Obama has signed an executive order calling for the US to build the world's fastest computer by 2025.
The supercomputer would be 20 times quicker than the current leading machine, which is in China.
It would be capable of making one quintillion (a billion billion) calculations per second - a figure which is known as one exaflop.
A body called the National Strategic Computing Initiative (NSCI) will be set up to research and build the computer.
The US is seeking the new supercomputer, significantly faster than today's models, to perform complex simulations, aid scientific research and national security projects.
It is hoped the machine would help to analyse weather data for more accurate forecasts or assist in cancer diagnoses by analysing X-ray images.
A blog post on the White House website also suggests it could allow NASA scientists to model turbulence, which might enable the design of more streamlined aircraft without the need for extensive wind tunnel testing.
Such a computer would be called an exascale machine.
Bigger modelsRichard Kenway at the University of Edinburgh says he thinks the plan is "spot on" in terms of strategy, bringing together both the ambition to develop new hardware and also improved analysis of big data.
He explained the computer could aid the development of personalised medicines, tailored to specific individuals.
"Today, drugs are designed for the average human and they work OK for some people but not others," he told the BBC.
"The real challenge in precision medicine is to move from designing average drugs to designing drugs for the individual because you can know their genome and their lifestyle."
DESIGNER PHARMA--------DON'T WORRY ABOUT WHAT THIS IS---YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE PLAN WON'T COVER IT.
There could also be benefits in long-term climate modelling, according to Mark Parsons at the Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre (EPCC).
Currently, climate scientists attempt to model how the Earth's climate will evolve in coming years, but the accuracy of these predictions is severely limited.
Today's fastest supercomputer, the Tianhe-2 in China's National Computer Centre, Guangzhou, performs at 33.86 petaflops (quadrillions of calculations per second), almost twice as fast as the second-quickest machine, which is American.
For Parsons, the latest US initiative is a clear attempt to challenge the dominance of the Chinese in this field.
"The US has woken up to the fact that if it wants to remain in the race it will have to invest," he told the BBC.
£60m electricity bill
Both Kenway and Parsons point out that the challenges of building an exascale computer are not trivial and would require years of research and development.
Chief among the obstacles, according to Parsons, is the need to make computer components much more power efficient. Even then, the electricity demands would be gargantuan.
"I'd say they're targeting around 60 megawatts, I can't imagine they'll get below that," he commented. "That's at least £60m a year just on your electricity bill."
Efforts to construct an exascale computer are not entirely new.
Recently, IBM, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON) and the University of Groningen announced plans to build one to analyse data from the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope project.
SKA will be built in Australia and South Africa by the early 2020s.
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I don't know if states across the nation are facing such a fleecing as Maryland and Baltimore citizens have with their utilities being used as a cash-cow for profits----but as we are told BGE/Exelon will raise rates by 70% or some incredible amount and smart grid is given as the excuse-----it is not only SMART METERS----it is this global industrial grid with all these special cables and battery storage capacities for super-computers on global corporate campuses that we are really paying for. Baltimore citizens see little or no work in their communities because it is happening only as corporate campuses/city center is built. Communities they see as future global corporate campuses will pay high rates for a decade or so and then be pushed out as the next campus is built.
A Mayor of Baltimore MUST intercept this development and the total control now given to these global energy corporations allowed to design and install what they want. Again, subsidizing the small businesses around utilities is a MUST. We should see REAL local renewable energy small businesses and small business competition to BGE/EXELON and we MUST allow these global corporations pay their fair share of installation of what will bring them billions of dollars in profits instead of taking almost all of the GREEN ENERGY funding and subsidy for themselves.
'so the company can recoup the costs of its smart grid program'
BGE files for rate increases
Nov 6, 2015, 5:27pm EST
Industries & Tags
Energy
Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. on Friday asked regulators to approve rate increases so the company can recoup the costs of its smart grid program and pay for higher charges it faces for using Baltimore City's underground conduit system.
If approved, the rate increases would mean higher monthly payments for both commercial and residential customers. They would also mean hundreds of millions of additional dollars going to BGE.
Enlarge Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. requested a rate increase on Friday.
Costar Group Inc.
The utility is asking for rate increases totaling $213 million a year to pay for the installation of smart meters and other investments it's made in its grid since 2010. BGE started putting in smart meters in the spring of 2012 and recently finished installation. But the Maryland Public Service Commission did not allow the utility to raise rates to offset grid improvement costs as meters were installed, instead requiring BGE to ask to recoup costs after meters were in place so it could prove they benefitted consumers.
Now BGE is asking for a 6 percent increase in residential electricity rates and an 11 percent increase in residential natural gas rates to pay for smart grid work. That translates to an extra $7.64 per month on electricity bills and $7.56 on gas bills, on average.
For commercial customers, BGE is requesting electricity and gas rate hikes varying by customer size. Small electricity customers would pay 2.6 percent more, larger customers would pay 2.2 percent more and the largest industrial customers would pay 1 percent more. On gas bills, most customers would see 7.5 percent bill increases, while large industrial and military customers on interruptable service would have their bills go up 2.9 percent.
BGE did not provide dollar cost estimates for commercial customers because their bills vary significantly.
The company said that the higher rates are justified in part because its smart meter program, which carried a total project cost of $500 million, allows customers to earn bill credits as part of an energy rewards initiative. BGE's Smart Energy Rewards program has resulted in over $28 million in bill credits since 2013, the utility said. It also supported increased rates by saying that BGE customers have used smart grid improvements to cut their energy use and that the initiative has improved its own service.
"We're seeing the benefits of the investments we're making," said Mark Case, BGE's vice president of strategy and regulatory affairs. "If we talk about reliability as an example, last year has been our best year on reliability. Overall, the investments that we're making in the modernization and the resiliency of the grid are paying off."
BGE projects more than $1.5 billion in savings over 10 years because of smart grid work. It calculated every dollar invested in the project resulted in $2.50 in customer benefits.
People's Counsel Paula Carmody said her office will scrutinize the rate hike proposal.
"We represent the residential consumers, and it will impact them very significantly in terms of monthly rate increases if approved," she said. "We will be taking a very hard look at the business case they are offering to the commission."
Any smart grid rate increases would be in addition to money BGE wants to raise to help it pay for higher conduit rates Baltimore City approved in September. The utility asked regulators Friday to approve charges linked to the conduit rates.
BGE previously suggested Baltimore City residents should bear the cost of higher conduit rates. If the PSC approves such a move, BGE has estimated Baltimore City residential customers could see their bills rise by $7 to $8 per month, while commercial customers could pay between $15 and $3,350 more per month.
BGE expects regulators to decide on its requests in early June. The utility last won a rate increase in December of 2014, although the PSC reduced its requested hike at that time.
Google in San Francisco uses more energy than the entire state of California to fuel its global Google corporation. It was forced to create its own energy source. Remember, energy sustainability is using LESS ENERGY----and global corporations are simply building platforms for their super-sizing energy use and making sure they control all energy distribution to their corporate campuses.
THIS IS WHAT SMART METERS WILL DO----PUSHING CITIZENS MORE AND MORE TO OFF-PEAK HOURS JUST TO BE ABLE TO AFFORD ORDINARY ELECTRICITY.
Look who is now a GREEN ENERGY AND SUSTAINABILITY corporation-----GREEN GOOGLE-----the largest consumer of energy in the nation. Now since Google is a Green energy business it gets billions of dollars in Federal funding to build the energy grid it needs for its super-sized consumption. OH, THAT IS WHAT ALL THOSE SOLAR FIELDS ARE ABOUT----NOT FOR CITIZENS AND THEIR ENERGY GRID. So this global behemoth is now our US green energy source---AND NO LOCAL, GREEN ENERGY ECONOMY WANTED. You see how green energy in each state is being sold to a global corporation like Google while pretending that state is diversifying its energy----and Maryland is completely tied to this global corporate capture of our 'green energy'.
Renewable energy
Google is helping to power the world with clean energy. Our goal is 100% renewable power, and so far we’ve committed to purchase over 2 gigawatts of renewable energy – equivalent to taking nearly 1 million cars off the road and making us the largest non-utility purchaser of renewable energy in the world. Separately, we’ve also committed to invest over $2.5 billion in renewable energy projects, which also makes us one of the largest corporate investors in renewable energy in the world. We believe that through these two initiatives, we're creating a better future for everyone.Using green power at Google
We are committed to powering 100% of our operations with clean energy and have signed contracts to purchase over 2GW of renewable energy -- equivalent to taking nearly one million cars off the road -- making us the largest corporate renewable energy purchaser in the world.
We pilot new technology on our campuses
When testing new renewable energy technologies on our campuses, we evaluate them against a few criteria: They must make good business sense, have potential for long-term significant impact and transform the industry. For example, in 2007, we installed the largest corporate solar panel installation of its kind—1.7 MW—at our Mountain View campus. We’ve grown the size of the system to 1.9 MW, and it generates enough electricity to power 30% of the peak load of the buildings on which it sits.
More on how we pilot new green technology
We purchase green power near our data centers
To reach our 100% renewable energy goal, we’re buying clean electricity directly from wind and solar farms around the world, and working with our utility partners to make more renewable energy available to us and others. Here’s an overview of our renewable energy purchase commitments to date:
- Story County II: Iowa wind direct purchase
- Minco II: Oklahoma wind direct purchase
- Canadian Hills: Oklahoma wind utility purchase
- Maevaara: Sweden wind direct purchase
- Happy Hereford: Texas wind direct purchase
- Ramsnäs, Skalleberg, Mungseröd, Alered: Sweden wind direct purchase
- Wind VIII: Iowa wind utility purchase
- Delfzijl: Netherlands wind utility purchase
- Golden Hills: California wind direct purchase
- Bluestem: Oklahoma wind direct purchase
- Bethel: Texas wind direct purchase
- Great Western: Oklahoma wind direct purchase
- Duke Solar: North Carolina solar utility purchase
- El Romero: Chile solar direct purchase
- Jenasen: Sweden wind direct purchase
Baltimore as an US International Economic Zone with technology and global health care as the current driver of this global economy will have to build the same situation as Google because all of the industries they intend to bring will need massive internet capacity and with that massive energy needs. When Maryland assesses its green energy infrastructure built these several years of O'Malley we saw one off-shore windfarm----we saw several national natural gas corporations -----and that was about it. The total green energy hitting our Maryland energy grid-----NOT MUCH. Lot's of Green energy subsidy and green energy tax breaks----not much green energy to our citizens and homes. Johns Hopkins partnered with global energy corporations on the other hand----
LOTS OF ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE------BATTERY STORAGE----ENERGY CABLES HAVING THE NEWEST TECHNOLOGY ENERGY CONDUCTION CAPABILITY.
Bernie Sanders and Vermont have lead the nation in being GREEN and environmental. Below you see their response to these several years of green energy subsidy and tax credits-----GREEN ENERGY GRID 100% TO RESIDENTIAL USE.
The next Mayor of Baltimore can reverse the current INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ZONE AS HAVING CONTROL OVER ALL ENERGY----by fighting for control over green energy subsidy coming from the Federal and state level and make sure it is building an infrastructure of green energy for citizens and small businesses.
What I like about this Vermont stat is the broad mix of renewable sources and the fact they are not bringing in global corporations to create and operate these. Hydro-retrofitting is a great source as is bio-mass when not tied to being simply waste disposal for massive global corporate campuses and factories. It is only GREEN and environmental when the economy is as well. I like Burlington's small business economy with folks having worked on these issues for decades now interjecting some of the newer renewables as wind and solar----I do not like the cap and trade and market-based selling that allows one region to ignore pollution by buying another region's green gains. This artificially inflates what a city or state is actually doing so quit that Vermont! As important you see Vermont has not sold its electricity utility to global corporations so what they are doing goes right to residents.
Largest City In Vermont Now Gets All Its Power From Wind, Water And Biomass
by Ari Phillips Sep 15, 2014 10:16 am
CREDIT: AP/Wilson Ring
Water flows through the Winooski One hydro-electric plant in Winooski, VT. The Burlington Electric Department's recent purchase of the facility, located in the Winooski River between Burlington and the city of Winooski, enabled it to reach 100 percent renewable power.
The 42,000 people living in Burlington, Vermont can now feel confident that when they turn on their TVs or power up their computers they are using renewable energy. With the purchase of the 7.4 megawatt Winooski One hydroelectric project earlier this month, the Burlington Electric Department now owns or contracts renewable sources — including wind, hydro, and biomass — equivalent to the city’s needs.
“We’re now in a position where we’re supplying Burlington residents with sources that are renewable,” said Ken Nolan, manager of power resources for Burlington Electric Department, earlier this month. “The prices are not tied to fossil fuels — they’re stable prices — and they provide us with the flexibility, from an environmental standpoint, to really react to any regulation or changes to environmental standards that come in the future.”
According to Nolan, the utility will get about one-third of its power from the Joseph C. McNeil Generating Station, one-third from wind energy contracts, and one-third from the hydroelectric stations Winooski One and Hydro-Québec. The McNeil power station is a biomass facility that primarily uses wood chips from logging residue leftover from the harvesting of wood for other products.
Vermont has a statewide goal of getting 90 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2050, including electricity, heating, and transportation. Christopher Recchia, the commissioner of the Vermont Department of Public Service, told the Associated Press that Burlington’s achievement shows that they’re able to make this transition cost-effectively and “in a way that makes Vermonters really positioned well for the future.”
The Washington Electric Co-operative, which has about 11,000 customers across central and northern Vermont, also reached the 100 percent renewable milestone earlier this year. Both utilities acknowledge that when renewable sources aren’t readily available — if the wind isn’t blowing or water levels are low — they will purchase traditional fossil fuel-generated electricity. However, when the wind is strong and water levels are high more than enough electricity is generated and the surplus can be sold to other utilities. On average, they will be selling more than they buy.
In a fancy accounting measure, (This is not progressive) both Burlington and Washington Electric sell renewable energy credits for the power they produce to utilities in southern New England, where their value is highest, before then buying less expensive credits from other sources to offset those they just sold. While this could be criticized as a questionable practice it also helps keep prices low and adheres to the rules of RGGI.
RGGI, or the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, is a nine-state market-based regulatory program to cap and reduce power sector CO2 emissions across much of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic. A RGGI auction earlier this month sold almost 18 million carbon allowances and generated $87.8 million for reinvestment by the RGGI states in a variety of initiatives including energy efficiency, renewable energy, and greenhouse gas abatement programs. All of the available allowances were sold.
As Vermont takes initiative to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, a new report by a team of University of Vermont and other scientists estimates the local impacts of climate change on the state. In an effort to downscale global climate models to convey local impacts the researchers looked at climate change in northern Vermont and southern Quebec. They found that annual precipitation will increase by between a third and half an inch per decade and average temperatures will rise by around five degrees Fahrenheit by 2050.
They also found that annual snowfall at six major ski resorts in the region could decrease around half by the late this century and that the growing season will get about six weeks longer. Vermonters may be most distraught to learn that these climate changes are likely to significantly reduce the number of days suitable for making maple syrup. Vermont is the largest producer of maple syrup in the country, providing around 40 percent of the entire supply.
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If it was not so sad it would make you mad. Here in Maryland the progressive posers are going wild using all kinds of green talking points and talking about creating green jobs for yet another election cycle all while saying they would use the NATURAL GAS EXPORT TERMINAL corporation's 'green energy' contribution for building an export terminal. What is the greatest producer of methane and climate-change gas? FRACKING AND NATURAL GAS WHICH THIS SAME MARYLAND ASSEMBLY JUST PASSED AND GUARANTEED FRACKING WILL BE SUPER-SIZED AS NATURAL GAS BECOMES AN EXPORT.
So, in Maryland we go to Dominion from Virginia to get funding for green energy economy development. Then we see the same cast of characters----THERE IS PUGH FOR MAYOR OF BALTIMORE allowed to pose progressive with green jobs---and as with decades of history ---all this green funding will go to JOB TRAINING JOB TRAINING JOB TRAINING. How are you going to reduce CO2 when you are preparing to frack and export and build massive energy infrastructure for many global corporate campuses? No doubt they will use cap and trade and buy Vermont's REAL renewable credits to say they reduced Maryland's or just say they reduced it and back it with skewed data.
Baltimore has had serious energy infrastructure installation tied to energy cable and batter storage facilities these several years and as always---they bring workers from out of the area to do these 'green energy' jobs.
JOB TRAINING JOB TRAINING JOB TRAINING! Is a Wall
Street global corporate neo-liberal's way of saying---you are never going to get a job.
THE BALTIMORE SUN ALWAYS ALLOWS ESTABLISHMENT CANDIDATES LOTS OF FREE CAMPAIGNING IN WRITING ARTICLES TO MAKE THEM LOOK PROGRESSIVE. PUGH IS QUEEN OF BALTIMORE AS AN ENVIRONMENTAL WASTELAND.
Maryland Senate OKs increasing state's renewable energy standard
Associated PressA measure to increase Maryland's renewable energy standard has passed the state Senate.
The vote was 31-14 Wednesday.
The bill increases requirements to use energy sources like wind and solar to 25 percent by 2020. That's up from the current goal of 20 percent by 2022.
The House passed a similar bill last month 92-43. The two chambers will need to pass the same version of the measure before Monday at midnight to send the bill to Gov. Larry Hogan.
This legislative session has been a positive one for clean energy in Maryland.
On Monday, Hogan signed a bill setting a new 40 percent greenhouse-gas reduction target for 2030. The measure builds on a 2009 state law that required Maryland to reduce emissions 25 percent by 2020 from 2006 levels.
'Dominion is required to pay Maryland $8 million per year over the next 5 years as a condition to build a natural gas export facility in Southern Maryland. The Public Service Commission, which set the condition, requires the money to be used to promote energy efficiency, curb climate-altering pollution and develop renewable energy'.
Maryland lawmakers push renewable energy boost, green jobs program
Erin CoxContact ReporterThe Baltimore Sun
As world leaders meet in Paris, Maryland lawmakers propose increasing renewable energy sources here.Three influential Democratic lawmakers want to increase how much of Maryland's electricity comes from renewable sources, as well as spend $40 million on training for the "green jobs" they expect to be in higher demand.
Sen. Catherine Pugh, Del. Dereck Davis and Sen. Rich Madaleno announced Tuesday they will co-sponsor legislation to require 25 percent of the state's electricity to come from renewable sources by 2020, accelerating the state's current goal to reach 20 percent by 2022.
At the same time, they propose spending a $40 million pool of cash from an energy company settlement on job skills training, hoping to put people to work installing solar panels or improving the energy efficiency of buildings.
"This is not a choice between addressing climate change and improving our economy," said Davis, chairman of the Economic Matters Committee and a Prince George's County lawmaker. "It's both."
The annoucnement came as world leaders are gathered in Paris this month to negotiate how to reverse the effects of climate change.
Pugh, the Senate Majority Leader, called the proposal a way to encourage "meaningful jobs" that could support a family.
Advocates estimate the switch would create 2,000 new jobs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of taking 563,000 cars off the road each year.
The higher percentage of renewable energy source for electricity, however, would come at a cost to rate payers. Since renewable energy can be more costly than coal-fired power plants, the switch would cost about 52 cents per rate payer per year, according to analysis by Sustainable Energy Advantage. Advocates commissioned that analysis last year when they last tried to speed up the state's renewable energy goals.
Davis said that the plan to increase renewable energy sources faltered last year because many complex issues take more than a year to get through the General Assembly. He said he was confident that the legislators could build on last year's discussions and get the measure passed.
Governor Larry Hogan's spokesman declined to comment on the proposal, which has not yet been drafted.
Environment Secretary Benjamin H. Grumbles in October endorsed a related proposal to further curb greenhouse gas emissions since the state was on track to exceed a goal to reduce those.
Hogan's administration last year did not recommend a way to spend the $40 million the state is expected to receive over the next five years from Dominion, an energy company based in Richmond, Va.
Dominion is required to pay Maryland $8 million per year over the next 5 years as a condition to build a natural gas export facility in Southern Maryland. The Public Service Commission, which set the condition, requires the money to be used to promote energy efficiency, curb climate-altering pollution and develop renewable energy.
Environmentalists with the Chesapeake Climate Action Network also backed the proposal. which will have several other Democratic sponsors in the legislature.
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'Chief among the obstacles, according to Parsons, is the need to make computer components much more power efficient. Even then, the electricity demands would be gargantuan.
"I'd say they're targeting around 60 megawatts, I can't imagine they'll get below that," he commented. "That's at least £60m a year just on your electricity bill."'
I love how they put progressive spin on everything------like the Department of Energy is spending tens of billions of dollars modeling switchgrass growth projections. Super-computers are the new skyscraper of what makes a nation appear strong. Unlike what this article makes one think super-computers are used for Wall Street derivatives markets----industrial/NSA surveillance -----high-speed internet global corporations and their competition and marketing-----and storing/selling of all personal and government data for massive data files to be used and sold across all industries, and yes, SMART CITY TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS. They are good for deep-space research which is a plus to me.
'Titan will help U.S. scientists pioneer research into climate change, biofuels, nuclear energy, new materials and other crucial fields, which will help them create the next wave of car batteries, switchgrass ethanol and improved weather forecasting tools -- all developed in America'.
OH, THAT'S WHAT ALL THIS GREEN ENERGY SUBSIDY AND FUNDING IS DOING--BUILDING THIS STRUCTURE FOR SUPER-COMPUTERS NEEDED FOR GLOBAL MARKETS.
They will have to raise home energy rates on US homeowners quite a bit to have citizens paying these bills! As BGE/EXELON rate increases soar-----remember, they are building all this energy infrastructure with rates we pay and we are going to be pushed out of ordinary energy access down the road.
Supercomputers: Obama orders world's fastest computer
By Chris Baraniuk Technology reporter
- 30 July 2015
- From the section Technology
Image caption The president has asked US scientists to build the fastest supercomputer President Obama has signed an executive order calling for the US to build the world's fastest computer by 2025.
The supercomputer would be 20 times quicker than the current leading machine, which is in China.
It would be capable of making one quintillion (a billion billion) calculations per second - a figure which is known as one exaflop.
A body called the National Strategic Computing Initiative (NSCI) will be set up to research and build the computer.
The US is seeking the new supercomputer, significantly faster than today's models, to perform complex simulations, aid scientific research and national security projects.
It is hoped the machine would help to analyse weather data for more accurate forecasts or assist in cancer diagnoses by analysing X-ray images.
A blog post on the White House website also suggests it could allow NASA scientists to model turbulence, which might enable the design of more streamlined aircraft without the need for extensive wind tunnel testing.
Such a computer would be called an exascale machine.
Bigger modelsRichard Kenway at the University of Edinburgh says he thinks the plan is "spot on" in terms of strategy, bringing together both the ambition to develop new hardware and also improved analysis of big data.
He explained the computer could aid the development of personalised medicines, tailored to specific individuals.
"Today, drugs are designed for the average human and they work OK for some people but not others," he told the BBC.
"The real challenge in precision medicine is to move from designing average drugs to designing drugs for the individual because you can know their genome and their lifestyle."
DESIGNER PHARMA--------DON'T WORRY ABOUT WHAT THIS IS---YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE PLAN WON'T COVER IT.
There could also be benefits in long-term climate modelling, according to Mark Parsons at the Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre (EPCC).
Currently, climate scientists attempt to model how the Earth's climate will evolve in coming years, but the accuracy of these predictions is severely limited.
Today's fastest supercomputer, the Tianhe-2 in China's National Computer Centre, Guangzhou, performs at 33.86 petaflops (quadrillions of calculations per second), almost twice as fast as the second-quickest machine, which is American.
For Parsons, the latest US initiative is a clear attempt to challenge the dominance of the Chinese in this field.
"The US has woken up to the fact that if it wants to remain in the race it will have to invest," he told the BBC.
£60m electricity bill
Both Kenway and Parsons point out that the challenges of building an exascale computer are not trivial and would require years of research and development.
Chief among the obstacles, according to Parsons, is the need to make computer components much more power efficient. Even then, the electricity demands would be gargantuan.
"I'd say they're targeting around 60 megawatts, I can't imagine they'll get below that," he commented. "That's at least £60m a year just on your electricity bill."
Efforts to construct an exascale computer are not entirely new.
Recently, IBM, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON) and the University of Groningen announced plans to build one to analyse data from the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope project.
SKA will be built in Australia and South Africa by the early 2020s.
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I don't know if states across the nation are facing such a fleecing as Maryland and Baltimore citizens have with their utilities being used as a cash-cow for profits----but as we are told BGE/Exelon will raise rates by 70% or some incredible amount and smart grid is given as the excuse-----it is not only SMART METERS----it is this global industrial grid with all these special cables and battery storage capacities for super-computers on global corporate campuses that we are really paying for. Baltimore citizens see little or no work in their communities because it is happening only as corporate campuses/city center is built. Communities they see as future global corporate campuses will pay high rates for a decade or so and then be pushed out as the next campus is built.
A Mayor of Baltimore MUST intercept this development and the total control now given to these global energy corporations allowed to design and install what they want. Again, subsidizing the small businesses around utilities is a MUST. We should see REAL local renewable energy small businesses and small business competition to BGE/EXELON and we MUST allow these global corporations pay their fair share of installation of what will bring them billions of dollars in profits instead of taking almost all of the GREEN ENERGY funding and subsidy for themselves.
'so the company can recoup the costs of its smart grid program'
BGE files for rate increases
Nov 6, 2015, 5:27pm EST
Industries & Tags
Energy
Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. on Friday asked regulators to approve rate increases so the company can recoup the costs of its smart grid program and pay for higher charges it faces for using Baltimore City's underground conduit system.
If approved, the rate increases would mean higher monthly payments for both commercial and residential customers. They would also mean hundreds of millions of additional dollars going to BGE.
Enlarge Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. requested a rate increase on Friday.
Costar Group Inc.
The utility is asking for rate increases totaling $213 million a year to pay for the installation of smart meters and other investments it's made in its grid since 2010. BGE started putting in smart meters in the spring of 2012 and recently finished installation. But the Maryland Public Service Commission did not allow the utility to raise rates to offset grid improvement costs as meters were installed, instead requiring BGE to ask to recoup costs after meters were in place so it could prove they benefitted consumers.
Now BGE is asking for a 6 percent increase in residential electricity rates and an 11 percent increase in residential natural gas rates to pay for smart grid work. That translates to an extra $7.64 per month on electricity bills and $7.56 on gas bills, on average.
For commercial customers, BGE is requesting electricity and gas rate hikes varying by customer size. Small electricity customers would pay 2.6 percent more, larger customers would pay 2.2 percent more and the largest industrial customers would pay 1 percent more. On gas bills, most customers would see 7.5 percent bill increases, while large industrial and military customers on interruptable service would have their bills go up 2.9 percent.
BGE did not provide dollar cost estimates for commercial customers because their bills vary significantly.
The company said that the higher rates are justified in part because its smart meter program, which carried a total project cost of $500 million, allows customers to earn bill credits as part of an energy rewards initiative. BGE's Smart Energy Rewards program has resulted in over $28 million in bill credits since 2013, the utility said. It also supported increased rates by saying that BGE customers have used smart grid improvements to cut their energy use and that the initiative has improved its own service.
"We're seeing the benefits of the investments we're making," said Mark Case, BGE's vice president of strategy and regulatory affairs. "If we talk about reliability as an example, last year has been our best year on reliability. Overall, the investments that we're making in the modernization and the resiliency of the grid are paying off."
BGE projects more than $1.5 billion in savings over 10 years because of smart grid work. It calculated every dollar invested in the project resulted in $2.50 in customer benefits.
People's Counsel Paula Carmody said her office will scrutinize the rate hike proposal.
"We represent the residential consumers, and it will impact them very significantly in terms of monthly rate increases if approved," she said. "We will be taking a very hard look at the business case they are offering to the commission."
Any smart grid rate increases would be in addition to money BGE wants to raise to help it pay for higher conduit rates Baltimore City approved in September. The utility asked regulators Friday to approve charges linked to the conduit rates.
BGE previously suggested Baltimore City residents should bear the cost of higher conduit rates. If the PSC approves such a move, BGE has estimated Baltimore City residential customers could see their bills rise by $7 to $8 per month, while commercial customers could pay between $15 and $3,350 more per month.
BGE expects regulators to decide on its requests in early June. The utility last won a rate increase in December of 2014, although the PSC reduced its requested hike at that time.
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