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Zeeland approves ordinance regulating wind energy turbines

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(MI) Grand Rapids Press – The measure allows small structure-mounted turbines in all zoning districts, including residential, as permitted uses. It limits turbines mounted on the roofs of residences to no more than 10 feet higher than the roof’s peak and limits the noise levels to 55 decibels. Special land use approvals are needed for medium-size turbines in agricultural, industrial and public-use districts, and for large-scale turbines in heavy industrial areas. More

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Illinois Solar Tour aims to show how systems can have impact

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(IL) Chicago Tribune – Jim Camasto, a Naperville homeowner who installed two kinds of solar energy systems in his home over the last few years, is generating so much power from those sources on some days that he sells the excess back to the city and gets credit toward his electric bill. Though not completely off the local power grid, Camasto and his wife, Kath, slashed their energy costs to about $1,000 last year compared with about $2,000 in 2001 before switching over to their new alternative energy sources. More

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Wixom plant will get new life as renewable energy park

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(MI) The Detroit News – Two out-of-state renewable energy firms have selected Ford’s shuttered Wixom plant for an ambitious $725 million redevelopment project, creating what officials are calling the nation’s largest renewable energy park, company officials said Thursday. The companies, Xtreme Power of Austin, Texas, and Clairvoyant Energy of Santa Barbara, Calif., plan to retool the aging factory, which once built such icons as the Lincoln Town Car and Ford Thunderbird, to manufacture solar panels and utility-scale batteries used for generating renewable power. More

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Willow trees to provide cleaner fuel source

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(MI) The Mining Journal – In the near future, Upper Peninsula residents may see rows of willows planted across about 50,000 acres of the region. The fast-growing trees will be planted to feed four U.P. biomass power plants, including ones in L’Anse, White Pine, K.I. Sawyer and Escanaba. More

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The Green Revolution(s)

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(NY) The New York Times –  End our addiction to the oil that funds Iran’s Islamic dictatorship. Launching a real Green Revolution in America would be the best way to support the “Green Revolution” in Iran. Oil is the magic potion that enables Iran’s turbaned shahs – “Shah Khamenei” and “Shah Ahmadinejad” – to snub their noses at the world and at many of their own people as well.  More

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Deep in Bedrock, Clean Energy and Quake Fears

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(NY) New York Times – As early as this week, though, an American start-up company, AltaRock Energy, will begin to drill deep into ground laced with fault lines in an area two hours’ drive north of San Francisco. Residents of the region, which straddles Lake and Sonoma Counties, have already been protesting swarms of smaller earthquakes set off by a less geologically invasive set of energy projects there. AltaRock officials said that they chose the spot in part because the history of mostly small quakes reassured them that the risks were limited. More

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Five more solar job openings in Midland

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(MI) The Mudpuppy – A new Evergreen Solar facility in Midland is hiring, again.The company has posted openings for five jobs so far this month. The openings are for three process technicians and two production shift supervisors.  The plant will make a patented product called String Ribbon for use in photovoltaic panels. More

Energy

Grant would help Sterling Heights go green

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(MI) Detroit Free Press – City officials have applied for a $1.2-million federal grant to buy hybrid vehicles and cut energy costs. The funding, from the Department of Energy and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, could be approved this fall. More

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State’s wind-power opportunities blowing away

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(WI) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – Wisconsin’s path to a greener energy future is anything but a breeze. Optimism abounds that the wind power sector will create jobs and help reduce the state’s emissions of greenhouse gases. Gov. Jim Doyle’s global warming task force has recommended the state move toward getting 25% of its electricity from wind power by 2025. And several reports are touting the promise of job creation and emissions reduction from tapping more renewable energy and energy efficiency. A report being released Monday by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs concludes that the Midwestern economy can capitalize on its wind resource and expertise in areas such as vehicle technology and energy efficiency if the United States passes limits on greenhouse gas emissions.

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Making solar panels requires old-fashioned coal-fired power

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(MI) Bay City Times – Michigan’s solar industry has a dirty secret: It needs a lot of coal-fired power. The process of manufacturing base materials and panels to capture electricity from the sun is energy-intensive, utility officials say. And that energy comes mostly from fossil fuels in Michigan, where up to eight new coal-fired power plants are on the drawing board.  More