  Urbanoutdoors Member Username: Urbanoutdoors Post Number: 616 Registered: 11-2005 |
So what does this mean for Michigan, Detroit and DTE? http://www.awea.org/windenergy weekly/WEW1266.html#Article1 Midwestern Governors’ Pact: 20% Renewables by 2020, 30% by 2030 A group of Midwestern governors signed a historic accord this week committing the region to work together over the next couple of decades on reducing global warming-causing emissions, a pact that includes a 30% renewables goal by 2030. Meeting at the Midwestern Governor's Association (MGA) Energy Summit held this week in Milwaukee, Wis., the governors of Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan, Kansas, and the Canadian province of Manitoba all signed the accord, with the governors of Indiana, Ohio, and South Dakota signing on as observers to the process. “This is a momentous day in Milwaukee,” said Governor Jim Doyle (D) of Wisconsin, who serves as the current chairman of MGA and who, along with Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty (R), co-chaired the the summit. Acknowledging the indisputable link between carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions and global warming, the agreement represents a bipartisan convergence of the need to move forward on a regional basis to take action on the issue rather than wait for federal action from Washington, D.C. In addition, the agreement serves as a message to Congress that action needs to be taken on renewable energy and climate policy, said Iowa Governor Chet Culver (D). “If nothing else, we're going to get the attention of those in Washington, and we need our colleagues from across the nation, the other governors, to join us,” he said. The plan addresses a broad range of actions on energy efficiency and other technologies to combat CO 2 emissions from the states in the region. Several elements of the plan focus on renewable energy, and the governors speaking at the event highlighted wind power in particular as a technology that is scalable, easily deployable, and ready to play a major role in the region. The agreement calls for the Midwest to generate 20% of its electricity by the year 2020 and 30% by 2030. To achieve those ambitious goals, the agreement calls for specific issues to be tackled through various actions, including promoting passage of a multi-year federal production tax credit (PTC) extension (up to eight years) for renewable energy, effective once the current two-year extension expires on December 31, 2008; expanding collaborative regional transmission planning and siting to enable future development of renewable electricity generation; pursuing a multi-state transmission initiative to facilitate construction and delivery to market of a large amount of new renewable electricity generation, together with power from other lower-carbon generation facilities; developing and implementing comprehensive siting principles and policies for wind farms to encourage orderly development of the renewable resource; applying the findings of wind integration studies, such as the 2006 Minnesota Wind Integration Study (such studies show that higher percentages of wind power can be incorporated reliably into the electric power system given the Midwest’s tremendous wind resource); and developing economic incentives and workforce development policies to attract renewable energy component manufacturers and service providers to the region. | ||
Mind_field Member Username: Mind_field Post Number: 816 Registered: 10-2003 |
Thanks for posting that UO. Very ambitious. I hope the actions are followed thru and it's not just "symbolic". | ||
Arab_guyumich Member Username: Arab_guyumich Post Number: 2 Registered: 11-2007 |
Manitoba? | ||
Urbanoutdoors Member Username: Urbanoutdoors Post Number: 618 Registered: 11-2005 |
I could see detroit having something like what toronto has on its riverfront but maybe on a larger scale even. I was amazed to see it when I went to toronto a few years ago but it was truly on of the coolest things I have seen in a big city in quite some time. http://www.torontohydro.com/co rporate/initiatives/green_powe r/wind_turbine/wind_turbine_im ages.cfm http://www.mah.gov.on.ca/Page1 63.aspx | ||
Urbanoutdoors Member Username: Urbanoutdoors Post Number: 619 Registered: 11-2005 |
http://www.michigan.gov/images /MI_Final_PWR50m_9Sept04_11562 0_7.jpg http://www.michigan.gov/dleg/0 ,1607,7-154-25676_25774-101765 --,00.html http://www.awea.org/projects/michigan.html http://www.michigan.gov/gov/0,1607,7-168-45547_45548-170051--,00.html It looks like a good possibility for michigan especially along the coasts. (Message edited by Urbanoutdoors on November 19, 2007) (Message edited by Urbanoutdoors on November 19, 2007) | ||
Redvetred Member Username: Redvetred Post Number: 124 Registered: 04-2007 |
How much will our electric rates increase? Where do they plan to put all these wind generators? Townships in Michigan's Thumb area are already protesting them or along the Detroit River - not a chance. Lansing might be a good place for them with all of the hot air coming from there. | ||
Diehard Member Username: Diehard Post Number: 203 Registered: 03-2005 |
Wouldn't you know it, there's the typical "not in my backyard" backlash against clean, renewable energy: http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.d ll/article?AID=/20071115/METRO /711150405/-1/ARCHIVE You wouldn't think there'd be any opposition to wind turbines - there's no pollution, traffic, noise, threat of meltdown or anything you'd associate with other forms of power generation. There IS a concern about the safety of migrating birds, but most of the grumbling is from people who don't want to "ruin the view" - even though the inland turbines are pretty much hidden by trees. Maybe they should try living downwind from an oil refinery for a while, then see if they'd reconsider. | ||
Mind_field Member Username: Mind_field Post Number: 817 Registered: 10-2003 |
Redvetred: Quit being a NIMBY ass! (Message edited by mind field on November 19, 2007) | ||
Diehard Member Username: Diehard Post Number: 204 Registered: 03-2005 |
What the hell, I'll let 'em build a wind turbine in my back yard, right where my huge ash tree used to be before those bugs ate it.  Run one power line into my house and I'd be VERY happy with it. | ||
Johnlodge Member Username: Johnlodge Post Number: 3716 Registered: 10-2003 |
This could benefit Michigan quite a bit. I've stood right next to an ENORMOUS modern wind turbine, and I couldn't hear a thing. I think people like to complain for complaining's sake. | ||
Urbanoutdoors Member Username: Urbanoutdoors Post Number: 620 Registered: 11-2005 |
From the energy conferences I have been to in Vermont I was told that a household cat kills about as many birds as wind turbines do. I think turbines are ideal for the urban environment, its no more harsh on the view than any other structure thats built, plus job creation would help make it much more viable. As for extra costs it can be a little more expensive at the present time but some wind farms that have been created in the southwest already produce energy for the same price as a coal burning plant would, and as the demand for wind energy goes up do to initiatives like this pact, the costs will only go down. | ||
Flybydon Member Username: Flybydon Post Number: 203 Registered: 01-2005 |
http://www.aerialpics.com/B/windgenerators.html  It’s the future embrace it. Make your own at home http://www.otherpower.com/17page1.html Canada’s plan http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/engineer/facts/03-047.htm | ||
Lefty2 Member Username: Lefty2 Post Number: 683 Registered: 07-2007 |
If everybody stopped eating so much meat, this would save billions of gallons of gas according to some. By the way, there is no scientific proof to the exact cause of climate changes on any tangible level. The scientists cannot pinpoint it, only theory as of yet. | ||
Urbanoutdoors Member Username: Urbanoutdoors Post Number: 621 Registered: 11-2005 |
http://www.michigan.gov/dleg/0 ,1607,7-154-25676_25774-170154 --,00.html energy exchange info... Lefty changing the way we produce energy is about how we impact the environment overall not just because of climate change. Its about air pollution, oil dependance, yes climate change is there as well as many other reasons. What will it take, there are experts who say that we have already passed peak oil and that the amount of oil that is left will not be cost effective to drill for by the year 2030 or so. | ||
Titancub Member Username: Titancub Post Number: 97 Registered: 08-2006 |
About a month of two ago DTE submitted an application to build a new coal plant up near Midland. The building of this plant would wipe out and then some any renewables the state is going to add in the next few years. Wind and Solar aren't competitive yet with nuclear or coal (or even natural gas). Plus since wind isn't reliable you need to have redundant plants that can flip on when the wind dies down. The first step is getting the state and the country off of coal. Build another unit at Fermi would be a great start for cheap, clean energy in the state. | ||
Urbanoutdoors Member Username: Urbanoutdoors Post Number: 628 Registered: 11-2005 |
http://www.glitr.com/Article.a sp?id=514319&spid= | ||
Bobj Member Username: Bobj Post Number: 3037 Registered: 11-2003 |
Actually it was CMS Energy (Consumers Energy) that filed a permit to build a plant near Midland - different Co than DTE. Renewables are great for the environment, but have a very low efficiency rate in terms of actually producing power when compared to traditional coal/nuclear. That is why coals plants started, windmills have been around much longer, but got replaced by coal to meet the demands for power. You could have 5 windmills in your yard and they wouldn't run your central air and how windy is it on a hot and muggy day?? | ||
Jerome81 Member Username: Jerome81 Post Number: 1659 Registered: 11-2003 |
I'm only sayin.....people thought we'd hit peak oil in the 70's or 80's. Then we had $10/bbl oil in the 90's. Not that peak oil can't/won't/hasn't occurred, only that I don't put much faith into the prediction that by 2030 we'll have oil too expensive to be cost effective. Doesn't mean reductions in oil use aren't something to strive for. Just that we were supposed to have flying cars and be out of oil by 20 years ago..... Same reason I'm skeptical that global warming is really man's fault. Yeah it is warming, but there are way way way way too many variables out there, and way way way way way too little understanding of Earth's millions of years of life to say "its our fault". Then to think that we can somehow really make a dent in it without massive reductions in worldwide birth rates is even more ridiculous. Even if americans got 100mpg fleet average, when you add another couple hundred million people to the US, a few more billion to the rest of the world, with all them driving cars and heating homes and burning fossil fuels, it doesn't really matter how freakin efficient you are....there will be too many people, too many factories, too many cars, etc that it will only continue to get worse. Reduce the per person impact, great, but add a few billion more and it doesn't make a lick of difference. Just sayin........I do believe a clean environment is important, but I'm also a realist and understand that these goals all sound good, but they're just not grand/drastic enough, and getting something grand or drastic enough is too drastic to ever happen, so I don't think it will. I'm just pointing out that these sorts of "initiatives" won't do a damn thing. Even if global warming IS man-made, it isn't going to stop, much less get better. Do what we can, but we can't predict the world of 100 or 200 years from now with a lick of accuracy. I'm not gonna get all up in a bunch over it. At least not at this point. And I don't think the world is going to accept a 0 or 1 child-per-lifetime type of rule, so we'll continue to add billions until something gives, be it energy, food, water, whatever. Nobody (including me) is willing to sacrifice that much for something we really have no certainty is even worth worrying about, or that we can even really make any difference long term. |
