The nitrates travel down rivers and into the Gulf of Mexico, where they boost the growth of enormous algae fields. When the algae die, the decomposition consumes oxygen, leaving behind a zone where aquatic life cannot survive. This year, the dead zone covered 5,800 square miles of sea floor, about the size of Connecticut. Larry McKinney, the executive director of the Harte Institute at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, says the ethanol mandate worsened the dead zone. âThe government is mandating ethanol use,â he said, âand it is unfortunately coming at the expense of the Gulf of Mexico.â 
German families are being hit by rapidly increasing electricity rates, to the point where growing numbers of them can no longer afford to pay the bill. Businesses are more and more worried that their energy costs will put them at a disadvantage to competitors in nations with lower energy costs, and some energy-intensive industries have begun to shun the country because they fear steeper costs ahead.
Obama has been promising green jobs for years, and failing to deliver them for just as long. Thereâs little evidence that more environmentally friendly energy sources will be net job creators. The middle class may enjoy bluer skies if we convert more of our power generation capacity to wind and solar. But weâve no reason to think that theyâll enjoy more green in their wallets. -Megan McArdle
Environmentalist, Liberal, Incompetence, Funny, Oops, Energy, Law, Regulation
Washington, D.C. may have the highest number of certified green buildings in the country, but research by Environmental Policy Alliance suggests it might not be doing much good... Washington, D.C.âs Department of Environment made the capital the first city in the nation to mandate LEED certifications in the construction of public buildings... Take the Green Building Councilâs Washington headquarters. Replete with the groupâs top green-energy accolade, the platinum LEED certification, the USGBCâs main base comes in at 236 EUI. The average EUI for uncertified buildings in the capital? Just 199.
Environmentalist, Oops, Energy
Wind turbines killed at least 600,000 -- and possibly as many as 900,000 -- bats in the United States in 2012, researchers say. Writing in the journal BioScience, the researchers said they used sophisticated statistical techniques to infer the probable number of bat deaths at wind energy facilities from the number of dead bats found at 21 locations.
Democrat, Environmentalist, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Energy, Debt
Cleanup of the former production facility contaminated and abandoned by bankrupt Abound Solar Inc. is estimated to cost as much as $3.7 million, according to documents obtained by the Business Report. As lawyers, regulators, bankruptcy officials and the landlord spar over the case, the building lies in disrepair, too contaminated to lease. The company had borrowed almost $70 million on a $400 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy. Taxpayers are expected to lose $40 million to $60 million as a result of its bankruptcy.
Environmentalist, Liberal, Oops, Energy
Putrid air hung over a luncheon meats warehouse long after a blaze consumed the building where frustrated firefighters met their enemy: rooftop solar panels. Loved by the green movement, solar panels pose a growing threat to firefighters, who may suffer electrical shocks from panels that typically cannot be turned off, said John Drengenberg, consumer safety director for Underwriters Laboratories... It took 29 hours to put out the flames at the Dietz & Watson warehouse, which was left gutted and smoldering in ruins. "Do I think we'd have had a different outcome if we could get on the roof? Sure," Delanco Deputy Fire Chief Robert Hubler said.
Before the Renewable Fuel Standard set these arbitrarily high targets, the US used just 23 percent of its corn to produce ethanol. Last year 43 percent of our corn crops went towards producing the biofuel. That shift has driven up global prices for corn, starving the worldâs poor and potentially fueling food riots. And to what end? Corn ethanol is categorized as a biofuel, but it doesnât reduce emissions.
Environmentalist, Liberal, Financial, Oops, Energy
Europeâs biggest oil companies, Shell and BP, are floundering in the green energy department. Both companies have decided to stop funding their advanced biofuel programs, which produced fuel from woody plants and waste, due to their high production costs. These biofuels require intense capital investment, but havenât begun yielding much profit, and the oil companies are opting to cut their losses.
Democrat, Environmentalist, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Financial, Oops
A Michigan maker of vans for the disabled that received a $50-million Energy Department loan has quietly ceased operation and laid off its staff. Vehicle Production Group, or VPG, stopped operations after finances dipped below the minimum threshold required by the government as a condition of the loan, says its former CEO, John Walsh.
Democrat, Environmentalist, Incompetence, Oops, Energy
MCAULIFFE: We can only say what the engineers tell us to say; sometimes they donât get it right. But thatâs okay.... In 2009, McAuliffe promised that GreenTech would bring 1,500 jobs to the United States. He then decided to bring the companyâs operations to Mississippi instead of Virginia. However, the company created just 78 jobs.
Environmentalist, Liberal, Oops, Metaphor
A single dead eagle could spell trouble for a White Pine County wind farm that sells power to NV Energy. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is conducting an investigation after a golden eagle was killed in late February at the Spring Valley Wind Farm, about 300 miles north of Las Vegas.
The US has had wind farms since 1981, what the left and the green movement don't want to talk about regarding windmills is (as usual) the truth. The truth is: windmills, like solar panels, break down. And like solar panels, windmills produce less energy before they break down than the energy it took to make them.
Environmentalist, Warming, Science, Narrative, Oops
Thousands of Britainâs wind turbines will create more greenhouse gases than they save, according to potentially devastating scientific research to be published later this year. The finding, which threatens the entire rationale of the onshore wind farm industry, will be made by Scottish government-funded researchers who devised the standard method used by developers to calculate âcarbon payback timeâ for wind farms on peat soils.
Environmentalist, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Oops, Energy
At a special meeting of California energy companies and regulators held Feb. 26, Todd Strauss of Pacific Gas & Electric saw the possibility of state power blackouts emerging in 2013 to 2015. The reason is that it has suddenly dawned on state power regulators that green power has resulted in a precarious lack of system flexibility in the stateâs power grid./b>
Democrat, Environmentalist, Liberal, Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Oops, Energy, Waste
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment says Abound Solar is responsible for thousands of "unsellable" solar panels containing cadmium in warehouses. Barrels of toxic liquid also were found. Colorado health and environment officials have ordered Loveland-based Abound Solar, the bankrupt solar-panel maker, to clean up hazardous waste at four Front Range locations... Abound⌠spent $70 million of a $400 million federal loan guarantee that will leave taxpayers with a bill of $40 million to $60 million, once the bankruptcy is settledâŚ
Environmentalist, Liberal, Oops, Energy
Two wind turbines towering above the Cape Cod community of Falmouth, Mass., were intended to produce green energy and savings -- but they've created angst and division, and may now be removed at a high cost as neighbors complain of noise and illness. "It gets to be jet-engine loud," said Falmouth resident Neil Andersen. He and his wife Betsy live just a quarter mile from one of the turbines.
Spain is the latest European country to regret its foray into green energy production. On Friday the Spanish government announced some contentious reforms to its regime of green energy subsidies, which were among the most generous in Europe. Those subsidies (in the form of guaranteed above-market rates for producers) have been wildly successful at encouraging solar and wind farm construction. They have utterly failed, though, to help build profitable industries.
Democrat, Environmentalist, Liberal, Crime, Government, Obama, Financial, Fraud, Narrative, Oops, Greed, Debt
Three of the countryâs most prolific installers of residential solar panels are under federal investigation to determine if they inflated the cost of their work to increase the payments they would receive from the government... SolarCity, SunRun and Sungevity have received subpoenas from the Treasury Departmentâs office of inspector general for financial records to justify more than $500 million in federal grants and tax credits the firms tapped for performing work. The probe seeks to determine whether the companies accurately reported the market value of their costs when applying for federal reimbursement, which was calculated at one-third of the costs. The solar companies received money through the Treasuryâs $13 billion program, known as the 1603 program, which used funds from President Obamaâs stimulus initiative to offer cash grants to clean-energy developers.
Environmentalist, Science, Oops, Energy
Wind farm noise causes âclear and significantâ damage to peopleâs sleep and mental health, according to the first full peer-reviewed scientific study of the problem. The findings provide the clearest evidence yet to support long-standing complaints from people living near turbines that the sound from their rotating blades disrupts sleep patterns and causes stress-related conditions.
Democrat, Environmentalist, Liberal, Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Oops, Energy
Battery maker A123 Systems vowed thousands of new jobs when it received a nearly quarter-billion-dollar stimulus grant in late 2009, but federal job-tracking figures show only a few hundred positions were created before the company joined a growing list of federally backed energy businesses that ended in bankruptcy.
Democrat, Environmentalist, Liberal, Crime, Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Oops, Energy, Debt, Jobs
Abound Solar, the defunct solar-panel manufacturer, is under criminal investigation for possible securities fraud, consumer fraud and financial misrepresentation, the Weld County district attorney's office said Thursday. Loveland-based Abound closed its Colorado plant in July and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation in a move that left 125 workers without jobs and taxpayers holding the bag for up to $60 million in defaulted loans. Abound has become the subject of political controversy over its failure after the U.S. Department of Energy approved up to $400 million in federal loan guarantees for the company.
All of these developments have the German public and their elected representatives seriously reconsidering the wisdom of their ârevolution.â German consumers havenât been happy with their skyrocketing energy rates, while German industries have struggled to remain competitive while paying much more for electricity than overseas competition. -Walter Russell Mead
Democrat, Environmentalist, Liberal, Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Oops, Energy
Another solar company that received taxpayer support before going bankrupt is facing tough questions from Congress and a criminal investigation -- following in the footsteps of solar-panel firm Solyndra. The company facing scrutiny is Abound Solar, based in Longmont, Colo. Colorado's Weld County has launched a securities fraud investigation following allegations that Abound may have misled investors and a bank before securing funds. "Our goal is if crimes were committed to make sure individuals are held accountable," said Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck.
Democrat, Environmentalist, Liberal, Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Oops, Energy
Massachusetts-based solar company Satcon Technology Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Wednesday, becoming the second taxpayer-backed green energy firm this week to do so. Satcon also benefited from federal grants under the Obama administration, though it has received far less than A123 Systems. According to the Energy Department, the company was approved for two separate stimulus awards worth $3 million each.
Environmentalist, Government, Incompetence, Financial, Oops, Energy
A Danish wind turbine company whose subsidiaries received over $50 million in U.S. stimulus dollars announced on Friday it has cut more than 800 jobs in the United States and Canada this year and may be forced to lay off another 800 employees in North America.
Environmentalist, Liberal, Incompetence, Oops, Energy
Philipp Rosler said Germany is faced with a repeat of the power shortages experienced last year that threatened to plunge parts of the country into darkness... The move away from old forms of energy production has become one of Chancellor Angel Merkel's key policies, and the government wants four fifths of German energy produced by renewable sources by 2050... Filling the void left by fossil fuels and nuclear power however has already placed a strain on existing capacity in the national grid. During a cold snap in February last year the pressure on electricity capacity in the Hamburg region pushed the grid to breaking point and forced some heavy industry plants to shut down.
President Obama, of course, has completely failed to deliver on this promise of 5 million new green-collar jobs. The entire U.S. economy has created only 1.2 million jobs since Obama was sworn into office, many of them in the fossil fuel extraction, production and distribution sector. -Conn Carroll
Environmentalist, Liberal, Oops, Energy
âSoviet-styleâ green subsidies for wind farms must be scrapped because turbines are blighting local communities, the new Environment Secretary said on Tuesday. Owen Paterson, who took on the role last month, said wind developers should âstand on their own two feetâ instead of asking for money from the state. He said green technologies such as wind farms might actually have a worse impact than climate change, because they are causing âpublic insurrectionâ.
Democrat, Environmentalist, Liberal, Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Oops, Energy
LONGMONT, Colo. - A bankrupt Longmont-based company that received $68 million in stimulus money is under investigation by the Weld County district attorney's office. 7NEWS has confirmed Abound Solar is under investigation.
Environmentalist, Oops, Energy
After raising more than $100 million over the past seven years, GreenVolts, a California startup that makes concentrating photovoltaic systems, has closed its doors after a major investor abruptly withdrew financial support for the company.
Democrat, Environmentalist, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Financial, Oops
Rep. Henry Waxman D-Calif. said he was "sorry" for losing millions of dollars on Solyndra. âIâm sorry Solyndra happened. We lost $500 million. Itâs a shame but thatâs why loan guarantees are provided, because these are risky enterprises and not all of them are going to succeed.â
The epidemic of power outages and ârolling blackoutsâ which nearly shut down California in the early 2000s may be returning. Back then, the culprits were unscrupulous energy providers like Enron and a poorly-thought out process of deregulation. This time, renewable energy would be to blame, as the state has pushed to increase the use of solar and wind energy without ensuring that there is enough traditional power generation to keep the grid stable on cloudy, windless days.
Environmentalist, Government, Incompetence, Financial, Oops, Energy
Despite glowing press clippings in which the CEO of Colorado-based Abound Solar claimed seven months ago that his company was the âanti-Solyndra,â the green-energy firm has filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation. It is terminating all 125 workers at its Loveland, Colo. headquarters, and is blaming China for its failure. The U.S. Department of Energy awarded Abound Solar a $400 million loan guarantee in December 2010, funds that the then-three-year-old startup said it would use to compete with solar panel industry leader First Solar.
Environmentalist, Warming, Liberal, Oops
New research finds that wind farms actually warm up the surface of the land underneath them during the night, a phenomena that could put a damper on efforts to expand wind energy as a green energy solution. Researchers used satellite data from 2003 to 2011 to examine surface temperatures across as wide swath of west Texas, which has built four of the world's largest wind farms. The data showed a direct correlation between night-time temperatures increases of 0.72 degrees C (1.3 degrees F) and the placement of the farms.
Environmentalist, Liberal, Oops
Federal ethanol-fuel policies forced consumers to pay an extra 0.5 percent to 0.8 percent in increased food prices in 2008, and the government itself could end up paying nearly $1 billion more this year for food stamps because of ethanol use, according to a new government report.
Environmentalist, Liberal, Incompetence, Oops
In America, 40% of the corn crop is currently diverted to make fuel for cars. "Ethanol uses 4.9 billion bushels of corn in the U.S.," says Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute, an environmental think tank. "That's enough grain to feed 350 million people."
Workers at a Michigan battery plant built with a $150 million federal stimulus grant but never opened played games and watched movies while their wages were paid for by U.S. taxpayers, according to a government report.
Environmentalist, Hypocrisy, Liberal
The racket â for that is what it is â works like this; once householders have installed the solar panels, the power companies have to pay for the electricity they produce at a price more than six times the market rate, for a guaranteed period of 25 years. The returns are so fantastic as to be far beyond the dreams of avarice.
Environmentalist, Narrative, Oops, Energy
The largest and most comprehensive study yet done on the effect of biofuel production from West Coast forests has concluded that an emphasis on bioenergy would increase carbon dioxide emissions from these forests at least 14 percent, if the efficiency of such operations is optimal.
Environmentalist, Liberal, Science, Oops
A new study on greenhouse gas emissions from oil palm plantations has calculated a more than 50% increase in levels of CO2 emissions than previously thought â and warned that the demand for 'green' biofuels could be costing the earth... They discovered that many previous studies were based on limited data without appropriate recognition of uncertainties and that these studies have been used to formulate current biofuel policies.
Democrat, Liberal, Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Oops, Energy
The White House is facing fresh political headaches over energy loans as a second Energy Department-backed company goes bankrupt and Republicans prepare to subpoena White House internal communications on the failed solar company Solyndra.
We never intended a fundamentalist Green movement that rejected all energy sources other than renewable, nor did we expect the Greens to cast aside our priceless ecological heritage because of their failure to understand that the needs of the Earth are not separable from human needs. We need take care that the spinning windmills do not become like the statues on Easter Island, monuments of a failed civilisation. -James Lovelock
Democrat, Environmentalist, Liberal, Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Oops
(Reuters) - Beacon Power Corp filed for bankruptcy on Sunday just a year after the energy storage company received a $43 million loan guarantee from a controversial U.S. Department of Energy program. The move comes about two months after solar panel maker Solyndra also filed for bankruptcy, setting off criticism of the government loan program.
Government, Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Oops, Energy, Economy
Solyndra was touted by the Obama administration as a prime example of how green technology could deliver jobs. The President visited the facility in May of last year and said "it is just a testament to American ingenuity and dynamism and the fact that we continue to have the best universities in the world, the best technology in the world, and most importantly the best workers in the world. And you guys all represent that. " I was told by a security guard to get my [stuff] and leave," one employee said. The company employs a little more than 1,000 employees worldwide, according to its website.
Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Energy
While we were out there, while we were building it â cause it is a half a billion dollar plant â everyone already knew that China had developed a more inexpensive way to manufacture these solar panels. Everyone knew that the plant wouldnât work. But they still did it. They still built it.
Liberal, Incompetence, Financial, Brilliance, Oops
The loan to Solyndra will allow you to build a new manufacturing facility and with it almost immediately generate 3000 new well paying construction jobs. And once your facility opens, there will be about 1000 permanent new jobs here at Solyndra and in the surrounding business community and hundreds more to install your growing output of solar panels throughout the country.
No one showed up to the Bureau of Land Managementâs (BLM) first auction for permits to produce solar power on federal land, the Denver Business Journal reported on Thursday. âWe did not have any bidders come to the sale and we did not receive any sealed bids on the sale,â BLM spokesman Vanessa Lacayo said of the auction.