Global Showcase for Offshore Wind Power Dedicated in Arklow, Ireland; Demonstration Site for GE's 3.6-Megawatt Wind Turbines

ARKLOW, Ireland –(Business Wire)– May 26, 2005 — Leading government and business dignitaries gathered today with local townspeople to officially dedicate the Arklow Bank Offshore Wind Park, a milestone project for both the global wind industry and Ireland.

Among the featured guests were An Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern T.D. (Irish Prime Minister), and David Garman, the Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy for the U.S. Department of Energy.

Built, owned and operated by GE Energy, the plant is the first large-scale offshore wind energy facility developed solely as a technology demonstration and learning platform for offshore wind power, and represents Ireland's first offshore wind project.

"As the world searches for cleaner and more sustainable methods of generating electricity, wind power is a renewable technology that has moved center stage," said Mark Little, vice president-power generation for GE Energy. "As evidenced by GE's recent ecomagination launch, our commitment to cleaner energy solutions, including offshore wind power, is at the forefront of our company's business initiatives. The Irish Sea, with its strong, abundant winds and sea conditions has challenged this milestone project, which has provided a showcase for both the wind industry and Ireland."

Placed in operation in June 2004, GE's seven 3.6-megawatt wind turbines – each taller, above water level, than a 30-story building, with rotor blade tip-to-tip dimensions that sweep the size of a soccer pitch – bring 25 megawatts of wind-generated capacity to Ireland's electricity grid, or enough to supply the annual needs of about 16,000 average Irish homes. The project is sited about 10 kilometers from Arklow's shore on the Arklow Bank in the Irish Sea.

"As we near completion of our first year of operation, we're extremely pleased with the plant's results," said Little. "Testing indicates that the output of the wind park is exceeding its expected power curve, and, despite the harsh weather conditions and environment, the project is exceeding its availability targets." (A power curve measures what the power output of a turbine will be, at varying wind speeds; availability refers to the amount of time the project is available to produce power.)

Currently, Ireland is 90% dependent on imported fuels, and the energy generated by the Arklow Bank Wind Park will prevent the need to import 15,000 tons of fossil fuels per year, according to the European Wind Energy Association. When compared to coal-fired generation of a similar output, the project also prevents the release of approximately 68,000 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, the equivalent of taking approximately 16,000 cars off the road, according to the British Wind Energy Association and The Carbon Trust, a U.K. government-funded independent company.

In addition to environmental benefits, the Arklow project also provides an economic boost for the area. During the construction phase, jobs were created and several Irish sub-contractors contributed materials and services. As an on-going tourist attraction, the wind park is expected to continue to draw additional business to the area.

"The wind turbines are a huge attraction and are helping to make our young people aware of alternative ways to create energy in a safe and clean environment," said Deirdre Byrne, president of the Arklow Chamber of Commerce.

"The Arklow Bank Wind Park has been a big spin-off to the local community," said Councilman Pat Sweeney, who recently finished his term as Mayor of Arklow. "The harbor, hotels, transportation companies, marine yards and others have already benefited in terms of employment and revenue."

Co-developed by GE Energy and Airtricity, Ireland's largest renewable energy company, the Arklow Bank Wind Park was first introduced by Airtricity as a 520- megawatt project, and is the largest offshore wind park to attain preliminary planning approval through a Foreshore Lease granted by the Irish government.

"We have enough wind energy available in the North Atlantic to provide power for the whole of Europe," said Eddie O'Connor, Chief Executive of Airtricity of Sandyford, Ireland. "Ireland has been endowed with a natural and potentially powerful competitive advantage – our abundant wind resource. The success of phase I has proven the technical capability of this venture and we are very excited about the prospect of harnessing the full potential of this 520-megawatt project. The benefits to our economy and to our environment from offshore wind energy are enormous and subject to the necessary support from our government, similar to that in other EU states. Airtricity is committed to delivering these benefits on a much larger scale."

The current 25-megawatt project built by GE is considered phase I of the overall proposed project. Under the terms of the project's co-development agreement, once GE's demonstration is complete – approximately two years from first operation – Zeusford, a company owned 50% by Airtricity and EHN of Spain, holds an option to purchase the project from GE. Further future development of the project to its potential 520 megawatts has been proposed by Zeusford.

If completed, the 520-megawatt project could meet approximately ten percent of Ireland's total electricity needs. On the island of Ireland, wind power installations currently contribute only 175 megawatts, of which 138 megawatts are installed in the Republic.

"The Irish government is the first in the world to approve such an ambitious offshore project, highlighting its commitment to honoring the emissions reduction targets set under the Kyoto Protocol," said Prime Minister Ahern. "Incorporating wind electricity into Ireland's energy mix increases our fuel diversity and also enhances the country's energy security by allowing production of electricity through Ireland's clean and abundant natural energy source, the wind."

"By developing the better wind sites in Ireland, wind power could generate around 345 terawatt-hours per year, or around nine times the current electricity production of the Irish grid system," said Lawrence Staudt of the Centre for Renewable Energy at Ireland's Dundalk Institute of Technology. "Ultimately, Ireland could become an exporter of green electricity."

The Arklow Bank was chosen for the project because wind speed testing revealed that it is one of the windiest spots in Europe. The Arklow project and local sea conditions have also provided a learning base for offshore safety practices, yielding the industry's first comprehensive offshore wind energy safety program, developed by GE Energy. Safety, in fact, has been a hallmark of the Arklow project, with no health or safety incidents or injuries recorded since construction started.

The first commercial prototype 3.6-megawatt wind turbine was unveiled by GE during 2002. Installed on land as a test bed, this machine is currently producing power for the Spanish energy supplier Iberdrola.

The Arklow offshore wind project is one of GE's Imagination Breakthroughs, a group of more than 80 products and services being developed through an intensive growth process that brings GE's renowned operating rigor to bear on discovering customer needs, imagining innovative ways to meet them, and bringing those solutions to market.

GE in Ireland

GE first established a presence in Ireland more than three decades ago. Today the company employs more than 2,200 people across 19 businesses located throughout Ireland. GE contributes more than 120 million euro to the Irish economy and serves a customer base globally, from Ireland, of more than 200,000 customers. The European headquarters of one of GE's three largest businesses, GE Consumer Finance, is located in Dublin.

About GE Energy

GE Energy (www.gepower.com) is one of the world's leading suppliers of power generation and energy delivery technology, with 2004 revenue of $17.3 billion. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, GE Energy provides equipment, service and management solutions across the power generation, oil and gas, transmission and distribution, distributed power and energy rental industries.

With wind turbine design, manufacturing and assembly facilities in Germany, Spain and the United States, GE Energy's current wind energy portfolio includes wind turbines with rated outputs ranging from 1.5 to 3.6 megawatts, and support services ranging from project development assistance to operation and maintenance. The company's knowledge base includes the development and/or installation of more than 7,100 wind turbines with a total rated capacity of 5,600 megawatts.

What's going to happen as we start running out of cheap gas to guzzle?

A few weeks ago, the price of oil ratcheted above fifty-five dollars a barrel, which is about twenty dollars a barrel more than a year ago. The next day, the oil story was buried on page six of the New York Times business section. Apparently, the price of oil is not considered significant news, even when it goes up five bucks a barrel in the span of ten days. That same day, the stock market shot up more than a hundred points because, CNN said, government data showed no signs of inflation. Note to clueless nation: Call planet Earth….

[ full story ]

Adapted from The Long Emergency, 2005, by James Howard Kunstler, and reprinted with permission of the publisher, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

JAMES HOWARD KUNSTLER

In the aftermath of Mad Cow and faced with challenges from avian flu, declining rural economies, food related health crises such as diabesity, and climate change the UK is tackling sustainability on many fronts. The most recent piece in the puzzle is the Food Industry Sustainability Strategy. As part of a far-reaching UK initiative that has been evolving over the last decade, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Margaret Beckett unveiled a blueprint for improving the state of the food industry. The joint government / industry report identifies opportunities that reach from farmer's field to the garbage heap for making the food industry more sustainable.

The process seems destined to succeed as it was developed in concert with industry; it has the support of multiple government sustainability projects which are backed up by adequate funding; it is comprehensive insofar as it accounts for economic, environmental and social considerations; and, it will help the industry reduce its operating costs. The report provides realistic strategies to reduce CO2 emissions, conserve water, cut waste and address industry-specific social issues such as doubling ethically traded products in food stores, increasing the number of women and visible minorities in management and other measures to address worker safety and food safety standards.

The report will be handed over to the Minister for Sustainable Farming and Food for implementation. As Beckett explains in the pres release, "The Strategy will provide a framework for the food and drink sector to play its part by making sustainability its goal. It must be viewed as the beginning of a process – not the end." This report provides best practices for the UK, and a starting point for other jurisdictions.

On the consumption side, a report released last week by London's City University points to the timeliness of setting targets to improve the food industry's performance. Researchers at City University applied standards from the WHO Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health to global food manufacturers, retailer, and food service companies. The companies came up short on all fronts which points to a pressing need for companies to take charge of the food they deliver to consumers. The City report gives consumers and stockholders ammunition they can use to demand healthy food.

To view the Food Industry Sustainability Strategy (FISS), go to: http://www.defra.gov.uk/farm/sustain/fiss/fiss2006.pdf

The FISS press release can be found at: http://www.gnn.gov.uk/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=197931&NewsAreaID=2

As reported in an earlier FoodNews release, the City University report can be accessed from:

http://www.city.ac.uk/citynews/archive/2006/04_april/04042006.html

*Alison BLay-Palmer is a Contibuting Editor to Foodnews.

WEST JORDAN, Utah — It's a plan for development that will take more than 50 years from start to finish, on the largest piece of privately owned land next to a U.S. metropolis for an expected half-million residents.

This megasuburb, twice the size of San Francisco, will be the work of a mining company, Kennecott Utah Copper Corp., which has no experience in real-estate development.

The Utah company is a subsidiary of London-based Rio Tinto, a mining multinational and avowed convert to environmentalism, which decided to make a showcase out of its surplus Utah lands instead of just selling them off for cookie-cutter subdivisions.

Home builders were skeptical when the Salt Lake valley's biggest landowner laid out the plan for a 20-mile string of densely packed, "walkable" communities framing the rural west side of Salt Lake County. The communities would be laid out along a planned highway and light-rail lines connecting to Salt Lake City.

Mining executives pitched the idea to some 50 builders. "A lot of them rolled their eyes and walked away," said Keith L. Morey, manager for Kennecott's flagship Daybreak project, where just seven builders were chosen to help build the first town of 14,000 homes.

"It was a mixture of excitement and fear," Brad Wilson, president and chief executive of Destination Homes, said of his decision to sign on with Kennecott to help build Daybreak.

"We didn't know if this was something people would wrap their arms around. It's so different — the tiny lots and alley-loaded garages. It was a risk, but at the end of the day we felt they knew what they were doing," Wilson said.

Kennecott's whole plan calls for 162,800 houses in neighborhoods mixing the wealthy and wage earners in shared communities of gardens, pocket parks and surrounding open space.

The so-called West Bench development — the string of communities along the base of a mountain range — differs from other planned communities by emphasizing connections to a larger metropolis.

"It's part of a vision for how the whole region grows," said lead planner Peter Calthorpe, a Berkeley, Calif., consultant who designed the trendy redevelopment of Denver's old Stapleton Airport, which is about the same size as Kennecott's Daybreak community.

Kennecott is developing the rolling foothills of its 144 square miles of land, which ranks as the largest piece of land anywhere in the United States that's under the control of a single, private owner and next to a major metropolis.

Single ownership of the land "gives incredible control over development and the execution of the plan," said Gary Hunt, a retired executive for Irvine Co., which developed one of the country's first master-planned communities, in California's Orange County, starting in the 1960s. "In other parts of the country you don't have that kind of opportunity."

At Daybreak's information pavilion, manager Barbara Breen greets prospective buyers at a glass building with commanding views of the Wasatch and Oquirrh (OH-kuhr) mountains that frame the Salt Lake valley.

"We went on this incredible siege last summer, selling 40 houses a week, so we ran out," she said. More than 800 houses have been sold so far, half of them still under construction.

Daybreak was not without its environmental problems, a legacy of a century of digging at nearby Bingham Mine, which is expected to keep operating until at least 2018.

A small part of Daybreak was built over ponds that collected mining runoff — along with heavy metals — from 1936 to 1965. Kennecott scooped up 3 million square yards of contaminated soil and carried it back near the mine.

Some buyers bluntly ask whether Daybreak would "glow in the dark or something," said Peter F. McMahon, president of Kennecott Land Co. He argued the Daybreak cleanup exceeded Environmental Protection Agency standards.

"It's cleaner than a bunch of other parts of the valley," he said.

Kennecott is helping build a pair of reverse-osmosis filter plants to clean tainted groundwater over the next 40 years, while providing fresh tap water for the southwest part of the Salt Lake valley. It dug other wells 300 feet deep to provide ground-source heating and cooling for a new elementary school and community center and contributed $400,000 to kick-start an environmental study of extending a light-rail line from downtown Salt Lake City to Daybreak.

"It's a new business for Rio Tinto. Some people said, "What are you doing this for?'" McMahon said, pointing out that Kennecott acquired more land than it will ever need for mining. "We have land in an area with strong demographics and a strong economy. All that growth is heading that way."

"Sustainable" development is a term McMahon and other Kennecott executives often use to describe their venture. Daybreak, for example, will contain all of its own runoff, using it for irrigation for native grasses and 40 species of trees, said Greg L. Rasmussen, an engineer and Kennecott's director of land development.

At Daybreak, every house will be within a five minute's walk of a park on 37 miles of interconnecting trails, some lined with channel streams. It will be just as easy to walk or bicycle to grocery and other shops and restaurants in the village core.

Kennecott banned the use of aluminum siding and fake cobblestone facades in favor of natural materials and insisted on rambling front porches for most houses.

"My wife always wanted a front porch," said Craig Douglass, a 56-year-old software quality analyst for 3M Co., who moved from a nearby subdivision, where he found his half-acre yard too large to maintain.

At Daybreak, the couple bought a $273,000, 1,650-square-foot house with "a nice small yard, and we're looking forward to all the amenities" that will include a sailing lake, he said.

"The idea is these homes will appreciate in value because of their quality and the amenities of the neighborhood," said Wilson, the builder who has taken 200 orders so far and can't finish the houses fast enough for his buyers.

Kennecott is selling lots to builders but can't control home prices, which are rising with demand and range from less than $200,000 to more than $800,000, depending on a menu of options the builders offer.

Wilson said Kennecott's first town is not only unique to Utah but the country. He's toured many planned communities in other states but adds, "I don't know anyone who has done it as well as Kennecott."

Source: Associated Press

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Public Opposition to U.K. Nuclear Power Falls as Prices Soar

April 18 (Bloomberg) — The U.K. public's support for nuclear power has increased as energy prices soar, with almost half of Britons saying they're not prepared to pay a premium for electricity from renewable sources, a study said.

About 36 percent of Britons want to see an increase in nuclear capacity, compared with 29 percent one year ago, according to a study by KPMG International and YouGov Plc. About 45 percent of the survey respondents said they want a reduction in nuclear power, less than the 58 percent last year.

The U.K. government said it will decide by June whether a new generation of nuclear power plants should be built. Atomic power plants, such as British Energy Group Plc's Sizewell, produce about a fifth of Britain's electricity.

Renewable energy, which produces about 4 percent of the power consumed, is more expensive than nuclear power because it needs a back-up system to function when the resources, such as wind or the sun, aren't available.

“The impact of recent energy price rises is evidently having an effect as people remain largely supportive of renewable power but not necessarily at any price,'' the survey said.

About 44 percent of the survey respondents said they weren't prepared to pay “a single penny more for green energy,'' the report said.

U.K. power prices doubled last year after an increase in the cost of fossil fuels, such as oil, coal and natural gas.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Elena Moya in London at  moya@bloomberg.net

/End article

Tired of owning a car, but loathe public transportation?
Now, there are options!

Walter's blog, "Smart Economy", has… a wealth of information about new ideas.  He's documented over 500 smart technologies from around the world. 

Looks like Walter is Toronto based.  He regularly posts on the Energy Resources and Peak Oil Toronto discussion groups.

One thing we could do on the Ottawa group is to take a look at Walter's blog and find a few things that we could actually bring to Ottawa and IMPLEMENT!

This nifty little Wombat flash presentation from the Foundation gets the "One world" perspective across very simply.  Check it out:

http://www.globalcommunity.org/flash/wombat.shtml