America Is Getting More Power from Renewables than From Nuclear

[OKIsItJustMe]

13. Hmmm…

http://energy.gov/articles/president-obama-announces-loan-guarantees-construct-new-nuclear-power-reactors-georgia

[font face=Times, Serif][font size=5]President Obama Announces Loan Guarantees to Construct New Nuclear Power Reactors in Georgia[/font]

February 16, 2010 - 12:00am

[font size=3]Washington D.C. --- Underscoring his Administration's commitment to jumpstarting the nation's nuclear power industry, President Obama today announced that the Department of Energy has offered conditional commitments for a total of $8.33 billion in loan guarantees for the construction and operation of two new nuclear reactors at a plant in Burke, Georgia. The project is scheduled to be the first U.S. nuclear power plant to break ground in nearly three decades.

"To meet our growing energy needs and prevent the worst consequences of climate change, we need to increase our supply of nuclear power and today's announcement helps to move us down that path. But energy leaders and experts recognize that as long as producing carbon pollution carries no cost, traditional plants that use fossil fuels will be more cost-effective than plants that use nuclear fuel. That is why we need comprehensive energy and climate legislation to create a system of incentives to make clean energy profitable," said President Obama. "What I hope this announcement underscores is both our commitment to meeting the energy challenge - and our willingness to look at this challenge not as a partisan issue, but as a matter far more important than politics."

The two new 1,100 megawatt Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactors at the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant will supplement the two existing reactor units at the facility. According to industry projections, the project will create approximately 3,500 onsite construction jobs. Once the nuclear reactors become operational, the project will create 800 permanent jobs.

"This is a significant step by the Obama Administration to restart our domestic nuclear industry, helping to create valuable long-term jobs and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions," Energy Secretary Steven Chu said.

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http://energy.gov/articles/caithness-shephards-flat-largest-wind-farm-project-world

[font face=Times, Serif][font size=5]Caithness Shephards Flat: The Largest Wind Farm Project in the World[/font]

October 12, 2010 - 5:04pm

[font size=3]“One step at a time”

This is a mantra that has been used in countless situations – trying to express the scale of a great challenge that may lie ahead, but emphasizing that hope will prevail if we make the right decisions right now, and we don’t lose our constitution. Building a clean energy economy is one of those great challenges, maybe the greatest, that’s facing our nation today. And on Friday, we took a giant leap forward as Secretary Chu announced a conditional commitment to provide a partial guarantee for a $1.3 billion loan in support of the world’s largest wind farm to date.

The Caithness Shepherds Flat wind project, constructed on private property in eastern Oregon, will deploy a total of 338 wind turbines supplied by General Electric (GE). Projected to employ over 400 people in construction phase and provide 845 megawatt wind-powered electrical generation, the Caithness Shepherds Flat wind project will produce enough wind energy to supply 235,000 homes and set a high bar for future wind energy projects. By doing this, we will directly avoid 1,215,991 tons of carbon dioxide per year – roughly equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions from 212,141 passenger vehicles. 100% of the wind power generated through these turbines at the Caithness Shepherds Flat project will be sold to Southern California Edison via fixed price power purchase agreements lasting 20 years.

How is this possible? Wind energy is a form of solar energy, taking the power of wind to turn blades, setting off a chain of events that connect to a generator and creates electricity. (To learn more about how wind turbines work, check out this wind turbine animation). The Department of Energy, through game changing investments like this one, has increased the technical viability of wind systems and helped to introduce bring more wind power to the marketplace.

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