Sam’s Club in California Installs 17 Micro Turbines

Posted on April 30, 2010
Filed Under Green Business, News, Wind | Leave a Comment

sams-club-turbines-small1No, those aren't giant pinwheels: A Sam's Club in Palmdale, California, has added 17 micro wind turbines to the tops of light poles in its parking lot, parent company Walmart announced yesterday. The turbines will provide an estimated 76,000 kWh of clean, renewable energy for the facility each year. In a press release, the company says it chose the Palmdale store for the installation -- the first of its kind in the United States -- because of the area's "great wind resources." The turbines were supplied by DeerPath Energy, a renewable energy company based in Massachusetts that specializes in "scalable small wind." The release notes that the turbines will generate enough energy "to power more than six average American homes for a year." Impressive . . . although that's only 3-5% of what the store needs to run, according to triplepundit's Kathryn Siranosian. Kind of staggering, when you really think about it -- but the project fits into Sam's Club's larger sustainability goals, which include working towards eventual use of 100% renewable energy. A similar project is taking shape at a Sam's Club store in Worcester, Massachusetts. More photos of the wind turbines in action: sams-club-palmdale-2-small sams-club-palmdale-3-small Photos from Walmart's website.

FLASH: Country’s first offshore wind farm approved

Posted on April 28, 2010
Filed Under News, Wind | Leave a Comment

[caption id="attachment_1916" align="aligncenter" width="467" caption="Coming soon to Cape Cod: An offshore wind farm near Copenhagen."]An offshore wind farm near Copenhagen.[/caption] Break out the confetti! Big, historic news for renewable energy in the United States: The country's first offshore wind farm has been approved, paving the way for a 130-turbine, 420-megawatt project in Cape Cod. Cape Wind, which will be built five miles off the Massachusetts coast in Nantucket Sound, got the green light from U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar earlier today. In a speech in Boston, Salazar said the project "fits with the tradition of sustainable development" in the area: "We believe there is huge potential for offshore wind along the Atlantic. We don't want to be second to anyone." Reuters reports:
Although small in terms of its production -- the $1 billion facility would produce enough electricity to power about 400,000 houses -- its approval raises hopes that other offshore wind projects will follow. Several projects that could power hundreds of thousands of customers have already been proposed for the East Coast and the Great Lakes. The turbines, more than 400 feet high, will dot an area of about 24 square miles, larger than Manhattan, and be visible low on the horizon from parts of Cape Cod.
The approval is a huge victory for a project that had been opposed for years by locals, including Indian tribes and the late Sen. Ted Kennedy -- whose six-acre family compound in Hyannis Port overlooks Nantucket Sound. Opponents generally assumed the turbines would spoil the view and lower property values, affecting tourism in the area. Our two cents: Wind turbines are incredibly cool looking -- and an incredibly powerful symbol of what it means to make a commitment to clean, renewable energy. Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, took the words right out of our mouths: "Renewable energy projects like these not only help fight climate change, they can create jobs and play a central role in our economic recovery." We'll take that view any day!

Earth Day and Hip-Hop Go Hand in Hand

Posted on April 25, 2010
Filed Under Earth Day, Green Celebs, Music, Videos | Leave a Comment

Today in Washington, D.C., people who care about the environment are heading down to the National Mall for the Earth Day Network's Climate Rally. After all, Earth Day turned 40 this year, and there's a lot to celebrate! This year's event boasts a fair amount of star power:
The Climate Rally will include notable speakers Reverend Jesse Jackson, film director James Cameron, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, Olympic gold medalist Billy Demong, producer Trudie Styler, author Margaret Atwood, NFL player and television personality Dhani Jones, environmental photographer Sebastian Copeland and many more. The Climate Rally will also feature live music from Sting, John Legend, The Roots, Jimmy Cliff, Passion Pit, Bob Weir, Willie Colón, Joss Stone, Robert Randolph, Patrick Stump, Mavis Staples, Booker T, Honor Society and Tao Rodriguez-Seeger.
John Legend and The Roots aren't the only hip-hop stars who care about clean energy. Above is an Earth Day video collaboration from Repower America and Biz Markie, remixing Biz's 1989 hit "Just A Friend" (and, we might add, featuring someone who looks a lot like our pal Obama Girl, who supported SmartPower's America's Greenest Campus contest with a video of her own last year). Russell Simmons also did his part, appearing in an America's Greenest Campus PSA. Simmons compared the groundbreaking effects of hip-hop to the potential of America's youth, urging them to lighten their carbon footprint. Watch it: How did you celebrate Earth Day?

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