October 1, 2009: U.S. Department of Energy Washington, DC – Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced today that nearly $72 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is being awarded to 7 states and territories to support energy efficiency and conservation activities. Under DOE’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) program, these states [...] [...more]

By Ariel SchwartzThu Oct 1, 2009: Fast Company Solar and wind power have made impressive strides recently, but coal plants show no signs of disappearing. That could be a problem for power companies, especially once the EPA’s proposed greenhouse gas regulations go into effect. Now NRG Energy, a wholesale power generation company headquartered in Texas, wants to [...] [...more]

By John Lorinc October 1, 2009: The New York Times With renewable energy poised for explosive growth, some conservation groups are racing to advance policy proposals and guidelines meant to prevent wind and bioenergy producers from despoiling sensitive habitats, especially in the prairie grasslands of the Midwest. The Nature Conservancy, which this year sounded a warning about “energy [...] [...more]

We Energies is proposing to build a $250 million cogeneration biomass power plant at the Domtar paper mill in Rothschild, near Wausau, Gov. Jim Doyle said Tuesday. The project is expected to create 400 construction and 150 permanent jobs, Doyle said. It will use Domtar’s facilities and local wood and paper waste to generate electricity for [...] [...more]

Agreement will Reduce Net Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 1.3 Million tons a year Release date: 08/12/2009 Contact Information: DOJ (202) 514-2007 EPA (312) 353-8254 WWW.USDOJ.GOV TDD (202) 514-1888 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DOJ (202) 514-2007 WASHINGTON-Ohio Edison Company, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp., has agreed in a consent decree to repower one of its coal-fired power plants using primarily renewable biomass [...] [...more]

The Bioenergy Site July 28, 2009 WISCONSIN, US – As lawmakers in Washington, D.C., debate new federal climate change legislation, Wisconsin’s dairy industry is leading the way in demonstrating the benefits of using cow manure methane digester biogas. In the last several years, a growing number of dairy farms in Wisconsin have installed GE Energy’s Jenbacher biogas engines [...] [...more]

By Jim Massey The Country Today WATERLOO – The Crave brothers got a pair of anaerobic digesters on their farm without the expense of buying the equipment. The brothers entered into a partnership with Clear Horizons, a Milwaukee-based company that financed, owns and operates the digesters. The farm provides the manure. “The Crave family doesn’t have ownership of the [...] [...more]

By Lisa Gibson Biomass Magazine 7/15/09 National trends in anaerobic digestion of agricultural manure have increased between 2000 and 2007 from fewer than 50 million kilowatt hours per year to more than 200 million kilowatt hours per year, according to Dan Stepan, senior resource manager with the Energy & Environmental Resource Center in Grand Forks, N.D., and a [...] [...more]

by Sea Stachura, Minnesota Public Radio July 9, 2009 Altura, Minn. – Pork & Plants, a farm and greenhouse business in southeastern Minnesota, is using its agricultural waste to heat its facilities. The farm won an innovation award for creating renewable biomass pellets that heat the greenhouses. Pork & Plants is mainly a plant business today. The greenhouses [...] [...more]

BY ROB MANNING Gresham, OR  June 29, 2009 8:48 a.m.   The last feature story in OPBs energy series “The Switch” is, quite literally, about the end – waste. Some Oregon farms are turning waste into an energy source called “biogas.” The state estimates biogas weighs in at a competitive market rate of only a few cents per kilowatt hour. [...] [...more]