Tag Archives: coal

Apple reveals new progress in path to 100% renewable energy

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Apple announces commitment to power data centers with 100% renewable energy

There’s more good news to report from the clean energy revolution that’s spreading like wildfire among the biggest technology companies in the world: Apple released an environmental report today showing that it has made real progress in its effort to power the iCloud with renewable energy, and not coal.

Apple is growing its facilities that store your music, photos and videos at a rapid pace, and those buildings, called data centers, use massive amounts of electricity. Because of pressure from hundreds of thousands of Greenpeace supporters and Apple customers, Apple committed last year to providing 100 % of the power to those data centers with renewable energy. Greenpeace released a report in July mapping out the pathway Apple should take to meet its ambitious goals.

Today, Apple’s report disclosed some new details about how it has made real progress in many of the ways that we laid out then:

  • Apple has increased the amount of renewable energy it is generating from solar panels and fuel cells at its data center in North Carolina. Apple is now reporting an increase in the percentage of renewable energy from 35% to 75% over the last three years;
  • Apple disclosed more details about its energy policy and the principles guiding its renewable energy efforts, including its belief that its renewable energy should displace coal power from the grid, and should bring brand new renewable energy to the grid.
  • Perhaps most importantly, Apple disclosed significantly more information about how exactly it’s acquiring renewable energy, which allows its customers to have faith that Apple is meeting its ambitions with real action.

Of course, there’s still plenty of work left for Apple to do. As it keeps growing the cloud, Apple still has major roadblocks to genuinely meeting its 100 % clean energy commitment in North Carolina, where renewable energy policies are under siege and electric utility Duke Energy is intent on blocking wind and solar energy from entering the grid.

Apple Data Center in Maiden, NC. March, 2012. © Jason Miczek / Greenpeace

Duke Energy is Apple’s only option for buying electricity in North Carolina, and it makes electricity primarily from dirty sources of energy that cause global warming, like burning coal and gas, as well as dangerous nuclear power plants. Duke has shown no signs of changing, and organizations allied with Duke like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) are trying to change state laws to make it even harder for forward-thinking companies like Apple to buy clean energy there.

To show how it can help remove those roadblocks in North Carolina, Apple has an opportunity to work together with Google, accepting its challenge to the sector to develop a consortium among IT companies to help green the grid.   Apple, Google, and Facebook working together in North Carolina would be a potent force in asking Duke Energy  and state government officials to help bring more renewable energy on the grid in North Carolina for everyone.

We’ll keep urging Apple to do those things, just as we’ll keep pushing other, slower technology companies like Amazon and Microsoft to follow the good example that companies like Google, Facebook, Salesforce – and now more every day, Apple – are setting by their adoption of renewable energy.

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China’s Wind Power Production Increased More Than Coal Power Did For First Time In 2012

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Wind turbines in Zhong Guanghe Wind Farm in China.

Originally posted by Think Progress 

Amid all the news about coal and pollution problems in China you might have missed this one: According to new statistics from the China Electricity Council, China’s wind power production actually increased more than coal power production for the first time ever in 2012. Continue reading →

Raleigh Residents to Duke Energy: No Rate Hikes for Dirty Energy

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Greenpeace organizer Becky Ceartas speaks to a crowd in Raleigh, NC protesting Duke Energy's proposed rate increases that would go toward more dirty energy like coal and nuclear power.

Last week the students of the Greenpeace Semester listened to residents of Raleigh, NC as they testified to their Public Utilities Commission about the rate increases that Duke Energy – the electricity company in North Carolina as well as 5 other states – is trying to make them pay on their monthly electric bills. One woman said that she pays as much as $500 every month to make sure that her family’s lights stay on. That means that if Duke Energy gets the increases it wants, her bill will go up by over $50, which she simply can’t afford. Continue reading →

Koch Brother Fronts Flood into Kansas to Attack Wind Industry – REPORT

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Correction: this post listed KS Sen. Julia Lynn as a supporter of the RPS freeze–she is not and her name was removed below.

A recent flood of Koch-supported think tanks, junk scientists and astroturf groups from inside and outside of Kansas are awaiting the outcome of a bill this week that could stall progress on the growth of clean energy in Kansas.

States around the country, including Texas, Ohio, Missouri and North Carolina are poised to cut back on government support for clean energy jobs using model legislation from the American Legislative Exchange Council. ALEC, which brings companies together with state lawmakers to forge a wish list of corporate state laws behind closed doors, is coordinating this year’s assault on state laws that require a gradual increase of electricity generated by clean energy sources.

ALEC and a hoard of other Koch-funded interests operating under the umbrella of the State Policy Network have hit Kansas legislators hard with junk economic studies, junk science and a junk vision of more polluting energy in Kansas’ future. Koch Industries lobbyist Jonathan Small has added direct pressure on Kansas lawmakers to rollback support for clean energy.

This fossil fuel-funded attack ignores the good that wind energy has done for Kansas, a state known for its bipartisan support for its growing wind industry (see key report by Polsinelli Shughart). The state now has 19 operating wind farms that have brought millions to farmers leasing their land and millions more to the state, county and local levels (NRDC). The American Wind Energy Association says that Kansas wind industry jobs have grown to 13,000 with the help of incentives like the renewable portfolio standard.

Unfortunately, clean energy is not palatable to the billionaire Koch brothers or the influence peddlers they finance. Continue reading →

Up to 115,000 Indians killed by coal in 2012

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Bhagwat Saw, 69, in the emergency section at Life Line Hospital. Bhagwat has been working as a coal loader for over 40 years and was discovered to be suffering from pneumoconiosis.

The skeletons keep piling up and tumbling out of King Coal’s closet. A new study attributes between 80,000 to 115,000 premature deaths in India due to emissions from coal power plants in India. The study, conducted by Dr. Sarath Guttikunda and Puja Jawahar of Urban Emissions, also attributed millions of cases of asthma and heart disease to emissions from coal power plants in India. Continue reading →

Greedy Lying Bastards: See the movie Exxon and the Kochs hope you don’t

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The new film Greedy Lying Bastards (GLB for short) opened Friday in theaters in about 30 cities around the US. Go see it, first of all…there is a theater list here.  And tell your friends about it. Continue reading →

Mercenary Admen: 5 ways one PR group has hijacked politics for corporate gain

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Most people have never heard of the DC lobbying and public relations firm DCI Group. When DCI Group does it’s job right, most people never do. That’s because DCI is a prime example what a highly effective, professional, and well-funded Public Relations firm can do. Are you a cigarette company that wants grassroots support for cigarette smoking? DCI can do that. Are you an Indonesian timber conglomerate that wants the “freedom” to sell illegal rainforest pulp? DCI can enlist thousands of liberty-lovin Americans to protect that freedom. Do you want people mobilized, in the streets, demanding that the government relax pollution laws and other regulations on your coal or oil corporation? DCI actually did that. It was called the Tea party.

CASE STUDIES

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Ambre Energy’s risky bet on US coal exports

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Ambre Energy's losses dwarf its revenues. From Sightline Institute, "Ambre Energy, Caveat Investor"

It’s not a good time to be a coal industry executive in the US. Last year, wind power made up nearly half of all new installed electricity generation, and domestic coal use is on the decline year after year. With dimming prospects at home, companies are in a race to export US coal to foreign markets. Some of the coal companies pushing to export US coal are relatively well known, especially for their long history of environmental and labor abuses - think Peabody and Arch. But until now, little has been known about Ambre Energy, the Australian company pushing two of the controversial coal export terminals in Washington and Oregon. A new report from the Sightline Institute, “Ambre Energy: Caveat Investor” digs deep into the inner workings and shaky footing of this startup – and for the communities and investors weighing Ambre’s promises, the results are not pretty. The report details the many challenges facing Ambre in its aspirations of becoming a true planet-destroying coal titan.

To begin with, Ambre has accumulated $124 million in losses, while collecting only $6.6 million in revenues over the last 7 years. An earlier coal project in Australia collapsed in the face of opposition from farmers and the local government, and Ambre now admits it lost $10.9 million in the process. With the cancellation of that Australian project, the company barely qualifies as a coal company – only because of two failing coal mines in Montana and Wyoming they purchased from previous owners who were planning to close them. Now, the company is on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in liabilities for mine reclamation and cleanup, retirement benefits, and other costs at those mines. Meanwhile, Ambre recently announced layoffs of 75 people at one them, the Decker mine, amid a lawsuit from its former partner Cloud Peak Energy. Continue reading →

Coal companies’ scheme to dodge royalty payments draws federal investigation

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One of the many subsidies that coal mining companies like Arch and Peabody enjoy is coming under increased scrutiny from federal regulators. The Department of Interior (DOI) announced that an investigation has been launched to determine if coal companies are using sister companies to reduce the royalties they owe when exporting taxpayer-owned coal to foreign markets. The federal probe follows a Reuters investigation that found that “By valuing coal at low domestic prices rather than the much higher price fetched overseas, coal producers can dodge the larger royalty payout when mining federal land.”

In a letter to Senators Wyden and Murkowski, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar promised that DOI’s Inspector General will “aggressively pursue any company found in violation of the laws and regulations related to the valuation of Federal coal.”

This internal investigation follows another investigation currently underway at DOI focused on the coal leasing program run by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Without proper oversight, sham “auctions” run by BLM have allowed coal companies to secure taxpayer-owned coal for around $1 per ton. According to a report by Tom Sanzillo of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, this has amounted to a $28.9 billion subsidy over the last 30 years. In addition to DOI’s internal review, the BLM’s coal leasing program is also under review by the General Accounting Office.

It appears that coal companies are trying to bilk taxpayers at every available opportunity, and so far our federal regulators seem to have been asleep at the wheel. Hopefully these investigations signal that they are starting to wake up. After all, there are some pretty aggressive drivers out there – here’s how a spokesperson for one of the coal companies tried to defend their approach: “In my neighborhood, I don’t stop at every block. I could. But that’s not where the stop signs are. You can say you don’t like the regulations, but we play by the rules.”

With the US coal industry desperately seeking shortcuts, we need more vigilance at the Department of Interior – and probably a few more stop signs.

NC: Duke Energy Gave $147,000 to Sponsors of SB10 Power Grab

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The North Carolina legislature is taking the unprecedented step of firing 131 officials from several policy and regulatory boards, including the Utilities Commission overseeing Duke Energy, the Environmental Management Commission, and two bodies overseeing policies for the N.C. Coastal Management Program. The bill, SB 10, has already passed in the state Senate and is expected to make its way through the House before winding up on Gov. Pat McCrory’s desk.

Contributions from freshly-merged Duke Energy and Progress Energy to the SB 10 SPONSORS total $147,000:

3 of 3 primary sponsors: $102,500 from Duke Energy and Progress Energy

  • Sen. Tom Apodaca – $35,000 from Duke and $30,500 from Progress (2002-2012)
  • Sen. K. Neal Hunt – $19,000 from Duke and $12,000 from Progress (2004-2012)
  • Sen. Bill Rabon – $3,000 from Duke and $3,000 from Progress (2010-2012)

4 of 9 co-sponsors: $44,500 from Duke Energy and Progress Energy

  • Sen. Andrew C. Brock – $8,500 from Duke and $2,000 from Progress (2002-2012)
  • Sen. Harry Brown – $14,000 from Duke and $11,000 from Progress (2006-2012)
  • Sen. Thom Goolsby – $1,000 from Duke and $2,000 from Progress (2010-2012)
  • Sen. Louis Pate – $3,000 from Duke and $3,000 from Progress (2008-2010)

While Duke Energy recently shut down a couple old coal plants, it also just started operating a new coal boiler at its Cliffside Steam Station in NC. Duke’s coal pollution already contributed to over 400 deaths in North Carolina each year according to the Clean Air Task Force (see also this map). NC Governor Pat McCrory worked for Duke Energy for 28 years, and has already hired several other former Duke executives for his transition team and cabinet.

Groups like NC Warn and AARP of North Carolina were already concerned about incoming Gov. McCrory’s ability to promote industry-friendly regulators to open positions in the NC Utilities Commission. With SB10 well on its way toward McCrory’s desk, the situation is far more grave than good-government advocates realized.

It appears that between Duke Energy, McCrory’s new multimillionaire budget director Art Pope, and shill groups bankrolled by Pope and the billionaire Koch brothers, North Carolina’s government is co-opted and poised to deliver some serious blows to the state’s environment, the global climate, and the health of people affected by pollution and climate-related disasters.