ENERGY in the BUFFALO NEWS

Huntley dream was just too speculative
Clean-coal technology was pricey, unproven
By David Robinson NEWS BUSINESS REPORTER Updated: 07/20/08
At first glance, the advanced coal power plant proposed for the Huntley Station in the Town of Tonawanda seemed like a good solution to some of America’s energy problems. Use America’s abundant — and relatively affordable — supply of coal to generate electricity in a groundbreaking new way that would keep the carbon dioxide that causes global warming from spewing into the atmosphere. But the reality was far different for the Huntley Station project — and at least 11 other similar plants that had been on drawing boards across the country. Read more...

Power project short-circuits
Loss of Huntley clean-coal effort hurts, but the numbers simply didn’t add up
EDITORIAL Updated: 07/19/08
It’s a shame it had to come to cancellation, but the decision to abandon plans to build a technologically advanced clean-coal generating plant in Tonawanda looks like the right move. When the science is uncertain and the cost is prohibitive, few other choices remain, especially when the state — which would have to subsidize the project — is already facing a massive deficit. Read more...

Gore calls end of fossil fuel reliance key to resolving economic crisis
By Dina Cappiello - ASSOCIATED PRESS Updated: 07/18/08
WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Al Gore called Thursday for a “man on the moon” effort to switch all of the nation’s electricity production to wind, solar and other carbon-free sources within 10 years, a goal that he said would solve global warming as well as economic and natural security crises caused by dependence on fossil fuels. Read more...
Video and text of Gore's speech are here.

Scrapped coal plant would have cost taxpayers at least $175 million a year
Huntley Station project also would have relied on unproven technology
By David Robinson NEWS BUSINESS REPORTER Updated: 07/17/08
State officials pulled the plug Wednesday on a proposed $1.6 billion advanced coal project that would have brought more than 1,000 construction and operating jobs to the Town of Tonawanda, saying the electrical generating plant would cost taxpayers too much and relied on technology that remains unproven. Read more...

Lackawanna project needs hard look
Coal-to-synthetic gas plant sounds good but waste-carbon process is incomplete
EDITORIAL Updated: 07/11/08
Everybody wants to be in on the ground floor of the next big thing. The question about the proposed Lackawanna Clean Energy project is whether it is the wave of the future or a delusional last gasp for the carbon-based economy. That is the question that will need to be pondered as state officials consider environmental permits for the project and when, and if, project managers seek anything in the way of public funding or tax breaks. Read more...
Proposal for synthetic gas plant at Bethlehem Steel site raises both hopes and doubts. NEWS report by Stephen T. Watson is here.

New Under The Sun
Outrages & Insights Blog By James Heaney 7/10/08
Ah, progress. The mainstream economic development agencies are waking up to the potential of the green economy. Buffalo Niagara Enterprise has launched a campaign to attract solar manufacturers to the region, piggy-backing on plans by Globe Metals to open a plant in Niagara Falls next year to produce high-grade silicon, the key material for the panels. Read more...

Business Gets Green: Session III

The third session of Business Gets Green was held on July 17th at the Buffalo Museum of Science. Bill Nowak, meeting organizer and Executive Director of Green Gold Development Corp., said:

"At this session we started focusing on synergies - the ways that businesses can use each other's products and services. Premium Services and Indoor Air Professionals each had great examples of partnerships they've developed as a result of Business Gets Green sessions. Personally, I had Jeff Ingersoll from Ingersoll Painting & Construction over to give me an estimate of a solar hot water heating system as a result of hearing him at Business Gets Green."

Dave Majeski of Premium Services listed numerous examples of the synergies arising as a result of Business Gets Green sessions, as shown in this video.

Videos of the featured presentations:

• Nathan Rizzo, Solar Liberty Energy Systems, Inc., Solar Energy Installation in Buffalo
• Paul Pfieffer, Buffalo Niagara Enterprise (BNE), Director of Investor and Public Relations, BNE and Renewable Energy
  
• John Beckinghausen, HSBC Bank's North American Director for Sustainability, Greening of HSBC
  
• Cheryl Zanghi, Director, Buffalo's Green Hospitality Initiative, Greening the Convention and Hospitality Industry.

Videos of short presentations are here.

Videos are courtesy of LCTV and videographer Jon Allen.
Check back later for more videos.

Business Gets Green is sponsored by the Green Gold Development Corporation.

Wind Power: More Onshore! Offshore too?

Look for more wind turbines at Steel Winds in the future. Thirteen more will be added to the old Bethlehem Steel site by 2009 or 2010, depending on equipment availability. In addition, five wind turbine towers will be erected at a new site along the Lake Erie shore in Hamburg. That's a total of 26 local generators of electricity fueled by no-cost, non-polluting, wind power! The full Buffalo News report is here.

In addition to onshore turbines, wind power advocates are promoting the idea of offshore wind turbine towers in Lake Erie. There is a lot of wind power to be harvested offshore in a region extending up to 3 to 6 miles out. Offshore wind power is already well developed in Europe at 21 different sites, and at least 11 sites in the U.S. are under consideration. Canada is considering offshore wind in Lake Ontario. For the full Buffalo News report, click here.

An earlier post here described a UB report urging NY State to develop a comprehensive plan for offshore wind power. It's time to move forward on the offshore plans. A contract was announced recently to build the nation's first offshore field of wind turbines in the Atlantic Ocean. 150 wind turbines will be anchored in the seafloor about twelve miles off the coast of Delaware. The CNN report is here.

Someday we'll be able to take an Electric boat tour on Lake Erie to see the wind turbines and view other areas. A fleet of electric water taxis is envisioned for the Buffalo waterfront, according to John Montague, executive director of the Buffalo State Maritime Center. The quiet, battery-run boats will depend on solar and wind energy for power...electrifying! Click here for the News report.