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""We've embarked on the beginning of the last days of the age of oil. Embrace the future and recognize the growing demand for a wide range of fuels or ignore reality and slowly—but surely—be left behind. -- Mike Bowlin, former Chairman and CEO of ARCO (now BP)

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The Energy Bible is a new Website dedicated to providing the public with up-to-date information on renewable energy.  A few years ago we were looking for good sites on renewable energy but everything we found was either too technical or too commercial.  It was hard to get good, independent information on this important topic, so being experienced Web developers we decided to build this site as a public service.  It is our own way of being part of the solution in resolving the issues of global warming and energy independence.  

On this site you can find practical articles on every aspect of renewable energy such as solar panels, wind turbines, water turbines and bio-diesel systems. If you have expertise or experiences in using renewable energy you would like to share please feel free to contribute.  Just submit your info to us at editor@energybible.com.

  -Dan Daniel, Editor

Need Help?

The EB team is happy to answer any questions we can about alternative energy.  Just contact us at editor@energybible.com. We do ask that you be patient in terms of turn-around time in that our mail volume is currently running quite high.  Thanks!

 

Renewable Energy News

available Federal Lands Not Being Used for Solar

Not a light bulb's worth of solar electricity has been produced on the millions of acres of public desert set aside for it. Not one project to build glimmering solar farms has even broken ground. Instead, five years after federal land managers opened up stretches of the Southwest to developers, vast tracts still sit idle. An Associated Press examination of U.S. Bureau of Land Management records and interviews with agency officials shows that the BLM operated a first-come, first-served leasing system that quickly overwhelmed its small staff and enabled companies, regardless of solar industry experience, to squat on land without any real plans to develop it.  The federal government has, so far, failed to use the land it already has—some of the world's best for solar—to produce renewable electricity. Nowhere is this more evident than in Nevada, where a Goldman Sachs & Co. subsidiary with no solar background has claims with the BLM on nearly half the land for which applications have been filed, but no firm plan for any of the sites. The Obama administration says it is expediting the most promising projects, with some approvals expected as soon as September. And yet, it will be years before the companies begin sending electricity to the Southwest's sprawling, energy-hungry cities.

Congress in 2005 gave the Interior Department a deadline: approve 10,000 megawatts, or about five million homes' worth during peak hours, of renewable energy on public lands by 2015. Reaching that goal was left to the BLM, which oversees federal land and knows oil, gas and mining leases but is new to solar.  BLM's database of solar applications shows many languished for years while the agency approved more than 73,000 oil and gas leases in the last five years. BLM has yet to give final approval to one solar lease. BLM's solar leasing system ended up allowing developers to lay claim to prime sites—many located in the deserts that span California, Nevada and Arizona. All developers had to do was fill out an application, pay a fee and file development plans. But many were so vague that it was difficult for BLM to separate the serious projects from the speculative ones. "People were making (solar) applications on federal lands not knowing what kind of technology to propose and ... how to develop the land," said Ray Brady, BLM's head of energy policy in Washington

He said the agency's main problem was that there were too few employees available to work on the applications. Under Obama administration, more BLM staff like Helseth have been hired to help weed out dormant applications so developers better suited for the job can be found. Officials say the administration is trying to avoid future land rushes by identifying the best solar locations with the fewest environmental impacts, rather having a free-for-all. Critics say BLM should have done this in the first place and help avoid years of delay. ...from Renewable Energy World

U.S.  Shipping its Biofuels Overseas

wood pellets The U.S. has some of the best biomass resources in the world. The ironic thing is, we ship a lot of it over to Europe, where they put it to good use for heat and electricity. Most European countries have far less biomass resources than the U.S., particularly in the Northwest, Northeast and Southeast. Yet countries in the EU have much larger, more sophisticated markets. In the last decade, Southeastern states like South Carolina, Alabama and Florida have been building plants capable of producing hundreds of thousands of fuel pellets a year. A large portion of those pellets have been going across the Altlantic to Europe.

In 2009, Europe imported about $250 million worth of pellets from the U.S., Australia and Vietnam. A recent agreement between the pellet maker Enviva Materials and the large French utility GDF Suez for 480,000 metric tons of wood pellets is another example of this trend. The pellets will be used for an electric power plant in Belgium. American pellet producers and equipment sellers are starting to see more demand for biomass in the U.S. But with virtually no attention paid to the renewable heating market in the country, Europe will likely continue to lead in the adoption of residential and utility-scale biomass heating and electricity. So while the Europeans rely on Americans for their biomass, the Americans rely on the Europeans for high-quality technologies. It's truly a global market. ...from Renewable Energy World

U.S. on Track to Double use of Renewable Energy

Capital Building The White House on Tuesday unveiled a report showing large federal investments in renewable energy are putting the U.S. on track to lower the cost for generating solar power, creating batteries for electric cars and sequencing the human genome over the next several years. The report, to be unveiled formally by Vice President Joe Biden and Energy Secretary Steven Chu at a briefing, shows that overall the U.S. is on track to double U.S. renewable energy generation capacity and U.S. renewable manufacturing capacity by 2012. The Obama administration is investing $100 billion in science and technology projects as part of the Recovery Act passed last year. Such investments include projects to build electric vehicles, expand broadband access and form health information technology. President Barack Obama and Biden have said the investments are part of a plan to transform the U.S. economy to lead renewable energy manufacturing, which they believe is the wave of the future. Obama and Biden have traveled the U.S. during the summer touting the administration's efforts to stimulate the economy while at the same time facing criticism that the spending hasn't created enough jobs or lifted the country from economic malaise. ...from Dow Jones

Meeting our energy needs in a responsible manner requires the efforts not just of each individual but of our communities.  Please share what you learn here with members of your own community and encourage them to share their successes and challenges with the Energy Bible community. Write to us at editor@energybible.com.

Special Feature

The wind energy field is rapidly maturing and becoming a major source of energy for a growing population. To see a perfect example of this check out our  new feature: The Evolution of Wind Energy in the Tehachapis. The Tehachapi mountains are one of the windiest areas in the U.S. and wind power has been established there for over 30 years. Learn how succeeding generations of wind technology have helped this area become one of the country's top energy producers.

Volunteers Needed

This Web site is the work of one family and a few dedicated volunteers.  We greatly thank our current volunteers but sure could use a few more to help us answer the ever increasing volume of mail we are receiving. If you have any time to help please write to editor@energybible.com. Thanks!

Energy Bible Blog

Check out the new Energy Bible Blog.  Its the place where we let you know our own point of view on today's energy issues. Please feel free to comment on our blog postings so we can learn what you think!

New Products

Solar Powered Grill Light

Just in time for the summer barbeque season comes one of the best uses of solar outdoor lights we have seen. See your food easily at night with this handy portable grill light. Features 4 brilliant LED bulbs which last 50,000 hours, and a built-in solar panel to charge the 3 AA Ni-Cad batteries (included. Stainless steel housing and mounting clip, fits onto any shelf up to 1 thick.

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Outdoor Lighting

Want to add some pizazz to the garden or walkway you spent so much time landscaping? The Malibu outdoor tier 10-light solar-powered light kit provides illumination to mark entrances, walkways and darkened areas at night. The lights stay on up to 10 hours when fully charged. The sun charges the batteries by day and the LED lights turn on automatically at night with no wiring or cost to operate.

 

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