IEA Wind Energy 2009 Annual Report Now Available

Subject: IEA Wind Energy 2009 Annual Report Now Available for Download

IEA Wind Energy 2009 Annual Report Now Available for Download
September 20, 2010

The U.S. Department of Energy has distributed the International Energy Agency's (IEA) recently published IEA Wind Energy Annual Report 2009, which is now available for free download. The report presents the latest information on domestic and international wind generation capacity, national incentive programs, progress toward national objectives, benefits to national economies, research and development results, and issues affecting turbines, market growth, and costs of projects. The Executive Summary synthesizes the information presented from IEA's member countries, cooperative research tasks, the European Commission, and the European Wind Energy Association. Read the Executive Summary[http://eere.energy.gov/images/icon_pdf.gif]<http://links.govdelivery.com:80/track?type=click&enid=bWFpbGluZ2lkPTEwMDc0NTQmbWVzc2FnZWlkPVBSRC1CVUwtMTAwNzQ1NCZkYXRhYmFzZWlkPTEwMDEmc2VyaWFsPTEyNzY2MjQ5MzYmZW1haWxpZD1hbm5lQGNsZWFuZWdyb3VwLm9yZyZ1c2VyaWQ9YW5uZUBjbGVhbmVncm91cC5vcmcmZmw9JmV4dHJhPU11bHRpdmFyaWF0ZUlkPSYmJg==&&&103&&&http://www.ieawind.org/AnnualReports_PDF/2009/ExSumm.pdf>.

Full story<http://links.govdelivery.com:80/track?type=click&enid=bWFpbGluZ2lkPTEwMDc0NTQmbWVzc2FnZWlkPVBSRC1CVUwtMTAwNzQ1NCZkYXRhYmFzZWlkPTEwMDEmc2VyaWFsPTEyNzY2MjQ5MzYmZW1haWxpZD1hbm5lQGNsZWFuZWdyb3VwLm9yZyZ1c2VyaWQ9YW5uZUBjbGVhbmVncm91cC5vcmcmZmw9JmV4dHJhPU11bHRpdmFyaWF0ZUlkPSYmJg==&&&104&&&http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/news/progress_alerts.cfm/pa_id=406>


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Join the movement to unite Americans to improve our economy »

Hi Scotts Contracting, We read about it on the news, hear it among friends and family and see it on our streets: America is mired in divisive, hostile partisanship. But angry words won't help put Americans back to work or make ends meet. Join the movement to unite Americans to improve our economy » There's no doubt we face serious economic challenges. But despite political preferences, you and your neighbors can agree that we must do something to create more jobs, that small business need help to be able to get loans and grow and that all families deserve the chance to make a living to support their children and send them to school. Too many hard-working Americans are struggling. They need a united government and a united citizenry to make sure they get help and health care while unemployed and a living wage once they get a job. Our belief in equality and opportunity can pull America back together and put Americans back to work. Be a part of One Nation and stand up for the values and ideals that make us all American » Thanks for taking action! Emily V. Care2 and ThePetitionSite Team End the Hostility We Are One Nation    Take action link: http://www.care2.com/go/z/e/AF2yb/zKiw/blMjq Build Green Scotty, Scotts Contracting www.stlouisrenewableenergy.com www.stlouisrenewableenergy.blogspot.com

Election Reform as a Way to Put Republicans on the Spot

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Robert Kuttner

Co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect

Posted: September 19, 2010 06:16 PM

Election Reform as a Way to Put Republicans on the Spot

What can progressives and Democrats do about the anti-Washington tide sweeping the country? The economy certainly isn't going to get much better before the November election.

One practical and symbolic thing they could do is to pass the Fair Elections Now Act, which likely to be voted out of committee next Thursday. The Act, sponsored by Rep. John Larsen of Connecticut, with 165 co-sponsors and at least 40 more supporters, would give matching money to candidates who agreed to raise only small donations. It even has three Republican co-sponsors.

The right as well as the left is disgusted with corporate domination of our politics, a system where elected officials spend more and more of their time raising money. We're not going to overturn the Citizens United Supreme Court decision any time soon, allowing unlimited sums to be spent on soft money. But at least we can drastically reduce the self-interested money that goes directly to candidates.

So far in this election cycle, House and Senate candidates have raised $1.2 billion dollars, and the money arms-race only grows.

Under the proposed Act, a candidate who raised small donations from at least 1,500 small donors contributing no more than $100 each for a total of at least $50,000 could get matching money, at a 4-to-1 ratio.

As much as $3 million in public financing would be available -- enough to be competitive on most House races. The money wouldn't come from tax dollars, but from a special levy on the auctioning of broadcast spectrum, something that belongs to the citizens of the United States.

As a money-and-politics reform, this legislation is a vast improvement on the so called Disclose Act, which Republicans blocked last July. That bill would have provided more complete public disclosures about the sources of funds but did nothing to limit the dependence on special interest money. Many progressives opposed the Disclose Act because it wasn't really campaign finance reform -- and to add insult to injury it included special exemptions for the National Rifle Association.

The task of progressives is to address voter discontent with business as usual, and break it into understandable issues. Like votes drawing the line against cutting Social Security benefits, or offering tax relief to the middle and working class but not the rich, the Fair Elections Now legislation is a good way to smoke out differences between Democrats and Republicans and to disentangle the general backlash against "Washington." Any incumbent Republican who votes against this reform should be ashamed to face voters.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is said to be torn about whether to schedule a floor vote on this bill. On the one hand, she is a strong supporter of clean elections reform and appreciates the value of the bill. On the other hand, she wants to wrap up House business so that her endangered colleagues can get home to campaign.

But progressives need more ammunition to campaign on, and this is another of those reform measures that remind voters why Washington is not one undifferentiated mess. It will take more than this to get big money out of politics, but it's certainly a good start.

Robert Kuttner is co-editor of The American Prospect and a senior fellow at Demos. His new book is "A Presidency in Peril."

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Scott's Contracting
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Clean Air Act by the Numbers

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Lisa P. Jackson

Administrator of The EPA

Posted: September 20, 2010 11:49 AM

The Clean Air Act by the Numbers

Forty years after the passage of the Clean Air Act, it is extraordinary to look at the numbers.

Numbers like 200,000 -- which is the count of premature deaths the Clean Air Act prevented in its first 20 years. Over the same period, the Act prevented 672,000 cases of chronic bronchitis and 21,000 cases of heart disease. It avoided 843,000 asthma attacks and 18 million child respiratory illnesses.

1.7 million is the number of tons of toxic emissions removed from our air every year since 1990. In the last two decades, emissions of six common pollutants dropped 41 percent. Lead in our air is down by 92 percent since 1980.

Here is another: 95 percent. Innovations spurred by the Clean Air Act make the cars we drive today up to 95 percent cleaner than past models.

And as air pollution has dropped over the last 40 years, our national GDP has risen by 207 percent.

The total benefits of the Clean Air Act amount to more than 40 times the costs of regulation. For every one dollar we have spent, we have received more than $40 of benefits in return, making the Clean Air Act one of the most cost-effective things the American people have done for themselves in the last half century.

But here is perhaps the most important number to consider as we work to continue this success: two. The Clean Air Act and the Clean Air Act Amendments were passed and enforced by the bipartisan collaboration of two political parties.

The 1970 law was signed by President Richard Nixon. It was first implemented by Administrator William D. Ruckelshaus, a Republican. The 1990 Amendments were passed by a Democratic-majority Congress and signed by the Republican President George H. W. Bush. Clean air has always been a bipartisan issue -- and should remain that way.

The good news is that the Clean Air Act has plenty for both sides to agree on. Extraordinary environmental and health benefits have come about by not only respecting, but thriving on, the openness and entrepreneurship of our economy. Our economy and environment benefit from a virtuous cycle in which public clean air standards spark private sector innovation, proving that we can create jobs and opportunities without burdening our citizens with the effects of pollution.

The bad news is that 40 years of success have not stopped the proliferation of exaggerated doomsday predictions. They appear in nearly identical form year after year, and history always proves them wrong.

In the 1970s lobbyists said that "entire industries might collapse" if we used the Clean Air Act to phase in catalytic converters for new cars and trucks. Instead, the requirement gave birth to a global market for catalytic converters and enthroned American manufacturers at the pinnacle of that market.

In the 1980s opponents of proposed Clean Air Act Amendments claimed they would cause "a quiet death for businesses across the country." Instead, the US economy grew by 64 percent even as acid rain pollution fell by half. The requirements fostered a global market in smokestack scrubbers and, again, gave American manufacturers dominance in that market.

In the 1990s many claimed that using the Clean Air Act to phase out the CFCs that were depleting our ozone layer would create "severe economic and social disruption." They raised the fear of "shutdowns of refrigeration equipment in supermarkets... office buildings, our hotels, and hospitals." In reality, new technology cut costs while improving productivity and quality. The phase-out happened five years faster than predicted and cost 30 percent less. And by making their products better and cleaner, the American refrigeration industry reached new overseas markets.

None of the doomsday predictions have come true -- and there is no reason to believe they will come true as we write the next chapter in the history of the Clean Air Act. It is our time to promote innovation, grow a clean economy, and address the new challenges and the unfinished business of the Act. Those include long-term health threats in the air we breathe, as well as first steps -- like the clean cars program -- in our fight against climate change.

Today, plenty of businesses and industry sectors have stepped up to help in the fight against climate change. There are plenty of ways to move forward in a common sense, bipartisan way that serves the health of the American people and the prosperity of American businesses, and not just the electoral prospects of a political party.

We cannot afford to get bogged down in the delay and distractions of partisan politics. This is because of the last number I ask you to consider: one. We have only one planet, and this may be our one chance to protect it for our children and grandchildren.

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Scott's Contracting
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scotty@stlouisrenewableenergy.com