Melting glaciers force Italy, Swiss to redraw border

Remember in "An Inconvenient Truth" when Al Gore showed us pictures of New York City under water if half of Greenland were to melt, and said maps would have to be redrawn. Well according to CNN because of melting glaciers in the Alps, Italy and Switzerland are already redrawing their borders. Legislation is being drafted in Rome to deal with the melting border, which according to the Italian Military Geographic Institute, is the result of climate change.

Feinstein Wants Deserts Off Limits to Solar/Wind Projects

Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein of California is putting forth legislation that would put hundreds of thousands of acres off limits for solar and wind power. And just when you were starting to think clean energy was an issue that democrats are embracing. Really Feinstein, Really? Check out the LA Times article.

Many would argue that the land is so valuable creating a national monument on it would lead us one step further from energy independence. Let's not forget the mojave is prime real estate for some of the world's utility solar, and wind.

Obama Links Recovery to Energy Innovation

The President discussed the $59 Billion in the Recovery Act and tax incentives that promote clean energy sources, and announced another 1.2 billion in investments for DOE labs. He even discussed his desire to become an exporter of renewable energy. Finally, Obama discussed how renewable energy funding within the budget is non-negotiable.

Wired Magazine "Fixing the Grid"

Brendan I. Koener just wrote a great feature for Wired Magazine about updating the electric grid. I highly recommend it.  It pretty much explains the way electric grid works, as well as the technology and policies that need to be put in place to make creating a 21 century grid more efficient and capable of shifting to a clean energy future.  There are nifty pictures throughout the article that make it really assessable. 

The story explains everything from smart metering and smart grid technology, decoupling plans, incentives that are catalyzing updating the grid, and energy storage, something that is needed to allow for more clean energy.

Accordingly "tweaking the grids communication capabilities can increase transmission efficiency by 50%, no wires necessary", explains Rodger Anderson of Columbia Universities Center for Computational Learning Systems.  

See the point and case is that with the right technology and market incentives America can run everything off alternative energy sources, and lead the way into a clean energy future. 

First Green Interstate

The Governors of California, Oregon and Washington are working on turning Interstate 5 into the nation's first greenhighway, one that would have access to alternative fuel but probably more importantly, there will be battery charging and swapping stations along the road's 1,382 miles.

At least one governor has met with Better Place to discuss their involvement. The company has already launched projects in several countries around the world.

Yesterday in California, President Obama touted the future of the electric car, and that the long-term growth investments that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act budgets money for and announced the Department of Energy's $2.4 billion competitive grant program (under the stimulus package) that will "spark the manufacturing of the batteries and parts that run these cars."

Maybe this will be the first road to a carbon neutral future.

Battle to Update Grid In Congress

Legislation has been introduced by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to make it easier to update the grid to allow for more clean energy to come online. This is not the first piece of legislation Reid has offered, what is rare about this new bill is that it would actually require the President to designate renewable energy zones.

The force that coming behind this clean energy movement is amazing. If you want to see the leaders who are on pushing clean energy, I reccommed watching a video of a summit that was put on by the Center for American Progress.http://nationalcleanenergyproject.org/

Confirmed attendees included President William Jefferson Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Representative Ed Markey (D-MA), energy executive T. Boone Pickens, Robert Kennedy Jr., and leaders from government, business, labor, and the non-profit communities.