Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter


 ANALYSIS 
4

Plans for Clean Energy Get Dirty in Transmission

Firms use green hype to build power lines that could carry electricity from coal

Share

(Newser) – Plans to green the US power supply are in full swing, with the Obama administration working toward the goal of doubling the current supply of alternative energy over the next 3 years. But, some complain, power companies are using the popularity of green power to push through a needless—but highly profitable—expansion of the transmission grid, Katharine Mieszkowski writes for Salon.

Rural residents say new lines will spoil thousands of acres of pristine land, and environmentalists charge that there’s no way to prove they’ll carry renewable energy. For example, the coal-based energy firms pitching the Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline between West Virginia and Maryland use advertisements featuring spinning wind turbines, but one end of the line would start near the state’s biggest coal-fired power plant.

In this 2008 file photo, wind turbines at the Harvest Wind Farm dominate the horizon from the playground of Elkton Pigeon Bay Port Laker Elementary School in Oliver Township, Mich.
In this 2008 file photo, wind turbines at the Harvest Wind Farm dominate the horizon from the playground of Elkton Pigeon Bay Port Laker Elementary School in Oliver Township, Mich.   (AP Photo)
A wind mill supplies water to a stock tank, surrounded by wind turbines of the Smoky Hills Wind Project near Wilson, Kan., March 11, 2009.
A wind mill supplies water to a stock tank, surrounded by wind turbines of the Smoky Hills Wind Project near Wilson, Kan., March 11, 2009.   (AP Photo)
A cow grazes in front of wind turbines at a $550 million wind-farm project in La Ventosa, Mexico, Jan. 22, 2009.
A cow grazes in front of wind turbines at a $550 million wind-farm project in La Ventosa, Mexico, Jan. 22, 2009.   (AP Photo)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

These lines, of course, could carry renewable energy, but that wasn't why they were planned. All of the lines we saw proposed for coal three years ago are now being called lines for wind.
- Bri West, energy analyst for the Piedmont Environmental Council in Virginia

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
OFF THE GRID
11.24.09
Murdoch and Microsoft: The Mice Are Trying to Roar
11.23.09
Books Are Bad for You
4 comments
VIEWING:
 
freethemall
Mar 23, 09 4:27 PM CDT
No! No! No! There are plenty of reasons not to have clean, no foreign sources of energy. There are NO good reasons. Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
0
Snowleopard
Mar 23, 09 4:44 PM CDT
Power line are an eye sore, but the new transmission grid is 100% necessary. To shift over to green energy, we need transmission lines to where the sun and wind is most abundant (the deserts and the plains). And upgrading to a smart grid is going to allow people to sell their energy back to the grid, which will drive innovation and will drive down prices. Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
0
IN RESPONSE:
northeast
Mar 23, 09 4:52 PM CDT
Now that's stimulus spending.
Vote up! Vote down!
0
IN RESPONSE:
Snowleopard
Mar 23, 09 8:35 PM CDT
Too bad what's included in the stimulus towards the smart grid will only get us half way there... guess it's a step in the right direction.
Vote up! Vote down!
0
LEAVE A
COMMENT Comment Policy
Facebook ConnectPost this comment to Facebook?

After connecting you will have the option to post your comment on your Facebook profile.

 

Related Newser Stories

42 Stories

ANALYSIS

Buffett's Railroad Buy
Is a (Smart) Bet on Coal

Growth in US economy will boost electricity demand

Nov 3, 09 5:56 PM CST
(Newser) - Berkshire Hathaway’s acquisition of railroad operator Burlington North Santa Fe is really a "huge bet" by Warren Buffett on the coal industry, writes Steve Gelsi . Burlington hauls more coal than anything else, and the material accounted for a quarter of its third-quarter revenue. Buffett already is heavily invested... More »

MORE ABOUT:
coal • Warren Buffett • electricity • Berkshire Hathaway • railroad • Burlington Northern Santa Fe

 Obama Tags $3.4B 
 for Smart Energy Grid 

Plan will create tens of thousands of jobs and cheaper electricity

Oct 27, 09 10:04 AM CDT
(Newser) - President Obama will roll out a plan to use $3.4 billion in stimulus funds to modernize the nation’s electrical grid today. The “smart grid” spending will go to private contractors, utilities, and municipal governments in grants of between $400,000 and $2 million. The administration expects $4.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Iraq • power grid • electricity • renewable energy • job creation • Obama administration • President Obama • stimulus funds

Energy Lobby Split on Climate, Thrilling Greens

Natural gas companies squabble with Big Oil as Senate negotiates

Oct 19, 09 6:30 AM CDT
(Newser) - With the Senate set to consider legislation to tax carbon and rein in global warming, a split has emerged among the energy lobby that may make it easier to pass a clean-energy law. Natural gas producers favor a bill, while their colleagues in the oil industry oppose it; electric companies... More »

MORE ABOUT:
oil • coal • Senate • renewable energy • natural gas • carbon taxes • oil industry • Waxman-Markey

42 Stories


Madison community jockeys over impact of new transmission line
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Virginia/Pennsylvania transmission line would hurt national park: report
WTOP


Technology  •  Business  •  Politics 
TwitterFollow @NewserTech on Twitter

 
alternative energy • coal • electricity • renewable energy • solar power • wind power • turbines • transmission

from our news partners