Welcome
...to the web site of Clean Energy Action. Our mission
is to promote clean energy alternatives, to mitigate global warming,
and to raise public awareness about the liabilities of coal fired power
plants.
 |
Come to the April 14th
Colorado Public Utilities Commission Public Hearing
Monday April 14, 2008—5-7pm
Xcel Services Building
550 15th St. Denver, CO
(Corner of 15th and Welton—one block off the 16th Street Mall—RTD Bus and 16th Street Shuttle work well.)
- Please Support Xcel’s Plan to Reduce C02 Emissions
- Support Urgent Action to Address Global Warminb
- Urge the PUC to Accelerate Plans for Concentrating Solar Power
Strengthen your testimony by bringing articles and reports for the Commission to consider
on global warming, mercury poisoning, coal costs, watershed acidification, Concentrating Solar Power.
If you don’t want to testify, that’s fine. Please come to show support and to learn from the other speakers.
A Solar Grand Plan
$1 billion facility to be among world's largest
Feb. 21, 2008 -- A solar-energy plant planned near Gila Bend will be among the world's largest when it opens in 2011, Arizona Public Service Co. said Wednesday. If the solar-thermal plant passes upcoming regulatory and tax hurdles, it will be built and operated by the Spanish company Abengoa Solar Inc. APS will buy all the electricity from the plant to supply its 1.1 million customers. As environmental concerns and rising costs affect traditional fuel sources, solar likely will be a bigger part of the mix of power supplies that feed the state's energy needs. At 280 megawatts, enough to power at least 70,000 households, the plant will make even more energy than a similar facility announced in December. More
Stopping Coal in its Tracks
Scientific American. January 2008 . And now for the good news! By 2050 solar power could end U.S. dependence on foreign oil and slash greenhouse gas emissions:
- A massive switch from coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear power plants to solar power plants could supply 69 percent of the U.S.’s electricity and 35 percent of its total energy by 2050.
- A vast area of photovoltaic cells would have to be erected in the Southwest. Excess daytime energy would be stored as compressed air in underground caverns to be tapped during nighttime hours.
- Large solar concentrator power plants would be built as well.
- A new direct-current power transmission backbone would deliver solar electricity across the country.
- But $420 billion in subsidies from 2011 to 2050 would be required to fund the infrastructure and make it cost-competitive.
More
AZ proposes 250MW Concentrating Solar Plant
December 19, 2007 -- Solar energy is getting a jumpstart. Energy suppliers scattered throughout the Southwest have asked bidders to submit proposals to build a 250 megawatt solar power project. The consortium plans on picking a winner by June 2008 so that the project would be completed by 2012. It would be "concentrated solar power" that focuses sunlight, usually with mirrors, to heat a fluid to high temperatures to drive the engine -- something that proponents say can be used for large-scale solar power generation. (More - Read on to see what CEA's Leslie Glustrom has to say about the project)
Xcel Proposes Utility Scale Solar
November 15, 2007. The 200MW utilty-scale solar power plant proposed by Xcel (described in the resource plan above) would be the first of its kind in the nation. Solar experts say a plant of its size could cost about $600 million and cover 1,000 acres of land with solar collectors. It could supply power to about 80,000 households. A possible location is the San Luis Valley near Alamosa. More
Clean Energy Action is Working Behind the Scenes to Publicize the True Cost of Coal-Fired Power Plants to the Public
In several cases in the Colorado courts and in motions before the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, Clean Energy Action has filed briefs and presented evidence that Xcel has failed to disclose other factors that would bear on the cost of the new Pueblo coal plant either to the public or to investors.
