wind

What can possibly unite these two items? Not only do they seem unrelated, but they also seem opposite. The first is from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. It’s a graph…

This week Bloomberg Energy issued an attention-grabbing report on a serious waste problem with wind turbines: retired turbine blades are clogging up landfills. This problem is only going…

As applications for wind farms are expected to increase, the debate over the costs and benefits of these facilities will continue.  The debate should be informed by experiences and data…

I have good news. It’s news so ridiculously underreported that a recent Civitas poll found that 44 percent of North Carolinians somehow believe the environment in North Carolina…

Sen. Bernie Sanders recently called climate change “an existential threat” and blamed it for last weekend’s deadly Alabama tornadoes. Gov. Roy Cooper testified before Congress that climate change…

Click here to view and here to listen to Jon Sanders discussing this Spotlight report. RALEIGH — A report from a renewable energy industry group fails in its…

Wind power advocates are pushing for commercial wind turbines along the mountain ridgelines - the mountains and the coast are the only locations where wind is viable in North Carolina. These commercial wind turbines can be as tall as 500 feet or the height of 50-story skyscrapers. The Ridge Law generally prohibits most tall buildings over 40 feet from being built along the ridgelines.

RALEIGH — North Carolina would feel no more pressure to build commercial wind turbines along its mountain ridgelines if lawmakers scrapped their two-year-old renewable energy mandates. That’s the assessment a…

In 2007, the passage of Senate Bill 3 (SB 3) in North Carolina required that all of the state's public electric utilities increase the percentage of electricity generated from new renewable energy sources. The Beacon Hill Institute in conjunction with the John Locke Foundation has set out to estimate the costs and benefits of SB 3 and its impact on the state's economy.

RALEIGH — North Carolina’s government mandates for renewable energy and energy efficiency will likely cost the state 3,600 jobs and $1.8 billion in higher electricity rates, while slashing the state’s…