With the spark of a road flare, engineers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory lit its new, smoke-free Renewable Fuels Heating Plant today. The $3.3 million project is the Laboratory’s latest step toward operating as a net-zero energy facility.

The RFHP will heat NREL’s South Table Mountain Campus laboratory buildings by burning woody biomass, including wood chips from trees lost to the region’s mountain pine beetle epidemic. [Read more]

Negawatts Anyone?

GreenBiz reports that the New York State Public Service Commission will offer $27 million to electric utilities for energy efficiency programs with an ultimate goal of an annual reduction of 693,951 megawatt hours per year. Additionally, the Commission will make an extra $5 million available for meeting electricity demand reductions in New York City, although the reduction targets have not been set.

“Incentives are valuable in securing a long-term commitment by utilities to achieving efficiency goals,” said Commission Chairman Garry Brown.

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Yesterday’s indictment of Alaska Senator Ted Stevens on charges of making false statements regarding work performed on his house has left people to wonder about the political implications the investigation would have on the Senator’s re-election bid - as well as the larger Republican cause. Some GOP Senators are reportedly returning money they had received from Stevens’ PAC, the Northern Lights Political Action Committee. Here’s what the always-sharp Keith Olbermann of MSNBC had to say about the implications of the indictment: [Read more]

[Originally reported at CleanTechnica] The world’s biggest offshore wind farm was revived yesterday when German-based energy group E.ON and the Danish utility Dong Energy agreed to acquire Shell’s 33% stake in the 1,000-megawatt London Array.

The two firms, which each own a one-third stake in the project will now become 50-50 partners by buying out Shell, the former third partner. Shell decided to withdraw from the London Array project back in May after a strategic review indicated that the project would not bring sufficient rates of return on the investment. Industry-wide cost inflation has raised the cost of the project to more than £2.5bn ($5 billion U.S.), well above the original estimates of £1.5bn three years ago. [Read more]