Putting the nuclear power genie back in the bottle
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With no immediate hope for the creation of a national repository for spent nuclear power plant fuel rods, the Prairie Island Indian tribe has Continue Reading
Minnesota’s Community-Based Energy Development program supports community-funded wind power
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While fossil fuel sources have fluctuating input costs, wind operators only pay for maintenance. Unlike coal and natural gas, wind is free. Installing turbines, however, isn’t cheap. Continue Reading
Minneapolis invests in chargers for electric cars
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A Minneapolis City Council committee approved a grant Monday that would provide up to 25 electric-car charging stations in downtown Minneapolis parking ramps.
Voices from the black gold boom in North Dakota
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Independent Producer and KFAI regular Todd Melby is on assignement for a year in the oil fields of North Dakota, following the changes that come from an economic boom that runs counter to the rest
Oil in an oil-less state
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Although our plains, prairies, and forests are free of fossil fuel deposits, Minnesota is plugged into world’s oil industry.
The wind production tax credit and electricity rates
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Much has been written here at Minnesota 2020 and elsewhere about what will happen to direct and indirect jobs related to the wind industry if the federal wind production tax credit (PTC) expires Continue Reading
Ethanol, drought and economic quick fixes
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This being an election year, simplistic answers and proposed fixes for all that ails us are offered daily for real and imagined problems.
Some, like the voter ID Constitutional amendment in Minnesota, are pure distractions to cure a problem that doesn’t exist but will serve a political strategy of denying the elderly and minorities access to the polls.
OPINION | Two shutdowns highlight aging nuclear plants
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What happens when you take two of the state’s three nuclear generation units offline at one time? Well, apparently not much. Last week’s temporary shutdown due to a leaky pipe and exhaust leaks didn’t result in escaped radiation or produce much of a ripple in the electricity grid.But the shutdowns at the Monticello and Prairie Island nuclear plants bring attention to the fact that these units are over 41 and 38 years old, respectively, using technologies installed in the early 1970s when nuclear plants were just starting to be built on a large scale. In fact, of the 104 nuclear generation units operating in 2009, Monticello and the two Prairie Island units were the 8th, 24th and 31st units to go online in the U.S., respectively.Nuclear power has been a staple for providing continual, uninterrupted electricity in Minnesota for some time. Our state has steadily generated a little over a quarter of its electricity from nuclear sources since 1990, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Continue Reading
Coal’s decline has come to Minnesota
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Over 110 coal plants have announced retirement throughout the U.S. since January 1, 2010, according to the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign. Continue Reading
OPINION | Words of the Day: Food and fuel
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Fellow Minnesotans emotionally and financially tied to the food industry are growing restless as drought conditions worsen across much of the United States while Congress appears in no hurry to pass multi-year farm and food legislation.