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Expect $1.6 Trillion in Clean Energy Investments Through 2020, Says IEA

Investments in new clean-energy capacity will total $1.61 trillion through 2020 even as the expansion of renewables is expected to slow, the International Energy Agency said.




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US-China Rifts Put Aside for Clean Energy Research

The threat of climate change is driving China and the U.S. — frequent rivals and the world’s two largest greenhouse-gas emitters — to collaborate on dozens of potential clean-energy breakthroughs.




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Japan Utility to Suspend Grid Access for New Renewable Energy Producers

Kyushu Electric Power Co. will suspend responding to applications from renewable-energy producers applying to access its grid while it reviews how much more clean energy it’s capable of handling.




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RGGI Chair Says States Won’t Leave Emissions Trading Market for California, Quebec

California and Quebec, which together created the largest carbon market in North America this year, may come away empty-handed as they woo northeastern U.S. states to join their system.




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Ukraine Crisis May Spur EU Clean Energy Policies, Neste Oil Says

Europe’s concern about its reliance on Russian fossil fuels may spur governments to prioritize alternative energy, the head of Neste Oil Oyj said.




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KenGen Plans Joint Ventures for Kenyan Geothermal Power Projects

Kenya Electricity Generating Co., the East African nation’s biggest power producer, plans joint ventures to complete its geothermal projects in Olkaria, Chief Executive Officer Albert Mugo said.




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UK Green Bank Set to Draw Offshore Wind Investors to $1.6 Billion Fund

The U.K. Green Investment Bank is set to tie up the first investments in a $1.6 billion fund by the end of March, part of Britain’s push to cement its dominance in offshore wind power.




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UN Sees Irreversible Damage to Climate Caused by Fossil Fuels

Humans are causing irreversible damage to the planet from burning fossil fuels, the biggest ever study of the available science concluded in a report designed to spur the fight against climate change.




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Fossil Fuels Reap $550 Billion in Subsidies, Hindering Renewables Investment

Fossil fuels are reaping $550 billion a year in subsidies and holding back investment in cleaner forms of energy, the International Energy Agency said.




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Carbon Breakthrough: US, China Make Milestone Agreement to Fight Climate Change

President Barack Obama pledged deeper U.S. cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions and China will for the first time set a target for capping carbon emissions under an agreement between the world’s two biggest economies.




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Hydro technology information and research reports

Collection of articles related to hydropower technology




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German Utility EON To Ditch Fossil Fuel Arm, Focus on Renewables

EON SE’s plan to spin off its fossil fuel plants marks a watershed moment in Germany’s renewables effort that will likely bolster the country’s already leading position in clean energy.




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India Plans Renewables Splurge, But Will Not Commit to Carbon Plan

India, the world’s third-largest polluter, will spend at least $100 billion on climate-related projects but isn’t ready to follow China and the U.S., the top two emitters, in promising to limit its fossil-fuel emissions.




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Buffett Testing Smart Grid Technology for Home Energy Management

Warren Buffett wants to tell you the best time to wash your clothes. Or at least his energy company in the U.K does. Buffett’s Northern Powergrid Holdings Co. is working with Siemens AG to test a so-called smart grid that has the ability to control when consumer appliances will be used in the home.




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Japan Toughens Rules for Renewable Energy Incentive Payments

Japan’s trade ministry is setting stricter rules for production and sales of renewable energy in what it says is a drive to speed up development of projects and ensure stable power supply.




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India Clean Energy Investments Rose 13 Percent to $7.9 Billion in 2014

Clean energy investments in India increased to $7.9 billion last year and are expected to surpass $10 billion in 2015.




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Brazilian Bank Raises $408 Million for Renewable Energy and Water Projects

The Brazilian bank Itau Unibanco Holding SA raised 1.05 billion reais ($408 million) to finance renewable energy and water treatment projects.




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Obama Proposes $4 Billion for States Beating Climate Goals

The Obama administration is proposing a $4 billion fund to reward states that exceed cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions, and wants Congress to back steeper royalty rates for oil, gas and coal extraction from public land.




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California's Clean Tech Industry Best in US for Jobs and Investment

California’s bet on green energy is paying off, with clean technology companies creating more jobs and investing more money than competitors in any other state.




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Enel Putting Final Touches on Yieldco for US Renewable Assets

Enel SpA is putting the final touches on a yieldco that would hold its U.S. renewable energy assets, making it the latest power-plant owner to opt for a structure that frees up capital.




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India Renewables Boom Aided by International Funds

India said cheaper credit along with foreign investment will help the world’s third-largest polluter fund an ambitious renewable energy program that would build green power plants faster than China.




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Geothermal Saves Kenya $24 Million of Fuel Monthly, Says KenGen

New power-generating units at Kenya’s Olkaria I plant are saving East Africa’s biggest economy about 2.2 billion shillings ($24 million) a month on fuel costs, according to the country’s biggest electricity producer.




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Harvard’s Star Alumni Urge Week of Fossil Fuel Protests

Actress Natalie Portman, environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and other high-profile Harvard University alumni are calling for demonstrations to urge divestment from fossil fuels.




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Obama Orders US Agencies to Cut Carbon Emissions 40 Percent by 2025

President Barack Obama ordered the federal government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent from 2008 levels over the next 10 years by shifting to renewable energy sources such as solar power.




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Clean Energy Makes Up Record Share of UK Power with Coal-to-Biomass Conversions

U.K. electricity from low-carbon sources accounted for almost a quarter of the country’s generation in the fourth quarter as Drax Group Plc converted a second coal-power plant to burn wood.




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Mexico Pledges to Cut Emissions 25 Percent in Climate Change Milestone

Mexico has become the first developing nation to formally promise to cut its global-warming pollution, a potential milestone in efforts to reach a worldwide agreement on tackling climate change.




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Investors Spent a Record $2 Trillion on Renewables, Report Says

Investors have spent more than $2 trillion on clean-energy plants in the past decade and last year added more renewable capacity than ever before.




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Yale Students Cited at Fossil Fuel-Divestment Protest

Yale University police cited 19 students after they staged a sit-in outside President Peter Salovey’s office to push for divestment from fossil-fuel companies.




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Clean Energy Spending Drops 15 Percent to Reach Lowest Level Since 2013

Global investment in clean energy slumped 15 percent in the first quarter to the lowest level in two years because of a decline in wind and utility-scale projects.




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Australian Clean Energy Deadlock Spurs Companies to Focus Abroad

Political deadlock over Australia’s clean energy future is prompting companies such as Vestas Wind Systems A/S and Acciona SA to increasingly turn to rival markets for growth.




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Australia’s Biggest Power Producer Sees Future without Coal

Australia’s largest electricity producer committed to close its coal-fired power plants within 35 years as part of an effort to cut the nation’s dependence on the fossil fuel.




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Japan Anticipates Clean Energy Will Edge Out Nuclear Power

Japan anticipates that by 2030 clean energy such as solar and hydro will generate slightly more of the nation’s electricity than nuclear power plants.




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Nordic Renewables Boom Set to Exceed Wind Energy Target

Sweden and Norway will probably exceed a joint target for renewable energy production by the end of the decade, industry consultant Nena AS said.




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EU Raises Concern That UK, France Won't Meet Renewables Goal

The European Commission raised concern that the U.K. and France may not meet their 2020 renewable energy targets, saying the two countries should examine whether they’re doing enough to reach the goals.




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Where Coal Was King, Pope's Climate Warning Faces a Tricky Sell

In West Virginia, where workers have harvested coal seams for centuries, Pope Francis’ new warning about the risks of fossil fuels will find skepticism even among the faithful.




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German Utility's Race for Renewables Seen as Too Little, Too Late

RWE AG, the German utility whose coal-fired plants make it Europe’s largest carbon emitter, officially started the company’s largest renewables project on Thursday: a wind farm in Liverpool Bay off Britain’s coast.




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Renewables to Beat Fossil Fuels With $3.7 Trillion Solar Boom

Renewable energy will draw almost two-thirds of the spending on new power plants over the next 25 years, dwarfing spending on fossil fuels, as plunging costs make solar the first choice for consumers and the poorest nations.




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For All Their Talk, Colleges Divest Little After Climate Protest

Stanford, Oxford and Georgetown universities have won praise for promising to purge their endowments of direct investments in coal, embracing the fight against climate change.

 




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Australian Renewable Energy Law Paves Way for $11 Billion in Projects

Long-frustrated wind and solar developers in Australia can now get to work on more than A$14 billion ($11 billion) in projects after a new renewable energy target passed parliament.




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‘Snail’s Pace’ in Climate Talks, Weak Pledges Frustrate UN Chief

The secretary general of the United Nations is frustrated with the pace of negotiations for what’s intended to be a crucial agreement limiting global warming.

Climate change pledges submitted so far from the world’s leading economies won’t be enough to keep the planet from warming dangerously, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Monday in New York.

Proposals to reduce heat-trapping emissions need to be “a floor, not a ceiling,” he said.

The global increase in temperatures will exceed 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) under the national pledges already submitted to UN, Ban said. That’s the goal scientists and the UN have set to avoid the worst effects due to global warming.

The proposals submitted to date “will not be enough to place us on a 2-degree pathway,” Ban said.

Without any changes to global emissions, the world is on track to warm by 4 degrees Celsius or more, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Climate Change Janos Pasztor said earlier this month.

World leaders have five months to go before a meeting of almost 200 nations in Paris that’s intended to seal a new global pact to cut planet-warming carbon emissions. If successful, the agreement would be the first ever to require both developed nations like the US and growing economies like China to address climate change.

“The pace of UN negotiations are far too slow,” Ban said. “It’s like a snail’s pace.”

The U.S., the world’s biggest historic source of greenhouse gases, pledged earlier this year to cut its emissions by as much as 28 percent by 2025. The European Union has promised a 40 percent cut by 2030. Several other major economies, including Australia and Japan, have yet to submit climate plans to the UN.




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Clean Energy Companies Beat the Stock Market

Stocks of clean-energy companies are proving to be better investments than those of companies that produce most of the Western Hemisphere's power, and are outperforming the rest of the stock market as well.

The evidence is found in the New York Stock Exchange Bloomberg Americas Clean Energy Index. Its 141 companies, all based in North and South America, returned 32.62 percent in the past two years. In contrast, the 40 conventional-energy companies in the Standard and Poor's 500 Energy Index returned 1.02 percent over the same period, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Clean energy also is beating the rest of the stock market. The Clean Energy Index is up 6.02 percent so far this year. Lagging behind are both the S&P 500 and the Russell 3000 Index, which gained 3.12 percent and 3.86 percent respectively in 2015.




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Germany Gives Dirtiest Coal Plants Six Years for Phase Out

German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said 13 percent of power stations burning lignite, a cheap form of coal, would be phased out by 2021 under a program to cut power industry pollution. The government abandoned talks on proposals to impose a climate-change fee that the industry said would have forced mines and plants to close, threatening jobs.




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The Latest Sign That Coal Is Getting Killed

Coal is having a hard time lately. U.S. power plants are switching to natural gas, environmental restrictions are kicking in, and the industry is being derided as the world's No. 1 climate criminal. Prices have crashed, sure, but for a real sense of coal's diminishing prospects, check out what's happening in the bond market.




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Climate Talks Nearing Consensus in Behind-the-Scenes Meetings

Publicly, the United Nations climate-change talks look mired in disputes over everything from money to the length of the proposed agreement.




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The Hope That Overcomes the World, Part A (John 16:23–33)

I want you to open your Bible now this morning to John’s gospel. We have been, for months and

 




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Free elections vital for Afghanistan success, U.N. envoy says

Free and fair elections in Afghanistan are crucial for the country's successful future, U.N. deputy envoy Nicholas Haysom said Tuesday.




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China settles trade dispute with Europe over solar power components

A trade agreement with China will give European companies the opportunity to compete in the Chinese solar power market, the EU's trade commissioner said.




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Iranian nuclear talks described as useful; more scheduled for April

Iran's deputy foreign minister said nuclear negotiations in Vienna were useful and another round of talks was scheduled over the course of three days in April.




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UNIFIL credits Lebanese forces with maintaining relative security

The Lebanese military is commended for its commitment to peace in light of its vast security obligations, a UNIFIL official said Wednesday.




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EU proposes relief from customs duties for Ukraine

The European Parliament said Thursday it was considering a unilateral move to give Ukraine relief from customs duties.