energy

Shell Arctic Drilling Fleet OK'd To Use 'Green' West Seattle Port

By • Jan 14, 2015
U.S. Coast Guard/Travis Marsh

The Seattle Port Commission decided on Tuesday to let Shell Oil's Arctic drilling fleet use West Seattle as its home port.

Shell's drill rigs and barges would overwinter at the Port of Seattle's Terminal 5 in West Seattle while the terminal is being renovated.

How Canada Will Change In 2015

By & Matthew Streib • Jan 7, 2015

Ross Reynolds talks with Vaughn Palmer, columnist with the Vancouver Sun, about upcoming Canadian elections and the devastation wreaked by low oil prices on the economy.

Bill Gates Helps Make Water From Human Waste

By Bill Radke • Jan 7, 2015
Courtesy of GatesNotes

Bill Gates will put his money where his mouth is when it comes to getting potable water to developing countries.

On his blog, Gates posted a video of a machine that makes “sewage sludge” a renewable resource.  Developed by Sedro-Woolley company Janicki Bioenergy, the project is being funded by the Gates Foundation.

Called the Omniprocessor, the machine burns solid human waste and transforms it into electricity, clean ash and, most importantly, clean drinking water.

So clean that Bill Gates would drink it — and he does.

25 Years After Exxon Valdez, U.S. Mandates Double-Hulled Oil Tankers

By • Dec 30, 2014
An oil tanker and a container ship about to cross paths near Seattle.
KUOW Photo/John Ryan

Oil tankers bring about 15 million gallons of oil every day into Washington state. Starting Jan. 1, those ships are required to have double hulls.

The oil-spill prevention measure has been in the works for decades, ever since Capt. Joseph Hazelwood ran the Exxon Valdez onto Alaska's Bligh Reef in 1989. Eleven million gallons of oil spilled into Prince William Sound, killing thousands of seabirds and sea otters, devastating the region's fisheries and unleashing action in Washington, D.C.

Seattle Drivers: Are You Ready To Fill Your Tank With ‘Poopaline’?

By & Matthew Streib • Dec 5, 2014
King County has been working on different recycling products for Loop, aka waste treatment biosolids. One Seattle startup thinks biofuel is the answer.
Screen shot from YouTube/Loop biosolids

A Seattle startup hopes that in the near future, every time you flush your toilet you help power your car.

Vitruvian Energy has developed technology that turns biosolids – the dirt-like material left over once sewage has been treated at a plant and the inert water returned to the watershed – into biofuel. Right now the company is crowdfunding to launch their fuel locally.

It takes about 53 pounds of biosolids to make a gallon of EEB, Vitruvian’s biofuel. The biosolids are run through a series of biological and chemical steps to go from a dirt-like material to a clear liquid that has a sweet smell.

Avian Flu Strikes Poultry In British Columbia, Again

By & Matthew Streib • Dec 3, 2014
Flickr Photo/xxxtoff (CC-BY-NC-ND)

Marcie Sillman talks with Vaughn Palmer, columnist for the Vancouver Sun, about the return of Avian flu to British Columbia. They also discuss the legal battles of anti-oil pipeline demonstrators.

Canadians Protest Trans-Provincial Oil Pipelines

By & Matthew Streib • Nov 26, 2014

Ross Reynolds talks with Vaughn Palmer, columnist for the Vancouver Sun, about protests over oil pipelines in Canada, and international Thanksgiving travel.

Canadians Cope With Crushed Keystone XL Dreams

By & Matthew Streib • Nov 19, 2014
Protesters of the Keystone Pipeline in San Francisco, Calif., in November 2013.
Flickr Photo/Enviros (CC-BY-NC-ND)

Marcie Sillman talks with Vaughn Palmer, columnist for the Vancouver Sun, about Canadians' response to the United States Senate's rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline and the results of the Vancouver, B.C. mayoral race.

Activist: 'Don't Believe Anything The Nuclear Industry Says'

By • Oct 23, 2014
Two IAEA experts examine recovery work on top of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in April 2013.
Flickr Photo/IAEA Imagebank (CC-BY-NC-ND)

On March 11, 2011, a 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami crippled Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Physician and anti-nuclear activist Dr. Helen Caldicott calls into question reporting about that event and its aftermath. Her frank assessment of the people who control nuclear power: “Don’t believe anything the nuclear industry says, because they lie.”

What are the effects of the Fukushima meltdowns? In 2013, in response to concerns that media and policy makers were ignoring the impacts, a panel of scientists, engineers and policy experts met in New York to review the aftermath of the disaster. 

B.C. Energy Minister Says U.S. Has A Good Deal In Columbia River Treaty

By • Oct 22, 2014

A little-known fact about Columbia River dams is that a valuable chunk of the power generated on the U.S. side goes to Canada under an international treaty.

Bats May Mistake Wind Turbines For Trees, Study Warns

By Courtney Flatt • Oct 3, 2014

An unprecedented number of bats are being killed by wind turbine blades. A new report has found bats may be mistaking wind turbines for trees.

Bats are often looking for a place to roost when the moon is bright and winds are low. That’s when the conditions can be the deadliest for bats flying near wind turbines.

Tidal Power Project In Puget Sound Abandoned By Utility

By Courtney Flatt • Oct 1, 2014

A long-awaited tidal energy project in Puget Sound has come to halt. The project was set to generate electricity and connect it to the grid – the first project of its kind in the world. But it just got too expensive.

The Snohomish County Public Utility District had hoped to install two underwater turbines in Admiralty Inlet near Puget Sound’s Whidbey Island. The pilot turbines would have generated enough power for about 200 homes and stayed in the water up to five years.

Feds Hand Hiring Authority Back To BPA

By • Oct 1, 2014

The U.S. Department of Energy says the Bonneville Power Administration can be in charge of hiring new employees again.

Why The Northwest Is the New Frontier For Geothermal Energy

By Cassandra Profita • Sep 29, 2014

PORTLAND -- The Geothermal Energy Association chose to hold its annual meeting in Portland this year, and leaders say that's in part because they see the Pacific Northwest as a new frontier for the industry.

Concern About Oil Spills In Inland Northwest Rises With Rail Traffic

By • Sep 24, 2014

The coast has generally been considered the area of the Northwest most at risk for a catastrophic oil spill. But the rise in oil moving through the region by rail has raised the stakes for some inland areas.

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