Wind turbines stand alongside an electrical tower at the National Wind Technology Center, run by the U.S. Department of Energy, outside Boulder, Colo.
Brennan Linsley/APWind turbines stand alongside an electrical tower at the National Wind Technology Center, run by the U.S. Department of Energy, outside Boulder, Colo.
Brennan Linsley/APNatural gas may have reshaped the domestic energy market in 2012, lowering energy prices and marginalizing the coal industry, but America's shale boom hasn't undermined renewables.
In fact, while analysts were paying attention to fracking this year, a record number of solar panels were being slapped on roofs ? enough to produce 3.2 gigawatts of electricity.
That sounds like a lot, but solar is still providing just .05 percent of the country's total energy. Still, the solar industry keeps expanding. Roan Resh, who heads the Solar Energy Industries Association, said that's because solar panels are becoming cheaper to make and to install.
"Just to give you perspective," Resh said, "in Washington, D.C., where I live, when I installed solar on my house six years ago, the average install cost was about $14 a watt. Today it's about $4 a watt."
So if you're installing solar panels, business is good. But there's a flip side to that equation. Prices are low because of a global manufacturing glut. Solar manufacturers have the capacity to produce way more panels than consumers are asking for right now, and many panel producers are struggling.
The bulk of solar growth is happening at businesses; companies are installing panels on roofs so that they don't have to buy as much energy from the grid. State and federal policies are making that an easy decision for companies. Businesses who install panels can qualify for grants and tax breaks, and laws in 38 states require a certain amount of electricity to be generated by solar, wind and other renewable sources.
A Good Year For Wind Power, Too
Wind was up this year, too. The federal Energy Information Administration says the industry could add 1.2 gigawatts of capacity this year. Wind only provides a small portion of domestic power, about 3 percent.
Wind is on a strong streak with consumers as well, says Rob Gramlich, a vice president at the American Wind Energy Association. "Where we were serving the equivalent of 6 million homes at the end of 2008, we're serving 13 million today," he says.
In three of the last five years, wind has been the fastest-growing energy sector. That was the case in 2012, but this year's totals leave a bit of a false impression. There's been a flurry of activity in December, and in fact more than half of new wind farms will likely come online this month.
"The single-most reason for that is the tax support system which we all rely upon is expiring at year-end," explains Jim Spencer, the president and CEO of New York-based EverPower, which runs wind farms in Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and California. "We really accelerated projects that might otherwise have been built next year."
The 2013 Windbreaker
The program ? called a production tax credit ? expires on Dec. 31. It allows companies that get their wind farms running before then to claim a 2.2-cent tax break for every kilowatt hour of energy produced. That might not sound like a lot, but it keeps their business costs down by about 30 percent.
So wind power is about to get 30 percent more expensive for the utilities at a time when natural gas is very cheap. That's bad news, Gramlich says.
"Utilities are looking at those prices. And they simply won't buy nearly as much wind power without that credit," he says.
The tax credit could still pass, likely as part of the huge bills all the "fiscal cliff" agreements will be stuffed into. A last-minute extension, however, won't help for 2013.
"It's really a black hole next year," says EverPower's Spencer. "We have absolutely no construction plans for next year."
So wind will slow down next year, but no matter what happens with natural gas, you can still expect growth in renewables, due to those state laws pushing alternative energy.
States are doing that because climate change scientists around the world agree that if we don't find a replacement for fossil fuels, our goose is cooked.
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A German family who say they were persecuted for home-schooling their children have failed in a last-ditch bid to stay in New Zealand.
The Schoeneich family's second attempt to gain refugee status, this time on humanitarian grounds, has failed and they now face deportation.
Home schooling is illegal in Germany and the family claims they would face fines, loss of custody and possible imprisonment if they returned.
The parents, Andrea and Gerno, decide to home-school their children on religious grounds, believing the German state education was socialist and conflicted with their strong Christian beliefs.
After fighting with education officials in Germany - including receiving more than $6000 in fines - the family came to New Zealand in 2008 on temporary visas.
They now live in Waipu, Northland, where Mr Schoeneich works as a school teacher.
In appealing for refugee status, they claimed their two youngest children would be "completely devastated" if they were forced to enrol in state schools in Germany.
If they were deported, the two older children would struggle to find work and the family would not be able to obtain accommodation, because "home schoolers" were discriminated against, they claimed.
But in a decision released this week, the Immigration and Protection Tribunal rejected these arguments.
There was little evidence to support claims of hardship and it was highly unlikely they would be imprisoned, the tribunal found. It pointed out: "There is no right at international law to home schooling."
Schoeneich declined to comment on the decision when contacted by the Sunday Star-Times.
The family may have received a more favourable hearing if they had fled to the United States. About two years ago, another Christian German family home-schooling their children were granted political asylum there.
A judge found the family had a reasonable fear of persecution for their beliefs if they returned to Germany.
Home Schooling New Zealand principal Todd Roughton said he felt for the Schoeneichs, who should be able to control their children's education. "They are being denied by the state."
Home Schooling New Zealand provides support for parents teaching about 750 New Zealand children at home a Christian "world view".
Roughton said state schools - in New Zealand and Europe - imposed a world view that was morally abhorrent for many Christian families. "If we were obliged to put our kids in a state school, we would leave the country too."
Home Education Foundation national director Barbara Smith, who has been helping the family since they came to New Zealand, said going back to Germany would be a disaster.
"They will face fines and have their children taken away," she said.
She believed the decision to deny them refugee status was wrong, citing the similar successful case in the United States.
- ? Fairfax NZ News
Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/8113051/Home-schoolers-denied-asylum
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A lot of good things happened in tech this year, including the debuts of the iPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S III. But where there?s good, there?s bad. There were plenty of major tech fails this year. These awards go to the eight biggest.
Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/hardball/50275297/
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Apple and Motorola's patent spat at the ITC has been dragging on for months, with Moto getting a favorable infringement ruling early on -- but it seems that Apple will be ending the year on a legal high note. That aforementioned win by MMI was overturned in August, when the Commission found that Apple had not, in fact, infringed one of Motorola's WiFi patents. In making that ruling, the Commission remanded the case to Judge Pender and asked him to revisit his finding of non-infringement on a separate, touch UI patent at issue.
Today, Pender finished that task, making an Initial Determination on Remand that, while Apple's products infringe the patent claim in question, there is no violation because said claim is invalid. Why the finding of invalidity? Well, Pender found that the claim is anticipated by another, older patent that's owned by Motorola, but not asserted in the action. This undoubtedly brings good tidings to Apple's legal department, as it could mean this fight with Moto (as opposed to all the others) is coming to an end. That said, Motorola isn't bereft of holiday hope -- it can still appeal Pender's latest ruling.
Filed under: Mobile, Apple, Google
Via: Bloomberg
Source: ITC Ruling [PDF]
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/18/itc-apple-motorola-patent-claim-invalid/
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Source: http://www.chacha.com/question/what-is-kierratimm@yahoo.com-facebook-password
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SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - A new judge assigned to the court martial of Major Nidal Hasan, accused of a deadly 2009 shooting spree at a Texas military base, on Tuesday ordered preparations for a January trial start after months of delays over Hasan's insistence on wearing a beard in court.
Hasan is charged with killing 13 people and wounding 32 at Fort Hood in November, 2009, and faces the possibility of execution if convicted. His trial has been delayed for six months over Hasan's beard, which is a violation of Army grooming regulations.
Colonel Tara Osborn, a judge assigned earlier this month to take over the case, asked Hasan about the beard issue on Tuesday, Fort Hood spokesman Chris Haug said.
"She asked Hasan if he wore the beard of his own free will, and if he agreed to waive issues surrounding the beard," Haug said. "Hasan answered both questions in the affirmative."
Hasan says that he wears the beard because of his Muslim religion.
It was not immediately clear if this meant that Hasan could wear the beard when the trial starts. Army prosecutors have argued that Hasan must shave because the officers who will make up the panel or military jury will look down on a fellow officer who appears 'out of uniform' during a court proceeding.
The top military appeals court earlier this month removed the previous judge who on the case, saying he had shown indications of bias against Hasan.
The court said previous judge Colonel Gregory Gross constantly criticized Hasan for wearing the beard in court, repeatedly called it disruptive, held Hasan in contempt of court and imposed fines. Gross threatened to have Hasan forcibly shaved if he refused to comply.
The appeals court said there was no indication that Hasan's beard had disrupted the court proceedings, and said the issue of whether a soldier is out of uniform or is in violation of grooming restrictions is a matter for the post commander, not the trial judge. The appeals court did not rule on Hasan's request for an exemption to keep the beard.
Haug says Osborn indicated a desire to get Hasan's court martial back on track, ordering the lawyers in the case to work through Christmas to come up with a trial schedule.
"Osborn asked both parties to submit a proposed schedule to litigate these matters, which will begin in January of 2013," he said.
Relatives of several of the victims of the massacre have complained that constant delays are denying them justice.
(Editing by Greg McCune and Tim Dobbyn)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/judge-seeks-january-trial-start-accused-fort-hood-213223634.html
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