Summaries for: Energy

Prepare for UK NIMBY Government – big, radical, scary policies
By Nick Keable,Vice President, UK Operations, The Saint Consulting Group Assuming that the Tories do manage to come out of the General Election in control of the UK, and that is by no means certain at all, they have this week laid out their proposals for reform of the planning system.  And it’s big.  And radical.  ...
more »

Classic wind project support dilemma: like it, won’t pay for it
North American WindPower recently reported that a poll by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth's Center for Policy Analysis found that while Massachusetts electric ratepayers generally support wind energy, this support erodes rapidly if wind projects contribute to an increase in electric bills. The poll found that 55% of respondents would not pay more for electricity produced ...
more »

John Procario urges political tack to win public support for energy
When it comes to the politics of land use decisions, it’s comforting when energy industry leaders like John Procario of American Transmission Company really get it, writes Ben Kelahan, Saint Consulting Group's senior vice president for energy.  In the recent publication of EnergyBiz, Procario, President and CEO of American Transmission Company reviews the power of public outreach ...
more »

Saint’s Ben Kelahan in podcast on US offshore wind trends in 2010
Cape Wind Offshore project developer Cape Wind Associates refers to the wind farm on its Web site as "America's First Offshore Wind Farm on Nantucket Sound."Given the project's continued struggles to begin construction and the advancement of other proposed projects along the Eastern seaboard, it seems unlikely that Cape Wind will be the first U.S. ...
more »

Climate change, sustainability and the real estate industry
(Ellen Sinreich, green building strategist, attorney and president of Green Edge LLC, is a guest columnist who has written about the sustainability of green building) By Ellen Sinreich, President, Green Edge LLC As we transition from 2009 to 2010 and the start of a new decade, there are a few things to take note of with ...
more »

Support for Delaware offshore project a lesson for wind farms
By Ben Kelahan,Senior Vice President, Energy, The Saint Consulting GroupGetting major stakeholders on board early to support a wind farm proposal means identifying and mapping who they are, continually educating them about your project and mobilizing them to take some action to demonstrate their support. The passion and emotion surrounding these projects based on the issues ...
more »

Offshore developers need stakeholder acceptance, policy initiatives
In recent months, The Saint Report has published several posts on how wind turbine developers need to engage the public with stakeholder and policy incentives to win over local support for offshore projects. Ben Kelahan, the senior vice president for energy for The Saint Consulting Group, repeated these points in a  panel discussion early this month at the ...
more »

Pro-active developers can counter NIMBY opposition to wind farms
By Ben Kelahan, Senior Vice President, Energy, The Saint Consulting Group In a recent Boing Boing blog post on Re-thinking NIMBY, freelance j0urnalist Maggie Koerth-Baker reflected on why wind power could lead to new ways of defining (and dealing with) public naysaying.  As one who follows the effects of NIMBY all day, there are some real solid points Maggie makes ...
more »

Swing voters can decide public opinion on climate change land use
By Ben Kelahan, Senior Vice President, Energy, The Saint Consulting Group As we've stated several times before (but it always merits repeating), overall public opinion about one particular type of industry doesn't necessarily translate to the same level of support for a specific project on a particular site in towns and cities across America.  Wind turbines, natural ...
more »

Saint Model Outcomes – actions speak louder than words in land use politics
By Paul Mindus, Director, UK Business Development, The Saint Consulting Group Earlier this year The Saint Report began publishing case studies called Saint Model Outcomes to give some examples of our experience from 25 years in land use politics. Actions speak louder than words, and to win land use battles political campaign strategies and tactics gain far more leverage than traditional PR ...
more »