Twice solar power in one month
In just one month, Germany installed almost twice as many megawatts of solar than the entire U.S. developed during all of 2011. Preliminary figures show Germany ended the year with roughly 7,500 MW of installations; the U.S. ended up with about 1,700 megawatts, according to GTM Research. Germans installed all of that solar at almost half the price. The average price of an installed solar system in Germany came to $2.80 in the third quarter of 2011. In the U.S., it was about $5.20 in the third quarter. New PV installations slightly surpassed the figures of the record year 2010 with a total of 7,400 MW.
Cement Company to Pay $1.7 Million for Clean Air Act Violations
Essroc Cement, the 8th largest cement producer in US, has agreed to pay a $1.7 million penalty for Clean Air Act violations at six of its
portland cement manufacturing plants. The company also agreed to invest approximately $33 million in pollution control technology.
The EPA said it reached a settlement with the company and the Department of Justice that will reduce more than 7,000 tons of harmful nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) pollution—two of the key pollutants from all cement plants—that can lead to childhood asthma, acid rain, and smog.
According to the EPA, Essroc will install pollution control technology to reduce the emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides at five of its plants, and demonstrate a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system one of the Indiana plants, a technology that chemically reduces nitrogen oxides to nitrogen and water.
El Salvador President Apologizes for El Mozote Massacre
El Salvador’s President Mauricio Funes apologized Monday for the 1981 El Mozote massacre, when U.S.-trained Salvadoran forces killed nearly 1,000 civilians. Funes described it as “the worst massacre of civilians in contemporary Latin American history.”