The following major changes were made to the Platform Sizing Tool:

• New 4-column semi configuration added to wind platform options.
• Hull steel weights increased for 3-column semisubmersible wind platforms
• Quayside turbine setting incorporated for 3-column semis 5MW and under and for 4-column semis 8MW and under. Added local wet tow cost from quayside to offshore.

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A carbon tax is a fee imposed on the burning of carbon-based fuels. Its purpose is to shift the cost of the societal impacts from emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from the general public to the entities that emit that carbon dioxide (CO2). The carbon tax is one of two major market-based tools available to drive down a country's emissions (the other being cap-and-trade schemes). Many economists, environmental activists and consumers prefer the carbon tax for its simplicity and impartiality.

Essentially, the carbon tax is a form of pollution tax, with the pollutant being CO2. The government sets a price per ton on carbon emissions to the atmosphere and levies...

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A "virtual power plant" is an aggregation of many small power generation and energy storage systems that can be managed using a modern computer based control system to behave like a traditional power plant. (See illustrations in Figures 1 and 2.) An early example of this technology is the new program starting summer 2016 in New York City and Westchester County by a collaboration between the power utility Consolidated Edison, rooftop solar provider SunPower, and energy storage provider Sunverge Energy. Three hundred homeowners who participate in the program will have leased high-efficiency SunPower solar systems installed on their homes and have Sunverge Energy battery systems, owned by Con Edison, installed and connected to their SunPower systems. The...

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GlenWyvis, located in Dingwall in the Highlands of Scotland is the world's first 100% community-owned whisky distillery, with a list of over 3,000 shareholders from the local Dingwall area and around the world. Small in size, GlenWyvis claims to be a 'craft' distillery; however, it is also distinguished by being entirely powered by green energy. The distillery sits on farmland owned by John Mckenzie, the founder and managing director of GlenWvyis. The farm has previously invested in renewable energy systems, which are now shared between the two businesses in exchange for draff, which is a byproduct from the distilling process and is used to feed the cattle on the farm. In addition, GlenWyvis has its own biomass boiler to provide steam for the stills. The...

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MidAmerican Energy Company, headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, is set to become the first investor-owned electric utility in the US to generate renewable energy equal to 100 percent of its customers' usage in its Iowa service area on an annual basis. Other entities have achieved this milestone, a notable example being the city of Aspen, Colorado, which achieved that distinction in 2015. However, Aspen's municipal electrical utility serves only 6,500 customers compared to MidAmerican Energy's 770,000 customers. Google and
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In June 2018 a consortium consisting of Swedish power utility Vattenfall, Swedish steelmaker SSAB, and LKAB, Europe's largest iron ore producer announced plans for their Hybrit pilot plant that aims to make steel without using any fossil fuels. The plant will allow full-scale testing and development of a proven laboraty technique to produce steel by using hydrogen as the fuel to generate the heat required for the steel manufacturing process rather than coal and coke. Instead of carbon dioxide, only water would be emitted to the enviornment.

The goal is to...

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Updated to include information on the Vestas 8.8 MW turbine, currently the most powerful wind turbine in the world recently installed offshore Scotland and the recently announced GE Haliade-X 12 MW turbine.

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