The Water Environment Federation proudly announces the 2019 WEF Awards recipients for published papers. The WEF Published Papers Awards recognize WEF members for valuable research that has the potential for broad contribution to industrial wastewater management.

Duke Energy is launching the Green Source Advantage program on Oct. 1, which would allow larger energy users to acquire wind and solar from independent, third-party sources. "This is a flexible program that will help them meet their renewable energy or sustainability goals on their own terms," says Duke North Carolina President Stephen De May.

Wind and other renewables have taken off in Oklahoma over the last decade due to rapidly declining prices and will likely continue to grow even as the US' energy consumption declines, according to the Environment America Research & Policy Center and Frontier. The federal government, states and municipalities should continue to work toward 100% clean energy targets, it says.

Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, MHI Vestas and GE Renewable Energy are the only original equipment manufacturers producing 10-megawatt-plus offshore wind turbines. The OEMs may face challenges due to tariffs between the US and China that are having an impact on the supply of rare-earth metals and other materials, says IntelStor CEO Philip Totaro.

Enel Green Power's 236.5-megawatt White Cloud Wind site under development in Nodaway County, Mo., will contribute $75 million to landowners and the county in lease and tax payments over the span of its lifetime. "We are looking for electricity prices to go down and stabilize in this area, and since wind is the cheapest energy in the U.S., we believe we can achieve that," says Senior Project Manager Georg Becker-Birck.

Wind farms in the US Midwest, Asia and Europe are using artificial intelligence and analytics to generate a return on investment faster and bolster performance. Universal mCloud is providing assets management services to Longyuan Wind Power in China and UK-based BritWind to gather data from turbines that can improve their productivity and reduce maintenance costs.

Wind companies may be able to increase their wind farm's output by 1% to 2% annually by redirecting individual turbine wakes away from downstream units, according to a field trial conducted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The study calls on companies to conduct additional field trials.

Repowering may be a better option for aging turbines than decommissioning, but since 86% of the nation's fleet is less than 12 years old, wind companies have time to pursue technological advances that will make the solution even better, says Russel Ray, editor of The Journal Record in Oklahoma, citing American Wind Energy Association data. Companies are responsible for decommissioning, so consumers don't have to worry about cost increases, he adds.

The New York State Fair is adding wind turbines and solar panels with plans to use 100% renewables by 2023. The goal is to make it "the greenest fair in the U.S.," says state Department of Agriculture and Markets Richard Ball.

SC Johnson has shared details of some of its sustainability achievements, which include making 95% of its plastic packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable and achieving zero-waste to landfill at all of its factories. The company also stepped up the battle against ocean pollution earlier this year by creating bottles made from 100% recycled ocean plastics for its Windex brand.