E2 Round-up: Utilities plan big investment in wind, the link between carbon and cement, and industry moves forward on climate

Utilities are expected to spend $65 billion this year on wind power, installing the equivalent of 34 nuclear plants as companies prepare for a cap on carbon dioxide emissions, Bloomberg reports today.

“Utilities that built natural gas-fired generators during the last decade are increasingly erecting turbines and buying wind power from competitors, tapping a renewable-energy source as governments consider ways to penalize carbon-based fuels,” Bloomberg reports.

One California company thinks it may have an answer to the carbon problem: use it to make cement.

“With this technology, coal can be cleaner than solar and wind, because they can only be carbon-neutral,” Vinod Khosla, the Silicon Valley billionaire, told the New York Times.

Cement production is a large emitter of carbon dioxide, and electricity generation is the biggest, so the technology could offer big dividends in the fight against climate change. But experts are dubious that the process can be done economically on a commercial scale.

Time’s Bryan Walsh has noticed the switching roles of government and industry in addressing an environmental challenge.

Traditionally, government had to overcome industry opposition to pass landmark bills like the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act. Some companies of course are opposing efforts in Congress to cap carbon dioxide, but others are leading the development of clean energy technologies that could help solve the problem.

“Some of the smartest companies in the country are forging ahead on clean energy in the absence of legislation,” Walsh notes.