David Shaffer

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David Shaffer

Reporter | Energy and business

Phone: 612-673-7090

Email: david.shaffer@startribune.com

David Shaffer is a veteran reporter and editor for the Star Tribune, with more than three decades of experience on daily newspapers.
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Wind farm towers: They're taller, slower with more power

Wind farm towers rise higher above the landscape to capture more wind. Yet their blades turn more slowly.

Updated: September 10, 2012, - 09:09 PM

Minnesota solar panel maker struggles, skips loan payments

Silicon Energy opened a plant in Mountain Iron, Minn., last year, but has missed its first government loan payments amid slow sales.

Updated: September 04, 2012, - 09:44 PM

Prairie Island tribe seeks action on nuclear waste issue

The long debate over storing radioactive waste next to the Prairie Island nuclear power plant is boiling up again with an old question: Is the waste ever going away?

Updated: September 03, 2012, - 09:55 AM

Solar CEO: Energy policy is too partisan

Joel Cannon of TenKsolar believes renewable energy can compete if given the same tax breaks long offered to the oil and gas industry.

Updated: September 01, 2012, - 04:59 PM

N.D. wind energy project OK'd for Allete

But the renewable energy division of the Duluth utility still needs a buyer for the electricity.

Updated: August 31, 2012, - 08:54 PM

A river of oil runs through small Minnesota town

Clearbrook, Minn., population 521, has become a busy hub for crude with pipelines that can carry 14 percent of the petroleum used in the U.S.

Updated: August 29, 2012, - 09:17 AM

State signals that Xcel can't drop solar subsidies

Utility had planned to phase out the popular program next year.

Updated: August 28, 2012, - 09:47 PM

In Willmar, company takes pulse of ethanol industry

As ethanol producers struggle with high corn prices, Christianson & Associates has carved out a niche in the industry by collecting data on plant performance.

Updated: August 25, 2012, - 04:55 PM