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In honor of Earth Day, iKarma Inc, founders Paul Williams and Scott Pitchford have contracted with Renewable Choice Energy, Inc. to purchase renewable energy credits to offset energy use by iKarma.com. iKarma's CEO and President are proud to contribute so that iKarma can join Whole Foods Market, Sprint, Johnson & Johnson and other fine companies who currently purchase energy credits to offset their use of fossil fuels.
"Because the social costs of using fossil fuel are not fully reflected in its price, corporations have been faced with the dilemma of choosing between energy that is good for profits but bad for people, and energy that is good for people but bad for profits," says Paul Williams, CEO of iKarma Inc. "This can be very frustrating to responsible corporations who often understand they are paying shareholders dividends from cheap energy, that will likely be taken back tenfold in the form of higher taxes to cover military spending to defend oil lines, and higher health care costs from political stress, pollution and smog."
"When we looked into the cost of wind energy credits for iKarma we discovered the cost difference between clean wind energy and traditional power was almost insignificant," says iKarma President Scott Pitchford. "We decided that the easiest way to fulfill both our corporate and social responsibilities was for Paul and I to purchase the wind credits personally for the corporation we direct. We encourage all corporate officers, and shareholders, to join us in giving back a small percent of the financial gains we've all made from cheap but dirty energy. By taking some personal responsibility for this problem, we can achieve far greater returns for ourselves and for society as a whole." Source: JUPITER, FL — (MARKET WIRE) — 04/23/2006.
Wal-Mart Canada today announced that it has made the largest commercial purchase of green power in Ontario 's history. In partnership with Bullfrog Power, Wal-Mart will purchase 39,000 MWhrs of green power over a three year period. In the first year alone, this purchase will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 7,000 tonnes.
Bullfrog Power, Ontario's first 100 percent green electricity retailer, sources power exclusively from wind and low-impact hydro generators that meet or exceed the federal government's Environmental Choice(M) Program EcoLogo standard for renewable electricity. Wal-Mart's decision to support clean renewable power is a component of the company's comprehensive environmental strategy that includes a commitment to reducing emissions across its Canadian operations. " Wal-Mart Canada is demonstrating its leadership through this multi-year purchase of green power," said Tom Heintzman, President, Bullfrog Power. "By supporting clean, renewable power in Ontario, Wal-Mart is taking meaningful action to reduce its carbon footprint and help combat the environmental and health consequences of air pollution in the province."
"As a company our commitment to sustainability includes efforts toward becoming a responsible contributor to a cleaner, healthier environment for Canadians," said Mario Pilozzi, president and chief executive officer of Wal-Mart Canada. "Environmental pioneers like Bullfrog Power give companies like Wal-Mart the opportunity and support we need to make environmental strides." In 2006, the following SAM'S CLUB and Wal-Mart stores will be bullfrogpowered, meaning their electricity usage and associated greenhouse gas and smog-inducing emissions will be offset through an equivalent purchase of green power: Pickering, Collingwood, Toronto (St. Clair & Runnymede), and Cambridge. Source: MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO —CCNMatthews, 4/20/2006.
Pacific Gas & Electric Co. has awarded the city of Oakland a $2.9 million solar rebate after city workers installed two solar electric systems on top of the Oakland Ice Center, as well as city's municipal service center.
The solar electric systems are used to generate and supply the appropriate amount of solar energy each building needs to run properly. According to PG&E spokesperson Brian Swanson, each solar electric system generates approximately one mega-watt of energy, which is enough energy to power 750 homes. Currently, PG&E offers customers who switch over to a solar electric system a $2.80-per-watt rebate. Oakland's Glenview Elementary School is participating in PG&E's Solar Schools Program. Participants of the Solar School Program receive a $20,000 solar generation system that provides schools and teachers with one kilowatt of solar power, and solar-based training curriculum. The $2.9 million that the city of Oakland received will cover the amount of money the city initially spent on the solar energy project. Source: CBS Broadcasting Inc., 4/20/2006.
NativeEnergy announced today that its new CoolWatts program is now available and being offered as the offset program of choice for the national RenewUS campaign launched this week. The RenewUS campaign is intended to engage consumers to rally to purchase clean energy to help clean our nation’s energy supply to avert the impending climate crisis. NativeEnergy's CoolWatts service allows individuals to green-up their electricity purchases by supporting new wind farms that reduce the burning of coal and other fossil fuels that would otherwise be required. By displacing the need to burn these fuels, new wind farms help reduce global warming pollution.
NativeEnergy launched operations in 2001, and both pioneered and built the market for its patent-pending Future RECs model, which enables its customers to directly finance construction of specific new renewable generators. Building on its leading market presence and reputation for integrity, NativeEnergy is now expanding its services to support operating new wind farms through Green-e certified RECs sales across the country. The RenewUS.org campaign was developed by Stonyfield Farm, Clean Air-Cool Planet, and Earth Day Network. The short movie, ‘Climate: A Crisis Averted’, was created by Free Range Graphics, the creative force behind the wildly popular "Meatrix" and "Store Wars" internet movies.
With Green-e certification, NativeEnergy’s CoolWatts RECs enable its customers to earn LEED points for certification by the U.S. Green Building Council, or to use the Green-e logo on their product labels.
NativeEnergy’s REC Futures services have also attracted high profile customers. With Music Matters CoolTours, performing artists such as Dave Matthews Band, REM, Jack Johnson and Guster have offset their tours. With ReelCool, major motion pictures and TV series such as Warner Bros Pictures / Participant Productions ‘Syriana’ and Paramount Pictures / Participant Productions soon-to-be-released Al Gore global warming documentary, ‘An Inconvenient Truth’, and MTV’s Trippin’ have offset their productions. With WindBuilders and CoolBusiness, leading businesses and organizations have offset their electricity and other energy use, including Ben & Jerry’s Homemade, Aveda Corporation, Clif Bar, Stonyfield Farm, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Interface, Inc., The Timberland Company, Ceres, Seventh Generation, NRDC, World Wildlife Fund, StopGlobalWarming.org, Co-op America, the Clinton Global Initiative and the Environmental Media Association.
Along with Green-e certified RECs and its Climate Neutral Network certified Future RECs, NativeEnergy offers domestic certified emissions reductions and international CERs that meet Kyoto CDM Gold Standard. NativeEnergy is a Co-op America Business partner, a Coalition Member of Ceres, and member of Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility. Source: by CSRwire, Press Release from Native Energy, 4/20/2006.
Former Wisconsin Sen. Gaylord Nelson would be proud. At the approach of the 36th Earth Day, which Nelson championed, several Wisconsin colleges are part of what some energy experts see as a trend: college campuses turning to sustainable energy resources for a slice of their power. Milwaukee Area Technical College, for example, is working to get a wind turbine that would replace 8 percent of its electricity with wind-generated power. In 2005, 11 percent of the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh's power came from sustainable sources, and Nicolet Area Technical College in Rhinelander, Wis. now gets 24 percent of its energy from sustainable sources like wind energy, solar power and biomass — plant or waste matter used as fuel for an energy source.
And the apparent trend of colleges adopting "green" energy sources isn't only a Wisconsin phenomenon. Other Midwestern colleges and universities, such as campuses St. Olaf College and Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., count wind turbines and solar panels among their energy sources, as do other institutions nationwide. Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash., for instance, gets 100 percent of its energy from "green power," according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Marquette does not have a windmill or solar panels, but it does use steam — a "highly efficient form of energy" — for all its heating, according to Director of University Communication Brigid O'Brien Miller.
Sources at green-powered universities can't seem to agree on whether colleges are adopting sustainable energy measures in any significant numbers. "Colleges are leading the way (with sustainable energy) and have been doing so for years now," said Jim Gribble, a spokesman for MATC, which is planning to build a 132-foot, $145,000 wind turbine and two solar cell panels to its Mequon, Wis. campus. "This is a national movement, and I suspect it's international." Terry Rutlin, a spokesman for Nicolet Area Technical College, is a little less convinced. "It's hard to pick out one institution as a leader, but colleges and universities definitely are taking on leadership qualities," he said. David Block, an associate professor of environmental studies and geography at Carroll College, doesn't see much of pattern. "I'm discouraged because I'm not necessarily seeing campuses like Carroll College moving forward on the sustainable energy front," he said. "Some campuses are embracing alternative energy a lot more than others."
Still, the Environmental Protection Agency lists such heavyweight colleges as Northwestern, Harvard and Duke universities on its Green Power Partnership list of schools using eco-friendly power sources, and U.S. Department of Energy spokesman Tom Welch said there's continued interest in his department's environmental contests (if not a concrete trends of campuses looking to sustainable energy sources). Source: By Will Ashenmacher, Marquette Tribune Staff, 4/ 20/2006.
Environmentally conscious consumers who want to take concrete action to reduce America’s dependence on fossil fuels now have a more powerful tool to make that happen. And it’s free.
OurEnergy, a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based firm that supports the construction and operation of wind farms and other clean energy sources, will pay for the generation of 100 kilowatthours of wind power for every consumer who joins its network. The offer, which expands a current clean power program, was launched April 19 to mark Earth Day 2006 and will continue indefinitely. OurEnergy founder John Zyskowski said, “This is the only renewable energy program that meets consumer demand for a cleaner domestic energy supply continually without a price tag.”
Here’s how it works: Individuals and business sign up on the OurEnergy network and immediately are given – at no cost to them — $2.50 in wind energy credits. The $2.50 will produce 100kWh in wind power, or enough to offset the climate-harming effects of driving a motor vehicle for 150 miles. Once in the OurEnergy network, individuals and businesses accrue more clean energy credits by shopping with more than 700 retail stores and businesses which support clean power programs. When signing up with the OurEnergy program, network users download an Energy Tracker tool that works in the background while shoppers are online. When a shopper visits a site that supports clean energy, the Energy Tracker pops up and informs them. If the purchase is made, then the retailer’s contributions cover the cost of the clean energy credits. The average OurEnergy member generates $20 in annual retailer contributions, which equals the generation of another 800kWh of wind energy. Participating online retailers include Staples, Expedia.com, Home Depot, Gap.com and many more. Again, consumers and businesses in the OurEnergy network pay nothing for these credits.
Businesses that participate in the expanded OurEnergy program will be able to earn wind energy credits when their employees shop in the network. The power for the $2.50 in initial wind energy credits is exclusively supplied by Boulder, Colorado-based Renewable Choice Energy, a marketer of wind power in the United States and Canada. Whole Foods Market, the Austin, Texas retailer, recently selected Renewable Choice to manage its wind energy credit program – the largest in the United States to date. More American renewable energy generation will lessen our demand and dependency on volatile foreign and fossil fuels, such as natural gas and oil. This will help the United States create new jobs, help to curb rising energy and gasoline costs faced by all Americans, and address the issue of global warming. OurEnergy has set a goal to generate more than 500,000 megawatthours of domestic clean energy in 2007 with the program, surpassing the largest renewable energy purchase to date. Source: Grand Rapids, Mich. (PRWEB), 4/24/2006.
Recreational Equipment, Inc. recently announced plans to purchase 10 million kilowatthours of renewable energy, supporting 20 percent of the company's national electricity usage. According to REI, the purchase of wind, landfill gas and solar generated electricity will provide 100 percent of the power for 17 of the company's 82 retail stores. The switch to renewable energy sources is expected to help eliminate more than 5,500 tons of carbon dioxide. REI—a new member of the Environmental Protection Agency's voluntary Green Power Partnership—noted that the purchase will place the company among the 10 top retailers in the country purchasing green power. Contact: Mike Foley, REI, phone: 253-395-8252. Source: EIN Renewable Energy Today, 3/28/2006.
A northeast Indiana developer plans to outfit all the homes in a new subdivision with geothermal heating and cooling systems. The homes in 57-lot Salamonie Glen at Huntington will be heated and cooled by water running through underground pipes. Fort Wayne-based WaterFurnace International will supply the systems, which use the earth's temperature for heat. The Huntington County Plan Commission already has approved the development. Developer Don Hanson has used geothermal energy in his own home for about 10 years, and says the cost of natural gas convinced him the idea was worthwhile for the new subdivision in the city about 20 miles southwest of Fort Wayne. Source: wishtv.com, Associated Press, 4/24/2006.
The blazing-hot growth of the solar industry over the past few years has created a problem for solar panel manufacturers. The demand for refined silicon, the material used to make most solar modules, far exceeds the supply, making that ultra-pure silicon expensive and hard to come by.
One Issaquah company, JX Crystals Inc., is about to enter United States and Chinese markets with a simple yet ingenious solution to that silicon shortage. Its product, 3Sun Mirror Modules, uses about one-third the amount of silicon a traditional solar panel does, and deploys mirrors instead to concentrate the power of sunlight. "The polished aluminum mirrors replace two-thirds of the silicon, yet the final device has the same output as industry-standard models," said Richard Gelinas, manager of business development for JX Crystals. "The geometry of the mirrors is chosen to concentrate sunlight by a factor of three."
JX Crystals is just finishing work on a 100-kilowatt prototype project in Shanghai, enough to power 30 to 50 households on average. And during the first quarter, JX Crystals started production in a city in southeastern China. By the third quarter of 2006, the company expects to start production in Washington state, tapping into a state tax incentive created in 2005, and plans to expand to other U.S. markets in the future.
Gelinas said sales in China would provide part of the revenue to help launch production in Washington state, but JX Crystals is also working with an experienced entrepreneur from the greater Seattle area who asked not to be named. Gelinas expects that growth to happen fast. Once JX Crystals starts production in Washington, it could sell enough solar panels to power the equivalent of 100 to 150 households within its first year. The company hasn't decided where its manufacturing will be, but Gelinas said the combination of state, local and federal incentives may be best in Eastern Washington. Because the eastern part of the state gets more sun, there might also be a shorter payback time for a solar panel system.
Despite the still-significant costs of solar energy — average photovoltaic costs have been about 25 cents or more per kilowatt hour, compared with a nationwide average of 9 cents — the solar industry worldwide has been growing at a blistering pace, more than 30 percent per year for several years. In the United States, much of that growth is driven by tax incentives, concerns about global warming and the rising costs of fossil fuels, such as the natural gas that fires many U.S. power plants.
At least three solar panel manufacturers, including JX Crystals, are planning to start production here. Meanwhile, several silicon refiners say they may locate or expand in the state, including Solar Grade Silicon in Moses Lake, which is talking about a possible $300 million expansion.
Meanwhile, JX Crystals has other expansion plans, such as introducing 3Sun modules to sunny states such as California, Arizona and New Mexico, where it's collecting prototype data now, and new products, including a photovoltaic cell that could be two to three times more efficient than a conventional silicon cell. Gelinas said there's a good chance that the new photovoltaic cell could set a world record for efficiency. Contact: Deirdre Gregg, Staff Writer, 206-447-8505 x114, Source: Puget Sound Business Journal ( Seattle ), 4/21/2006.
Solar-powered scoreboards will light up the lives of athletes at the city's new regional park. Miramar city commissioners agreed last week to spend up to $105,000 on six solar-powered scoreboards for the city's $31 million new regional park opening next month. The city approved the contract with Scoreboards US, a Tarpon Springs company that has installed scoreboards for the Miami Dolphins, the St. Louis Rams and the National Collegiate Athletic Association women's tennis tournament.
Miramar's regional park will use the battery-operated scoreboards for its football/soccer and cricket fields. The scoreboards' panels soak up sunlight, which charges the batteries. Also, the scoreboards are wireless, using radio frequencies to operate. Miramar Regional Park will have four soccer/football fields and two cricket fields. It will take about five weeks to install the scoreboards. The aluminum scoreboards, which will be black with white lettering, will be made to withstand winds of 140 mph.
The regional park is at the northeast corner at Southwest 172nd Avenue and Miramar Parkway and will have 39 acres in the first phase. In all, the park will encompass 173 acres. Overall, the Miramar Regional Park is expected to cost $31 million, of which Broward County has chipped in $15.9 million.
In 2004, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection awarded $400,000 worth of grants to the city to build the park. The park will feature tot lots with swings and climbing walls, volleyball courts, and a water park. Fifty-nine species of plants will be used in the landscaping. The park will include four baseball/softball fields with a press box, clubhouse, restrooms and concession stand. Carter Eve, who coaches the Miramar Optimist's 90-pound football team, is excited about the new field. ''The kids will enjoy the new scoreboard, and the nice field,'' Eve said. "I think it will bring more kids back to the park and back to the program.'' Source: BY NATALIE P. McNEAL, - 4/23/2006.
Microsoft flipped the switch Friday on what it says is the largest solar-panel system in Silicon Valley. The software giant's five-building campus in Mountain View is now bedecked with 31,000 square feet of solar panels, generating enough electricity to power about 300 homes. The panels adorn the roofs of the campus' five buildings. A ceremony held Friday to showcase the solar technology was designed to commemorate Earth Day today.
Microsoft's Silicon Valley campus is the latest in a slow trickle of facilities to embrace solar panels, as companies and government agencies seek cost-effective ways to ensure reliable electrical power. The Microsoft system was installed by PowerLight, a Berkeley company, and one of the largest installers of commercial systems in the country. PowerLight, in turn, used the solar-panel technology produced by Sunnyvale's SunPower. That company recently went public on the Nasdaq and has seen its share price soar to around $40 since its debut in November at $25.
SunPower is partly owned by Cypress Semiconductor. John Matheny, manager of Microsoft's local campus, said frustration from rolling power blackouts that plagued California in recent years, combined with concern about the environment, pushed Microsoft's move. The system will supply about 15 percent of the campus' overall energy needs. The trend toward solar is also helped by state-funded economic incentives for energy efficiency, and the recent "million solar roofs'' incentives passed by the Public Utilities Commission — and supported by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The plan is to subsidize solar-panel installations on up to 1 million buildings statewide by 2017.
After Microsoft's 480-kilowatt solar-panel system, the Santa Clara Water District and Cypress Semiconductor of Sunnyvale have the next largest solar-panel installations in Silicon Valley, respectively, he said. In the greater Bay Area, there are other solar installations larger than Microsoft's, including the Moscone Center in San Francisco and the Santa Rita jail in Dublin. Source: By Matt Marshall, Mercury News, 4/22/2006.
With such a crisis dealing with gas prices — nearly $3 a gallon — much of the world's focus is on other forms of energy, and lessening the dependence on fossil fuels. So, Saturday, a new solar power plant was commemorated in nearby Red Rock, Arizona. It's the first solar power plant of its kind to be used in the U.S. in nearly two decades, and it's a *reflection of what the world hopes to see dealing with energy technology, for many years to come. The solar thermal parabolic trough power plant gives hundreds of homes and businesses electricity by using something that comes natural in Arizona : sunlight. Scott Canada, a solar engineer, says, "It's first of all a generator of clean energy."
Canada and other engineers say the solar plant could be just the beginning of brighter days ahead! “(It’s) an economics focus — how does Arizona move forward and keep its electricity prices low, keep being sustainable when it's growing, and how do we make this place a little better for all of us,” says Canada, who adds that it also helps to have a 93-year-old TV legend on the Solargenix Advisory Board of Directors: Art Linkletter. “I'm the guy who helped ‘invent children’,” said Linkletter, as the Hollywood legend joked with the crowd and talked about his enormously, world renown TV program that showed, “kids say the ‘darndest’ things." And now, those kids are adults and big consumers of energy. So Art Linkletter says the Red Rock solar power plants will “help controvene the huge demands that China and India are putting on all our natural resources,” not too mention the energy consumption in the U.S. Source: By Paul Cicala, 4/23/2006.
Another biodiesel plant is planned for northwest Iowa — this one near Marcus, in Cherokee County. Officials with "Soy Energy" say the plant will burn pellets of garbage and biomass from a local landfill to heat the steam used in producing 30-million gallons of biodiesel per year. Cherokee Economic Development Director Mark Buschkamp says there are two phases to the project. It's a 52 million dollars will be spent on the first phase, the biomass refinery. A second phase, to cost 35-Million more, is planned to include a soybean crusher. Buschkamp says each phase could add up to fifty high-paying jobs. He says the primary energy source for the plant will be pelletized biomass that will come from Cherokee Solid Waste. Buschkamp explains they'll make that out of trash headed for the local landfill. He says they'll sort out the recyclable material and the plastic, metal, and electronic components that could be toxic. The rest — mostly paper, cardboard and food — is compressed into pellets which is then burned and can produce seven to 8,000 BTU's, what he calls a "good steady, reliable source of fuel." Buschkamp says the trash will be a more consistent renewable fuel than solar, wind or crops. And he notes using up the waste will extend the life of the landfill. Source: by Jerry Oster, WNAX, Yankton, 4/21/2006.
Recent media reports have claimed that ethanol is the cause of skyrocketing fuel prices, a claim vigorously denied by a coalition of farm and energy organizations, “I’ve got corn growers from all over the country calling and they are mad,” said Jon Doggett, vice president of the National Corn Growers Association. American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman reinforced Doggett’s comment. He said many Farm Bureau members are upset about being blamed for high gasoline prices. “We represent agricultural producers, and agricultural producers have a huge stake in the energy equation,” said Stallman.
On Tuesday, AFBF joined the Renewable Fuels Association and the National Corn Growers Association in a briefing for the national media. The purpose was to set the record straight on why consumers are paying higher prices at the pump. All three spokesmen stated categorically that high oil prices are the reason for higher gasoline prices. Bob Dinneen, president and chief executive officer of the Renewable Fuels Association said tight supplies of gasoline should not be blamed on ethanol. “There will be sufficient ethanol to replace MTBE in any market where it is needed,” he asserted. Dinneen also said the petroleum industry had time to plan for the transition from MTBE to ethanol and arbitrarily chose to switch during early May, a time when gasoline demand traditionally increases because of summer travel. He reassured reporters the ethanol industry is ready to meet the increasing demand. “To meet ethanol demand, U.S. ethanol production is ramping up rapidly. Ninety-seven facilities are producing ethanol and 35 more are under construction. The new plants will add 500 million gallons of production capacity before July and another 900 million gallons more during the fall,” he noted. Source: by Gary Truitt, 4/19/2006.
The University of Montana-Western broke ground today on a one-point-four million dollar biomass heating system. The system will burn logging slash rather than natural gas to heat 14 buildings on campus. The project includes installing a boiler designed to burn the wood chips, and an underground facility to hold the fuel. The university received a 400-thousand-dollar federal Fuels for Schools grant to help pay for the project. The remaining cost will be financed by a state loan payable over 15 years. The university has a contract with Sun Mountain Lumber in Deer Lodge to provide the 36-hundred tons of fuel expected to be burned annually. Susan Briggs is the school's vice chancellor for administration and finance. She says Western will save more than 20-thousand dollars a year, even with the cost of loan payments to build the facility. Source DILLON, 4/26/2006.
As part of its 2006-2013 generation plan, Wisconsin Power & Light Co., an Alliant Energy company, announced new details of its utility supply plan, which include an expansion of its wind portfolio. The plan, originally announced last August, called for the addition of 100 MW of wind and 250 MW of conventional generation. WP&L has now added an additional 200 MW of wind generation and has increased the size of the conventional plant to 300 MW. For the wind generation, WP&L has entered into an option-to-purchase agreement with Midwest Wind Energy for development rights to the Cedar Ridge Wind Farm, which is located in the towns of Eden and Empire, approximately eight miles southeast of Fond du Lac, Wis. WP&L will decide by July 31, 2006, whether it will take ownership of Cedar Ridge Wind Farm. Since 2004, MWE has been procuring necessary entitlements, permits, leases and other development rights to allow for the construction and operation of approximately 40 wind turbines. WP&L is actively evaluating the site and MWE’s remaining development activities. If WP&L decides to purchase the Cedar Ridge Wind Farm site, the company expects the wind farm will be fully operational by the end of 2007 and have a total nameplate capacity ranging from 80 to 99 MW. The company said it is also actively pursuing additional wind power purchase agreements and ownership opportunities in Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota for WP&L customers.
In addition to the wind facility, WP&L plans to either expand generation capacity at the current Nelson Dewey Generating Station by adding a 300-MW circulating fluidized bed unit to the two existing coal-fired units or build a pulverized coal unit near two existing coal-fired units at the Columbia Energy Center. In addition to the new unit, the company plans to add emission control technologies to the two 100-MW existing units. WP&L said that it plans to file permit applications for construction of the wind farm later this summer and will seek fixed-rate financing treatment for both facilities. Source: AWEA Wind Energy Weekly, 4/21/2006.
As horticulturalists worldwide brace themselves for increasing climate change induced water shortages, a unique solar irrigation system is about to be launched— enabling plants to be watered by combining rainwater harvesting and solar PV technology. The British-designed eco friendly system, links up to water butts and barrels and uses a tiny solar panel the size of a computer keyboard to pump the water where it is needed. It can be used anywhere including allotments where lack of electricity can hamper the use of other irrigation systems. As well as generating its own power, Solarflow is very water efficient. It needs only a small water butt or tank and uses 80 percent less water than traditional sprinkler and spray systems. Its design means it is equally efficient for a large vegetable patch, polytunnel, roof top garden, patio or hanging baskets.
The system's creator, Brian Burnett, a specialist in irrigation, said he was often asked for a watering system that didn’t need mains power or water. He couldn’t source one so he has designed his own. "People needed an irrigation system that could be used where there is no mains water or only a limited supply, and no mains electricity," he explained. "This system needs only a small source of water. All it needs is 80 litres to give 100 plants all the water they need for up to 10 days."
It took Brian some time to develop the solar powered part of the system. "I wanted a panel that was small enough to be unobtrusive as well as easy to move around," he explained. The result is a panel the size of a computer keyboard that generates enough energy to pump water to up to 100 plants. It can manage 30 hanging baskets as much as 10 feet above the water source. Even if the sun doesn’t shine for seven days there is still enough energy for it to carry on. The solar panel powers a submersible pump that is placed in the water butt or tank. It uses an adjustable drip irrigation system to deliver only as much water as the plants need one or twice a day depending on requirements. It also works whether there is sunshine or not. For more information, phone 01242-604604. Source: Green Building Press, 4/26/2006.
A Taupo-based prawn company has signed a multi-million dollar deal to help Iceland develop a prawn industry. New Zealand Prawns Ltd is currently the world's only prawn farm using geothermal energy to heat hatchery ponds at its Wairakei site. The farm opened in 1987 and produces around 25 tonnes of prawns a year. The company has helped establish a pilot prawn farm in Iceland and is now involved in opening the first commercial farm there. Co-owner, Richard Klein, says the first interest came from Iceland six years ago. He says for some mysterious reason the tropical prawns grow quicker in Iceland than in New Zealand. The process takes six months from hatch to harvest in Iceland and about eight months here. Source: GEA Update, 4/20/2006.
A second wind-energy company is interested in installing wind turbines on Nescopeck Mountain. Local environmental activist Sue Fracke said Community Energy Inc., based in Delaware County, has already leased some land from her and her husband, Fred, to install a wind-measuring instrument tower on the mountain.
Matt Heck, wind reserves manager for Community Energy, confirmed the company is in the preliminary stages of a wind study on Nescopeck Mountain to determine if the project is feasible. Community Energy, which is building a 12-turbine wind-to-energy park on top of Bald Mountain in Bear Creek Township, is the second company to express an interest in a wind farm on Nescopeck Mountain.
Gamesa Energy USA is interested in locating a similar operation on the mountain in neighboring Sugarloaf Township. In response to grumblings from some residents worried that wind turbines would ruin the view and pose safety and environmental threats, Sugarloaf supervisors adopted an ordinance that regulates the construction, operation and maintenance of wind farms.
Fracke said a resident expressed concern about a wind farm in Black Creek Township at a recent supervisors meeting, but she thinks such farms are essential in addressing energy needs. "It's not that I want to see a wind farm instead of trees, but we don't have another choice. Everything else this country is using is hazardous to our health," Fracke said, referring to plants that burn fossil fuels to create electricity. Fracke said Community Energy paid her and her husband $1,000 to lease some of their property to erect a wind-measuring tower, and she said a company official indicated they would pay another $1,000 for each megawatt of electricity produced by a wind turbine on their property.
Heck said that in addition to conducting wind- and energy-transmission studies to determine project feasibility in the township, his company will collect input from township landowners and residents on the potential wind farm. "It will take at least a year to do our initial analyses. It depends a lot on how those turn out as far as the timing goes." Steve Mocarsky, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 459-2005. Source: The Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.), 4/24/2006.
Thanks to $3-a-gallon gasoline and $75-a-barrel oil, wind power — the once-wimpy little brother of the energy industry — is putting on muscle and gaining favor. Its backers promote wind as a clean, cheap, endlessly renewable way to make electricity that can help reduce the nation's reliance on high-priced, perhaps undependable foreign sources and thereby enhance national security.
Critics say wind energy is unreliable, unsightly, harmful to wildlife and economically viable only because of government tax credits. Nevertheless, "wind power is becoming a force to be reckoned with," said Clinton Andrews, a professor of urban planning at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. Andrews and others spoke at a conference of industry executives, government officials and energy experts in Washington last week. Federal Energy Regulatory Commissioner Nora Brownell told the conference that there's an "alignment of the stars" for wind power today.
Bigger, quieter and more efficient wind turbines are sprouting across the land. About 30 states have wind farms that are able to generate almost 10,000 megawatts of electricity - enough to power 2.3 million homes - at a cost roughly competitive with that of natural gas, nuclear power and "clean coal," which has been scrubbed of impurities. Some states, such as New York and California, require that a certain percentage of their electricity come from wind.
Wind farms are often in remote areas, such as mountain passes, far from population centers. Long transmission lines must be built. Connecting wind power safely to the electric grid is a challenge, requiring constant adjustment to balance the flow of energy from other sources. "Control room operators don't like change," said William Grant, the manager of transmission control centers for Xcel Energy in Amarillo, Texas. "It's a tough process but they're learning."
Massive wind towers, as tall as a football field is long and with rotors wider than a jumbo jet's wingspan, stir mixed reactions, especially in resort and scenic areas. Some folks, notably Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., say they spoil the landscape. Others worry about the death toll among birds, although wind defenders say more birds are killed by housecats and by crashing into windows.
Investors charge higher interest rates because of the government's "boom-and-bust" cycle: supporting the wind industry with tax credits at one time, dropping them a few years later, turning them back on. The current credit, a 1-cent-per-kilowatt-hour benefit, will expire next year unless it's renewed. One of the main reasons wind power is catching on is that it's finally become cost-competitive with most other energy sources, its backers say.
The price of a kilowatt hour of electricity generated by wind now averages 4 to 5 cents, a reduction of 80 percent since 1985, according to John McDonald, the president of the Power Engineering Society, a branch of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the industry's major technical and professional association. As of the end of 2005, 9,149 megawatts of wind power capacity were installed in the United States, up 25 percent from the year before. The industry's goal is 20,000 megawatts by 2010, and 100,000 by 2020. Source: BY ROBERT S. BOYD, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 4/24/2006.
GE's Technology Lending unit recently announced it is providing capital to Ocean Power Delivery, Ltd. to construct a new commercial wave power farm that will generate electricity from offshore ocean waves.
According to GE, the transaction, made in conjunction with GE Energy Financial Services, extends a loan facility of $2.6 million to U.K.-based OPD. GE will also take an equity position as part of OPD's $22.5-million equity raise. GE noted that OPD, developer of a wave energy converter capable of generating 750 kilowatts of electricity from offshore wave motion, has received its first order from a Portuguese consortium that plans to install the system to generate enough power to meet the demands of 15,000 local homes. The first phase of the wave farm, located off the coast of northern Portugal, consists of three of OPD's 750-kW Pelamis converters with a combined rating of 2.25 megawatts. OPD expects to install and commission the first stage of the project during the summer. Contact: Ned Reynolds, GE Commercial Finance, phone 203-229-5717. Source: EIN Renewable Energy Today, 4/18/2006.
The world's most reliable renewable energy source is beneath our feet. You can tap it for the price of a car. The payback: savings. And, maybe, helping to save the planet. Dave Hatherton grows frustrated as he talks about the McGuinty government and its plan, announced last month, to pay a premium for wind and solar power. It's not that he doesn't like the idea, which rewards small producers of clean energy for their modest contribution to the grid. Ontario needs all the renewable energy it can get. But Hatherton is disappointed that Queen's Park, with its bold talk of cleaning up the air and complying with Kyoto, has all but ignored the potential of geothermal technology as one of the best ways to wean the province from fossil fuels.
Sitting in his office at the company's new headquarters about 15 minutes north of Waterloo, he points to the parking lot outside his window. Several metres underneath the lot, where the Earth's temperature is a constant 10 to 15 degrees Celsius, is a system of ethanol-filled tubing that extracts heat from the ground in the winter and carries it back in the summer. A device called a "heat pump" in NextEnergy's building manages the balance, making sure the office temperature remains comfortable throughout the seasons.
The system requires some power to operate, but the net effect speaks for itself. "We get about 70 percent of the energy for this building out of the parking lot," says Hatherton, adding that there is no other technology in the world that will supply cooling, heating and hot water so efficiently. These benefits are why the University of Ontario, Institute of Technology in Oshawa installed a geothermal system to provide heating and cooling to eight campus buildings, one of the largest projects of its kind in North America. Geothermal also cools the ice at the new Ontario Speed Skating Oval track in Lakefield, where the excess heat produced will be used by two local school boards. Exhibition Place, meanwhile, is considering its own geothermal project to heat and cool one of its historical buildings.
It begs the question. If it's so great, why is geothermal technology the Rodney Dangerfield of the renewable energy world, getting less respect and attention than solar and wind systems despite more than 25 years on the market? And if geothermal systems are such an efficient, reliable and clean way of capturing energy, why do 11 million homes across the country still rely on dirty natural gas, electricity, and even oil and propane for their cooling and heating? "Because it's a very expensive technology," says Daniela Pizzuto, spokesperson for the Canadian GeoExchange Coalition. "For a 2,200-square-foot home, what we consider average, you're looking at pretty significant upfront costs, anywhere from $18,000 to $25,000, and not everyone has that kind of money to put down." The lion's share of cost comes not from the heat pumps, but laying ground loops that carry the ethanol fluid. New homes are easiest, because tubing — whether laid horizontally or vertically — can be put in without having to rip up lawns.
Slowly, some industry players are moving to fill that market need, hoping to spark a trend that will see geothermal technology become a mainstream competitor to conventional heating and cooling systems. In January, NextEnergy and electric utility Waterloo North Hydro announced the launch of a joint venture called Lifetime Energy, which will visit customer homes in the area, do an estimate for a geothermal system, oversee installations, and handle lifetime maintenance of the system. But instead of just selling the system, NextEnergy essentially rents it out over 20 years, charging a fixed fee on the customer's monthly energy bill that comes from Waterloo North Hydro.
In the meantime, the company is also making it easier for customers to arrange their own financing. Earlier this year Next Energy struck a deal with Vancouver-based Homeworks Services Inc., which has agreed to provide financing of up to $35,000 over 10 years at an attractive 6.5 to 7 per cent interest rate. Vancity, the country's largest credit union, will underwrite the deals.
Michael Lewkowitz, CEO of Clean Energy Developments, says the key to getting homebuilders interested is to design turnkey systems that are simple, reliable and profitable from the outset. But cost isn't the only barrier to mainstream acceptance of this technology. Homeowners won't plunk down $20,000 on a system, utilities won't take responsibility for a 20-year lease, and private investors won't finance such capital-intensive projects if they perceive there's any room for error. Once a system is in the ground, they want to leave it in the ground for decades. Nobody wants to go through the cost of digging up a system that suddenly stops working or doesn't deliver the expected energy savings. "The industry has been very much in flux for a long time," says Pizzuto, of the geo-exchange coalition. "There hasn't been an organized, centralized body that consumers or homebuilders can go to for reference. There's no regulation. No courses to pass. No minimum basic training." It's the main reason the coalition was created in 2003, through funding from Natural Resources Canada.
The organization's mandate is to develop a training program, to be launched this fall, which the provinces and federal government can recognize as a national standard. The idea is that a homeowner or business, if it wanted to benefit from a government or private financing program, could only qualify for funding if they used a trained geothermal contractor or distributor. "Clients want to know who is reliable, and this training program will add to the credibility of the industry. It will give consumers more comfort," says Pizzuto, adding that the goal is to maintain a high level of system quality. Perhaps then the utilities, traditionally averse to risk and hostile to change, will stop viewing geothermal as a threat and begin to embrace it as a viable, sustainable and profitable way of selling energy. Source: TYLER HAMILTON, 4/24/2006
The geothermal mitigation committee for Cobb has begun the process of reviewing and approving applications for community improvement projects. The group, which met for the first time April 6, consists of community members Robert Stark, Dwayne Harper and Boyd Green; Special Districts Administrator Mark Dellinger; Calpine representative Dave Jackson; and District 5 Supervisor Rob Brown. Calpine operates 21 geothermal plants in The Geysers, while Northern California Power Authority only operates two. Those two plants, however, are geographically much closer to Anderson Springs, so NCPA which is a member of the Anderson Springs committee is not a member of the Cobb committee.
It is unknown at this time if the Bottle Rock plant, located less than three miles from Cobb and operated by the US Renewables Group, will join the Cobb group when the plant becomes fully operational by year's end. Stark said the committee looked at eight requests. It voted to conditionally approve an application from Friends of Boggs Forest for a concept project, he said, which involves installing trails and sidewalks in various areas of Cobb, with links to Boggs Mountain State Forest and a map in the center of town. "We've allocated $20,000 to begin that project," Stark said, but added they, "need a group to take it on." Brown reported some of the applications were denied. "There are some proposals that we'd like to help," Brown said, "such as a storage room for playground equipment that the Parent Teacher Organization applied for, and a sixth grade science trip."
At the previous Seismic Monitoring Advisory Committee meeting held last Nov. 14, discussions were held about injecting water into specific wells for steam production overlaid with maps of earthquakes in an attempt to positively correlate injection with seismic activity. In the southeast Geysers area, where NCPA operates, they have tried a new method of injecting water into the wells with horizontal drilling away from Anderson Springs, which Bill Smith of NCPA said appears to have lessened seismic activity, although it's too soon to tell definitively. Source: By Terre Logsdon - Record Bee staff, 4/25/2006.
A six-year study in Europe has focused on the integration of solar PV into urban houses, and concludes that the designs show a wide variety of appeal. The SunCities project was implemented by local and regional authorities in four countries, with the objective of working with project developers, utilities and the building industry to implement zero-emission urban developments with 1,697 new houses and to install 3 MW of PV capacity. The report, ‘Large-scale High Density Low-emission New Housing Developments with Full Integration of PV in the Urban Planning Process,’ covers the period from January 2004 to February 2006, although the six-year study started in 2002. Polycrystalline and monocrystalline PV modules are used in different designs, with most systems generating 700 to 990 kWh per kWp each year. Projects installed 1 to 3 kW of capacity, with the Titanic Mill development of 130 dwellings installing 50 kW on the roof for an average of 0.4 kWp per dwelling.
In the Netherlands, significant integration was reached by a technical approach aiming at an optimal and low-cost roof construction using aluminum frames or a universal PV-roof mounting system. In the UK, an external aluminum frame grid is used while, in Germany, the Schüco system is used to integrate the modules into the roof. Some kind of integration is achieved on the flats which have a façade of PV panels on the roof, so systems are visible from the ground, and a moderate level of integration is reached with PV façade on horizontal lamellas.
Various kinds of houses are planned to be apartments, flats, terraced and semi-detached properties, single family and detached houses. Some are for rent and many for sale, with prices ranging from Euro 135,000 to 459,800. The project involved a number of contractors, including Gemeente Heerhugowaard, Nuon Retail, Bouwfonds Ontwikkeling, Kirklees Metropolitan Council, Energy for Sustainable Development and Meteocontrol.
The SunCities project is funded by the European Community under the Fifth Framework Program, and has four objectives: to demonstrate that local authorities can implement a significant part of the EC targets on CO2 and PV, within their own built environment; to demonstrate that PV can be implemented in a normal but appealing way when fully integrated in the urban planning and the building process on an entire housing development site; to achieve a considerable cost reduction to less than Euro 3.5 per Wp in 2004 in several member states for the large-scale application of building integrated PV; and to disseminate the results of the integral approach and to reduce risks associated with PV to increase the uptake by the traditionally risk-avoiding building industry. Source: (Refocus Weekly), 4/26/2006.
The McGuinty government is delivering on its plan to ensure safe, clean, reliable, and affordable power for the future with the opening of the Glen Miller Hydro Electric Station near Trenton, Energy Minister Donna Cansfield announced today. "This is another example of a clean power project that will help make renewable energy a key part of Ontario 's future energy supply mix," Cansfield said.
The eight-megawatt, $21 million hydro project on the Trent River will generate enough electricity to power up to 4,000 homes. Glen Miller is the first new hydro power station and the fifth new renewable energy project to open in the last year as a result of the government's renewable energy RFP process. The Glen Miller Hydro Electric Station is one of the 19 new, renewable energy projects the province has contracted to date. Combined, these projects will help Ontario reach its goal of generating five per cent of its electricity capacity through renewable generation by 2007, and ten per cent by 2010.
One of the oldest hydroelectric sites on the Trent-Severn waterway, Glen Miller Hydro Electric Station, has been revitalized. The 8-megawatt, $21 million project will generate enough electricity to power up to 4,000 homes. The station developer, Innergex II Income Fund, is a private open-ended trust, that builds, own and operates hydroelectric power plants and wind farms in North America, especially in Canada.
The McGuinty government has set a target of generating five per cent of Ontario 's total energy capacity from new renewable sources by 2007, and 10 percent by 2010. Through its renewable RFP process the government has contracted 19 projects for a total of 1,370 megawatts of clean renewable energy from wind, water, landfill gas and biogas projects. Source: /CNW/ - 4/26/2006.
A Kodiak utility is looking at adding wind power to its system. Kodiak Electric Association already operates a hydro project at Terror Lake, but it still needs to supplement the demand with diesel generators. The generators are being used more than usual because of low water levels in Terror Lake after a dry and warm season last summer.
Now the utility is six months into a wind power feasibility study after installing two wind-measuring towers on Pillar Mountain near town. It takes at least a year to fully study wind conditions, but so far conditions look promising. In fact, the utility is already lining up financing to build at least three wind turbines on Pillar Mountain. Source: ktva.com - 4/25/2006.
Tim Peters, owner of Raintree Tropical, is now riding solar power, a wave of the sustainable future. Summers Solar Systems began installing last week 132 electric solar panels, spreading 177 feet long that will generate 20,460 watts of power in an effort to conserve fossil fuels, energy and future utility costs. The project is three times the size of the 7,500 watt system the state Capitol installed three years ago.
Peters’ nursery has been selling exotic tropical plants for years. Oregon is obviously not part of the tropics, so it has taken a great amount of energy to keep the temperature ideal for plants accustomed to a hot, humid environment. The energy required has been substantial. The energy that the solar panels will save will be a relief to any conservationist. Peters’ vision is to cut his yearly energy use and utility costs in half. Still, the cost to install the solar equipment isn’t cheap. Until recently, Peters would not have been able to justify spending more than $130,000 to establish the environment-friendly system.
This January, President Bush signed a Green Tags energy bill that will give grants to companies such as Raintree Tropical who will use less fossil fuel or nuclear power. Aside from the bill, state- and federal-tax credits also are given to those who benefit the environment in similar ways. Peters will receive a 30 percent federal-tax credit and a 35 percent state-tax credit. With those reimbursements in place, Peters’ solar system is on track to pay for itself in four years. After that period, Raintree will see the benefits from lower utility costs, while, at the same time, befriending the environment. “I’m probably going to cut my electrical reliance by about 30-40 percent. Basically, during the summer, I won’t need power,” Peters said.
Peters has further plans to build a second solar-tubing heating system that will be implanted directly into the greenhouse. That system would combine with the panels to generate more power than he is currently using. Any power that he does not use will go back into Portland General Electric’s power grid, and then PGE will resell it.
Ron Summers, the owner of Summers Solar Systems, agreed that solar power is the best way to generate power in the future. “If a commercial company can do it, then it’s almost ridiculous not to,” he said. The winter season won’t be much of a hindrance either. According to Summers, the cold weather can accelerate the energy. “The panels can get real chilled, and that’s the most opportune time to generate power,” Summers said. Source: BY DAN BISCHOFF, Appeal Tribune, 4/26/2006.
This one-day conference will provide comprehensive information on the state's geothermal resource, potential for development, project examples and steps to getting projects in the ground. Arizona possesses a substantial geothermal resource that can be developed for direct use applications, which will stabilize energy bills, reduce energy costs, and increase energy independence. This one-day conference will provide comprehensive information on the state's geothermal resource, potential for development, project examples and steps to getting projects in the ground. Space is limited. For more information, please email Pat Ponce ( mailto: Pat.Ponce@nau.edu). Source: GEA, 4/20/2006.
CGEC is hosting the 2006 California Geothermal Summit on May 23rd and the RPS Workshop on May 24th at the UC Davis Alumni Center. The Summit and Workshop draft agendas and registration procedures will be distributed in early 2006. The Summit will include a Direct Use Panel, a Geothermal Resources Report, a Program & State Incentives for Renewables Panel, a Transmission Report, and a Geothermal Tribal Projects Update.
The proceedings for the 2005 California Geothermal Summit are now available on the California Energy Commission website. For general information, draft agendas, registration forms and hotel information for both the summit and workshop go the California Geothermal Energy Collaborative new website, hosted by the University of California, Davis. For more information, contact the CGEC Administrative Manager Judy Fischette. Source: GEA, 4/20/2006.
Since the new environmental, or "green," thinking began sweeping through corporate culture in the 1990s, the larger, publicly traded companies are more likely to continue devoting time and energy to adopting business practices that reduce waste, save energy and water, and consider their social impact. But smaller companies are less likely to adopt formal stewardship programs because of a lack of resources, according to an analysis of about 100 northeast companies conducted by East Coast engineering firm Vanasse Hangen Brustlin and released tomorrow by the Environmental Business Council of New England and the Associated Industries of Massachusetts.
The findings, presented today at a special EBC Earth Week Corporate Stewardship event, "Best Practices in Corporate Stewardship," being held 8 a.m. to noon Thursday, April 20, at the Doubletree Hotel in Waltham, show that about 34 percent of companies commit to public reporting; and 67 percent have a formal stewardship policy.
Only about a quarter of the approximate 100 companies surveyed have Environmental Management Systems and most do not regularly report performance to the public. Companies reporting improvements in environmental stewardship see them in their facilities, their measurement, monitoring and reporting, and in their production processes. Companies see the greatest future gain in their operating practices, education, and production processes, so greater efficiencies still seem possible. Product improvement, resource consumption, and improved transportation practices lag in both progress made to date and perceived likelihood of potential improvements. Many companies surveyed have formal environmental policies, but only half of those surveyed have clear goals and specific performance measures.
Environmental stewardship, sustainability, and corporate social responsibility have become topics of steadily increasing interest since the early 1990s. Many leading companies are advancing initiatives to address the impacts and their operations have on society, to improve their business practices, and to involve their employees, suppliers, customers and communities in defining ways that achieve more sustainable and environmentally-friendly operations.
For many years, regulations have required corporations to report on certain aspects of their operations, such as their emissions through the Toxic Release Inventory, and accidents through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Because of this history, it is not surprising that most corporate stewardship reports address environmental health and safety. Emissions and energy consumption are the most frequently identified metrics, followed by waste reduction and water conservation. Not surprisingly, waste, air emissions, water, and energy efficiency also topped the list of greatest environmental concerns in corporate America.
The research conducted by VHB involved the analysis of recent sustainability/citizenship reports plus a survey of firms in the Northeast. The research investigated trends in public reporting and attempted to identify specific "best practices." Such practices, often referred to as best management practices have yielded significant benefits for those companies which have undertaken proactive initiatives to improve their environmental and social impacts. The corporate stewardship reports of 25 companies were analyzed and their contents summarized. Surveys were completed by 71 Northeast companies and the results compiled into charts and graphs available in the report. Source: GreenBiz.com - 4/21/2006.
A local business is taking its building of energy-efficient homes to the next level. Loveland-based Aspen Homes has its first net zero energy home under contract. The homes are designed and constructed to produce as much energy as they consume, said Jammie Sabin, Aspen Homes president. “What net zero energy means is that sometimes during the year you’re buying energy and sometimes you’re selling it, but at the end your bill is zero,” he said.
While there are many ways to build such a home, the company chose two technologies in particular, Sabin said. Crews will install photovoltaic solar panels that are connected to Xcel Energy’s power grid. When the homeowners aren’t depleting the energy supply, Xcel will pay the homeowners for the power that goes back into the system. A unique meter, called net-metering, tracks the energy for reimbursement.
The other technology uses a geothermal pump to both cool and heat the home. The pump lines are looped eight feet below ground, where the earth maintains a temperature of 50 to 55 degrees. Sabin said the pump is 350 percent efficient, meaning for every energy unit used to operate it, it generates another 3.5 units. The builders will also equip the all-electric home, northwest of Fort Collins, with additional, high-rated insulation, super efficient appliances and compact fluorescent light bulbs. Sabin said it’s important to point out that a net zero energy home — a more than $30,000 investment — needs a homeowner who is committed to conservation. Dan and Katharine Gregory are those homeowners. Dan said he built an energy-efficient home himself that operated off the grid in the 1980s. He said he has been involved in resource conservation ever since.
Sabin said Aspen Homes strives to produce energy-efficient homes at a reasonable cost. He said he plans to build more net zero energy homes after the company gets the construction down pat. The technology was originally developed by the U.S. Department of Energy. Although currently there is only a smattering of such homes across the country, the passage of Amendment 37 last year will change that in Colorado. Xcel Energy's Solar Rewards program is one of the ways the company will meet the requirement of having 10 percent of its energy from renewable resources by 2015. The program rebates customers $2 per watt of solar panels installed and pays $2.50 for every watt generated. In turn, Xcel purchases Renewable Energy Credits for those watts. Source: By Alicia Beard, The Daily Reporter-Herald, 4/23/2006.
The Biomass Initiative website has moved to http://www.biomass.govtools.us. If you have any problems accessing the website please contact Michael Manella using the contact information below. If you would like to Subscribe to the Biomass Initiative Newsletters. Source: Michael Manella, BCS Incorporated, 4/20/2006.
Americans make up five percent of the world’s population, but contribute nearly 25 percent of the greenhouse gas pollution that causes global warming. Go to AOL's Now You Know Focus on Global Warming and roll over the illustration to get facts about energy use, then calculate your impact and learn how to reduce it.
The California Energy Commission will hold a workshop to address credit policies imposed for new and repowered generation projects, especially renewable projects. Credit policies have a significant impact on the cost of financing generation projects. We need to balance appropriate financial protection with encouraging renewable energy facilities and ensuring that consumers are benefiting from lowered electricity costs. This workshop will explore strategies to achieve this balance.
The workshop will explore alternatives to current practices that could help lower the costs of electricity for consumers and help the State achieve its renewable energy goals. Scheduled for June 2006, the workshop will bring together investment bankers, power plant investors, portfolio managers, insurance companies, risk managers, developers, and investor-owned and municipal utilities to address credit policies for projects in California.
Workshop topics include:
Media Contact: Claudia Chandler - 916-654-4989, 4/26/2006. Source: Farideh Namjou, California Energy Commission, Web Team,
SEPA's Online Resource Library is your source for reports on: System and component performance, System and component costs, Utility programs and projects, Green pricing, Value of Solar, State policies, Renewable energy credits, Incentives structures.
SEPA's new website features a Resource Library currently containing more than 100 reports on these topics. Reports can be filtered by category or searched by keyword. Additional reports will be added as they are released. Please send your reports our way for posting.
The Resource Library is available to all visitors of the SEPA website, but we will soon begin to populate a similar library in the Members Only section of the site (note that your password is preset as "SEPA" - please change it once you log in for the first time). The Members Only Resource Library will contain technical data and reports that our utility members do not want to share with the public but are willing to share with other SEPA members. Stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks. Source: Emily Brown, SEPA, 4/25/2006.
The City of Anaheim celebrated a milestone today as the 30,000th tree was planted by city dignitaries in a courtyard adjacent to City Hall. The ceremony, a culmination of the city’s Tree Appreciation Week, recognized 14 years of success for Anaheim Public Utilities’ TreePower Program, which annually plants an average of more than 2,100 shade trees.
“TreePower is one of those unique programs that keeps on delivering benefits for individual utility customers, the utility itself and our community as whole, year after year,” said Curt Pringle, Anaheim mayor. “When I see a tree-lined street or walkway, I feel a certain pride and sense of well being. It enhances individual properties, the neighborhood and the entire community. It looks like home.”
The ceremony included an inspiring performance by the Anaheim High School Choir Ensemble, a special presentation of “ Tree City USA ” and “Tree Line USA ” awards to Anaheim by the California Department of Forestry and, finally, the ceremonial planting of the 30,000th tree.
The TreePower Program, a joint energy-efficiency effort of the City’s Utilities and Community Services Departments, offers free shade trees to homes, schools, churches and small businesses. Residents can sign up for a free landscape audit, allowing them to receive up to three free shade trees. The landscape audit is designed to help the residents select shade trees that are most suitable for their home’s landscape. Following the audit, TreePower will deliver the trees and planting supplies to the home or organization.
With these shade trees, air-conditioning costs can be reduced by as much as 10 to 40 percent. At maturity, the trees will save 2 million kWhs (or enough energy to power 320 households for a full year), in addition to removing over 170 tons of carbon dioxide annually. For more information about TreePower and the shade trees, please call 714/491-TREE. Source: By Mike Ebbing, 714/765-4284.
The U.S.-led Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate is plotting a course to achieve its goals to attain energy security and accelerate the deployment of clean energy and technology in ways that promote economic development and reduce poverty. Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and the United States are members of the voluntary initiative, which was launched by President Bush in July 2005. The member nations represent half the world's population, economic output, energy use and greenhouse gas production.
A January meeting in Australia set the vision for the partnership, said Under Secretary of State Paula Dobriansky in an April 19 briefing with reporters. The two-day meeting under way at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California, she says, will result in concrete steps. Some 300 representatives of governments and private industries from all six participating nations are attending the California meeting. Individual task forces will focus on developing better energy technologies in power generation and transmission, fossil energy, renewable energy and distributed generation, coal mining, buildings and appliances, aluminum, cement and steel.
Speaking at the same briefing, Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality James Connaughton said the groups are working to stimulate far-reaching change by linking producers and consumers of energy technologies and the government officials involved in their sectors. The objective is "to take advantage of the best technologies we have today and the best practices we have today and find the pathways to their wider spread of their deployment on an accelerated time frame," Connaughton said. Private-sector companies will play the leading role in making those wide-scale industrial changes, he said.
This six-nation initiative has drawn fire from advocates of the Kyoto Protocol agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions as a means to address climate change. More than 160 nations are party to the Kyoto Protocol and advocates say it should remain the main international instrument for goals to reverse the warming trends of climate change. The United States is not a party to that agreement under which participating nations have made commitments on targets for reductions of GHG emissions. The Bush administration maintains that meeting the mandatory requirements of the treaty would harm the nation's economy.
Connaughton said, the partnership intends to address a wider range of issues than the Kyoto Protocol. "This partnership is focused on the central priority of each of these governments in approving their own energy security; the immediate priority the health of their citizens by cleaning up air quality and cutting harmful air pollution that has devastating effects on our populations even as we speak, and the third objective. — mitigating greenhouse gas emissions," said Connaughton.
The Bush administration's budget proposal for 2007 calls for more than $50 million for the partnership's activities. Connaughton said the government's job is to act as a catalyst to inspire the ideas and initiatives in the private sector to move toward better energy strategies. Source: STATE DEPARTMENT RELEASE/ContentWorks, 4/21/2006.
In a letter recently delivered to the Members of the House of Representatives' Committee on Appropriations, 71 congressional representatives called for increased support for the U.S. Department of Energy's sustainable energy programs. In particular, they stressed the need to restore funding for the geothermal, hydropower, and key energy efficiency accounts targeted for deep cuts or elimination by the White House. The letter, led by Representatives Mark Udall (D-CO) and Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD), was signed by 64 Democrats and 7 Republicans.
It notes, in part: "At a time when the price of gasoline is exceeding $2 per gallon, a barrel of oil is over $60, and natural gas is more than $6/mmBtu, we believe cutbacks in DOE's core EE/RE programs are short-sighted....[Yet,] several of DOE's core renewable energy programs have been targeted for elimination, including the Geothermal, Hydropower, and [Solar Heating and Lighting] programs. Similarly, a number of the core energy efficiency accounts are also targeted for reductions. These include the Weatherization program, the Building Codes Training and Assistance program, the Vehicle technologies program, and the Industrial technologies program, which would be cut by 32 percent, 100 percent, 9 percent, and 20 percent respectively....We therefore strongly urge you to develop an appropriations bill for FY07 that restores funding for those EE/RE programs being recommended for cuts to at least FY2006 levels (with hydropower restored to FY2005 levels), while accepting the President's recommended [increased] funding levels for solar photovoltaics, wind, biofuels, fuel cells, and renewably-based hydrogen....We note that even at the levels we are proposing, funding for the nation's renewable energy and energy efficiency programs would still be well below the levels authorized by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. We estimate that funding at these levels would close roughly 5 percent of the gap between the authorizations in EPAct and the Administration's proposed FY 2007 budget."
Both the House and Senate are preparing to act on their FY 2007 Appropriations bills. Expectations are that the House Energy and Water Subcommittee could mark-up its bill as early as the week of May 8th. The Senate is expected to act shortly thereafter. Source: GEA Update, 4/20/2006.
Shareholder resolutions addressing global warming have been growing steadily every year as environmentalists, trade unions, religious groups and regular citizens push corporations to account for their emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases. Shareholders have entered 32 resolutions so far this year targeting a range of companies — from Exxon Mobil Corp. and Ford Motor Co. to Home Depot and Whole Foods Markets Inc. Most resolutions are seeking an analysis of business plans for reducing emissions or improving energy efficiency, according to a report released yesterday by the trade group Social Investment Forum. Another 12 resolutions have been withdrawn as sponsors welcomed corporate reactions to their petitions, the group said. Carol Bowie, a vice president at the Institutional Shareholder Services, said withdrawn petitions are typically seen as success stories compared with proposals that remain on shareholder ballots but get ignored by company leaders.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has also negated resolutions that reached too far into a company's day-to-day management. Shareholder resolutions have become an increasingly common as advocates for more aggressive U.S. action on global warming seek to influence a company's decision making. Thirty-four shareholder resolutions were submitted in the first six months of 2005, the group said. One pending resolution is a request for Ford to report on its lobbying against tighter fuel economy standards. Green Century submitted the petition, which will be voted on during a May 11 shareholder meeting. A request for the grocery chain Whole Foods to report on its energy efficiency places garnered an 8.9 percent vote last month during a shareholder meeting. Groups filing the resolutions include labor unions such as Service Employees International Union, religious investment groups like Christian Brothers Investment Services, and public investment fund managers in New York City. Source: E&E Publishing, LLC, Darren Samuelsohn, Greenwire senior reporter, 4/26/2006.
The roles and effects of our various utility agencies are little known by most Hawaii residents. CALLING for more state government workers and higher pay for them is never popular. But if we want to improve Hawaii's energy future, that is exactly what we have to do with our utility regulatory agencies. Members of the Hawaii Energy Policy Forum, a broad spectrum of more than 40 stakeholders who care deeply about Hawaii's energy future, might not agree on all issues, but they do agree completely on a few things. One is the need for increased support and funding for adequate staffing of the Public Utilities Commission and Division of Consumer Advocacy.
The PUC has a wide range of important responsibilities. It regulates the rates utilities can charge customers, totaling more than $2.5 billion annually for Hawaii's electric, gas and telecommunications utilities. That's hundreds of dollars from each of us every month. In addition, the Legislature has given the PUC broad policy-making responsibilities, including determining what types of new energy resources will be built in Hawaii for decades to come. The Division of Consumer Advocacy is an essential part of the regulatory process. It represents the interests of consumers who, as a group, do not have the time or expertise to participate in the complex technical proceedings before the PUC. Despite the importance and magnitude of their responsibilities, the PUC and the DCA are understaffed and under-funded. Although the Hawaii PUC has more responsibilities than most commissions on the mainland, it has the smallest staff per capita of any commission in any comparably sized state in the country.
Both agencies have difficulty recruiting and retaining the specialized staff needed to provide the technical, economic, policy and legal expertise necessary for effective energy regulation. Hawaii PUC and DCA staff salaries are low by industry and mainland standards. Furthermore, the job requirements and duties of these agencies are more demanding than their state agency counterparts. Even with these constraints, the PUC has recently made remarkable improvements, opening up the regulatory process, providing public access to documents, addressing long neglected policy matters, and rebuilding staff capability.
In the current session, the Hawaii Energy Policy Forum championed a House Bill 1021, which would have increased funding to the PUC and DCA by dedicating the funds already collected from customer utility bills for this purpose. It would have raised PUC commissioner salaries to more reasonable levels in line with their required duties and responsibilities and more in line with mainland commissioner salaries. These provisions were replaced with a suggestion that the PUC and DCA should submit a reorganization plan to the next legislative session. House Bill 1021 still includes provisions that would help the PUC hire and retain qualified staff. The forum therefore strongly supports the remaining provisions in HB 1021.
The forum hopes that the administration and Legislature will prove to be sincere in their support of a comprehensive and bold energy strategy for Hawaii by providing the necessary support to the PUC and the DCA — in the short term by allowing them to obtain the professional staff they need; and in the next session by supporting and adequately funding the reorganization of these agencies. The forum will continue to monitor and advocate for these reforms to revitalize the PUC and DCA in order to implement good energy policy in Hawaii. Adequate support of these agencies is essential if Hawaii is going to control energy costs and successfully implement progressive energy policies. Source: Carl Freedman, Improving Government, 4/23/2006.
The New Wind Turbine at Portsmouth Abbey School has three 77-foot blades atop a 164-foot tapered tubular tower. It will supply 40 percent of the school’s electricity. Portsmouth turbine stirring interest from rest of state. At first, it took a little getting used to the 164-foot-tall, 660-kilowatt wind-power generator at Portsmouth Abbey School, according to Brother Joseph Byron. But now, with the $1.2-million project completed for just shy of a month, he said, people are actually finding the beauty of it.
But while the school supports the project, what’s the opinion of the surrounding communities, which have decried similar projects in other states? All positive, according to an informal survey commissioned by the state. “There wasn’t one single person who doesn’t think they like it more than their neighbor,” said Lefteris Pavlides, a professor at Roger Williams University.
Gov. Donald L. Carcieri is hoping that projects such as the Portsmouth Abbey wind turbine will prove to Rhode Islanders that wind power can be successful in the state. In January, Carcieri announced that he wanted 15 percent of the state’s total electricity demand being supplied by wind power.
The governor also named Andrew C. Dzykewicz as his chief energy adviser, a new post within the administration. Dzykewicz said the governor is pushing the wind power initiative to cut back on the state’s reliance on fossil fuel-based energy sources. Part of the need comes from cost. Unlike fuel-sensitive energy sources, such as natural gas-generated electricity, wind-powered electricity generation would not be subject to price shifts. And, in the case of Portsmouth Abbey, the state has doled out funding to help make wind power a reality. The state awarded the school $450,000 for the project through the Renewable Energy Fund, an account for which Rhode Island residents pay three-tenths of a cent per kilowatt hour in their monthly electricity bills.
Some communities within the state have begun to examine the possibility of using wind power on their own. Portsmouth has applied for a $25,000 grant from the Renewable Energy Fund to look at the use of turbines for several of its schools. Raytheon, the defense contractor with a facility in Portsmouth, also has expressed interest. However, Dzykewicz said that nothing concrete has moved forward aside from the Portsmouth Abbey project. What the state is hoping to avoid, he said, is a situation like Cape Wind on Nantucket Sound in Massachusetts. That project, which proposes to put a 420-megawatt wind farm near the coast of Cape Cod, has been heavily criticized by elected officials and residents. Rhode Island’s initiative could be of a similar scope as Cape Wind, Dzykewicz said. However, it would most likely not be centralized like the Massachusetts project.
But Pavlides said part of the reason the Cape Wind project has been so fiercely opposed is because coal interests have dumped large sums of money into killing it. And those interests, he said, have the potential to lose money if the “genie is out of the bottle.” While his informal survey produced positive reactions about the project, Pavlides said a more formal one will be completed in May. The reason for the delay, he said, was to give people the chance to see the Portsmouth Abbey turbine operating. Dzykewicz said the state is hoping to show that wind turbines are not dangerous or intrusive in part through the Portsmouth Abbey project. “Once they go into operation, people fall in love with them," Dzykewicz said. Source: By Justin Sayles, Staff Writer, 4/22/2006.
A Wisconsin congressman says he would like to see the nation take a greater role in producing bio-based energy—and foresees the state's agricultural industry as a solution. During a roundtable discussion with area farmers in West Salem on Thursday, Representative Ron Kind said he is proposing a plan to help address the rising fuel costs and reduce America's growing dependence on foreign oil by generating alternative energy production and infrastructure development. "I believe it is time our nation commits itself to kicking the fossil fuel import habit by replacing Middle East oil with Midwest grain and other 'home grown' renewable alternatives, such as ethanol and biodiesel," Kind said.
The La Crosse Democrat says his energy strategy has a greater emphasis on developing renewable energy sources and encouraging the use of alternative fuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel. In addition to supporting measures that invest in renewable energy technologies and infrastructure, Kind is a cosponsor of legislation to further develop the market for alternative fuels by providing tax credits to E-85 and hybrid fuel users and expanding incentives for producers and purchasers of clean vehicles. Kind also backs legislation establishing a timeline for increasing the America's ethanol supply, requiring that 10-percent of the nation's fuel be comprised of ethanol by 2015. Source: Wisconsin Ag Connection, 4/21/2006.
One man's trash continues to become another man's treasure. On Wednesday officials announced that a $52 million biodiesel plant to be built near Marcus, Iowa, would run on pellets converted from trash. On Thursday Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack signed a bill, Senate File 2381, that will provide renewable energy projects, such as a Cherokee County Solid Waste Commission facility which will produce the pellets, with tax credits similar to those that wind energy companies receive. A second bill, Senate File 2325, would directly infuse $250,000 into the solid waste commission project each year for 10 years. However, that bill is being held up in a Senate subcommittee.
Iowa Sen. Ron Wieck, who sponsored Senate File 2381, said the signed bill also doubles the amount of energy a facility can produce each day in order to receive tax credits. For example a wind energy facility can now produce 180 megawatts of energy each day and receive credits, said Wieck, R-Sioux City. The Cherokee County Solid Waste Commission is looking at a $2.6 million project that would double the size of its Cherokee, Iowa, landfill facilities and prevent 70 percent of trash now going into the ground from being placed at the dump. Trash such as paper and light plastics will be dried and pressurized into pellets called process engineered fuel. The PEFs can be burned for energy as well as heat. Soy Energy LLC announced it will use the pelletized biomass as the primary source of the energy at its plant in Northwest Iowa. Under the yet-to-be-passed Senate File 2325 the solid waste commission would also be able to apply for another $500,000 a year for 10 years. The Senate will reconvene Monday. Source: By Christian Richardson, Journal staff writer, 4/25/2006.
With energy costs on the rise, Perkasie council members are thinking about injecting some wind into the borough's energy supply. Council recently floated the idea of building three wind-powered turbines to provide 20 percent of its electricity after its current power contract expires. The turbines would cost about $2.7 million each. The borough has three years left on the five-year contract it signed with Detroit Energy Trading in 2004, but wants to be ready for a likely increase in its energy costs. The borough currently pays 5 cents per kilowatt-hour for power, but council has been told prices could triple to 15 cents, said Councilman Harry McGonigal, who introduced the idea of green power to his colleagues.
Borough energy consultant Bob Romancheck considers Perkasie ''fortunate'' to have its current contract, which required the borough to break from a consortium of municipalities that buy power together. The deal paid off, and over the last three years, the borough has secured lower power costs than paid by municipalities still in the consortium. ''We struck a good deal with Detroit Energy and that deal, colloquially speaking, ain't going to happen again in the new world,'' Romancheck said, pointing to the rising costs of natural gas, which help determine the price of power in the marketplace.
Communities and energy companies around the world, especially the wind-rich Netherlands and California and Texas in the United States, lead the way in generating wind power. According to a recent report by the American Wind Energy Association, a trade group, production of wind power has increased from nearly non-existent in 1981 to producing enough energy to power more than 13 million homes in 2005. But wind power is not necessarily for every community. The project, which would erect three white 80-yard-tall turbine towers somewhere in Perkasie, is still in its most preliminary stages. The borough will commission a study to decide if there is a location in the borough where wind is strong enough to turn the windmill turbines at or near their maximum speed of 25 mph.
To pay for the turbines, the borough would borrow money and aim to pay off the loans in 10 to 15 years. MGonigal said he was hit with the idea of building green power in Perkasie when he stopped along the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike to marvel at a wind farm near Wilkes-Barre. Six weeks ago, council held a special Saturday meeting to talk about the proposal and directed Romancheck to investigate the possibility of building wind turbines in the borough. McGonigal said the most likely spot for the turbines is the borough's highest point on the lush green ridge just off Ridge Road near Pennridge Airport.
''We have put in motion the steps to see if it is feasible to do,'' he said. ''If we can show that it is successful, then others will look and say, 'Hey they are doing it.''' Source: By Pervaiz Shallwani of The Morning Call, 4/21/2006.
Drilling rigs are punching an increasing number of holes into Nevada’s geothermal resources, an indication that the infant industry is beginning to gain traction. Permits for 61 geothermal wells were issued by the Nevada Division of Minerals last year. That’s more than double the number of permits from each of the two preceding years. Alan Coyner, the administrator of the division of minerals, says 33 of those wells actually were drilled last year. Again, that’s more than double the activity of previous years. So far this year, the state has issued permits for nine geothermal wells. The reason for the increased activity? Geothermal companies see an increasing demand for renewable energy in the state at the same time that rising costs for fossil fuels make geothermal production more competitive.
The basic driver for the geothermal industry in Nevada is a state requirement that utilities must increase their use of renewables by 2 percent a year until the renewable portion of their sales reaches 15 percent in 2013.
Sierra Pacific Resources, the Reno-based parent of Sierra Pacific Power Co. and Nevada Power Co., is sorting through proposals from developers of renewable power — including geothermal companies — that answered its most recent call. "We have seen quite a few responses to our request for proposals last May,” says Tom Fair, executive for renewable energy with Sierra Pacific.
In a just-released letter to shareholders in the company’s annual report, Sierra Pacific Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Walt Higgins says the company is studying the possibility of developing renewable projects, either on its own or in partnership with other companies. Many of the power plants built in the United States in recent years are fired by natural gas, and utilities have been at the mercy of sharply rising gas prices. With geothermal plants, he says, the fuel cost — the cost of bringing hot water from deep in the earth through a generating system — is known from the start. At the bare minimum, Fair says, the use of geothermal and other renewable sources helps diversify the fuel costs of the state’s utilities. Nobody is talking much about the costs to produce electricity from geothermal sources right now because price is a big part of Sierra Pacific’s decision-making process as it analyzes renewable power.
But rising cost of power produced by coal- or gas-fired plants makes geothermal increasingly price competitive even though rising steel and cement prices push up the costs of building a geothermal plant. Fair says improving technology helps geothermal become even more competitive. Many of the technological gains are coming at Sparks-based Ormat Technology, which is doing some exploratory drilling of its own. In a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ormat said holds geothermal leases on several properties in Nevada — it didn’t provide a precise number — and said it’s undertaking drilling programs to learn more about their potential.
But no amount of technology removes the need for some old-fashioned drilling to determine the size of a geothermal resource. Nevada Geothermal has permits to drill four production wells into the hot water below its Blue Mountain property near Winnemucca after drilling a series of slim holes — only about 4 inches in diameter — last year to get a better picture of the underground structure. Drilling rigs are in tight supply as traditional mining companies as well as oil-and-gas exploration outfits all are gearing up their work in Nevada. And rigs on geothermal projects need special outfitting to protect workers from steam. The company hopes to finish a feasibility study this year for a 30-megawatt power plant on the Blue Mountain property. Source: kolotv.com - 4/26/2006.
Earth Day is a good time to focus on the strategic opportunities to achieve environmental progress and economic growth together. President Bush recognized America's "addiction to oil" in his State of the Union speech. He crossed a partisan divide by emphasizing modern new clean energy technologies—biomass energy, wind power, solar energy and coal gasification—to increase national energy security by reducing our dependence on foreign oil.
After several years of legislative gridlock, Wisconsin is now moving forward to develop and implement more clean renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. But while the states can and should step up, that's no substitute for effective federal policy actions and investments to solve our national problem.
The president's initiative, unfortunately, relies too heavily on research and development, and too little on actionable policies to achieve his goal of replacing 75 percent of our Mideast oil imports with domestic clean energy by 2025. These focused policies and investments can help to reach that goal:
1. Support cellulosic ethanol by the barrel: "Cellulosic" corn stalks, wheat straw and switchgrass can be used for cleaner-burning fuels, and new technologies are poised for commercialization.
2. Provide dependable wind power incentives: Wind power is the world's fastest growing electricity source. Rapid technological improvements are greatly improving wind power economics, and the 21 states, including Wisconsin, adopting renewable energy standards are boosting market demand.
3. Get behind solar power: Germany and Japan are leaving the United States in the dust when it comes to deploying rapidly improving solar technologies. You think solar isn't feasible? Go back 10 years. Did you think a small, sleek cell phone could connect you cross-country for a few cents per minute, take photos, and browse the Internet?
4. Integrate agricultural policy with energy policy: Wind power and biomass energy development are a win-win-win-win for farmers, rural economic development, energy independence and the environment. The resources for a renewable energy transformation are present on our nation's farms and forests.
5. Deploy really clean coal technologies: America has abundant coal reserves, but we cannot continue burning coal using conventional technologies without causing lasting damage to public health and our environment.
6. Get serious about better fuel efficiency for cars: Federal vehicle fuel economy standards have not been raised since the 1980s. Today's hybrid cars achieve more than double the current standard. Going to 32 mpg or more - well below what hybrid cars now get - would present few technical challenges and greatly decrease imported oil.
7. Hey, what about energy efficiency? The president was silent about implementing modern clean energy efficiency technologies that can better heat, cool, light and power our homes and businesses. More energy efficient lighting, air conditioners, refrigerators, furnaces, windows and electric motors are by far the lowest-cost domestic energy resource.
The president surprised us by shifting his priorities toward a cleaner energy future. Let's take the necessary policy actions and make the smart financial investments to transform the vision of ending our "addiction to oil" into reality. Howard A. Learner is the executive director of the Environmental Law and Policy Center, a Midwest-based environmental and economic development advocacy organization. Source: By Howard A. Learner, April 19, 2006.
In an effort to break away from our dependency on foreign fuels, Indiana leaders broke ground Thursday on a new biodiesel plant in Kosciusko County. Rural Kosciusko County is not where you'd expect to find congestion, but Claypool, Indiana is the center of economic development. Claypool Town President Don Miller says, “To have something of this magnitude is certainly overwhelming.”
The world's largest biodiesel plant will be moving in. Rep. Mark Souder said Thursday, “This is a win-win. It's cleaner for the environment, it’s better for energy, it helps farm income, and helps us to be balanced.” This tiny town of 400 people may soon have a little more traffic than usual. The size of the town will nearly double when the construction of the plant starts next week, but the economic impact could be felt statewide.
The international company, Louis Dreyfus, picked Claypool for its new soy biodiesel plant for many reasons, including its two railroad crossings, new state leadership and incentives and of course the abundance of soybeans. “At the same time, it’s an area that lends itself to soy bean production, but we didn't have any soybean plants close,” says local farmer Kip Tom. However, the state says it was an aggressive business plan that made the difference in the end. Source: By NewsCenter16 Reporter Stephanie Stang, 4-20-2006.
According to newly published regulations, “The proposed changes [to the Quarterly Fuel And Energy Power Plant Reports Data Collection] would require fuel use for electricity generation and steam generation to be specifically called out and would also require that the annual reporting requirements applicable to power plants between 1 and 10 MW include monthly data. This is also the section in which the environmental data would be identified. The proposal includes: emission factors and pollution control device inventories for facilities 1 MW and greater, water supply and wastewater information for facilities 20 MW and greater, and information about habitat loss due to construction, operational effects on protected species, once-through cooling impacts, inventories of wildlife protection devices, and notices of violations related to environmental issues for power plants 1 MW and greater. A small amount of socio-economic data would be required for power plants 1 MW and greater.” Source: GEA, 4/20/2006.
North Dakota governor John Hoeven joined officials from FPL Energy and Minnesota Power last week in breaking ground at the Oliver County Wind Energy Center near Center, ND. The 50.6-megawatt facility will be built, owned and operated by FPL Energy, with electricity generated at the plant to be sold to Minnesota Power. Construction of the wind farm's 22 turbines is scheduled to commence this spring and expected to be completed by the end of the year. Contact: Mary Wells, FPL Energy, phone 888-867-3050. Source: EIN Renewable Energy Today, 4/19/2006.
The Government of Abu Dhabi yesterday came up with a plan to focus on renewable energy resources, by setting-up a $100 million Clean Technology Investment Fund and a specialised company to take-up investment ventures with global energy giants. The 'Masdar' initiative was launched by the Executive Affairs Authority of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi at a presentation to General Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE. Others who attended the presentation included Shaikhs, ministers and CEO's of BP, Shell, GE, OXY, Total, Rolls Royce Plc, Mitsubishi, Jodco, Mitsui, Fiat and Rwth Aachen and Imperil College London, who are partners in the programme.
At a Press briefing, Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak Chairman of EAA and Sultan Al Jaber Managing Director of Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company said that the initiative will create a new structure for the development and promotion of industries on global scale using renewable energy and resources in the emirate. "It will focus on the development and commercialisation of advanced and innovative technologies in renewable energy, energy efficiency, carbon management and monetisation, water usage and desalination," said Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak.
Outlining the concept, Mubarak said that it will be based on the four elements: A research and development center to support the demonstration, commercialisation and adoption of sustainable energy technologies; A world-class University to prepare 350 graduates specialising in renewable energy in partnership with top universities and research institutes; a company focused on the commercialisation of emissions reduction, and Clean Development Mechanism solutions as provided by the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.
Sultan Al Jaber, Managing Director of Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, said that his recently founded company will oversee the commercial implementation and development of all four aspects of the initiative, and work in close coordination with Adnoc, Adwea, the Abu Dhabi Environmental Agency, and the Abu Dhabi Education Council, as well as other government departments. He said Al Masdar Initiative will see Abu Dhabi become a global centre of excellence for sustainable technologies, and will also provide a strong driver for further economic diversification and a transition mechanism to the industries of the future. Source: BY HASEEB HAIDER, 4/28/2006.
Venture capitalists have found it difficult to make investments in wind power. That’s frustrating, because VCs are anxious to put money into clean energy, and wind power is gaining speed. But so far most wind power consists of large-scale wind farms that produce electricity for utilities. New technology could change that. Earlier this month, Southwest Windpower raised $8 million to launch a small generator that could bring wind power to individual homes and businesses.
Global wind markets grew 47 percent to $11.8 billion in 2005, and are expected to reach $48.5 billion in 2015, according to Clean Edge, a market research firm. With this deal, RockPort, Altira Technology Fund IV, and CTTV Investments, the venture arm of Chevron Technology, may have found a way to harness a wind storm that was once the sole domain of big utilities.
SWWP’s technology targets a new market for wind—any building on at least half an acre in a wind-rich location. While SWWP already makes small wind turbines for “off-grid” customers—that is, customers that are too isolated to be connected to the electric grid—it has only sold some 95,000 in the last seven years, says CEO Frank Greco. The grid-connected market is potentially far larger, as Mr. Greco estimates 13 million homes could use the grid-connected technology in the United States alone. But wind power hasn’t been widely used in grid-connected homes and businesses because the technology requires a number of inverters and controllers, and installation is complicated, he says. SWWP’s new turbine is much easier to use. It includes all the inverters, controllers, and other parts needed to connect to the grid. They are all contained within the body of the generator, lowering the production and installation costs, says Mr. Greco, who expects a retail price of around $5,500. At that price, the average cost per kilowatt hour would be $0.08—not including subsidies available in many states. That means wind can beat the cost of regular electricity, which in the U.S. averages $0.09 per kilowatt hour. The turbine also produces electricity at lower wind speeds and the blades top out at only 300 rotations per minute to reduce noise, he says. SWWP estimates the potential grid-connected market is worth about $1 billion. The company made revenues of “just under” $10 million in 2005, and expects a 70 percent growth rate this year because of the new product, Mr. Greco says. “We will be extremely profitable this year,” he says. Let’s hope that Mr. Greco’s prediction turns out to be more than just a lot of, er, wind. Source: Red Herring, Inc., 4/24/2006.
Raising a renewable portfolio standard in the state of Wisconsin will create 2,160 new jobs, 960 more than generating electricity from fossil fuels, concludes a study from the Union of Concerned Scientists.
The current RPS requires 2.2 percent of the state’s electricity to come from wind, bioenergy and solar power by 2011, but legislation will boost that level to 10 percent by 2015, explains ‘Increasing Wisconsin’s Renewable Electricity Standard: Benefits to Consumers, Workers & Rural Communities.’ The increase would provide a significant source of new income for rural areas, help stabilize energy bills, and provide more revenues for school districts, it concludes. “Producing 10 percent of our electricity from home-grown renewable sources will be a win for workers, consumers, the environment, and especially rural communities," explains Chris Deisinger of UCS.
The RPS upgrade is consistent with the recommendations of a task force on renewables and energy efficiency created by Governor Jim Doyle, which was a bi-partisan multi-stakeholder group of legislators, utilities, companies and environmental organizations. Raising the RPS to 10 percent by 2015 will create 2,160 new jobs, US$1.3 billion in new capital investment, $31 million in new tax revenues for local communities and school districts, and $21.5 million in lease payments to farmers and rural landowners from wind turbines. At most, it would result in a “very modest increase in electricity bills” of 18¢ per month per family by 2011, with net savings after 2017. If federal incentives for green power are extended or policies are enacted to limit global warming pollution from power plants, the 10 percent level could save consumers $100 million per year by 2020 or 80¢ per month for each household.
While the 10 percent standard would more than triple renewable generation over current levels in Wisconsin by 2015, “it represents a modest step in developing this abundant potential,” the report explains. Wisconsin would develop 1,750 MW of new green power capacity by 2015, sufficient for 850,000 homes, of which 95 percent would be installed in the state. Source: (Refocus Weekly), 4/26/2006.
In line with his strong leadership in reducing California 's dependence on petroleum fuels, Governor Schwarzenegger today directed several state agencies to take major steps toward the widespread use of renewable energy sources known as bio-fuels. Biofuels, such as ethanol, can be developed from specially grown crops such as corn and sugar, to produce clean, renewable transportation fuels or electricity. Fuels can also be developed from naturally occurring waste, such as rice straw, animal waste and municipal solid waste. "It is critical that we do everything we can to reduce our dependence on petroleum-based fuels," said Gov. Schwarzenegger.
The Governor issued Executive Order S-06-06 establishing targets for the use and production of biomass products such as biofuels (liquid) and biogas (gas) as an integral part of California's renewable portfolio standard. To achieve these targets, he directed the California Energy Commission, the Resources Agency and other state agencies to collaborate, research, promote and identify funding to advance biomass programs in California. The CEC will report the progress to the Governor's Office and Legislature on a biannual basis. California will produce a minimum of twenty percent of its own biofuels by 2010 and forty percent by 2020, according to targets set by the executive order. Currently, of the 900 million gallons of ethanol consumed in California, only five percent is produced in California. The executive order also calls for the use of biomass for electricity to reach 20 percent within the state's Renewables Portfolio Standard goals for 2010 and 2020.
The Governor has also made it a priority to develop a self-sustaining solar industry for California. Last year, he introduced the Million Solar Roofs Initiative, which included $2.9 billion in incentives to homeowners and building owners who install solar electric systems. He sponsored legislation to fund the incentive program that rewards the installation of systems in new and existing residential and commercial sites. The Governor worked with the California Public Utilities Commission which is now implementing the program, which will lead to one million solar roofs in California by 2018. Under Gov. Schwarzenegger's leadership, California has continued to champion policies that reduce the state's dependence on petroleum. To promote the transition to alternative fuels, the Governor led the effort to create the hydrogen highway which will provide Californians with 200 hydrogen fueling stations across the state. Gov. Schwarzenegger has also promoted the Flex Your Power at the Pump program encouraging Californians to use gasoline more efficiently. Source: By California Governor’s Office, 4/25/2006.
Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns recently announced the availability of $176.5 million in loan guarantees and almost $11.4 million in grants to support investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency improvements by agricultural producers and small businesses. Johanns also highlighted that Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman today announced $160 million in cost-shared funding over three years to construct up to three biorefineries in the United States. In addition, the President's FY 2007 budget proposal for USDA includes more than $250 million each year in fiscal years 2006 and 2007 for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects through Rural Development's loan and grants programs, as well as a core investment of $85 million for USDA's energy-related projects. This funding includes resources to support renewable energy research and demonstration projects and additional efforts to support energy development and transmission across public lands.
The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency loan and grant program was established under Section 9006 of the 2002 Farm Bill to encourage agricultural producers and small rural businesses to create renewable and energy efficient systems. A total of 435 grants totaling $66.7 million have been awarded in 36 states since the program began and in 2005, for the first time, renewable energy loan guarantees were made under the program. Under the program, the maximum amount of a loan guarantee made to a borrower is $10 million. For renewable energy systems, the minimum grant request is $2,500 and the maximum is $500,000. For energy efficiency improvements, the minimum grant request is $1,500 and the maximum is $250,000. Rural development grants under the program will not exceed 25 percent of the eligible program costs and a combination of grants and guaranteed loans will not exceed 50 percent.
A detailed template, A Proposal Prepared for the United States Department of Agriculture 2002 Farm bill Initiative: The Renewable Energy And Energy Efficiency Program USDA Farm Bill Section 9006 For Purchase and Installation of a Renewable Energy Project, provides a detailed template that can be used as a guide to allow users to see the type of information required to receive grant funding from the USDA Section 9006 program. The report is available online. Please email the report’s author, Pat Laney, Idaho National Laboratory with any questions.
Applications for grants must be completed and submitted to the appropriate USDA Rural Development state office postmarked no later than May 12, 2006. Guaranteed loans will be awarded on a continuous basis. Applications are due to the National Office for funding consideration by July 3, 2006. Any guaranteed loan funds not obligated by August 1, 2006, will be made available for competitive grants. For more information refer to the announcement in the February 13, 2006 Federal Register or contact any state Rural Development office. View the original announcement. Source: GEA, 4/20/2006.
A group of Mercyhurst College students will bring solar energy to the campus next year thanks to a grant from the Sustainable Energy Fund of Central-Eastern Pennsylvania. The SEF has selected Mercyhurst and five other colleges and universities in Pennsylvania to take part in an innovative solar-energy education program that aims to cultivate the "solar energy leaders, policy-makers and entrepreneurs of tomorrow." With a grant of up to $15,000 plus matching funds from the college, science students next year will work on a project to provide a steady supply of three kilowatts of solar power to the Mercyhurst campus. Through the SEF's Solar Scholars program, the students will get in-depth, hands-on study, training and research in the application of photovoltaic solar technology, as part of an overall, comprehensive renewable energy academic curriculum, according to SEF.
The college will install a solar array on the campus capable of providing enough electricity to power three homes for a year. That electricity will be made part of the power grid so that if Mercyhurst is not using the electricity, it would be sold to the grid. The college will work the use, maintenance and theory behind the solar array into its minor on environmental sustainability.
SEF also awarded Solar Scholars grants to Bucknell University; Clarion University, Messiah College; Pennsylvania State University; Villanova University. Solar Scholars offers funding and incentives to enable students to design, build, operate and maintain a solar system of significant impact on their campus, for which they would receive academic credit. Each partner school receives a state-of-the-art, Internet-based academic curriculum on solar power and other clean energy methods. Selected students also will receive financial sponsorship to attend an intensive training and certification workshop on applied photovoltaics – the use of solar cells to directly convert sunlight into electricity. The SEF created Solar Scholars to develop solutions for meeting Pennsylvania 's Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard, set forth by Act 213 and recently signed into law by Gov. Edward G. Rendell. Source: Office of College Relations, 4/ 26/2006.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded $4.2 million on Monday to 18 small enterprises that will use the money to develop innovative products and renewable energy from woody biomass from national forests. Although many of the recipients are forest products companies, funds were also awarded to the Cawaco Resource Conservation & Development Council, Inc., which is planning a project to co-fire biomass with coal in the Gadsden Steam Plant in Alabama; Big Valley Power, a biomass power plant in Redding, California; the Montana Community Development Corporation, which has been experimenting with using wood waste from logging operations to fuel a boiler at a paper mill; Nevada's Lake Tahoe Unified School District, which plans to fuel a cogeneration system with biomass fuel; Mt. Taylor Machine, a New Mexico company that makes fuel for pellet stoves; and the town of Red River, New Mexico, which plans to ship wood chips from forest thinning to a biomass power plant. According to the USDA, the grant program improves forest health and reduces the risk of wildfires by removing built-up fuel hazards. See the USDA press release. Source: EERE Network News, 4/26/2006.
Located mostly in north central Montana, 35 cities, towns and counties are vying to win $37.2 million in federal grants to build small wind farms that will power courthouses, city halls and jails. Under the 2005 Energy Policy Act, some $500 million is available for government agencies nationwide to develop geothermal, hydropower and other clean forms of power. In Montana, Cascade County is making one of the largest requests: $3.56 million for a dozen 82-foot turbines to power county operations. Source: greatfallstribune.com, 4/26/2006.
USDA announced that it is now soliciting applications for the Section 9006 (Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Improvements) program for FY2006. Instead of two grant application cycles, as previously discussed, there will now be only a single grant application cycle with an application postmark date of May 12, 2006. Read more here.
This news item comes to you as a service of Western's Renewable Resources Program.
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