Weekly Clean Energy Roundup:January 26, 2005

News and Events

• Home Builders Set New National Guidelines for Green Homes
• California Government and Agencies Commit to Green Building
• DOE and USDA Offer up to $15 Million for Biomass Projects
• Kansas, Vermont, and New Jersey Encourage Wind Power but Set Limits
• First Utility-Scale Wind Plants Slated for New Jersey and Montana
• Gamesa to Produce Wind Turbine Blades in Pennsylvania

News and Events

Home Builders Set New National Guidelines for Green Homes

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has introduced new voluntary guidelines to help mainstream homebuilders incorporate environmental practices into every phase of the home building process while putting a priority on housing affordability. NAHB unveiled the Model Green Home Building Guidelines during last week’s International Builders’ Show in Orlando, Florida. NAHB claims that green building has primarily been the province of high-end, niche builders who cater to a wealthy clientele, while the new guidelines aim to help builders construct resource-efficient homes that are both affordable and customized to local conditions. The guidelines offer voluntary, builder- and market-driven green solutions for lot design and preparation; resource, energy, and water efficiency; indoor environmental quality; operation, maintenance, and home owner operation; global impact; and site planning and land development. Developed for single-family homes, the guidelines also are applicable for multifamily and custom homes as well as remodeling projects for existing homes. See the NAHB press release and Model Green Home Building Guidelines.

The NAHB also introduced the Green Building Initiative, a new not-for-profit organization supported by groups and individuals interested in promoting energy efficient and environmentally sustainable practices in residential and commercial construction. See the Green Building Initiative Web site.

The new guidelines and the Green Building Initiative are sure to be important topics of discussion at the 2005 National Green Builders Conference, the only national conference targeted to green building for the mainstream residential building industry. The conference will be held in Atlanta, Georgia, in mid-March. See the conference announcement on the NAHB Web site.

California Government and Agencies Commit to Green Building

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an executive order in mid-December that commits the state to following a Green Building Action Plan with two goals: to reduce electricity purchased from the grid by existing government and private commercial buildings by 20 percent by 2015 through energy efficiency and distributed generation; and to retrofit, build, and operate public buildings that are highly efficient in terms of energy use and resource consumption. To help meet those goals, the executive order requires state-run entities to purchase Energy Star equipment; seek out leases in Energy Star-rated buildings; and design, construct, and operate all new and renovated state-owned and state-funded facilities to meet the Silver LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). See the governor’s executive order and press release.

The state’s two large retirement funds – the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) – both set goals in December to reduce the energy use in their real estate holdings by 20 percent over the next five years. Together, the two funds hold more than 200 million square feet of real estate. The California State Treasurer has estimated that the energy efficiency improvements will cost the two funds a total of $200 million, but will save $40.6 million in energy costs each year, reduce total energy demand by 73 megawatts, and create 4,200 jobs. The two funds have also committed a combined $450 million to private equity investment in cutting-edge environmental technology and renewable energy. See the treasurer’s press releases for CalPERS (PDF 171 KB) and CalSTRS (PDF 171 KB).

The state’s efforts in energy efficiency and green building follow the example of a Green Building Ordinance enacted in San Francisco in October 2004. The Green Building Ordinance requires all new city projects, including both city-owned facilities and leased properties, to achieve at least a LEED Silver certification. A prime example is the new California Academy of Sciences museum (soon to be built in Golden Gate Park), which is designed to earn the LEED Platinum certification, the highest certification available from the U.S. Green Building Council. See the San Francisco Department of Environment press release, the California Academy of Sciences Web site, and design information on the Renzo Piano Building Workshop Web site.

The USGBC’s LEED Green Building Rating System sets five levels of certification for buildings: certified, bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. LEED standards are currently available or under development for a wide variety of buildings. See the LEED page on the USGBC Web site.

DOE and USDA Offer up to $15 Million for Biomass Projects

DOE and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued a joint solicitation in late December for development and demonstration projects that lead to greater commercialization of biobased products, biomass energy, biofuels, and related processes. This year’s solicitation is focused on developing and producing biomass feedstocks; developing biobased products and evaluating their environmental and economic performance; integrating natural resource management and biomass use; and analyzing incentives for commercializing biomass technologies. Pre-applications are due by February 15th, and full applications are due by April 15th. DOE and USDA expect to provide as much as $15 million for the projects as part of their collaboration on the Biomass Research and Development Initiative. See the solicitation.

A new research laboratory at DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is expected to advance biomass energy technologies by probing biomass-to-energy conversion processes at the atomic and molecular levels. The $2.85-million Biomass Surface Characterization Laboratory features an array of electron and optical microscopes, as well other advanced research tools. The lab includes systems to monitor and maintain temperature, humidity, acoustical vibration, and cleanliness to the most exacting standards, while employing the latest computer hardware and software systems to capture, record, and analyze the data. See the NREL press release.

Kansas, Vermont, and New Jersey Encourage Wind Power but Set Limits

Kansas, Vermont, and New Jersey have seen fit recently to note the benefits of wind power, but to limit its development in certain areas. Kansas is limiting wind plants on grasslands, Vermont is limiting wind plants on state lands, and New Jersey has placed a moratorium on offshore wind power development.

In Kansas, Governor Kathleen Sebelius announced in mid-January that she had adopted a set of recommendations for wind energy development while preserving the tallgrass prairie in the Flint Hills region. The key element of the plan is to defer to local control and decision- making and provide tools, best practices, and guidelines to assist local governments. The governor showed her support for wind power by calling on electric utilities to have at least 1,000 megawatts of renewable energy capacity installed in Kansas by 2015, and asked utility regulators to examine the benefits this goal. The governor also asked the Kansas Energy Council to analyze the impact of requiring state facilities to draw on renewable energy for between 2.5 to 5 percent of their electricity. The governor called on the Kansas Energy Council to develop standards for locating wind power facilities and has requested $800,000 in state funds to help wind developers. See the governor’s press release.

In Vermont, the Agency of Natural Resources concluded in December that large-scale wind plants should not be built on state-owned lands. Noting that Vermonters largely support the development of renewable energy resources, the new policy still encourages small-scale wind installations on state lands when appropriate. See the Vermont Wind Policy Web site.

In New Jersey, Acting Governor Richard Codey noted the benefits of wind power and the state’s commitment to renewable energy while placing a 15-month freeze on the funding and permitting of wind projects offshore of the state’s coast, due to concerns about protecting the marine and coastal environment. In late December, the acting governor appointed a blue-ribbon panel to study the appropriateness of offshore wind power installations near the Jersey Shore; their report is due in March 2006. See the acting governor’s press release.

Currently, the only company publicly planning to build wind power facilities near the Jersey Shore is Winergy, LLC. However, Winergy’s planned facilities?called Asbury Park, Great Egg, and Five Fathom Bank?are all located in federal waters at least 3.5 miles off the coast. The projects have seen little progress since Winergy announced them in October 2002. See the Winergy Web site.

First Utility-Scale Wind Plants Slated for New Jersey and Montana

While offshore wind development in New Jersey has ground to a halt, the state’s first large onshore wind project is moving ahead. The 7.5-megawatt Atlantic City Wind Farm is expected to start operating in mid-year. The wind plant developer, Community Energy, Inc., reached an agreement with the New Jersey Audubon Society in mid-December, allowing the project to move ahead. Community Energy and the Audubon Society will launch a detailed study using new radar technology to determine if the wind turbine towers affect bird migration. The facility will feature five 1.5-megawatt wind turbines from GE Energy and will be built at a wastewater treatment facility operated by the Atlantic County Utilities Authority (ACUA). See the Community Energy press release and the ACUA Web site.

Montana is also poised to receive its first large-scale wind plant, as NorthWestern Energy has agreed to purchase the power output from a $150-million wind facility to be constructed by Invenergy Wind LLC. The wind plant will have a capacity of 135 to 150 megawatts and will be located near Judith Gap in south-central Montana. The 8,000-acre wind facility will feature roughly 75 to 100 turbines with a capacity of about 1.5 to 1.8 megawatts each. Construction is expected to begin before mid-2005. See the NorthWestern Energy press release.

A number of other wind power projects are now in various stages of progress throughout the country. In Washington, Puget Sound Energy (PSE) has agreed to buy the proposed 150-megawatt Hopkins Ridge Wind Project from Blue Sky Wind LLC. Located near Dayton in the southeast corner of the state, the project is expected to start producing power by mid-2006. In Oregon, Portland General Electric (PGE) agreed to buy power from a 75-megawatt expansion of the Klondike II Wind Project located near Wasco, just south of the state’s northern border. In Kansas, PPM Energy is moving ahead with the 150-megawatt Elk River Wind Power Project, located near Beaumont, about 45 miles east of Wichita. Texas is also gaining another large wind plant, as AES Corporation announced on January 11th that it will buy SeaWest Holdings, Inc., and in the process, it plans to acquire and build SeaWest’s planned 120-megawatt Buffalo Gap wind project near Abilene. AEP plans to complete construction by year-end. Finally, MidAmerican Energy has finished building the 160.5-megawatt Intrepid Wind Project in Sac and Buena Vista counties in northwest Iowa. The project is the largest in the state and will be joined this summer by the company’s 150-megawatt Century Wind Project, located near Blairsburg in north-central Iowa. MidAmerican Energy even posted a virtual tour of the wind project. See the press releases from PSE, PGE, PPM Energy, AES, and MidAmerican, and see the MidAmerican virtual tour.

Gamesa to Produce Wind Turbine Blades in Pennsylvania

Spanish company Gamesa, the second-largest wind energy company in the world, announced last week that it will build a high-tech plant to manufacture wind turbine blades in Ebensburg, Pennsylvania, about 20 miles west of Altoona. The new manufacturing plant will create as many as 500 construction and operations jobs, including 236 permanent positions. Gamesa previously announced that its U.S. headquarters and East Coast development offices would be located in Pennsylvania. Together with the construction, operation, and maintenance of its wind facilities, Gamesa’s manufacturing facility and two Philadelphia offices are expected to create up to 1,000 jobs in the state over the next five years. Gamesa claims to have agreements with Pennsylvania utilities for the sale of 600 megawatts of wind power, and has set itself a target for reaching 1,000 megawatts of wind power in the state. See the Gamesa press release.

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