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Investors Are Tilting Toward Windmills

By: Claudia H. Deutsch It’s hard to be in a business where you literally – as well as figuratively – are tilting at windmills. But that business may have just gotten its biggest tail wind yet. When President Bush called last month for more effort in alternative energies, a business that last year attracted only about $7 billion in investment nationwide, the 300 engineers and financiers at GE Energy Financial Services were already in the game. But that does not mean they were not happy that the White House acknowledged the sector. “The president’s speech changed zero for us; it was simply a recognition of what we already knew,” said David L. Calhoun, vice chairman of GE Infrastructure, the group that includes both turbine manufacture and energy financing. For now, wind energy is the only profit star in G.E.’s alternative energy galaxy, and both the finance and equipment sides of the company know they are gambling when it comes to solar and other fledgling technologies. Still, analysts applaud their decision to move on them. “When you get the president talking about renewable energy, it has to be turning up the dial at G.E.,” said Deane M. Dray, an analyst at […]

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Bush Administration FY07 Budget – Highlights and Lowlights

By: Union of Concerned Scientists President George W. Bush recently released his comprehensive budget request for fiscal year 2007 (FY07). The FY07 request takes advantage of the budget deficit to cut a number of important environmental programs including several initiatives that would actually save taxpayers money. While there are a few positive developments, overall the budget fails to provide America with the means to build a cleaner, more secure future. While the administration’s budget for solar energy resources, biomass research, hybrid technology and cleaner school buses address some of the nation’s energy and transportation requirements, the budget fails to provide the long-term solutions America needs. The Bush administration’s budget also contains a number of anti-environmental requests. A backdoor attempt to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling and funding cuts for agricultural programs and endangered species are just a few examples. Also included in the budget request is funding to begin a costly and dangerous program to reprocess nuclear fuel from power reactors. This program would make it easier for terrorists to acquire the material needed to build a nuclear weapon. President Bush has also announced funding increases for federal research and development and math/science education under the […]

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Bush Administration FY07 Budget?Highlights and Lowlights

By: Union of Concerned Scientists President George W. Bush recently released his comprehensive budget request for fiscal year 2007 (FY07). The FY07 request takes advantage of the budget deficit to cut a number of important environmental programs including several initiatives that would actually save taxpayers money. While there are a few positive developments, overall the budget fails to provide America with the means to build a cleaner, more secure future. While the administration’s budget for solar energy resources, biomass research, hybrid technology and cleaner school buses address some of the nation’s energy and transportation requirements, the budget fails to provide the long-term solutions America needs. The Bush administration’s budget also contains a number of anti-environmental requests. A backdoor attempt to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling and funding cuts for agricultural programs and endangered species are just a few examples. Also included in the budget request is funding to begin a costly and dangerous program to reprocess nuclear fuel from power reactors. This program would make it easier for terrorists to acquire the material needed to build a nuclear weapon. President Bush has also announced funding increases for federal research and development and math/science education under the […]

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