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Recovery Act Benefits Small Clean Energy Businesses New Steps to Strengthen Energy Star Program International Green Construction Code Launched Innovations in EV Charging Roll Out Colorado Boosts Renewable Energy Requirement to 30% by 2020 Chinese Policies Could Hurt U.S. Renewable Industries Recovery Act Benefits for Small Clean Energy Businesses A DOE report shows that through early March, small clean energy businesses have been selected to receive $5.4 billion in funding from the Recovery Act and related programs, including loans, loan guarantees, grants, contracts, and tax incentives. The funds complement the 2800 loans totaling $656 million the Small Business Administration approved for renewable energy businesses from 2006-2009. The report features 26 small businesses involved in clean energy technologies and related infrastructure, such as Smart Grid technologies, advanced batteries, energy storage, and energy efficiency tools. Success stories highlighted in the report include: UQM Technologies, a supplier of electric propulsion and generator systems, received a $45 million grant to build manufacturing facilities for electric drive systems for electric and hybrid vehicles; Solazyme, which produces diesel from algae oil, will use a $21.8 million grant to build its first algae fuel refinery; FloDesign Wind Turbine Corp. will use an $8.3 million grant to develop […]
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The Green Week in Review is a podcast, hosted by SustainableBusiness.com News Editor Bart King. It’s posted every Friday morning and is about 15 minutes long. You can listen to it through your browser or download it to a portable MP3 player. Sign up for our General News RSS Feed and it will be automatically downloaded to your computer’s media player each week. In this week’s show… EPA To Study Hydraulic Fracturing for Natural Gas University of Alaska To Host First DOI Climate Science Center More Corn Ethanol May Boost Greenhouse Gas Emissions Should Biomass-Fired Power Receive Incentives? Change.org To Push 10 Winning Ideas in Washington Plus, a summary of the week’s top cleantech headlines. ++++ Email comments or questions to bart@sustainablebusiness.co
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The Green Week in Review is a podcast, hosted by SustainableBusiness.com News Editor Bart King. It’s posted every Friday morning and is about 15 minutes long. You can listen to it through your browser or download it to a portable MP3 player. Sign up for our General News RSS Feed and it will be automatically downloaded to your computer’s media player each week. In this week’s show… EPA To Study Hydraulic Fracturing for Natural Gas University of Alaska To Host First DOI Climate Science Center More Corn Ethanol May Boost Greenhouse Gas Emissions Should Biomass-Fired Power Receive Incentives? Change.org To Push 10 Winning Ideas in Washington Plus, a summary of the week’s top cleantech headlines. ++++ Email comments or questions to bart@sustainablebusiness.co
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By Steven Chu, U.S. Secretary of Energy For the next few decades, energy efficiency is one of the lowest cost options for reducing US carbon emissions. Many studies have concluded that energy efficiency can save both energy and money. For example, a recent McKinsey report calculated the potential savings assuming a 7% discount rate, no price on carbon and using only “net present value positive” investments. It found the potential to reduce consumer demand by about 23% by 2020 and reduce GHG emissions by 1.1 gigatons each year–at a net savings of US$ 680 billion. Likewise, the National Academies found in 2009 that accelerated deployment of cost-effective technologies in buildings could reduce energy use by 25-30% in 2030. The report stated: “Many building efficiency technologies represent attractive investment opportunities with a payback period of two to three years.” Some economists, however, don’t believe these analyses; they say there aren’t 20-dollar bills lying around waiting to be picked up. If the savings were real, they argue, why didn’t the free market vacuum them up? The skeptics are asking a fair question: why do potential energy efficiency savings often go unrealized? I asked our team at the Department of Energy to review […]
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First Solar Developing 550MW Solar Project in California Chevron to Build 1MW CPV Plant in New Mexico Interior Dept: $3.7M to 13 Tribes for Renewable Energy Utilities in California, Ohio Test Energy Storage FTC Proposes EnergyGuide Labels on TVs Poll Finds Clean Energy, not Efficiency is Solution to Energy, Climate Woes First Solar Developing a 550 MW Solar Project in California On March 9, First Solar announced a power purchase agreement to supply California’s Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) with 300 MW of renewable energy from Desert Sunlight, a 550 MW utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) solar facility the company is developing in Southern California. The other 250 MW portion of the project is already under contract to Southern California Edison (SCE). The facility, near Desert Center in eastern Riverside County, California, will produce enough power for about 160,000 homes, using the company’s thin-film PV modules made from cadmium telluride. The Bureau of Land Management fast tracked the project’s permit application – First Solar plans to break ground this year and to complete it as early as 2013. First Solar recently completed the largest PV project in the state, and the second largest in the country, a 21 MW power plant […]
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The Green Week in Review is a podcast, hosted by SustainableBusiness.com News Editor Bart King. It’s posted every Friday morning and is about 15 minutes long. You can listen to it through your browser or download it to a portable MP3 player. Sign up for our General News RSS Feed and it will be automatically downloaded to your computer’s media player each week. In this week’s show… Colorado Expected To Boost Renewable Energy Standard to 30% Supreme Court Closes Clean Air Loophole Loggerhead Sea Turtles May Soon Receive Endangered Status Plus, a summary of the week’s top cleantech headlines. ++++ Email comments or questions to bart@sustainablebusiness.com
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Navy Awards $200 Million for 40 MW of Solar Power on Southwestern Bases DOE Guarantees $189 Million in Loans for Wind Power, Advanced Windows Report Emphasizes Need to Reduce U.S. Consumption of Petroleum USDA Guarantees an $80 Million Loan to a Georgia Biorefinery Recovery Act Funds 191 New Transit Projects in 42 States, Puerto Rico Geneva Motor Show Spotlights Plug-Ins, Electric Vehicles, and Hybrids Navy Awards $200M for 40 MW of Solar The U.S. Navy awarded a $200 million contract in February to construct up to 40 MW of solar PV plants at Navy and Marine Corps facilities throughout the Southwestern U.S. The Navy chose five solar companies to compete for individual projects, which will range from 1 to 15 MW. The five companies are: SunEdison, AECOM Energy/Solar Power Partners, SunPower Corp, SunDurance Energy, and Chevron Energy Solutions. They will construct, own, operate, and maintain the systems, selling the power to the Navy and Marine Corps through power purchase agreements. The new solar projects will help the Navy achieve its goal to produce at least 50% of its shore-based energy requirements from renewable sources by 2020. See the U.S. Navy press release. Most federal agencies are now exploring the use […]
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The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants (EECBG), funded with $3.2 billion under the Recovery Act, marked the first time federal dollars have targeted municipal energy efficiency jobs and programs. The money is allocated to municipalities across the country, as well as indirectly through states and a competitive application process, allowing eligible cities and counties to support vital energy efficiency programs intended to create green jobs, save energy, and improve the economy. Energy efficiency projects range from far-reaching city-planning and financial strategies, to retrofits and energy audit programs for existing buildings, to recycling and job-creation initiatives. It encourages cities to establish a baseline of energy use by which to measure future energy savings and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The money is expected to start flowing in early 2010. Many cities have had well-developed energy efficiency programs for many years. ACEEE’s report, Energy Efficiency Program Options for Local Governments under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, includes synopses of over 40 municipal programs, all of which were instituted prior to the passage of the stimulus bill. The report provides effective models for cities implementing stimulus-funded energy efficiency programs. Case Studies: Proven Programs St. Paul, Minnesota In the 1990s, […]
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The Green Week in Review is a podcast, hosted by SustainableBusiness.com News Editor Bart King. It’s posted every Friday morning and is about 15 minutes long. You can listen to it through your browser or download it to a portable MP3 player. Sign up for our General News RSS Feed and it will be automatically downloaded to your computer’s media player each week. In this week’s show… Arizona Backs Down: Nukes Aren’t Renewable Energy Califonia News: Energy Storage Legislation, Dynamic Pricing Obama Proposes ‘Homestar’ Rebates for Energy Efficiency Retrofits Wal-Mart Sets Supply Chain Emissions Goal for 2015 Marks & Spencer Ambitious Sustainability Goals Plus, a summary of the week’s top cleantech headlines. ++++ Email comments or questions to bart@sustainablebusiness.com
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$100M for Innovative Energy Research Projects Detroit Automakers Invest in Energy-Efficient Engines U.S. Wind Potential Triple Previous Estimates Solar Manufacturing Plants Coming to 4 States Solar-Powered Boat to Circumnavigate the Globe White House: Agencies Should Weigh GHG Emissions DOE Offers $100M for Innovative Energy Research Projects DOE issued three Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) on March 2 that offer $100 million in Recovery Act funds for the third round of its Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) program. The FOAs focus on innovations in grid storage, power converters, and cooling systems for buildings. The goal is to promote U.S. leadership in the emerging global market for these advanced energy technologies, while cutting greenhouse gas emissions and reducing U.S. electrical consumption by as much as 30%. Specifically, the program aims to support development of modular, cost-effective, grid-scale energy storage technologies, including advanced system prototypes and proof-of-concept projects that address critical shortcomings of existing grid-scale energy storage technologies. For power converters, the program seeks fundamental advances in soft (non-permanent) magnets, high-voltage switches, and high-density charge storage. By coupling these to advanced circuit architectures and scalable manufacturing, the program aims to leapfrog existing power converter performance while offering reductions in cost. The program […]
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