In recent months, chains including Wal-Mart Stores, Kohl’s, Safeway and Whole Foods Market have installed solar panels on roofs of their stores to generate electricity on a large scale. One reason they are racing is to beat a Dec. 31 deadline to gain tax advantages for these projects.

So far, most chains have outfitted fewer than 10 percent of their stores. Over the long run, assuming Congress renews a favorable tax provision and more states offer incentives, the chains promise a solar construction program that would ultimately put panels atop almost every big store in the country.

The trend, while not entirely new, is accelerating as the chains seize a chance to bolster their environmental credentials by cutting back on their use of electricity from coal.

Tags: energy policy on 08-11-2008 -Cached -About Shared by:Emil Milker

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WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has launched the EnergySmart Hospitals initiative, with the aim of increasing the use of energy efficient technologies in hospitals across the United States. \n\nThe EnergySmart Hospital initiative will provide hospitals with design strategies, advanced energy design guides, technology assessments, case studies, training sessions, and an interactive Website to help hospitals increase their energy efficiency. The initiative intends to improve energy efficiency in existing hospitals by 20 percent and to help develop new hospitals that are 30 percent more efficient than current building standards. It will also support hospitals in meeting the challenge of lowering costs while delivering quality patient care and maintaining healthy healing and work environments. \n

Tags: policy technology on 08-04-2008 -Cached -About Shared by:Emil Milker

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A vote could come as early as this week in the U.S. Senate on a bill introduced by Senate Tax Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) containing a one-year renewable energy production tax credit (PTC) extension and a small wind turbine investment tax credit.
The Senate bill, S. 3335, contains a one-year PTC extension at its current value. After December 31, 2009, any further extension would include the "presumption" of a cost cap, which would, through a complex formula, put a ceiling on the value of the credits of no greater than 35% of project value. The small wind ITC has a cap of US $4,000 per system.The 10-year cost for the PTC, including all technologies to which it applies, is projected to be approximately US $7 billion, while the ITC, which includes solar, would cost approximately US $907 million over 10 years.

The bill also includes provisions to extend through 2014 the tax credits for solar energy, fuel cell and microturbine property, as well as the residential energy efficient property tax credit. Marine renewable energies could also benefit from the bill as credits to build wave, tidal, current and ocean thermal energy conversion systems of at least 150 kilowatts (kW) are extended through the end of 2011.

Tags: policy renewable energy solar wind on 07-30-2008 -Cached -About Shared by:Emil Milker

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The Indonesian government and state electricity company are demanding industries spread out their electricity demand by moving away from traditional work-weeks.

Tags: policy trends on 07-30-2008 -Cached -About Shared by:Colin Bennett

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the CAIR decision could have done permanent damage to any cap-and-trade approach \nto pollution control.

Tags: emissions policy trends on 07-29-2008 -Cached -About Shared by:Colin Bennett

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Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell has approved a bill that establishes a $500 million fund to support alternative energy projects. Special Session House Bill 1 authorizes the Commonwealth Financing Authority to borrow $500 million, most of which will be split into six funding sources relating to energy efficiency and renewable energy: $80 million in grants and loans for solar energy projects; $100 million in grants, loans, and rebates for up to 35 percent of the cost of solar energy projects at residences and small businesses; $165 million in grants and loans for alternative energy projects, excluding solar energy, at businesses and local government facilities; $25 million for wind and geothermal energy projects; $40 million to help start-up businesses involved in energy efficiency technologies; and $25 million in grants and loans to improve the energy efficiency of new and existing homes and small business buildings.

Tags: policy renewable energy technology on 07-28-2008 -Cached -About Shared by:Emil Milker

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Investors piled out of Russian stocks Friday after the abrupt departure from the country of a foreign oil boss and the prime minister's unexpected severe criticism of a large steel firm.

MICEX, the exchange where the bulk of trading in Russian stocks takes place, plunged by 4.8 percent as of 12:20 p.m. Russian time, while the RTS, a top stock index, lost 4.4 percent to drop beneath the critical 2000-point barrier for the first time since March.

After Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's scathing attack on Mechel late Thursday, heavy trading in New York sent the steel and coal maker's stock down by nearly 40 percent, losses mirrored Friday morning in Russian trading.

The premier criticized the company, which is the largest supplier of coal for steelmakers in Russia, for charging much higher prices for raw materials domestically than it does for its exports, and called for an antitrust investigation into its activities.

Tags: policy on 07-25-2008 -Cached -About Shared by:Emil Milker

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General Motors Corp., along with a consortium of more than 30 utilities and a non-profit electric industry research group, has struck a deal to forestall potential problems when the company introduces its new electric vehicle to the nation's showrooms.

An EPRI official also emphasized the grid aspects of the collaboration. Said Arshad Mansoor, the organization's vice president of power delivery:

"Seemless integration of [plug-in hybrid electric vehicles] into the electric grid will require close collaboration between the automobile and electric sectors."

The statements from EPRI and the car company also address safe and convenient vehicle charging, public education and other public policies, including codes and standards.

Among the utility participants in the collaboration are Consolidated Edison of New York, Duke Energy, First Energy Corp., Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and Southern California Edison Co. Others are listed as part of the EPRI statement.

The research organization last year released a report along with the Natural Resources Defense Council that concluded plug-in hybrids had the potential to lower greenhouse gas emissions. GM, meanwhile, emphasized the cost benefit of the new vehicles, saying consumers could find that the per-mile expense of an electric vehicle would be about one-fifth that of a gas-powered car.

Tags: battery policy on 07-23-2008 -Cached -About Shared by:Emil Milker

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Last week the Spanish government announced plans to cut subsidies for solar photovoltaic (PV) power by about 75%.

Although the nation expects to surpass its 2010 goal for installed solar by four fold, the down side is that generous subsidies for the industry have resulted in a ballooning tariff deficit for the country, which has risen to 4.85 billion euros, upfrom 745 million last year.

Reuters reported that lending to the Spanish photovoltaic plants has risen to $3.59 billion in the year to day, up from $230.9 million euros last year and $192.44 million in 2006.

As a result, the Spanish government will as the energy regulator to cap subsidies for new PV solar capacity at 300 megawatts (MW) per year--200 MW for rooftop systems and 100 MW for ground-mounted systems, which have been the highest growth area.


CSP has been slower than PV technology in its emergence on the renewable energy scene, but expectations for the technology, which focuses the heat of the sun to produce steam to drive electricity producing turbines. Projects underway in the U.S. and Spain are expected to produce electricity that is cost-equivalent to electricity produced from burning coal or natural gas.

Tags: energy policy solar on 07-23-2008 -Cached -About Shared by:Emil Milker

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Industrial, mining and property investors were still in a state of confusion over power utility Eskom's approach to new electricity connections, but the corporation promised on Tuesday that the issue would be clarified with the imminent release of a comprehensive policy, possibly by as early as next week.

CEO Jacob Maroga - currently in Europe on a road show to expose potential investors to its R150-billion capital-raising plan - said last week that the utility had not yet determined just how much power could be allocated to new projects. However, he indicated that a needs analysis was under way in a bid to align its stretched supply profile to the new demand.

Maroga also stressed that supply security could be markedly improved and space created for new connections if greater savings were achieved. In fact, he displayed a graph showing that Eskom's reserve margin, which was currently running at a paltry 6%, could rise to well above 10% by 2009 should its savings targets be met.

"If we follow the 10% savings path, there will be space for new connections. But we need information from potential customers, which will tell us what is, in fact, possible," he said.

Tags: energy mining policy on 07-22-2008 -Cached -About Shared by:Emil Milker

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BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission will launch a raft of proposals on Wednesday to curb the environmental impact of consumerism in the 27-nation EU by supporting eco-friendly products and technology.

The plan comes as the European Union moves to cut energy consumption amid soaring fuel and power prices and as part of its ambitious mid-term goal of cutting carbon dioxide emissions by one fifth by 2020, compared to 1990 levels.

"This will mainly be targeted at products that use a lot of energy, such as computers, televisions, water heaters and industrial fans," a source at the Commission, the bloc's executive arm, said on Monday.

Tags: policy trends on 07-15-2008 -Cached -About Shared by:Colin Bennett

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Hawaii has become the first state to require solar water heaters in new homes. The bill was signed into law by Governor Linda Lingle, a Republican. It requires the energy-saving systems in homes starting in 2010. It prohibits issuing building permits for single-family homes that do not have solar water heaters. Hawaii relies on imported fossil fuels more than any other state, with about 90 percent of its energy sources coming from foreign countries, according to state data.

Tags: policy solar trends on 06-30-2008 -Cached -About Shared by:Colin Bennett

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