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While much attention on renewables in recent years has focussed on solar and wind technologies, awareness has been growing around the enormous energy generating potential of the Earth's oceans. A 2005 report from the Electric Power Research Institute stated that wave power properly and effectively harnessed, would likely have minimal environmental impact, and be much less visible on the landscape, than competing technologies. At the same time, waves possess the advantage of being more predictable than either wind or solar, which in principle makes ocean power a more reliable source of energy.

2009 brings some new incentives for homeowners to adopt energy efficiency from both state and federal sources. The Wall Street Journal reported last week on several of these, including new provisions for tax credits in solar, small wind, and biomass stoves (those burning wood pellets or corn). In addition, this year, both solar and wind residential tax credits can be claimed against the alternative minimum tax. Improvements to weatherize your home could also qualify for an energy efficiency tax credit of up to $500. There are also new credits for upgrading your furnace, boilers, heat pumps, and water heaters. Read more at WSJ.com: http://tinyurl.com/93n535 Link to original post

Today the Department of Energy (DOE) announced the award of 16 new Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPCs) that could result in up to $80 billion in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and water conservation projects at federally-owned buildings and facilities. ESPCs help to meet the federal government's energy efficiency, water conservation, and renewable energy goals. The federal government is the largest single user of energy in the United States and these awards demonstrate a commitment to sound government stewardship by recognizing efforts to save energy, reduce federal energy costs, cut greenhouse gas emissions, bring more cutting-edge technologies to use, strengthen national security, and create a stronger economy.

The newest energy tax credits are now available. Have no fear; there may be some help from the United States government.

A Seattle company is hoping to convert the motion of the ocean into electricity. Grays Harbor Ocean Energy Company has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for permits to harness energy from waves off the coastline of six states. In all, the company would build seven harnessing sites - in federal waters off California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island - each covering about 100 square miles.

Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Monday unveiled an ambitious plan that calls for installing solar panels on residents' rooftops to meet 10 percent of the city's energy needs by the year 2020. "Our solar initiative is the largest of any kind anywhere in the world. When it takes full effect, L.A. will have 1,280 megawatts more capacity -- more than exists in the entire United States today," said the mayor.

ADAGE and Energy Northwest announced a partnership today that could bring several new power plants to the Pacific Northwest by the end of 2012. The plants would be built by ADAGE, a joint venture by AREVA and Duke Energy, and would bring an estimated 2,000 construction jobs to the state. ADAGE President Reed Wills said at a press conference announcing the partnership that the plants also would create 500 permanent "green" jobs for plant operations and wood waste collection. The plants likely would be located in forested areas of western Washington. AREVA President Jacques Besnainou said the plants would burn wood waste, such as bark or tree branches stripped from lumber, to generate power. Wood waste is a renewable, carbon-neutral source that fits the state's clean energy goals, he said.

Shortened workweeks, flextime, enforced time off; none of these are new concepts in today's workplace. But some U.S. state governments and organizations are turning to four-day workweeks and alternative work schedules as a way to combat the recession as well as cutting down on energy consumption. They're having varying degrees of success.

Coal plants are abundant in the United States. According to the Department of Energy they produce around 49% of the energy that we use.

Renewable Energy World has an article on the state of play in the ocean energy market - Harnessing the Tides: Marine Power Update 2009 One hundred and forty-one years ago, the relentless sea off Scotland's coast inspired the following observation from native son and author George MacDonald. "I climbed the heights above the village, and looked abroad over the Atlantic. What a waste of aimless tossing to and fro! Gray mist above, full of falling rain; gray, wrathful waters underneath, foaming and bursting as billow broke upon billow…they burst on the rocks at the end of it, and rushed in shattered spouts and clouds of spray far into the air over their heads. "Will the time ever come," I thought, when man shall be able to store up even this force for his own ends? Who can tell?"

With the rise in biodiesel production, the growing number of US states adopting legislation for the use of biodiesel, and an expectant market, there is also an increasing demand for biodiesel fuel specialists.

As part of the Senate's proposed tax stimulus plan, tax credits of up to $7500 have been included for plug-in electric vehicles! This is huge proposal and signifies the Senate is willing to work with President Obama to wean the United States off its dependency on foreign oil.

DOVER, Mass. - On a recent sunny afternoon Bob Loebelenz pauses to gaze 72 feet into the air at the spinning blades of his wind turbine, a small "clean, free electricity" smile creasing the corners of his mouth. While giant wind turbines that supply power to utilities sprout along ridgelines across the United States, far smaller residential wind generators, like the one Mr. Loebelenz erected in 2003 to power his suburban Boston home, are still unusual in densely populated places.

Global wind power capacity reached 94,100 megawatts by the end of 2007, up 27 percent from the previous year, and then topped 100,000 megawatts by April 2008.1 (See Figure 1.) The roughly 20,000 megawatts installed in 2007 was 31 percent above the 2006 record for capacity additions.2 (See Figure 2.) New wind installa­tions were second only to natural gas in the United States as an additional source of power capacity and were the leading source of new capacity in the European Union (EU).3

When California launched the nation's biggest solar incentive program at the beginning of 2007, the idea was to transform the landscape by installing a million solar rooftops throughout the Golden State.

SACRAMENTO, Calif.: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Thursday that pressure from the auto industry will not deter California from attempting to impose strict emission rules for vehicles sold in the state.

"Wind energy could generate 20 percent of the electricity needed by households and businesses in the eastern half of the United States by 2024, but it would require up to $90 billion in investment, according to a government report released on Wednesday. For the 20 percent wind scenario to work, billions must be spent on installing wind towers on land and sea and about 22,000 miles of new high-tech power lines to carry the electricity to cities, according to the study from the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory."

"The world's largest tidal power station will be constructed off the coast of Incheon. GS Engineering and Construction signed a memorandum of understanding with state-run Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP) on Wednesday and will begin construction later next year with a view to completion around 2017. The power station will have a capacity of 1.32 million kw/h, surpassing the 1 million kw/h of a nuclear reactor being constructed in Ulsan and 3.4 times greater than the capacity of the Rance Tidal Power Station in France, currently the world's largest. It will generate 2.41 billion kw per year, the equivalent of 60 percent of Incheon's household electricity consumption."

The conservation of the land and animals has long been a bedrock principle of the United States.

The LA Times has an article on a new report noting that wind power could meet the entire electricity demand in the US - Wind turbines could more than meet U.S. electricity needs, report says. Wind turbines off U.S. coastlines could potentially supply more than enough electricity to meet the nation's current demand, the Interior Department reported Thursday. Simply harnessing the wind in relatively shallow waters -- the most accessible and technically feasible sites for offshore turbines -- could produce at least 20% of the power demand for most coastal states, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said, unveiling a report by the Minerals Management Service that details the potential for oil, gas and renewable development on the outer continental shelf. The biggest wind potential lies off the nation's Atlantic coast, which the Interior report estimates could produce 1,000 gigawatts of electricity -- enough to meet a quarter of the national demand.