Steelcase Inc. Becomes First Renewable Energy Credit Buyer to Sponsor Commercial-Scale Wind Farm

Office Furniture Company Defines New Role in Wind Industry, Makes Long-Term Commitment to Facility to be Named ‘Wege Wind Energy Farm, provided by Steelcase’

Read about it here.

UK Announces Plan For Offshore Wind Generators to Provide Enough Electricity to Power all Homes in the UK by 2020

Harnessing the vast potential of the UK's island status entered a new phase as Energy Secretary John Hutton announced proposals to open up its seas to up to 33GW (gigawatts) of offshore wind energy. He also announced that he will chair a panel of experts to advise him on renewable energy, underscoring the UK Government's determination to play its part in meeting the EU target of 20% renewable energy by 2020 [Click here to read full article...]

Solar Startup Ausra Inks $1B Deal With PG&E

Pacific Gas and Electric on Monday announced that it signed a 177-megawatt solar thermal power purchasing agreement with Ausra.

According to John O'Donnell, Ausra's executive vice president, the twenty-year agreement will generate over $1 billion in revenue for the Palo Alto, California-based start-up.

The plant will be located in San Luis Obispo County, California, and is expected to begin generating power in 2010. Ausra has filed its application for certification for this plant with the California Energy Commission, which must grant approval before construction begins.

PG&E supplies 12 percent of its energy from renewable sources, said Keely Wachs, PG&E’s environmental communications manager.

“PG&E continues to aggressively add renewable electric power resources” to its supply and the company is confident that it will meet or exceed its 20 percent renewable energy goal by 2010, he said.

Proving that bigger isn’t always better, the plant will use only one square mile of land and will burn no fuel, use minimal water, and have no air or water emissions.

[Click here to read the original article...]

AWEA Quarterly Report

AWEA QUARTERLY MARKET REPORT: WIND DELIVERS VITAL NEW POWER SUPPLY WITH OVER 2,300 MEGAWATTS INSTALLED THIS YEAR TO DATE Wind energy trade group raises estimate for 2007 installations, calls on U.S government to deliver strong renewable energy legislation
Continuing a major growth trend, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) today announced a substantial increase in the projected installation of new wind energy facilities in 2007. Previous projections for a record-setting 3,000 megawatts (MW) of new wind power capacity in 2007 have now been raised: AWEA reports that the U.S. wind energy industry is currently on track to complete a total 4,000 MW in 2007, shattering its 2006 record of 2,454 MW, and generating enough new electricity to power the equivalent of over one million homes. In its third quarter market report, AWEA also reports that the industry has already added over 2,300 MW of generating capacity to the nation’s electrical grid so far this year with a total of more than 5,000 MW in various stages of construction, establishing wind as one of the largest sources of new power in the country today. “The U.S wind energy industry is going to exceed what was already a record projection for installations this year,” said AWEA Executive Director Randall Swisher. “This is great news because it means that new, readily available, clean generation is reaching consumers at a time when electricity demand and global warming concerns are both on the rise. “But the not-so-good news is that, even as we face these twin challenges [climate change and growing energy demand], our country does not have a long-term, national policy in place to promote renewable energy development.” The federal production tax credit (PTC) for renewable energy will expire in December 2008, and there is no national renewable electricity standard (RES) or other long-term policy in place. Commented Swisher, “A national long-term policy to promote renewable energy, like the Renewable Electricity Standard approved by the House of Representatives in August, is essential for wind and other renewable energy industries to grow successfully and cost-effectively. The U.S. wind energy industry urges Congressional leaders and the President to work together and bring to the finish line energy legislation that extends the production tax credit and establishes a national standard for renewable electricity. “In addition to strengthening energy security and fighting global warming, more wind power and renewables will help stabilize electricity costs, and will create economic opportunity in both industrial and rural America .” Wind power is delivering a generous return on public investment: the continuity in the PTC since 2005 has spurred both record-breaking new generating capacity (2,431 MW added in 2005, 2,454 MW in 2006, about 4,000 MW expected in 2007) and a wave of investment in manufacturing facilities and services across the country, including in states that do not have a large wind resource. Additional returns include lower pollution costs, and growing income for communities in which wind farms are installed. The U.S. wind energy industry completed 1,251 MW of wind power generation since last reported, bringing the total installed to date this year to 2,310 MW and the total cumulative wind power generating capacity in the country to 13,885 MW, according to AWEA. One megawatt of wind power produces enough electricity on average to serve 250 to 300 American homes. State highlights include: -- Texas again added the largest amount of new wind power generation (600 MW); -- Colorado installed 264 MW and now ranks as the state with the 6th-largest amount of wind power generation; -- Washington , with 140 MW of new wind capacity, pulls ahead of Minnesota into 4th place; --Missouri saw the completion of its first utility-scale wind farm, a 56.7-MW project that generates power for electric cooperatives in the region and that makes Missouri the state with the 21st largest amount of wind power now installed; -- Illinois , Pennsylvania , and Iowa also saw the completion of utility-scale projects. The full AWEA quarterly market report is available online at http://www.awea.org/Projects/PDF/3Q_Market_Report_Nov2007.pdf
For a full list of projects completed this quarter, listing of states by capacity installed, and additional market information see http://www.awea.org/projects/

BP, Arizona State look to bacteria, not algae, for a biofuel

Algae's not the only organism that can be used as a feedstock for biofuel.

BP will collaborate with Arizona State University to try to figure out a way of using cyanobacteria, a photosynthetic form of bacteria, as a feedstock for diesel or synthetic petroleum. Ideally, the bacteria could be cultivated in large, contained plots of land baked by the sun--Arizona has a lot of that. The bacteria also consume carbon dioxide to grow. Thus, carbon dioxide could be pumped in from a power plant into the contained bacteria farm. The company could thus make money from selling carbon credits and selling fuel feedstock...[Click here to read the full article]

Will biofuels end OPEC’s power and agricultural protectionism?

Published: November 6 2007 16:32 | Last updated: November 6 2007 16:32

Biofuels are set to transform the global economy, according to Harvard University economist Ricardo Hausmann, leading to the demise of the price-setting power of OPEC and the end of agricultural protectionism.

He argues that technology is bound to deliver a biofuel that will be competitive with fossil energy at something like current prices. The consequences of this will be that the large potential supply of biofuels will cap the price of oil because its supply is much more elastic.

Professor Hausmann also argues that the large-scale biofuel production will cause increases in the price of agricultural land and of food that will relieve governments from the current political pressure to protect the agricultural sector. This, he says, will boost sustainable development in poorer nations.

Can these predictions become reality? Which biofuels will become most widely used? What do such scenarios mean for carbon emissions and energy security?

Professor Hausmann will answer your questions on Thursday 15 November 2007. Post a question now to ask@ft.com or use the online submissions form below.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/2fe3bea8-8c84-11dc-b887-0000779fd2ac.html

Handicapping the Environmental Gold Rush

In the race to profit off the scramble to go green, there will be winners and losers. Here's how the players currently stack up.

By JEFFREY BALL

The green stampede is on.

As a global economy powered by cheap fossil fuel comes under intense pressure to change, corporate executives are racing to stay ahead of the tectonic shift in their world.

From Capitol Hill to California and Brussels to Beijing, multinational companies are stepping up their lobbying and tweaking their product lines in response to demands that they get more environmentally attuned. New companies -- even new industries -- are challenging the established giants to exploit a growing market for everything from green cars to green fuels.

And a host of middlemen have sprung up to make markets in new financial instruments created by the proliferation of green-oriented subsidies and mandates. All these players are jostling to shape the new government rules to give them the bulk of the benefit -- and hit someone else with the bulk of the burden. Ultimately, the cost will be passed on to consumers.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119335097973072106.html?mod=hps_us_inside_today

4-8 Nukes worth of Tidal

Holy Tidal Power Project, Britain!

Click here to read about it...

The Littlest Eco-Warriors

By ELLEN GAMERMAN

September 29, 2007

There's a new authority cracking down on environmental missteps -- the kids. Below, a sampling of resources that deliver environmental messages to the elementary school set.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119090528485241374.html?mod=moj_latest_news

This is a great article about opportunities for kids to learn about Global Warming and the environment. Anyways i thought maybe ETG could work on developing an outreach program for the youth in the community.

A different way to think of clean energy

There is a certain energy technology out there that provides energy for 2 billion people worldwide. It gives them warmth, light and the means to prepare food. Although this technology is renewable to a certain extent, by no means is it clean. It's also slowly killing those who rely on it. The technology is fire, and for more then a third of humanity it's the only real option. It's use comes at a price, however, and a recent article in the Lancet medical journal says that the health of 2 billion people is threatened because they rely on wood fires for their energy needs. For these people, even electricity from a dirty old coal-fired generator would mean a vastly improved life. [click here for link]

Clean Energy Investment Tops $18.1 Billion in 2006

New Energy Finance Ltd., a London-based research firm that specializes in alternative-energy investments, released a report today stating that private-equity funds and venture capitalists invested $18.1 billion in the clean energy sector last year. Two billion dollars still reside in such funds and have yet to be invested. Still, the $18.1 billion figure represents a 67% increase over 2005, when venture capital and private equity investment totaled $10.8 billion. NEF estimates that private equity and venture capital invested in clean energy will grow at a compound annual rate of approximately 17% through to 2013.

Source: Energy Roundup blog, WSJ.com

Investors, big businesses see green in being green

http://www.cnn.com/
LONDON, England (AP) -- Big business fears that the fight against climate change will cost billions are now giving way to a different view: green can be the color of money.

More companies are involved in the creation of alternative sources of energy like electricity from wind farms.

The United States, Europe and Japan are locked in a frantic race to cash in on the exploding business of saving the planet. London has become the center for the multibillion dollar market in carbon emissions, attracting investors who trade CO2 allowances.

[Click here to read the original article...]

Bring on Geothermal!

Geothermal is one of the most underutilitzed sources of commercial and large home HVAC (in areas with the appropriate geology), and has tremendous potential as a renewable power source. This is a great heads-up article from Business Week.

Is Clean Tech Immune From Market Woes?

August 8, 2007, 11:18 am

Deal makers in the so-called clean-technology business are mostly brushing aside recent market weakness and forecast a healthy flow of venture capital and other transactions in the solar, biofuel and wind energy sectors for the remainder of the year.

“Every area has momentum right now,” said Dan Pullman, vice president at investment bank McNamee Lawrence & Co. “You see it solar, you see it wind, alternative transportation, fuels, and plug-in vehicles.”

“We have a need to more efficiently use energy, and get more energy from renewable sources,” said Michael Carboy, clean energy analyst at Signal Hill. “Those don’t change based on market valuation. Corrections are an opportunity to look at names thought of as too expensive in the past.”

Carboy sees continued investment by venture capitalists in the sector, especially in energy storage and electric grid efficiency specialists, as well as new solar energy technology. However, he’s bearish on the ethanol stocks because they’re subject to swings both in corn prices and gasoline prices.

Jeffrey Saut, market strategist with Raymond James, sounded a word of caution on solar and other alternative energy shares, however. “If you bet the farm, you better have two farms,” Saut said. “Despite what the clean-tech people will tell you, if crude oil goes down, the price of anything related to alternative energy comes down with it. Most don’t stand on their own feet without high energy prices, or without government tax benefits.”

Saut also said he likes solar energy long-term, is bearish on ethanol, and wonders why free energy from geothermal heat isn’t more widely used.
Pullman of McNamee Lawrence said obstacles to clean tech include the Bush administration, which plans to veto the recently-passed House Energy Bill, as well as the high cost of silicon for solar energy panel makers. Players in the clean tech space expect more action from Washington — such as carbon trading legislation — after the presidential elections in 2008.

Jeff Lipton, managing director of the Clean Tech Group at Jefferies, expects to see more IPOs and secondary offerings this year. First Solar, for example, just set plans to raise a whopping $1 billion in a stock offering. On the IPO front, GT Solar International Inc. has filed a $200 million IPO to boost its business as a maker of manufacturing equipment for the solar power industry.

Venture deals on the clean-tech radar screen include a $78 million round for Energy Photovoltaics, a $70 million round for GreenVolts and a $60 million infusion for BullMoose.

[Click here for the original article...]

684 MW of euro-wind capacity goes for 2.5 billion

International Power buys Trinergy's wind portfolio. [Link]

It's safe, just trust us...

Along with solar, wind and other renewables, another power source is growing in popularity as a possible solution to the looming problem of climate change: nukes. Check out the front page of Fortune magazine this month. It's all about nuclear power. Safe, clean, abundant nuclear power. The accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl are ancient history and couldn't happen again. After all, there hasn't been another major reactor incident since Chernobyl melted down in 1986. Or has there? This Wall Street Journal report indicates that all is not well with the nuclear industry's incident reporting system. [Link]

Solar power makes tiny village beam

This story shows the potential of distributed solar generation in un-developed, poverty stricken parts of the world. Just imagine it's potential in the technologically advanced West, with our acres of rooftops and paved parking lots that are just waiting for someone to slap a PV panel on them. It's interesting that solar power is somehow too expensive and unreliable for the US government to encourage it's use by Americans, but it is cheap and reliable enough to power a poor, tiny Indian village. The fact that convenience is worth more to us then a stable, clean power source that has no expiration date is an indictment of our attitude towards energy as a society.

[Link]

Different strokes

Here's a story about a study that denounces renewable energy as environmentally destructive. The study's author attacks wind, solar and biomass as destructive to the land, claiming that the amount of land we would have to "rape" in order to fulfill our energy demand from these sources is so huge that the natural environment would be destroyed. See the story here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20070726/sc_livescience/studyrenewableenergynotgreen;_ylt=AnQAbNtukp4Q0G1eYF4Rwl2s0NUE

please post comments.

Hydrogen Hype

I've heard enough inaccurate statements about hydrogen as a "fuel" to warrant a Blog entry. For decades, hydrogen-philes have been touting the potential that hydrogen has as the fuel source of the future. After all, we can get hydrogen from water, and water is everywhere.

The problem is, getting the 2 H's from H2O requires energy, and that (usually) means electricity. So, the advocates say, we can use nuclear or some kind of renewable energy to make electricity to produce hydrogen, then fill our cars and homes with hydrogen fuel cells that convert hydrogen back to...well...electricity.

Critics of this idea point out the obvious: why not just skip the middle step (and all the inefficienies of the process) and power our society with electricity? Rather than investing trillions of dollars on new hydrogen dispensing infrastructure for a grand "hydrogen economy," let's invest billions on upgrading the existing grid, expanding wind and solar, and producing efficient batteries that can go further per kWh.

As one electric car entrepreneuer told me recently, the next big breakthrough in getting more miles out of electric cars is not battery technology, but transmission technology. In the same way that a car with a 5-speed transmission gets better gas milleage than one with 4-speed (given the same engine), improving transmission technology will get more miles from the same amount of energy.

Granted, hydrogen might be a preferable fuel for certain long-distance, aero-space, or military applications. But for the rest of us, it is less than ideal.

Most of us drive less than 40 miles per day, and electric cars with technology developed more than 10 years ago could go twice that on a single charge. So, the question is, why bother switching to hyrdogen as a primary fuel when, for a much smaller price tag and a $10 extension cord, we have all the infrastructure we need to transform the way our society gets around.

Tilting at Windmills

The Economist always has fantastic articles. I went back to pull up one of their articles from their cleantech issue last fall, and thought I would repost the link to their article on wind power.

More...