20th Environmental Film Festival, March 13-25, 2012
Washington, D.C.
The critical role that the environment plays in human health has inspired the theme of the 2012 Festival. Read more.
Take Amtrak to Washington, D.C. for the Environmental Film Festival!
Special Pre-Festival Screening on March 1st
Date: February 2, 2012
Cafeteria Man (2011, USA, 60 min.) chronicles an ambitious effort to ‘green’ the Baltimore public school diet serving 83,000 students. Leading the charge to replace pre-plated, processed foods with locally-grown, freshly-prepared meals is visionary Chef Tony Geraci, food-service director for the city’s public schools. His bold vision includes school vegetable gardens, student-designed meals, meatless Mondays, and nutrition education in the classroom. Over the course of two years, the film traces efforts to make healthy, nutritious meals available to all the city’s students. Watch as inner city youth plant and harvest vegetables at the school system’s 33-acre teaching farm and witness what it takes to get local produce on school plates.
Introduced by Peter O’Brien, Executive Director, Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital. Discussion with filmmakers, Richard Chisolm and Sheila Kinkade, and Chef Tony Geraci follows screening.
Date/Time:
Thursday, March 1st
10:00 AM - 12:00 Noon
Location:
Warner Theatre
513 13th St., NW (13th & E Sts., NW)
Metro: Metro Center (12th & F Sts., exit)
Metrobuses: D1, D3, D6, P17, P19, W13, 32, 36
Ticket/Reservation Info:
FREE. To register student groups please contact Maribel Guevara at 202-342-2564 or maribel@envirofilmfest.org. This film is recommended for grades 6-12
No reservations required for general public.
This program is available through Arts for Every Student, the tickets and transportation program of the DC Arts & Humanities Education Collaborative. For information on how to benefit from this program, please call 202-204-7753.
EFF Participates in Give to the Max Day 11/9
Date: October 27, 2011
To help generate donations, and possibly win thousands of additional dollars in awards, on November 9th the Environmental Film Festival will be competing in Give to the Max Day: Greater Washington, a massive one-day regional online fundraiser to support local nonprofits. More than a thousand nonprofits that serve the greater Washington region will ask donors to display their generosity in a region-wide competition to raise as much money as possible, and gain as many supporters as possible, in order to win hundreds of thousands of dollars in awards.
For 24 hours, starting at 12:00 AM on November 9th, nonprofits will drive their supporters online to donate, creating a huge display of support for one of the region’s largest sectors. There will be more than $100,000 in cash awards available for local nonprofits who generate the most in donations, and those that attract the most individual donors. EFF is excited to be a part of this campaign and we hope you can show your support on November 9th. Help us reach our goal of 50 unique donors between 3 PM - 4 PM.
To help EFF and the great work we do every day,
1) Save this link and mark your calendar for November 9th, 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
2) Help spread the word by sharing with friends and family
3) Learn more about Give to the Max Day
The Washington area nonprofit sector is one of the region’s most important economic drivers. To help local nonprofits, Give to the Max Day: Greater Washington was created by online fundraiser Razoo, and organized and supported by The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region and United Way of the National Capital Area.
The Arctic Trilogy screening 10/27
Date: October 24, 2011
The Arctic Trilogy (2011)
Paddling a kayak past glacier walls and polar bears, cruising on a hundred-year-old schooner through iceberg-packed seas, exploring tunnels in an ice cave, descending deep beneath the Arctic terrain to mine coal: these are just some of the extreme scenarios Janet Biggs captured when she ventured to Svalbard, the islands between mainland Norway and the North Pole. Awe-inspiring nature has its role to play, but Biggs’s trilogy focuses on the human dimensions of her subjects’ quests, exploring what draws people into working relationships with such a harsh, forbidding environment. Each twenty-minute video gathers force as the artist alternates stunning imagery with vocals by avant-garde performance artists John Kelly and Bill Coleman.
Date/Time:
Thursday, October 27, 2011
8 PM
Location:
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Ring Auditorium
Independence Ave. & Seventh St., SW
(Metro: L’Enfant Plaza, 7th St. & Maryland Ave. exit. Blue, Orange, Yellow and Green lines)
(Metrobuses: 13A, 13B, 13F, 13G, 52, V7, V9, 34, 36, 54, 70, 71, P17, P19, W13, Circulator)
Ticket/Reservation Info:
FREE. No reservations required.
To visit the Hirshhorn's website please click HERE.
Watch: Short videos about 2011 Festival
Date: October 11, 2011
Re-visit the 2011 Festival! EFF has uploaded two new short films featuring events from March 15-27, 2011. Click the links below to watch. Filmed and edited by Eduard Tabaku.
2011 Festival Highlight
2011 Pre-Festival event For Students
10/6 Premiere screening & discussion of PIPE DREAMS
Date: September 27, 2011
On Thursday, October 6th, 2011, at 5:30 PM & 8:00 PM please join the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital, the National Wildlife Federation, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Sierra Club for a premiere of the new documentary on the proposed Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline, PIPE DREAMS.
PIPE DREAMS (USA, 2011, 40 min.) explores the controversy surrounding the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada’s tar sands through America’s heartland -- Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas -- to the Gulf Coast. Featuring interviews with farmers and ranchers along the pipeline’s route and Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, International Program Director of the Natural Resources Defense Council, the film showcases the David and Goliath struggle to protect some of America’s most fertile farmland and the Ogallala Aquifer, one of the largest aquifers on the planet and the lifeblood of the region. Narrated by Daryl Hannah. Directed by Leslie Iwerks.
Introduced by Academy-Award nominated director, Leslie Iwerks. A panel discussion follows screening. Panelists: Leslie Iwerks, Director; Randy Thompson, Nebraska rancher; Susan Connolly, Michigan community member impacted by the Enbridge tar sands oil spill; George Poitras, Mikisew Cree Canadian indigenous first nation; Lorne Stockman, Oil Change International, Author, "Exporting Energy Security: Keystone XL."
Date/Time:
Thursday, October 6th, 2011
5:30 PM
8:00 PM
Ticket/Reservation Information:
FREE. Reservations required.
To RSVP for this event please email MackeyK@nwf.org
Location:
Goethe-Institut, 812 Seventh St., NW
(Metro: Gallery Place/ Chinatown, 7th & H Sts. exit. Yellow, Orange and Green lines)
(Metrobuses: 80, P6, X2, 42, G8, Circulator, 70)
For more information, please contact Jenny Kordick; KordickJ@nwf.org; 202-797-6607.
© 2012 Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital
INTERACTIVE MAP
Use the Map to find the locations of film screenings and EFF partnering organizations
Travel to the Environmental Film Festival in an environmentally friendly way!
Plan your trips to Festival screenings by train, bus, bike or foot by visiting GoDCGo and using their interactive map.
For Metrorail and Metrobus information, consult the Metropolitan Area Transit Authority or call 202-637-7000 to reach customer information.
Visit Capital Bikeshare to learn how to use their bikes at stations across D.C. and Arlington County.
Google GO TO MAP
© 2012 Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital | Sitemap | FAQ
Reas more at:
http://www.dcenvironmentalfilmfest.org/
usaalternativeenergynow.blogspot.com encourages everyone to attend this informative event.
Top of blog:
Monday, February 27, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Honda Loses Top Spot on Annual 'Green' Car List
Honda Loses Top Spot on Annual 'Green' Car List
Civic that runs on compressed natural gas drops to second after 8 years at No. 1.
By Douglas Newcomb Wed 4:24 PM
Exhaust Notes
With a significant drop in U.S. sales, a tepid reception for its new 2012 Civic and a one-two punch from dual natural disasters, Honda probably wants to put 2011 behind it. Now comes news that the automaker's compressed-natural-gas Civic has been bumped from its perennial top ranking on a respected "green"-car guide.
The Washington, D.C.-based environmental lobbying group American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy has published its annual Greenest Vehicles list at Greenercars.org for the past 14 years -- and the Honda Civic CNG has occupied the top spot for the past eight. This year, the No. 1 ranking was awarded to the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, the first electric car to earn top honors in the past 12 years.
The last all-electric car to hit ACEEE’s top spot was GM’s ill-fated EV-1. Shruti Vaidyanathan, head vehicle analyst for ACEEE, said that an electric car topping the list again after so long shows that "electric cars are becoming more prominent," although she acknowledged that huge hurdles for EVs still exist, such as range and refueling infrastructure.
Honda's being pulled down a notch comes on the heels of the Civic CNG garnering Green Car Journal's coveted Green Car of the Year Award at the 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show, where it beat out the Mitsubishi i for the honor. But it follows a lukewarm press reception and lackluster U.S. sales for the all-new 2012 Civic. The stalwart Japanese automaker took the unprecedented move of announcing a rushed refresh for the popular Civic, reworking the model only few months after it went on sale last April.
The ACEEE’s online guide ranks more than 1,000 vehicles and derives their green score based on a wide range of factors, including fuel efficiency, tailpipe emissions, emissions from the vehicle manufacturing processes and the health impact of those emissions. The Mitsubishi i had a green score of 58, while the Civic CNG and the fellow second-pace finisher the Nissan Leaf scored 55 points each.
Overall, Honda sales were down 7.1 percent in 2011 compared with 2010. Some of this is due to the devastating tsunami that hit Japan in March and floods that struck the company’s factories in Thailand in July. But it’s also due to what some see as stagnant design and innovation at Honda, particularly at a time when domestic rivals have roared back and South Korea’s Kia and Hyundai have increasingly won over U.S. buyers.
The Mitsubishi i was launched in the U.S. last month, and the automaker has sold only a handful of the 4-seat subcompact cars, mostly to fleet buyers. The i followed the Nissan Leaf as the second EV to reach U.S. showrooms, and more all-electric cars competitors -- the Toyota RAV4 and Ford Focus EV, for example -- are scheduled to debut later this year.
The Toyota Prius and Honda Insight occupy the fourth and fifth spots, respectively, on ACEEE’s top 12 list; other conventional hybrids take up half of all the spots, and compact gasoline-powered cars account for three of the top 12 slots. No vehicles from domestic brands made ACEEE's list, although American vehicles such as the Chevrolet Sonic and Ford Escape Hybrid topped their respective classes.
Domestics did dominate ACEEE’s "meanest" list, accounting for nine of the dozen most environmentally unfriendly vehicles of this year, which previously featured several prominent European exotics. For 2012, the Bugatti Veyron took a third in the "meanest" ranking. The top spot was shared by GM’s full-size cargo/passenger vans, the Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana, with Ford's E-350 wagon "winning" third place.
Read more at:
http://editorial.autos.msn.com/blogs/autosblogpost-hyb.aspx?post=026d0848-e31d-435e-9eaa-25924f94dfe5?icid=autos_2338
Top of blog: href="http://www.usaalternativeenergynow.blogspot.com/">To top of blog usaalternativeenergynow.blogspot.com
Civic that runs on compressed natural gas drops to second after 8 years at No. 1.
By Douglas Newcomb Wed 4:24 PM
Exhaust Notes
With a significant drop in U.S. sales, a tepid reception for its new 2012 Civic and a one-two punch from dual natural disasters, Honda probably wants to put 2011 behind it. Now comes news that the automaker's compressed-natural-gas Civic has been bumped from its perennial top ranking on a respected "green"-car guide.
The Washington, D.C.-based environmental lobbying group American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy has published its annual Greenest Vehicles list at Greenercars.org for the past 14 years -- and the Honda Civic CNG has occupied the top spot for the past eight. This year, the No. 1 ranking was awarded to the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, the first electric car to earn top honors in the past 12 years.
The last all-electric car to hit ACEEE’s top spot was GM’s ill-fated EV-1. Shruti Vaidyanathan, head vehicle analyst for ACEEE, said that an electric car topping the list again after so long shows that "electric cars are becoming more prominent," although she acknowledged that huge hurdles for EVs still exist, such as range and refueling infrastructure.
Honda's being pulled down a notch comes on the heels of the Civic CNG garnering Green Car Journal's coveted Green Car of the Year Award at the 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show, where it beat out the Mitsubishi i for the honor. But it follows a lukewarm press reception and lackluster U.S. sales for the all-new 2012 Civic. The stalwart Japanese automaker took the unprecedented move of announcing a rushed refresh for the popular Civic, reworking the model only few months after it went on sale last April.
The ACEEE’s online guide ranks more than 1,000 vehicles and derives their green score based on a wide range of factors, including fuel efficiency, tailpipe emissions, emissions from the vehicle manufacturing processes and the health impact of those emissions. The Mitsubishi i had a green score of 58, while the Civic CNG and the fellow second-pace finisher the Nissan Leaf scored 55 points each.
Overall, Honda sales were down 7.1 percent in 2011 compared with 2010. Some of this is due to the devastating tsunami that hit Japan in March and floods that struck the company’s factories in Thailand in July. But it’s also due to what some see as stagnant design and innovation at Honda, particularly at a time when domestic rivals have roared back and South Korea’s Kia and Hyundai have increasingly won over U.S. buyers.
The Mitsubishi i was launched in the U.S. last month, and the automaker has sold only a handful of the 4-seat subcompact cars, mostly to fleet buyers. The i followed the Nissan Leaf as the second EV to reach U.S. showrooms, and more all-electric cars competitors -- the Toyota RAV4 and Ford Focus EV, for example -- are scheduled to debut later this year.
The Toyota Prius and Honda Insight occupy the fourth and fifth spots, respectively, on ACEEE’s top 12 list; other conventional hybrids take up half of all the spots, and compact gasoline-powered cars account for three of the top 12 slots. No vehicles from domestic brands made ACEEE's list, although American vehicles such as the Chevrolet Sonic and Ford Escape Hybrid topped their respective classes.
Domestics did dominate ACEEE’s "meanest" list, accounting for nine of the dozen most environmentally unfriendly vehicles of this year, which previously featured several prominent European exotics. For 2012, the Bugatti Veyron took a third in the "meanest" ranking. The top spot was shared by GM’s full-size cargo/passenger vans, the Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana, with Ford's E-350 wagon "winning" third place.
Read more at:
http://editorial.autos.msn.com/blogs/autosblogpost-hyb.aspx?post=026d0848-e31d-435e-9eaa-25924f94dfe5?icid=autos_2338
Top of blog: href="http://www.usaalternativeenergynow.blogspot.com/">To top of blog usaalternativeenergynow.blogspot.com
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Energy Tax Breaks Proposed, Despite Waning Support for Subsidies
January 26, 2012
Energy Tax Breaks Proposed, Despite Waning Support for Subsidies
By DIANE CARDWELL
Assisted by technological innovation and years of subsidies, the cost of wind and solar power has fallen sharply — so much so that the two industries say that they can sometimes deliver cleaner electricity at prices competitive with power made from fossil fuels.
At the same time, wind and solar companies are telling Congress that they cannot be truly competitive and keep creating jobs without a few more years of government support.
Their efforts received a boost on Thursday from President Obama, who called for a package of tax credits for renewable power as part of a broader energy plan that he outlined while on a campaign swing through Nevada and Colorado.
But the lobbying by the wind and solar industries comes at a time when there is little enthusiasm for alternative-energy subsidies in Washington.
Overall concerns about the deficit are making lawmakers more skeptical about any new tax breaks for business in general. And taxpayer losses of more than half a billion dollars on Solyndra, a bankrupt maker of solar modules that defaulted on a federal loan, has tarnished the image of renewable power in particular.
“Most of the folks I think recognize that this is not a Solyndra effort here,” said Representative David G. Reichert, Republican of Washington, who introduced a bill to extend a renewable tax credit last year. Solyndra was financed under a now-expired program, part of the 2009 stimulus package, that provided government loan guarantees for clean-energy projects, some of which administration officials expected to be risky.
The wind and solar companies argue that the tax breaks they are seeking are different. The tax credits can be taken only by businesses that are already up and running, so taxpayers are less likely to be stuck subsidizing a failing company, proponents say.
“This is a program that doesn’t pick winners or losers,” said Rhone Resch, president and chief executive of the Solar Energy Industries Association. “It’s hard to argue against a program like this that is creating jobs.”
Without the new breaks, industry executives warn, they will be forced to scale back production and eliminate jobs in a still-weak economy.
The American division of Iberdrola, a big Spanish producer of wind turbines, is already feeling the impending loss of one tax break that expires this year. “We’ve seen the prospects for new wind farms really fall off,” said Donald Furman, a senior vice president at Iberdrola Renewables, which announced this week that it was laying off 50 employees. “We’re not getting out of the business and we’re not in any financial trouble, but we are doing the prudent thing so that we don’t have issues.”
The tax break that Iberdrola and other wind companies rely on, called the production tax credit, has been in place since 1992 but after repeated extensions is now scheduled to expire at the end of 2012. It allows for a credit of 2.2 cents per kilowatt-hour of electricity generated for the first 10 years of a project’s operation, which the industry says is sometimes enough to eliminate the price difference between wind power and fossil fuels.
The Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation recently estimated that the production tax credit would cost the government $6.8 billion from 2011 to 2015 for projects in place before the end of this year.
The other tax break, which expired at the end of last year and was especially popular with solar companies, allows renewable energy companies to get 30 percent of the cost of a new project back as a cash grant once construction is complete. Without the cash grant program, a company can still take the 30 percent credit, but must spread the benefit over a period of years. The industry says the grant program is more effective because it encourages a broader range of private investors to help finance its projects.
As of early this year, the cash-grant program, known as the 1603 program, had awarded $1.76 billion for more than 22,000 solar projects, according to the Treasury Department.
Mr. Obama, who has been a steadfast supporter of clean-energy programs, has already begun making a case for new government investment in clean energy projects as a way to foster both energy independence and employment at a time when Capitol Hill evaluates new laws in terms of job creation as well as budget cost or savings.
“Because of federal investments, renewable energy use — sources like wind and solar — has nearly doubled,” Mr. Obama said at a stop at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, Colo., where he promoted the increasing use of renewable power by the military and repeated a call for Congress to approve the tax credits. “Thousands of Americans have jobs because of those efforts.”
Mr. Obama used his trip to press for increased use of liquid natural gas in transportation, appearing at a United Parcel Service center in Las Vegas that received a stimulus grant to support natural gas-fueled trucks. He also said that the Interior Department would open up about 38 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico to gas and oil exploration and development, selling leases in June. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management estimates drilling there could yield one billion barrels of oil and four trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
According to the American Wind Energy Association, wind projects account for more than a third of all the new electric generation installed in recent years, while over the last six years, domestic wind turbine production has grown twelvefold, to more than 400 facilities in 43 states. A recent study by Navigant Consulting found that this year the industry would support 78,000 jobs, but that the number would fall to 41,000 in 2013 without an extension of the production tax credit.
Solar, too, is growing quickly in the United States. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, more solar was installed in the third quarter of 2011 than in all of 2009 combined. A one-year extension of the 1603 tax-grant program would create an additional 37,000 solar industry jobs in 2012, according to a report by EuPD Research.
Lobbyists for both industries say the new tax breaks need to be passed quickly and are trying to get Congress to include them in a bill to extend the payroll tax cut.
That bill, like all tax cuts these days, has Congress at loggerheads. “But true performance-based incentives, where incentives are only provided when actual production occurs, seem to be maintaining their support,” said Robert Gramlich, senior vice president for public policy for the American Wind Energy Association.
How this will play out in Congress is anybody’s guess, lawmakers say. Mr. Reichert said the credits were not yet part of the negotiations over the payroll tax cut, which is due to expire at the end of February.
Republican leaders may look to revive the Keystone XL oil pipeline — as proposed, the pipeline would run 1,700 miles from oil sands in Canada to refineries on the Gulf Coast — as part of a compromise to approve the renewable energy credits, according to lobbyists and lawmakers involved in the discussions.
But there is a lot of ideological opposition to more tax credits, said Senator Jeff Bingaman, Democrat of New Mexico and the chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, who supports the extension.
“The rhetoric is that the government should get out of the way,” he said. “That gets translated into opposition to a lot of these things.”
The New York Times reports on renewable energy.
Read more (in new window) at: www.nytimes.com/2012/01/27/business/energy-environment/clean-energy-projects-face-waning-subsidies.html?_r=1
To top of blog usaalternativeenergynow.blogspot.com
Energy Tax Breaks Proposed, Despite Waning Support for Subsidies
By DIANE CARDWELL
Assisted by technological innovation and years of subsidies, the cost of wind and solar power has fallen sharply — so much so that the two industries say that they can sometimes deliver cleaner electricity at prices competitive with power made from fossil fuels.
At the same time, wind and solar companies are telling Congress that they cannot be truly competitive and keep creating jobs without a few more years of government support.
Their efforts received a boost on Thursday from President Obama, who called for a package of tax credits for renewable power as part of a broader energy plan that he outlined while on a campaign swing through Nevada and Colorado.
But the lobbying by the wind and solar industries comes at a time when there is little enthusiasm for alternative-energy subsidies in Washington.
Overall concerns about the deficit are making lawmakers more skeptical about any new tax breaks for business in general. And taxpayer losses of more than half a billion dollars on Solyndra, a bankrupt maker of solar modules that defaulted on a federal loan, has tarnished the image of renewable power in particular.
“Most of the folks I think recognize that this is not a Solyndra effort here,” said Representative David G. Reichert, Republican of Washington, who introduced a bill to extend a renewable tax credit last year. Solyndra was financed under a now-expired program, part of the 2009 stimulus package, that provided government loan guarantees for clean-energy projects, some of which administration officials expected to be risky.
The wind and solar companies argue that the tax breaks they are seeking are different. The tax credits can be taken only by businesses that are already up and running, so taxpayers are less likely to be stuck subsidizing a failing company, proponents say.
“This is a program that doesn’t pick winners or losers,” said Rhone Resch, president and chief executive of the Solar Energy Industries Association. “It’s hard to argue against a program like this that is creating jobs.”
Without the new breaks, industry executives warn, they will be forced to scale back production and eliminate jobs in a still-weak economy.
The American division of Iberdrola, a big Spanish producer of wind turbines, is already feeling the impending loss of one tax break that expires this year. “We’ve seen the prospects for new wind farms really fall off,” said Donald Furman, a senior vice president at Iberdrola Renewables, which announced this week that it was laying off 50 employees. “We’re not getting out of the business and we’re not in any financial trouble, but we are doing the prudent thing so that we don’t have issues.”
The tax break that Iberdrola and other wind companies rely on, called the production tax credit, has been in place since 1992 but after repeated extensions is now scheduled to expire at the end of 2012. It allows for a credit of 2.2 cents per kilowatt-hour of electricity generated for the first 10 years of a project’s operation, which the industry says is sometimes enough to eliminate the price difference between wind power and fossil fuels.
The Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation recently estimated that the production tax credit would cost the government $6.8 billion from 2011 to 2015 for projects in place before the end of this year.
The other tax break, which expired at the end of last year and was especially popular with solar companies, allows renewable energy companies to get 30 percent of the cost of a new project back as a cash grant once construction is complete. Without the cash grant program, a company can still take the 30 percent credit, but must spread the benefit over a period of years. The industry says the grant program is more effective because it encourages a broader range of private investors to help finance its projects.
As of early this year, the cash-grant program, known as the 1603 program, had awarded $1.76 billion for more than 22,000 solar projects, according to the Treasury Department.
Mr. Obama, who has been a steadfast supporter of clean-energy programs, has already begun making a case for new government investment in clean energy projects as a way to foster both energy independence and employment at a time when Capitol Hill evaluates new laws in terms of job creation as well as budget cost or savings.
“Because of federal investments, renewable energy use — sources like wind and solar — has nearly doubled,” Mr. Obama said at a stop at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, Colo., where he promoted the increasing use of renewable power by the military and repeated a call for Congress to approve the tax credits. “Thousands of Americans have jobs because of those efforts.”
Mr. Obama used his trip to press for increased use of liquid natural gas in transportation, appearing at a United Parcel Service center in Las Vegas that received a stimulus grant to support natural gas-fueled trucks. He also said that the Interior Department would open up about 38 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico to gas and oil exploration and development, selling leases in June. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management estimates drilling there could yield one billion barrels of oil and four trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
According to the American Wind Energy Association, wind projects account for more than a third of all the new electric generation installed in recent years, while over the last six years, domestic wind turbine production has grown twelvefold, to more than 400 facilities in 43 states. A recent study by Navigant Consulting found that this year the industry would support 78,000 jobs, but that the number would fall to 41,000 in 2013 without an extension of the production tax credit.
Solar, too, is growing quickly in the United States. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, more solar was installed in the third quarter of 2011 than in all of 2009 combined. A one-year extension of the 1603 tax-grant program would create an additional 37,000 solar industry jobs in 2012, according to a report by EuPD Research.
Lobbyists for both industries say the new tax breaks need to be passed quickly and are trying to get Congress to include them in a bill to extend the payroll tax cut.
That bill, like all tax cuts these days, has Congress at loggerheads. “But true performance-based incentives, where incentives are only provided when actual production occurs, seem to be maintaining their support,” said Robert Gramlich, senior vice president for public policy for the American Wind Energy Association.
How this will play out in Congress is anybody’s guess, lawmakers say. Mr. Reichert said the credits were not yet part of the negotiations over the payroll tax cut, which is due to expire at the end of February.
Republican leaders may look to revive the Keystone XL oil pipeline — as proposed, the pipeline would run 1,700 miles from oil sands in Canada to refineries on the Gulf Coast — as part of a compromise to approve the renewable energy credits, according to lobbyists and lawmakers involved in the discussions.
But there is a lot of ideological opposition to more tax credits, said Senator Jeff Bingaman, Democrat of New Mexico and the chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, who supports the extension.
“The rhetoric is that the government should get out of the way,” he said. “That gets translated into opposition to a lot of these things.”
The New York Times reports on renewable energy.
Read more (in new window) at: www.nytimes.com/2012/01/27/business/energy-environment/clean-energy-projects-face-waning-subsidies.html?_r=1
To top of blog usaalternativeenergynow.blogspot.com
Friday, January 27, 2012
Navy to purchase gigawatt of renewable energy by 2020
The Navy said Thursday it will ramp up its use of public-private partnerships to purchase one gigawatt of renewable energy by 2020.
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said in a statement that one gigawatt is enough to power a city the size of Orlando, Fla. — or about 250,000 homes.
The purchase will be one means for the Navy to meet its goal that half of its energy comes from renewable sources by the end of fiscal 2020.
President Obama in his State of the Union address on Tuesday singled out the Navy for "one of the largest commitments to clean energy in history."
The Navy will reach its goal by using a variety of alternative financing techniques, including:
• Energy savings performance contracts, where a company pays the upfront investment for energy-efficiency renovations and retrofits in exchange for payments from energy savings over time.
• Enhanced-use leases, where a company gets to develop government land with renewable energy or other projects in exchange for payment or in-kind services such as reduced-rate energy.
• Power purchase agreements, in which a power company constructs an energy system in exchange for fixed payments over a certain number of years.
Mabus will establish a task force that will select appropriate renewable energy projects, the Navy said.
Tom Hicks, deputy assistant Navy secretary, said at a panel discussion in July that the service expects to have 100 megawatts of solar power, six megawatts of wind power and 270 megawatts of geothermal power by the end of 2012.
By ANDY MEDICI | Last Updated:January 26, 2012
Federal Times
Read more (in new window) at: www.federaltimes.com/article/20120126/FACILITIES04/201260302/
To top of blog usaalternativeenergynow.blogspot.com
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said in a statement that one gigawatt is enough to power a city the size of Orlando, Fla. — or about 250,000 homes.
The purchase will be one means for the Navy to meet its goal that half of its energy comes from renewable sources by the end of fiscal 2020.
President Obama in his State of the Union address on Tuesday singled out the Navy for "one of the largest commitments to clean energy in history."
The Navy will reach its goal by using a variety of alternative financing techniques, including:
• Energy savings performance contracts, where a company pays the upfront investment for energy-efficiency renovations and retrofits in exchange for payments from energy savings over time.
• Enhanced-use leases, where a company gets to develop government land with renewable energy or other projects in exchange for payment or in-kind services such as reduced-rate energy.
• Power purchase agreements, in which a power company constructs an energy system in exchange for fixed payments over a certain number of years.
Mabus will establish a task force that will select appropriate renewable energy projects, the Navy said.
Tom Hicks, deputy assistant Navy secretary, said at a panel discussion in July that the service expects to have 100 megawatts of solar power, six megawatts of wind power and 270 megawatts of geothermal power by the end of 2012.
By ANDY MEDICI | Last Updated:January 26, 2012
Federal Times
Read more (in new window) at: www.federaltimes.com/article/20120126/FACILITIES04/201260302/
To top of blog usaalternativeenergynow.blogspot.com
Friday, January 6, 2012
Buffett’s MidAmerican Utility Buys Three Iowa Wind Farm Projects
Buffett’s MidAmerican Utility Buys Three Iowa Wind Farm Projects
Bloomberg reports By Andrew Herndon - Jan 6, 2012 1:50 PM ET
A unit of Warren Buffett’s MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. (329802Q) acquired three wind-energy projects in Iowa that will have a combined generating capacity of 404.8 megawatts at completion.
MidAmerican Energy Co., Iowa’s largest utility, bought from RPM Access LLC the 103.5-megawatt Vienna wind project that will be built in Marshall and Tama counties, it said today in a statement. The Des Moines, Iowa-based company also purchased two projects from Clipper Windpower Development Co., including the 200.1-megawatt Eclipse project in Guthrie and Audubon counties and the 101.2-megawatt Morning Light project in Adair County.
The projects are expected to be completed by year-end, increasing MidAmerican’s wind generation to 2,284.8 megawatts, according to the statement. The company will have invested $4 billion in Iowa wind farms once the three plants enter service, it said.
MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. is a subsidiary of Buffett’s Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A)
To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Herndon in San Francisco at aherndon2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net
Read more (in new window) at: www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-06/buffett-s-midamerican-utility-buys-three-iowa-wind-farm-projects.html/
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Bloomberg reports By Andrew Herndon - Jan 6, 2012 1:50 PM ET
A unit of Warren Buffett’s MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. (329802Q) acquired three wind-energy projects in Iowa that will have a combined generating capacity of 404.8 megawatts at completion.
MidAmerican Energy Co., Iowa’s largest utility, bought from RPM Access LLC the 103.5-megawatt Vienna wind project that will be built in Marshall and Tama counties, it said today in a statement. The Des Moines, Iowa-based company also purchased two projects from Clipper Windpower Development Co., including the 200.1-megawatt Eclipse project in Guthrie and Audubon counties and the 101.2-megawatt Morning Light project in Adair County.
The projects are expected to be completed by year-end, increasing MidAmerican’s wind generation to 2,284.8 megawatts, according to the statement. The company will have invested $4 billion in Iowa wind farms once the three plants enter service, it said.
MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. is a subsidiary of Buffett’s Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A)
To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Herndon in San Francisco at aherndon2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net
Read more (in new window) at: www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-06/buffett-s-midamerican-utility-buys-three-iowa-wind-farm-projects.html/
To top of blog usaalternativeenergynow.blogspot.com
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Solar Panels Compete With Cheap Natural Gas
Renewable energy is growing rapidly in the U.S., with wind and solar industries enjoying double-digit growth each year. Part of that growth comes from more homeowners choosing to install solar panels.
With government subsidies, some people can even make a financial argument for installing the panels. But in recent years, the price of one fossil fuel — natural gas — has declined so much that solar panels are having difficulty competing.
The reason natural gas prices have fallen is because production is way up, thanks to hydraulic fracturing. Fracking, as it's called, is a controversial drilling technology that some say harms the environment. But the process has also made it possible to extract oil and gas once thought to be trapped in rock too deep underground for drillers to reach.
Due in large part to a combination of fracking and horizontal drilling, there's been a nearly 30 percent increase in the amount of natural gas produced in the U.S. since 2005.
"We've got a classic situation of supply and demand," says Kathryn Klaber, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry group based outside Pittsburgh.
Natural gas demand has not gone up as quickly as supply, and Klaber says the price has dropped.
"A handful of years ago, natural gas could have been in the order of 12, 13, 14 dollars per million BTU," she says. "We're now down to three to four [dollars]."
This has allowed utilities that burn natural gas to produce electricity to hold the line on rates. For most of us, that's a good thing, but for those who've installed solar panels, it makes that investment less of a bargain.
Barbara Scott had 21 solar panels installed last March on her house in Media, Pa. Scott's family was the first in the community, and she was prepared to evangelize, "We can have open houses and write newsletter articles and promote the idea of solar," she said. But that was before the economics changed.
With government rebates and tax incentives, Scott says, her family spent $21,000 to install the system. She figured it would take eight years to recoup that investment.
........
http://www.npr.org/2012/01/05/144526652/solar-panels-compete-with-cheap-natural-gas
Read more (in new window) at: www.npr.org/2012/01/05/144526652/solar-panels-compete-with-cheap-natural-gas
To top of blog usaalternativeenergynow.blogspot.com
With government subsidies, some people can even make a financial argument for installing the panels. But in recent years, the price of one fossil fuel — natural gas — has declined so much that solar panels are having difficulty competing.
The reason natural gas prices have fallen is because production is way up, thanks to hydraulic fracturing. Fracking, as it's called, is a controversial drilling technology that some say harms the environment. But the process has also made it possible to extract oil and gas once thought to be trapped in rock too deep underground for drillers to reach.
Due in large part to a combination of fracking and horizontal drilling, there's been a nearly 30 percent increase in the amount of natural gas produced in the U.S. since 2005.
"We've got a classic situation of supply and demand," says Kathryn Klaber, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry group based outside Pittsburgh.
Natural gas demand has not gone up as quickly as supply, and Klaber says the price has dropped.
"A handful of years ago, natural gas could have been in the order of 12, 13, 14 dollars per million BTU," she says. "We're now down to three to four [dollars]."
This has allowed utilities that burn natural gas to produce electricity to hold the line on rates. For most of us, that's a good thing, but for those who've installed solar panels, it makes that investment less of a bargain.
Barbara Scott had 21 solar panels installed last March on her house in Media, Pa. Scott's family was the first in the community, and she was prepared to evangelize, "We can have open houses and write newsletter articles and promote the idea of solar," she said. But that was before the economics changed.
With government rebates and tax incentives, Scott says, her family spent $21,000 to install the system. She figured it would take eight years to recoup that investment.
........
http://www.npr.org/2012/01/05/144526652/solar-panels-compete-with-cheap-natural-gas
Read more (in new window) at: www.npr.org/2012/01/05/144526652/solar-panels-compete-with-cheap-natural-gas
To top of blog usaalternativeenergynow.blogspot.com
Surge in hybrid owners on horizon
Published on Thursday 5 January 2012 12:42
Eco-warriors will be delighted with the news that hybrid cars are soon to undergo a surge in popularity, according to a new study from oil company Exxon Mobil.
The company released its annual energy report recently, which revealed that by 2040, low emission cars will make up half of all vehicles on the roads.
The news is likely to be particularly welcomed by environmental groups, many of whom have repeatedly expressed worries over the impact of the environment our over reliance on oil and petrol has. The idea that many car owners will switch to a hybrid, coupled with the increasingly advanced science behind fuel alternatives, means that it is expected that developed countries will be able to stabilise their energy demand over the coming 30 years, with countries such as the US expected to undergo no significant rises in oil consumption.
Aside from the impact on the environment, this news will also be received well by economists and financial experts the world over. Increased energy efficiency and lower fuel consumption is thought to be linked to financial growth and the economy. The report suggested that while worldwide-GDP would grow by a rate of 2.9 per cent a year until 2040, energy demand would only grow by a comparatively smaller 0.9 per cent.
However, there is some bad news. Exxon Mobil predicts that developing countries will not be able to stabilise their energy demand in the same way as more developed ones, due to the expense of funding research into fuel efficiency and in switching to a more sustainable method. Indeed, developing countries are expected to increase energy demand by 60 per cent between now and 2040, unless switches to a more sustainable method can be made quickly, easily and inexpensively.
Read more (in new window) at: www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/community/surge_in_hybrid_owners_on_horizon_1_4115514/
To top of blog usaalternativeenergynow.blogspot.com
Eco-warriors will be delighted with the news that hybrid cars are soon to undergo a surge in popularity, according to a new study from oil company Exxon Mobil.
The company released its annual energy report recently, which revealed that by 2040, low emission cars will make up half of all vehicles on the roads.
The news is likely to be particularly welcomed by environmental groups, many of whom have repeatedly expressed worries over the impact of the environment our over reliance on oil and petrol has. The idea that many car owners will switch to a hybrid, coupled with the increasingly advanced science behind fuel alternatives, means that it is expected that developed countries will be able to stabilise their energy demand over the coming 30 years, with countries such as the US expected to undergo no significant rises in oil consumption.
Aside from the impact on the environment, this news will also be received well by economists and financial experts the world over. Increased energy efficiency and lower fuel consumption is thought to be linked to financial growth and the economy. The report suggested that while worldwide-GDP would grow by a rate of 2.9 per cent a year until 2040, energy demand would only grow by a comparatively smaller 0.9 per cent.
However, there is some bad news. Exxon Mobil predicts that developing countries will not be able to stabilise their energy demand in the same way as more developed ones, due to the expense of funding research into fuel efficiency and in switching to a more sustainable method. Indeed, developing countries are expected to increase energy demand by 60 per cent between now and 2040, unless switches to a more sustainable method can be made quickly, easily and inexpensively.
Read more (in new window) at: www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/community/surge_in_hybrid_owners_on_horizon_1_4115514/
To top of blog usaalternativeenergynow.blogspot.com
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