Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced a comprehensive environmental analysis that has identified proposed ‘solar energy zones’ on public lands in six western states most suitable for utility-scale solar energy production. Concurrently, the Energy Secretary Chu announced the Department’s intent to aggressively fund up to $50 million to test and demonstrate innovative technologies that will lead to cost-competitive solar energy technologies. In addition, last night the House passed a bill which included US Tax Grant Program (TGP) 1603, which subsidizes about 30% of the new facility costs for renewable energy projects. The draft Solar Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) is available for public review and comment for the next 90 days. Under this proposal, the BLM would establish Solar Energy Zones (SEZ’s) on the lands available for solar development right-of-way applications. These are areas that have been identified as most appropriate for development, containing the highest solar energy potential, more than 6.5 kilowatt-hours per square meter per day,  and fewest environmental and resource conflicts. The land tracts evaluated amount to about 22 million acres of BLM-administered lands in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. Of the estimated 677,400 acres that have been identified as proposed Solar Energy Zones, the agencies anticipate solar energy development on only about 214,000 acres. As it completes the Solar PEIS, the BLM continues to process existing solar energy applications. Eight utility-scale solar projects have been approved in the last three months through the Department’s ‘fast-track initiative’ for BLM lands in California and Nevada that, combined, will generate 3,572 megawatts of electricity. The BLM’s current solar energy caseload includes 104 active solar applications covering 1 million acres that developers estimate could generate 60,000 megawatts of electricity. The Department expects to make a formal Funding Opportunity Announcement ( ref. no. DE-FOA-0000233 ) early next year. Potential technology applications include Concentrated Solar Power systems that use mirrors to reflect and concentrate sunlight on a heat absorbing fluid, convert it to steam, and ultimately generate electricity, as well as Concentrated Photovoltaic Power that uses lenses to concentrate sunlight to improve the efficiency of conventional photovoltaics. The demonstration projects as part of the Solar Demonstration Zone will be deployed at a large enough scale to provide useful operating and economic data for the eventual deployment of solar energy projects at utility-scale, which are typically grid-connected projects larger than 20 megawatts.

Here is the original post:
Administration Gives Solar Industry Big Shot in the Arm

The current world market for Smart Grid software and data management applications is $1.4 billion in 2010, and it will grow to $2.9 billion in 2015 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.6%, according to The Smart Grid Utility Data Market by market research publisher SBI Energy. A significant portion of this growth is going to occur in 2011 and 2012, as more American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) funded projects in the U.S. are finally given approval. The U.S. will be the largest geographic market in 2010, at $385 million, and will continue to be the largest market for the foreseeable future. SBI Energy sees the U.S. percentage of the global SG data and applications market climb from 27.4% in 2010 to 36.4% in 2012, before dropping back down to 34.4% by 2015 as more European and Asian countries begin to deploy more smart meters and implement grid automation strategies. The U.S. market will climb to $1.0 billion by 2015, growing with a CAGR of 20.9% for the period. The U.S. Smart Grid application software segment will be worth $233 million in 2010, with distribution management systems being the largest category in the segment. Globally, SG applications will be worth $890 million in 2010, and grow to 1,793 million by 2015, SBI Energy estimates. However, the U.S. as a regional market will outperform global sales in the segment, reaching a market value of $548 million in 2015 and posting a CAGR of 18.7% for the period. Energy management systems and distribution management systems will be worth an estimated $170 million in 2010 in the U.S., growing to $290 million in 2015. SBI Energy expects the majority of the Smart Grid market for management systems will continue to be within the U.S. and Europe. Together DMS and EMS are the largest product categories for SG applications and will cover 73% of the U.S. applications software segment in 2010 and 81% worldwide in 2010. However, it is difficult to fully separate the management systems segment of the Smart Grid applications market from the data analysis segment as many of the largest suppliers tend to provide both types of software as an integrated package. While there are sound financial benefits to implementing a fully capable Smart Grid, there is also a huge financial cost as well. The number of new hardware and software systems that must be implemented across all levels of the grid is staggering, with cost estimates ranging from a few hundred billion dollars to over one trillion dollars just to fully upgrade the U.S. electrical grid. “In the short term, utilities need to justify these costs to regulators and investors and also need to raise the capital to implement Smart Grid programs,” says Norman Deschamps, SBI Energy analyst and author of the industry study . “While the (ARRA) stimulus bill of 2009 went a long way towards kick-starting Smart Grid implementations, that money is only the tip of the iceberg for what an entire Smart Grid will cost.”

See the rest here:
Smart Grid Software, Data Mgmt Market To Hit $2.9 Billion in 2015

California regulators voted yesterday to approve the most comprehensive U.S. cap yet on greenhouse gases and create the biggest carbon market in the country, the New York Times reports. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) voted 9-1 to approve the state’s cap-and-trade plan, the keystone of its effort to reduce emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 under A.B. 32 and the nation’s first economy-wide, market-based greenhouse gas scheme in the absence of federal action. California has the world’s eighth-largest economy and the highest gross state product in the United States, at $1.7 trillion in 2009. According to CARB, the trading scheme will reduce emissions from power plants, oil and gas refineries, steel manufacturers and a host of other heavy industries that emit more than 25,000 tons of CO2 per year. All emitters will start out receiving enough free permits to cover the majority of their emissions, but will gradually have to buy more, via quarterly auctions that will begin in February 2012. The system will cover 85 percent of the state’s industrial emissions by the time it ends in 2020. Financial analysts have estimated the 2.7 billion allowances will be worth $15-$60 by 2020; a forward trade conducted last month put the price at $11.50 per ton. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) paid a visit to yesterday’s 10-hour proceedings to point out voters’ support of A.B. 32. Last month they turned down a challenge via ballot initiative: Proposition 23, sponsored by Valero Energy Corp. and Tesoro Corp . It would have postponed the carbon regulations until unemployment fell to 5.5 percent for four consecutive quarters. “It just shows to you that a huge majority of Californians are big believers in A.B. 32,” he said to reporters. “And they’re big believers not just in global climate change — let’s be honest, not everyone believes in that. It’s also about our health. It is about 19,000 people that die every year because of pollution-related illnesses. Every sixth child in the Central Valley goes to school with an inhaler. We can do much better than that.” CARB Chairwoman Mary Nichols said more work remained to be done over the next year, including calculating allowance levels for emitters, creating more offsets and determining whether biomass emissions should be covered under the cap. “I think what we’ve got is a very good start that needs a bit more work before it hits the road,” she told the New York Times. Allowance allocations, revenue recipients remain unclear The approved regulations refined the state’s approach to handing out allowances to utilities, but final figures remain to be determined. Through a series of meetings with utilities, known as the Joint Utilities Group, regulators decided to calculate the number of allowances based on the expected financial burden to ratepayers. They will take into account both historical emissions and anticipated sales, in order to balance the utilities’ actual emissions burden with the desire to promote energy efficiency and other low-carbon improvements that cost money. “The allocations will be tailored to where the ratepayer burden lies,” Michael Gibbs, California EPA’s assistant secretary for climate change told the New York Times. Although utilities will receive the allowances for free, they will turn them back over to the state to be auctioned off directly to the electricity generators (in some cases the utilities themselves) to create revenue. CARB will take the next several months to adjust its estimates and will issue a report in July 2011. Investor-owned utilities gave the plan tentative praise but warned that even more work is needed to protect customers from high allowance prices. CARB needs to come up with a backstop strategy to lower prices in the event that allowances are more expensive than expected, Kate Beardsley of Pacific Gas & Electric Co. told the New York Times. Utility representatives also objected to giving authority over their profits to the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC). “We want the ability to work with the PUC on the best way to return allowance value,” Beardsley said. Also undecided is how any revenue from the non-utility auctions will be distributed. Gov. Schwarzenegger, board members and an economic advisory committee have stressed the importance of giving proceeds back to electricity ratepayers who will be affected by higher rates — even going so far as to produce a report debating the benefits of tax cuts versus a lump sum payment to households. But the agency actually has no power to disburse the money. “We do not have the authority to determine how the money should be spent, so I guess we’ve gone out on a limb somewhat by allocating the proceeds,” Nichols conceded. Instead, the state legislature will address the issue at some later date, with no guarantee it can even pass a bill. That’s what turned board member John Telles, a cardiologist from Fresno, against the entire regulation. “This is a regressive tax on the most economically disadvantaged communities,” he said of the plan’s expected effect on electricity rates. “I don’t think we can pass something that doesn’t in very strong language protect the people. This is a moral issue that’s beyond the issue of greenhouse gas reductions.” He was the board’s sole ‘no’ vote.

See the original post: 
CARB Approves Nation’s Biggest Cap-And-Trade Plan

Businesses can play a key role in driving government policy action on climate change. It’s clear that carbon is increasingly becoming a strategic management priority, and governments across the globe now need to support industry in realizing these carbon-related economic opportunities.

View original here: 
COP16: Why Business Should Spur Government to Act on Climate Policy

Photo: SunEdison For billions of years the sun has been shining on a field in Rovigo, Italty — but, thanks to a new PV solar farm built on that spot, that energy will now be put to some good use. Just nine short months after being given the green-light from the government, the US based SunEdison has officially inaugurated Europe’s largest single-site solar farm, producing enough clean-energy to power around 17,000 homes…. Read the full story on TreeHugger

Read more from the original source:
Europe’s Largest PV Solar Farm Opens in Italy

Sometimes, the voters get it right. For sustainability advocates, desperate to find something positive in this week’s election, here’s one: Proposition 23, the California voter initiative to undo America’s most aggressive climate program, was soundly, roundly defeated.  

Original post:
Sustainability Still Wins Elections

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, along with nearly two dozen business groups, are asking senators to stop the Environmental Protection Agency’s greenhouse gas (GHG) regulation of power plants, and other stationary energy sources, set to go into effect on January 2011, reports Bloomberg. In addition to the U.S. Chamber, the American Petroleum Institute, the National Manufacturers Association and the American Chemistry Council are pushing senators to block EPA actions , reports The Hill. Opponents say the regulation will hurt businesses and the economy as well as eliminate jobs. In August, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed a lawsuit that challenges EPA’s 2009 endangerment finding , which is the foundation for the agency’s ruling on limiting emissions from power plants, factories and other heavy emitters. In February, several industry groups, conservative think tanks, lawmakers and three states filed 16 court challenges against EPA’s endangerment finding . The EPA restrictions would impose “substantial costs and burdens on U.S. jobs and state resources while intruding on Congress’s important leadership role in developing energy policies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” the 21 groups stated in the letter (PDF) sent to 10 senators, reports The Hill. The letter was sent to Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Appropriations ranking member Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and Democrats Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Byron Dorgan (N.D.), Tim Johnson (S.D.), Mary Landrieu (La.), Ben Nelson (Neb.), Mark Pryor (Ark.), Arlen Specter (Pa.) and Jon Tester (Mont.). Dorgan, Johnson, Landrieu, Nelson and Pryor have supported efforts to either prevent or delay EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, reports The Hill. The industry groups also hope to sway coal-state senators, Brown and Specter, based on the impact the EPA regulations could have on the coal industry, according to the article.

See the rest here:
US Chamber, Industry Wants Senate to Delay EPA’s Carbon Rules

FM:Systems has integrated its FM:Interact facility management software with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star energy performance rating system, Portfolio Manager . The direct integration will enable organizations to determine Energy Star ratings, benchmark building performance and calculate their carbon footprints. Here’s how it works: The FM:Interact integration takes building energy use information stored in the FM:Interact Sustainability Module and sends it directly to the EPA’s Portfolio Manager software. Portfolio Manager calculates the building’s Energy Star rating and carbon footprint and returns that data to FM:Interact. Facility managers and real estate professionals can then benchmark their buildings against similar buildings nationwide and identify which buildings in their portfolio rank well and which need improvement, says FM:Systems. This information can be used by companies interested in reducing their energy costs, carbon footprint and gaining recognition through Energy Star and the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification program. In addition, by adding the EPA Energy Star integration to its software, FM:Systems is helping support the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) Energy Challenge. IFMA is encouraging all organizations to work towards reducing their energy use by 15 percent. “By adding the EPA Energy Star Integration to its software, FM:Systems is helping support IFMA’s mission of helping our members reduce energy use, save money, and improve environmental performance,” said Eric Teicholz, chairman of IFMA’s sustainability task force, in a statement. With the FM:Interact Sustainability Module, facility managers and real estate professionals can manage critical information on energy performance, building certifications and sustainability projects such as energy retrofits. The Sustainability Module enables users to: –Analyze building environmental impacts including energy, water, greenhouse gas emissions, recycling, and waste –Forecast sustainability projects’ financial impacts (net present value, internal rate of return, ROI, payback period) and environmental impacts –Integrate with EPA’s Automated Benchmarking System –Manage building assessments and certifications using rating systems such as LEED, Green Globes, or BRE Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) –Engage occupants and management with enterprise access to sustainability information and dashboards

Read the original here:
FM:Systems Software Integrates with Energy Star Rating System

Should the federal government have a role in developing green product standards? The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wants to hear from you on subject and will accept public comment until October 17.

Read more: 
Should the Feds Help Develop Green Product Standards?

Wisconsin’s new electronic waste (e-waste) recycling law shifts the financial burden from local governments to manufacturers now that users have to recycle their old computers, cell phones and other electronic devices, reports Government Technology. Based on a product stewardship approach, the law gives the primary responsibility for collection and recycling to the manufacturer. Manufacturers had to register with the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) starting Jan. 1. In June, the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) adopted a resolution for state and federal legislation that will shift the costs of managing product and packaging waste from taxpayers and local governments to producers and the consumers of their products. The new law also requires manufacturers to document that at least 80 percent of the electronic items they sell are being recycled , reports Wisconsintrapidstribune.com. Currently, many manufacturers are providing rebates to companies that accept electronics in order to meet state electronic recycling requirements. The state’s new e-waste recycling program, E-Cycle Wisconsin, is designed to keep hazardous materials such as lead, mercury and other heavy metals out of landfills, and reuse valuable resources such as plastic, steel, copper and glass to make new devices, while giving a boost to the state’s recycling industry, according to Government Technology. Devices covered by the law include computers, printers, TVs and computer monitors, keyboards, mice, hard drives, DVD players, VCRs and cell phones. The new rules require consumers to bring discarded electronics to collection sites of which there are now about 300 registered sites. Fees will vary. According to the law, any person who violates the recycling requirement is subject to a $50 fine, a $200 fine for a second offense, and a $2,000 fine for third and subsequent violations, reports Wisconsintrapidstribune.com. However, Government Technology reports that state officials do not plan to issue any individual citations if consumers don’t comply at this time. Several states have implemented e-waste laws or programs over the past few years. As an example, in June, the New York State legislature passed a new electronics recycling law that attempts to limit the growth of hazardous waste in New York landfills by requiring manufacturers to accept used electronics from consumers. Connecticut is expected to launch a statewide electronics recycling program in the fall, while Oregon has required manufacturers to either establish their own recycling programs or pay their share of a public initiative since 2008.

Read the original here:
Manufacturers to Pay for E-Waste under New Wisconsin Law