From Green Right Now Reports

As a new climate and energy bill winds its way through the U.S. Senate, opponents and watchdog groups are voicing concerns that the proposed legislation could strip power away from the Environmental Protection Agency and individual states.

According to reports, a draft in progress from Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) would call for greenhouse gas curbs across multiple economic sectors, with a target of reducing emissions 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050. Power plant emissions would be regulated in 2012, with other major industrial sources phased in starting in 2016.

The three met with industry leaders on March 17 to discuss features of the bill. Among the potentially controversial items: Restricting the EPA’s powers to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act and curbing states’ climate laws and regulations.

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From Green Right Now Reports

With prices down and incentives still available, more and more individuals and businesses are looking into solar panels as a way to cut down energy costs and protect the environment. According to a poll released this week, support also is growing for solar on the utility scale.

Image: First Solar

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) unveiled statistics gathered by Gotham Research Group that shows 75 percent of those surveyed advocate the development of solar energy plans on public lands. The survey also determined that solar was the first choice as best use of public land (38 percent).

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From Green Right Now Reports

With Americans focusing more and more on streamlining their energy consumption and reducing costs, microgrids may become an increasing part of the solution. Smart integration that can allow communities, companies or institutions to operate “off the grid” is not only attractive, but is rapidly becoming a genuine alternative.

Microgrids are “islanded” power generation and distribution zones that operate autonomously from the larger electrical grid. A new report from Pike Research predicts that more than 3 GW of new microgrid capacity will be come online globally by 2015 at a total investment of $7.8 billion. The firm expects more than 2,000 sites to be operational worldwide by 2015, up from fewer than 100 in 2010.

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From Green Right Now Reports

As climate change accelerates, leading investment groups are asking to hear more from corporations about their plans to adapt and survive in a changing world.

U.S. investors – pension funds, labor, religious and other institutional investors – filed a record number of climate change resolutions in 2009.

The 95 shareholder resolutions were filed with 82 U.S. and Canadian companies, some of which face special challenges from climate change, according to a news release by Ceres, a coalition of investors, environmental and social responsibility groups.

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Photo: Green Right Now

From Green Right Now Reports

Californians got just a little more incentive to think solar late last month when Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill raising the cap on solar net metering from 2.5 to five percent.

Net metering is the process that allows solar owners to send surplus solar electricity back to the grid in exchange for credits. Customers are billed only for the net energy they consume.

Currently, more than 50,000 California businesses, schools and homes take part in the program to help lower their utility bills.

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From Green Right Now Reports

Light Emitting Diode (LED) technology, already making inroads in the traffic signal and Christmas tree light industries, will get a new application in New England: Green Mountain Power has submitted a plan to the Vermont Public Service Board to offer LED lights in streetlights throughout its Colchester, Vt., service area.

The more energy-efficient lights would replace worn-out mercury vapor lighting. Already, the Colchester utility is the first electric utility in New England to offer an LED rate for outdoor lighting.

If the plan gains approval from regulators, customers will be able to request LEDs when installing new streetlights or replacing old ones. Mercury vapor lights will be phased out over time.

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By Bill Sullivan
Green Right Now

A sudden cold snap created a spike in consumption. Christmas lights were fun at the time, but they, too, kept that meter running. Kids routinely leave electronics on, even when they’re not in the room.

Advanced Metering System

Sure, you try to do all those little things that, in a perfect world, can help keep cost and environmental impact down. Unfortunately, this is not a perfect world, and a big number on that electric bill each month can come as a shock to both the system and the budget.

But what if your world was just a little more perfect? What if you could log on to your computer and check consumption down to, say, a 15-minute period? What if you could figure out that your teenager is running the TV, stereo, a game player (or two) and every light in his room — all despite the fact that he’s spending the night at a friend’s house?

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The energy/electricity generation category garnered $118.5 million in Q409.

From Green Right Now Reports

U.S. venture capital investment in cleantech companies in Q4 2009 decreased 45 percent to $564.5 million compared to the prior quarter, according to an Ernst & Young LLP analysis based on data from Dow Jones VentureSource.  The research found that more VC dollars are flowing into the energy efficiency category.

Ernst & Young said the San Francisco Bay Area was the leading region for cleantech investment in 2009, with $1.2 billion invested for the year and $295.6 million in Q4. Southern California came in second place with annual investment of $329.5 million and Q4 investment of $30.5 million. New England was the third-largest regional cleantech center with $283.7 million for the year and $38.0 for Q4.

The number of deals increased 21 percent to 62, according to the report. But investment in 2009 totaled $2.6 billion in 193 financings rounds, a decline of 50 percent in dollars and 16 percent in the number of deals compared to the record investment levels of 2008.

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By Bill Sullivan
Green Right Now

Image: cleanenergyweek.org

Legislators wrestling with health care reform, job concerns and a spiraling federal deficit have another group vying for their attention in Washington this week. Thanks to a hastily thrown-together coalition, it’s Clean Energy Week, with environmental activists and business leaders descending on Capitol Hill to press for money for more and better green initiatives.

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From Green Right Now Reports

Supporters and foes of nuclear power are mobilizing for a fight in New England. As owners of the Vermont Yankee reactor seek a 20-year extension of the plant’s operating agreement (which expires in 2012), rising levels of radioactive tritium in the groundwater surrounding the facility have made that renewal the subject of intense debate.

The plant is located in Vernon, along the Connecticut River, just north of the Massachusetts border. On Jan. 7, Vermont Yankee officials notified the state health department that samples taken from a groundwater monitoring well on site at the plant contained tritium.

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From Green Right Now Reports

A partnership between Reading (PA) Electric and a leading designer and installer of grid-tiered solar power systems will allow 32 Southeastern Pennsylvania businesses to see the light in a very different way.

Borrego Solar Systems, Inc., plans to team with Reading Electric to install more than 5 MW of solar energy. At the end of 2008, the entire state had fewer than 5MW of solar operations.

The $30 million undertaking will be financed in part by $7.5 million awarded through the PA Sunshine Grant, a $100 million state fund administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. The partners also expect an additional $9 million in funding from the Federal Renewable Energy Grant Program.

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By David Louie

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA (KGO) — Search engine giant and mobile phone marketer Google has set its sights on a more powerful future. It wants to be an electrical marketer.

That means it wants to buy and sell power on a large scale, similar to what utility companies do. Google filed an application last week with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in Washington.

“I don’t think we really know what they want to do,” said Wall Street Journal reporter Rebecca Smith. “When I spoke with the company yesterday, their spokeswomanan said that this green team wasn’t precisely sure what it wanted to do. What they do know is they’ve got an energy problem they want to solve.”

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