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1. Toyota to Debut Natural Gas Car, Launch RAV4-EV Project
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2. The Daily Sprout
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3. Green Campaign Watch: Pro-Coal or No Coal?
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4. How Internet-Enabled Appliances Can Save You Time & Money
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5. Clean Energy Tax Credits: $18B Won't Break the Bank
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6. Sustainable Spaces Scores $6M
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7. The Daily Sprout
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8. Senate Approves Energy Tax Credit Extensions
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9. Northeast Preps for Carbon Cap-and-Trade
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10. GridPoint Raises Massive $120M, Grabs Plug-In Startup V2Green
Toyota to Debut Natural Gas Car, Launch RAV4-EV Project
Craig Rubens - Big Green
Toyota is slowly adding more green vehicles beyond its poster child the Prius. Yesterday the Japanese automaker introduced several new alternative fuel initiatives that it hopes will keep it ahead of the curve at its Sustainable Mobility Seminar in Portland. On the top of the list was the news that Toyota will show off a new compressed natural gas (CNG) Camry Hybrid concept vehicle at the Los Angeles Auto Show later this year. Toyota tried selling a CNG Camry in California back in 1999, but those were the days of cheap gas and climate change had few celebrity endorsements; sales never took off and the car was discontinued.
It was a day full of automotive resurrections as Toyota said it plans to put four off-lease RAV4-EVs, an all-electric version of its gas-powered SUV, back into operation. Those RAV4’s will be provided to Portland State University who will use them as local shuttles vehicles. The city of Portland is a pretty good place for Toyota’s project — utility Portland General Electric has installed its first electric car charging station and has plans for five more such stations which it has installed in anticipation of growing demand.
While these two announcements are well-intentioned, they are both very small in scale and are mostly gestures. So long as they don’t distract Toyota from innovating cleaner cars on a larger scale, we’re all for it. The car maker says it’s still on track to introduce a plug-in electric vehicle in 2009 and it’s all-electric commuter car “in the early 2010s.”
The Daily Sprout
Craig Rubens - Misc
Tesla’s Family Affair - The Bluestar: Speaking at the EmTech 2008 conference, JB Straubel, Tesla’s CTO, said the company may partner with an OEM to scale up production of its affordable family vehicle, codenamed “Bluestar” - CNet.
Western Climate Initiative Proposed Cap-and-Trade Plan: The WCI has announced its proposed design for a regional market-based cap-and-trade program which will aim to reduce greenhouse gases by 15 percent below 2005 levels come 2020 - ClimateIntel.
Dell To Green Laptops With LEDs: In its quest for carbon neutrality, Dell said today it will be cleaning up its entire laptop line by using LED backlights come 2010 with desktop displays following soon thereafter - Press Release.
Lexus Gets Ad Banned Over Climate Claim: The historically strict British Advertising Standards Authority has banned an ad for a Lexus SUV which claimed the hybrid was “perfect for today’s climate.” Financial and climate crises aren’t funny over their either, we guess - Guardian.
Google Wants to Fund Your Ideas to Change the World: To celebrate its tenth birthday, Google wants to fund good ideas to help change the world and “energy” and the “environment” are both categories. Submissions will be voted on online and up to $10 million will be doled out - Project 10^100.
Green Campaign Watch: Pro-Coal or No Coal?
Craig Rubens - Policy
While trying to lock in crucial coal-belt swing states, Obama has had to refute another off-the-cuff comment from his running mate and assure coal-loving swing voters the he is, in fact, their friend. When asked why he supports clean coal, Biden said: “We're not supporting clean coal.” Except he and his running mate are supporting clean coal. Oops. While Biden was against clean coal during the primaries, the Democratic nominee has included clean coal in his broad energy plan throughout the campaign.
Though McCain hopes this gaffe might distract the coal-belt battle grounds in the next few weeks, looking back at Obama’s record shows him to be a big supporter of some of the more controversial clean-coal technologies. The junior Senator from Illinois introduced the Coal-to-Liquid Fuel Promotion Act of 2007 with Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning, and he recruited the Senators of coal-rich Kentucky, West Virginia and Wyoming as sponsors.
“Senator Obama truly is a friend of the coal industry,” Rick Boucher, a Democratic congressman from Virginia’s coal country, said, the Guardian reports. “His record … and his position in terms of the coal industry’s future give us confidence.” This has been a sticking point for many environmentalists behind Obama who claim clean coal is a pipe dream. NASA climatologist James Hansen has said clean coal technology is at least a decade away from being commercially viable.
But no matter how you cut it, coal power isn’t going away, and demands is only going to increase in the short run. Although banks and the Feds have cut funding for new coal-fired plants, energy experts expect existing coal plants to operate for longer hours to meet growing energy demands.
While renewables will play a bigger role in the energy mix, there are still only a handful of clean energy projects that match the scale of a single coal-fired power plant. About 25 percent of the nation’s planned new power capacity intends to burn coal, according to the most recent Electric Power Annual report.
The Senate just voted to put $1.4 billion over 10 years into carbon capture and sequestration demonstrations projects for advanced coal plants. The bill also extended the production tax credit, which helps wind energy but also covers electricity from “refined coal” projects, though the bill also tightens the emissions standards on such projects. Neither Obama, McCain nor Biden voted on this bill.
How Internet-Enabled Appliances Can Save You Time & Money
Celeste LeCompte - Energy
Internet-enabled appliances from refrigerators to washing machines have been demonstrated in labs and showrooms since the dotcom days. But devices like LG’s $10,000 DIOS refrigerator have been discontinued, and similar products from Samsung never even saw the light of day. So what’s the future of these connected appliances? Communicating with the power grid to fine-tune energy use. Check out my take on why we all need networked fridges — the industry needs more open standards and devices needs to work with utilities in all locations. (Published on GigaOM and BusinessWeek)
Clean Energy Tax Credits: $18B Won't Break the Bank
Craig Rubens - Policy
So now that the Senate has finally approved the extension of the renewable energy tax credits, exactly how much money have we been fretting over for the last year? Of the $148.6 billion that the the entire bill is estimated to cost, approximately $18 billion is being put into renewable energy. Meanwhile, the Treasury is seeking $700 billion to bail out our failing financial institutions.
The investment tax credit will cost taxpayers a mere $1.942 billion over 10 years, and the production tax credit costs $5.8 billion over the same time. Carbon capture and sequestration will get $1.424 billion more and a carbon capture credit incentive system will get $1.119 billion, according to the Senate Finance Committee.
The oil and gas industry is partly footing the bill for the credits. The legislation rolls back tax breaks on domestic production and tightens taxes on income made overseas. While not happy about losing their tax breaks, the oil industry should be pleased that Democrats have thrown in the towel on trying to renew the ban on offshore drilling.
Democrats left the ban out of the annual spending bill because Republicans would have otherwise blocked it, effectively shutting down the government. With the provision out of the bill, our drilling policy will be decided under the next president, making the issue that much more central to this election.
Now, representatives in the House will have to vote on the amended bill. With time running out, Senator Harry Reid implored the House not to alter the bill and force another vote: “Don’t send us back something else,” Reid said in comments on the Senate floor addressed to the House, Bloomberg reports. “It will not pass. If they try to mess with our package, it will die.”
While it’s scheduled for a vote today in the House, it’s uncertain whether the bill will actually come up for debate. Between the need for a corporate bailout, the appropriations bill that is needed to keep the government running and the upcoming election, the energy issue could easily get bumped, but right now everything is still negotiable.
Sustainable Spaces Scores $6M
Katie Fehrenbacher - Startups
Golden previously told us that the company had been scaling up and had been working on this first round for the past few months. The team has now grown to several dozen employees, and earlier this year took seed capital from angel investors Blueshift Partners. Also unusual for a cleantech startup: Sustainable Spaces says it’s already profitable.
Home retrofits are exactly the kind of low-tech solution that get less attention but will make real differences in climate change. Golden says with houses responsible for a little under a quarter of U.S. emissions, leaky heating and cooling ducts could account for as much as 2 to 3 percent of electricity used in the U.S. Sustainable Spaces can reduce an existing home's energy expenditure by 10 to 50 percent, Golden says; the startup has done around 400 retrofits in the Bay Area.
For now, though, there are a few hurdles to the green home retrofit market. First it can be seen as a luxury for higher-end home owners. Sure your energy bill will go down, but it could be hard to convince a family with a variety of bills to pay to invest in leaky air ducts first. Then there’s the regulatory market, which hasn’t really stepped up to encourage retrofits. Golden would like to see more incentives for energy efficiency remakes.
The Daily Sprout
Katie Fehrenbacher - Misc
Spain To Soften Solar Subsidy Cuts: Reuters reports that Spain has decided to relax its proposed cuts to its aggressive solar subsidies, citing Spain’s Energy Secretary Pedro Marin — Reuters.
Uruguay Getting Zapped: Uruguay wants to bring in new investment and has supposedly set aside land for a plant for electric car-maker ZAP. ZAP’s also got an EV plant planned for Kentucky. — GreenCarCongress.
GM on Trial? Wagoner Makes ‘The Case for GM’: GM is releasing videos on its blog that explain some of the challenges and goals for GM. In the first GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner asks viewers to leave comments for GM and they’ll read them all. Here’s your chance folks — Fastlane.
Solar Stocks Up on Senate Energy Tax Credits: Barron’s reports that solar stocks are slightly up on news that the Senate OKd an extension of the clean power tax credits. It still has to go back to the House — Barrons.
Senate Approves Energy Tax Credit Extensions
Katie Fehrenbacher - Policy
It’s starting to look like extending the clean energy tax credits could actually happen this time. Reuters reports that the Senate has approved a package to extend the investment tax credit for solar for eight years, and tax credits for wind and other renewables, such as wave power, for one and two years, respectively. The package could reportedly deliver $18 billion in tax credits for clean power as well as energy-efficiency incentives.
The plans still needs to be approved by the House, but this is exciting nonetheless. Congress is set to adjourn for the year, so it’s getting down to the wire. For more details on other clean power incentives in the plan, see our What You Need to Know About the Senate Energy Bill. And more on this later on.
Update: Check out our new post on the energy package which is headed back to the House for a vote, maybe.
Northeast Preps for Carbon Cap-and-Trade
Craig Rubens - Policy
Traders started trading futures and options for RGGI (say “Reggie”) permits last month, but prices are expected to stay low. In this first year, regulators have issued permits for more emissions than are expected to be released, to ensure that industry wouldn’t get slammed by a sudden and sharp increase in regulatory fees. But analysts predict that prices will remain low for six years, making us wonder when exactly industry will actually be held accountable in a meaningful way for their carbon emissions.
RGGI covers only emissions from power generation and sets the initial cap at 188 million tons per year in 2009 – more than 9 percent higher than emissions levels in 2007, according to a report from the consulting firm Environment Northeast. The goal is reduce emissions from power plants by 10 percent by 2019.
RGGI isn't the only regional consortium of states to plan for a cap-and-trade system. The Western Climate Initiative, a group of seven states and four Canadian provinces, last month issued a draft of its proposed plan to institute a regional cap-and-trade system. The group's proposal would have states start monitoring emissions in 2010 and reporting them in 2011 in preparation for a cap on carbon emissions starting in 2012. The WCI's goal is to cut emissions 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.
A lot is riding on the success of RGGI. Federal legislators will be paying close attention to gauge whether a national cap-and-trade program would be feasible, an idea both presidential candidates support. A strong showing from a brand-new carbon market could galvanize public support for a federal system.
GridPoint Raises Massive $120M, Grabs Plug-In Startup V2Green
Katie Fehrenbacher - Hitlines
GridPoint, a smart grid company that helps utilities balance energy loads, just announced that it has more than doubled its funding, adding a $120 million equity financing round. Those funds will fuel an “acquisition strategy,” and GridPoint says its first purchase, also announced today, is young Seattle-based startup V2Green, which builds smart charging technology to plug electric vehicles into the power grid. The price has not yet been disclosed.
GridPoint, which had already raised more than $100 million, raised this latest round largely from existing investors, which include Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Susquehanna Private Equity Investments, David Gelbaum’s The Quercus Trust, the Altira Group and Standard Renewable Energy Group. This funding brings the company’s total to more than $220 million. The company also has a big list of advisers, which include R. James Woolsey, former director of the CIA, and Pulitzer Prize-winner Daniel Yergin.
The acquisition of smart charging startup V2Green is particularly interesting. In March GridPoint said it had partnered with utility Duke Energy to test its smart charging tech on a controlled outlet in a residential garage. It didn’t sound too impressive, so good thing the company’s investing in some real plug-in tech. We actually asked V2Green what they thought about the GridPoint trial at the time, and they said they were actively trying to figure out more.
In June V2Green CEO John Clark told us that V2Green had raised a “significant investment" from an individual angel investor as part of the startup's initial fund raising. So whoever that was (V2Green says it wasn’t GridPoint) will be happy today.
As more and more vehicles are made to plug into the grid, utilities will have to manage the plug-in connections, or the power grid could risk being overloaded. V2Green's technology allows a plug-in electric vehicle to communicate with the grid so energy can flow to and from the car as the grid needs, called "smart charging" technology. The company’s Connectivity Modules use cellular networks to connect the vehicle with the grid, and allow for a two-way exchange of data.
GridPoint could also use V2Green’s software for other energy storage devices that plug into the power grid. Clark told us in June that V2Green was working on projects that could allow anything with a battery and grid connection to start sending energy to the grid, not just drawing from it. GridPoint says V2Green is the first of its acquisition strategy, so we’ll keep an eye out for other good possible fits for the company.
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