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1. Western Governors to Obama: Invest Billions in Clean Energy
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2. France's Recupyl Grabs Cash for Recycling
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3. Massive Gulf of Maine Wind Farm Proposed
Western Governors to Obama: Invest Billions in Clean Energy
Josie Garthwaite - Energy
“When I am president,” President-elect Barack Obama said in a videogram sent to a participants of a climate change summit organized by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last week, “any governor who is willing to promote clean energy will have an ally in the White House.” And it was just one of several pledges he made. Governors from Western states have now issued a four-page letter to Obama calling for long-term commitment to clean energy in the U.S. While it is not a direct reply to Obama’s video (drafts have been in the works since June, according to Western Governors’ Association spokesperson Karen Deike), the letter amounts to a collective “Yes We’re Willing” from the states’ leadership.
Sent last week, this message came as global leaders made final preparations for another set of climate change talks, known as COP-14, that kicked off today in Poland. As the first international conference on the issue since the election, COP-14 represents a re-entry for the U.S. into global climate change talks largely neglected since the country walked away from the Kyoto Protocol.
Signed by leaders of the Western Governors’ Association, which represents governors from 19 states (including Alaska, of “Drill Baby Drill” fame), plus Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands, the letter includes calls for tens of billions of dollars in annual investment in clean energy and vehicle technologies, assistance for industries transitioning to renewable fuels and more efficient technologies, and rewards for utilities that reduce customers’ energy usage.
The governors’ vision extends beyond public funding for cleantech. The group also suggests making “maximum use” of market-based mechanisms for slashing emissions, and encouraging (though not requiring) the private sector to invest at least as much as the federal government into energy technologies. The governors don’t specify a regulatory scheme for carbon emissions, but they are clear on how revenue from something like a carbon tax should be spent. “Revenue raised should support the energy policy principles in this letter,” the governors write, “and not be used as a means of sustaining or expanding general governmental operations.”
The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, a coal industry group, has announced support for the governors’ stance — or a skewed version of it, at least: Instead of renewable fuels, the coalition suggests the governors have come out swinging for so-called “clean coal” technology.
France's Recupyl Grabs Cash for Recycling
David Ehrlich - Big Green
French recycling company Recupyl, which uses hydrometallurgy to recycle batteries, displays and other materials, said yesterday that it raised €14.5 million ($18.4 million) in financing (hat tip Green Car Congress). Recupyl joins a long list of recycling companies taking in funding this year, but unlike those startups, Recupyl, founded in 1993, already has more than a few years of experience under its belt.
The fresh cash for Recupyl comes from new investors led by AGF Private Equity, as well as original backer Aloe Private Equity. Recupyl said INPG Enterprise, which provided seed funding for Recupyl, still holds a stake in the company, but did not disclose if INPG Enterprise participated in this latest round. INPG Entreprise is the research, development and investment arm of France’s Grenoble Institute of Technology. Recupyl was started by Grenoble Institute researcher Farouk Tedjar, who serves as CEO of the company.
Earlier this month, Flipswap and Second Rotation both pulled in funding for their recycling programs. California’s Flipswap, which targets cell phone trade-ins and recycling, raised $14 million. Boston-based Second Rotation received $6 million for its much broader gadget buyback program, called Gazelle, covering phones, laptops, MP3 players and more. And in August, Indian e-waste recycler Attero raised $6.3 million in funding, while ReCellular, based in Michigan, pulled in $15 million.
Recupyl said it currently has recycling plants in Singapore, France, Spain and the UK. The company said its hydrometallurgy system recovers metals by leaching them into a solution of acid or alkaline, using selective precipitation, as well as electrolysis.
The recycling technology goes beyond just batteries and displays, with Recupyl saying that it also handles fly ash from waste incineration, industrial effluents, and asbestos. The company said that its process for asbestos converts the material into an inert glass that can be used as a building composite. Recupyl is also looking at the recycling of fuel cells and solar panels.
Massive Gulf of Maine Wind Farm Proposed
Katie Fehrenbacher - Energy
If T. Boone Pickens has decided the capital markets can’t fund his plan for a 4 GW wind farm right now, we’re wondering how a group called the Ocean Energy Institute plans to build one of the world’s largest wind farm — made up of 5GW of floating turbines — off the Gulf of Maine. This week the International Herald Tribune took a look at the Ocean Energy Institute and its plan to use funds “from major corporations and foundations” to build five 9.2-square-mile offshore wind farms in the Gulf of Maine starting in 5-7 years with full deployment in 10 years.
The Ocean Energy Institute calls itself a “think tank” and is run, as the IHT notes, by energy investment banker and energy adviser to President George W. Bush, Matthew Simmons, as well as physicist George Hart. Simmons and Hart say that wind turbines built just off the coasts of the U.S. offer better, more powerful wind resources than many onshore wind plans, and that the Gulf of Maine in particular has some of the best wind areas in the world.
Dubbing the plan a “Manhattan Project for Maine,” the Ocean Energy Institute says it could create some 20,000-30,000 jobs. The group on its web site also lays out a larger plan to get the U.S. off of fossil fuels, which the group calls the “Pickens Plan Plus” or the “Simmons Plan’ — use wind farms to power the grid, but add in the large amounts of offshore wind around the U.S.
It’s unclear how much traction with policymakers or the community the group has gotten, or how much funding it’s raised for its ambitious plan. It’s certainly not a good time to turn to capital markets. Also not discussed in the plan is the idea of NIMBYism, which has helped delay other offshore wind projects in the U.S.
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