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1. Solyndra Snags DOE Loan Guarantee No. 1
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2. Wind Layoffs Continue: Acciona Cutting a Third of Workers at Iowa Plant
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3. Daily Sprout
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4. Energy Efficiency Could Slash U.S. Energy Bills by $168.6B
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5. First Solar Cranks Out a Good Gigawatt of Thin Film Solar
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6. Fair trade meeting, expo coming to Portland...but is it green?
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7. Build It Green's Next Step: Apartment Retrofits
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8. Obama to Battery Developers: Step Up & Innovate, Funds Will Follow
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9. The Other (Cheaper) Green Jobs Catalyst: Entrepreneurs & $1M Bait
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10. Blazers, Made in Oregon sign to go dark for Earth Hour
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11. Enerkem Heads to Mississippi for Biofuel Plant
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12. Daily Sprout
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13. Students become sustainability teachers at Jefferson High
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14. 2009 Honda Fit: The Fuel Economy Test Drive
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15. Love that #39: Lewis & Clark rallies for better TriMet service
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16. Jefferson High students want to calculate your footprint
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17. Peaches, apples top latest list of pesticide-heavy produce
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18. Free Geek rises again, thanks to Portland's reuse ethic
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19. When talking toilet rebates, can't forget Tigard, Beaverton, Hillsboro, Sherwood
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20. Too hard to buy a hankie in Portland, and other schnoz-related tales
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21. Brief interruption for a major life change
Solyndra Snags DOE Loan Guarantee No. 1
Josie Garthwaite - Startups
Today’s announcement does not mean money in the bank for Solyndra just yet — the company still has to meet an equity commitment requirement for the DOE to finalize its guarantee. Still, having the feds on its side will drop many barriers to financing in today’s tight markets. Solyndra expects the guaranteed loan to provide debt financing for some 73 percent of the costs for a photovoltaic solar panel factory producing up to 500 MW per year and employing about 1,000 people. As many as 3,000 people will find work building the plant.
Solyndra is aiming for more than just lower-cost solar: The company says economies of scale created by this expansion will eventually translate to nothing less than grid parity.
Wind Layoffs Continue: Acciona Cutting a Third of Workers at Iowa...
Josie Garthwaite - Energy
The company, a subsidiary of Spain’s Acciona Energia, announced yesterday that it will cut 65 jobs in the U.S., including a third of the workforce (58 jobs) at Acciona’s sole U.S. factory — a turbine assembly plant in Iowa. The remaining layoffs will be at wind farms throughout the country, all of them within the next 60 days.
Following record growth in 2008 — a year when the American Wind Energy Association says wind companies created 35,000 jobs — the U.S. wind industry has slammed on the brakes, scrambling to adjust production and staffing to slowing demand. In early January, about 180 workers lost their jobs at Madrid-based turbine maker Gamesa’s eastern Pennsylvania facility, and North Dakota’s DMI Industries announced plans to lay off 20 percent of its workforce. A few weeks later Clipper Windpower laid off 90 workers at its Ceder Rapids, Iowa plant (we wrote about the cuts here). These latest cuts at Acciona suggest the storm has yet to blow over.
Photo courtesy Flickr user jesse.milan
Daily Sprout
Josie Garthwaite - Misc
Not What It Sounds Like: Porsche has gone solar. No, not by slapping solar panels on cars, but by installing its first U.S. solar array at a California logistics facility. — Fast Company
Building a Better Subsidy: For the first time, clean energy developers can choose between two different kinds of tax breaks (a onetime break on their investment or a ten-year break on electricity production), or opt for outright cash grants from the Department of Energy. — WSJ’s Environmental Capital
Regional Carbon Auction Reaps $117.3M: The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a 10-state cap and trade program, drew 50 bidders and raised $117.3 million for energy efficiency, clean energy and other programs at a CO2 auction this week. — Mass High Tech
Bye-Bye, Birdies: Energy production of all types, including wind, ethanol and mountaintop coal mining, is contributing to plummeting bird populations, according to a new government report. — Associated Press
Green (Lobbying) Party: Hundreds of hired guns are now working on energy issues on Capitol Hill, meeting with lawmakers and submitting proposals for financial help and policy changes on behalf of companies large (e.g. Google) and small (algae biofuel startups). — Greenwire via NYT
Energy Efficiency Could Slash U.S. Energy Bills by $168.6B
Josie Garthwaite - Energy
We hear a different version of the same story every day: The budgets of U.S. consumers and businesses are under massive strain, and unemployment is climbing. But a new report from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy says a national efficiency standard could fatten up those budgets — to the tune of $168.6 billion dollars a year by 2020 — and create more than 220,000 jobs.
The group, ACEEE, analyzed economic and energy data from 2008, and found potential savings totalling some 16 percent more than their previous estimate of $144 billion (based on older data). The most recent estimate, released this week, reflects a scenario in which utilities cut electricity demand by 15 percent and natural gas demand by 10 percent by 2020 — reductions proposed by Democratic lawmakers and backed by ACEEE.
The so-called Save American Energy Act also has support from BICEP, a coalition of corporations including Sun Microsystems, eBay and Symantec, that’s working to influence climate and energy policy.
So where would these hundreds of thousands of jobs come from? Investments in developing and deploying energy efficiency technology, according to ACEEE. The report notes that “as greater energy savings are realized, the number of jobs increases proportionally.” But near-term job losses in the electricity and natural gas sectors could make for a politically tough proposition. During the first three years of a 15 percent electricity-savings mandate, the group anticipates net job loss in those traditional energy sectors.
On the flipside, new jobs would emerge in construction and manufacturing. And don’t forget the startups: Energy-saving technology developers, such as SynapSense and Positive Energy, could see a spike in interest.
First Solar Cranks Out a Good Gigawatt of Thin Film Solar
Katie Fehrenbacher - Energy
First Solar , the thin-film solar darling that has reportedly reached grid parity, or the point where photovoltaic electricity is as cheap as conventional electric power, has hit another milestone this morning: 1 GW of production. That’s the total amount of thin-film solar modules it has produced since it started commercial production back in 2002.
A gigawatt might not seem like a lot over seven years, but the recent ramp-up rate is impressive. First Solar says it took the company six years to produce the first 500 megawatts and just the last eight months to produce the second 500 MW. Even through the recent downturn, First Solar is now powering ahead like a locomotive. Earlier this month the company bought up a coveted 550 MW solar project to supply PG&E with solar power for $400 million from struggling OptiSolar.
Bottom line: First Solar took its years of manufacturing experience to drop the price of solar at a time when the first U.S. utilities have started to plan projects to meet state renewable portfolio standards. First Solar can produce solar modules for less than the $1-per-watt price barrier. Very few solar photovoltaic makers in the U.S. can make that claim. And more and more, utilities will start contracting these projects going forward, particularly if a national renewable portfolio standard gets passed. While we’ve been writing about a lot of companies that are getting knee-capped by the downturn, First Solar appears to be shining through.
Fair trade meeting, expo coming to Portland...but is it green?
Shelby Wood, The Oregonian - Eat Your Greens
Build It Green's Next Step: Apartment Retrofits
Justin Moresco - Energy
Designers and builders alike should delight at the news. Green building rating systems are akin to report cards for structures, with higher grades given to those with the most green features, such as insulation, sustainable materials, and energy-efficient appliances. Though the industry is still in its infancy, developers and homeowners increasingly want greener buildings and many existing structures, especially in high-density areas like San Francisco, are considered multifamily dwellings. Industry watchers say buildings certified as green tend to be more valuable than their less-green peers, sell more quickly, and retain tenants longer.
Currently, Build It Green's GreenPoint system covers only new single-family and multifamily homes and existing single-family homes. The largest U.S. green building rating system, LEED, managed by the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit U.S. Green Building Council, has a residential remodeling program for existing homes that provides resources and tools for remodeling projects, but LEED does not yet have a rating system for existing homes. Build It Green's system is primarily used in California, with about 70 cities statewide officially embracing their guidelines. The organization is, however, pushing to expand beyond the Golden State.
Obama to Battery Developers: Step Up & Innovate, Funds Will Follow
Josie Garthwaite - Policy
Earlier this year, the nonprofit policy group Next 10 released a report on how energy efficiency and clean technology has provided stimulus for California's economy — lending a fresh set of data to back up something we’ve noted more than once: The U.S. might do well to follow California’s lead on supporting clean energy, improving efficiency, and creating green jobs. (We’ll look at how the state cut energy costs with IT at our Green:Net conference next week.)
President Barack Obama seems to agree. Speaking after a tour of Southern California Edison’s Electric Vehicle Technical Center in Pomona, Calif., he had plenty of kudos for the Golden State, saying “Californians aren’t just bearing the brunt” of the recession, but also “doing what needs to be done to overcome it.” Namely, developing clean technology.
Obama likened the work at Edison’s lab — and more directly, recent federal allocations — to historical breakthroughs in science and technology:
[O]ften, our greatest discoveries are born not in a flash of brilliance, but in the crucible of a deliberate effort over time. And often, they take something more than imagination and dedication alone — often they take an investment from government. That’s how we sent a man to the moon. That’s how we were able to launch a world wide web. And it’s how we’ll build the clean energy economy that’s the key to our competitiveness in the 21st century.
[T]he nation that leads on energy will be the nation that leads the world in the 21st century. That’s why, around the world, nations are racing to lead in these industries of the future. Germany is leading the world in solar power. Spain generates almost 30 percent of its power by harnessing the wind, while we manage less than one percent. And Japan is producing the batteries that currently power American hybrid cars.
The President also highlighted the $2.4 billion competitive grant program for advanced vehicle battery technology development included in the stimulus package, announcing some new details: The Department of Energy will award up to $1.5 billion in grants to U.S.-based manufacturers for battery and component production for plug-in hybrid vehicles. U.S.-based makers of electric-vehicle components, including motors, will get a smaller chunk — up to $500 million in grants.
Another $400 million will go toward demo projects for plug-in hybrids and “other electric infrastructure concepts,” according to a release from the DOE today, including truck-stop charging stations, electric rail and EV technician training.
Who’s in the running? Obama urged startups and larger companies to submit their ideas — and emphasized that Edison and its lab are hardly shoe-ins for funding:
Show us that your idea or your company is best-suited to meet America’s challenges, and we will give you a chance to prove it. And just because I’m here today doesn’t exempt all of you from that challenge — every company that wants a shot at these tax dollars has to prove their worth.
So, entrepreneurs: Start your plug-ins.
Photos courtesy Southern California Edison (top) and Whitehouse.gov
The Other (Cheaper) Green Jobs Catalyst: Entrepreneurs & $1M Bait
Josie Garthwaite - Startups
What U.S. lawmakers are hoping to do with part of the $787 billion stimulus package, organizers of this year’s Clean Tech Open want to do with a million bucks: create green jobs. Adapting their annual competition to the current economy, organizers this year are calling on entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, government agencies, universities and NGOs to create 100,000 green jobs in the U.S. over the next five years.
The aptly named “100K Jobs Challenge” reflects a shift in tone from last year, when the main call to arms (issued by San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed at the launch) was not to put people back to work, but "to bring to us a way to make it possible for the people of San Jose to install solar on their residences at no net cost" — all with a somewhat laughable deadline of 60 days "to figure it out."
As in past years, cash prizes and services (a “startup-in-a-box”) are at stake in the Clean Tech Open. More than $1 million worth of prizes will be divvied up among a dozen U.S. startups in the business plan competition, open for the first time to entrepreneurs based outside of California.
Clean Tech Open organizers expect first-time entrepreneurs to play a key role in creating new jobs in clean energy, energy efficiency, green building and air, water and waste management businesses — a group of potential employers often sidelined in the national conversation about green jobs creation. Green-collar job training programs, like those unveiled by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California earlier this week, tend to focus more on things like solar panel installations and sheet metal manufacturing for wind turbines than on entrepreneurship.
Michael Santullo, cofounder of the Clean Tech Open, sees an opportunity there. “Entrepreneurs are the key to re-building the nation’s economy,” he said in the announcement today, adding that many of the participants tend to be first-time entrepreneurs. “They have a great idea, but could really use some assistance.” With today’s slowing flow of venture capital and debt financing? No kidding.
If you want to compete, you should know about these submission deadlines — they’re coming up fast:
Blazers, Made in Oregon sign to go dark for Earth Hour
Shelby Wood, The Oregonian - Eat Your Greens
Enerkem Heads to Mississippi for Biofuel Plant
David Ehrlich - Big Green
Enerkem said it expects the $250 million project, which includes the cost of an upstream municipal solid waste recycling and pre-treatment center, will be able to convert about 60 percent of the trash that comes into the Three Rivers landfill, which handles garbage from the counties of Calhoun, Itawamba, Lafayette, Lee, Monroe, Pontotoc, and Union in Mississippi.
Enerkem said its plant will go up next to the landfill, taking in 189,000 tons of unsorted municipal solid waste annually under a preliminary deal that the company signed with the Three Rivers Solid Waste Management Authority of Mississippi. Financial terms of that deal were not disclosed.
This is Enerkem’s first move into the U.S.; the company told us in January that it was looking at the possibility of a project in the States, as well as another plant in Canada. At the time, Enerkem, which is backed by Rho Ventures, Braemar Energy Ventures and BDR Capital, also said it was seeking more financing.
The Mississippi project, which will be constructed, owned, and operated by Enerkem, is a big jump from the company’s first commercial-scale plant, a 1.3-million gallon facility in Westbury, Quebec. In January, the company said the Westbury plant, which will make ethanol from used utility poles, was within a few months of starting production. The company also has plans for a 10 million-gallon plant in Edmonton, Alberta, in partnership with Toronto’s GreenField Ethanol that will get also feedstock from a landfill, just like the Mississippi facility.
But the Mississippi plant won’t just be running on garbage; it’s also expected to use wood residues from regional forest and agricultural operations, construction and demolition waste, and treated wood. And as for those “green jobs” we’ve been hearing so much about, Enerkem says the Mississippi plant will create 150 long-term direct and indirect jobs, as well as an additional 300 jobs over the construction and startup phases. We contacted Enerkem to find out when those jobs might be starting, but the company has yet to release any details on a timeline for the project.
Daily Sprout
Josie Garthwaite - Misc
China “Absolutely Opposed” to Chu’s Tariff Idea: China’s top negotiator for climate treaties has called a U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s recent suggestion to consider new duties on imports from countries that don’t try to limit their carbon emissions “an excuse to impose trade restrictions.” — Bloomberg
Highway Legal Plug-in Hybrid…Scooter?: Piaggio Group Americas is working on a highway legal plug-in hybrid scooter that it says could hit U.S. roads early next year with a 40-mile all electric range, priced at $8,000 to $9,000. — CNET’s Planetary Gear
Is Environmentalism (Still) Dead?: A few years ago, an essay on the death of environmentalism sparked swift and harsh criticism from environmental organizations. Have we entered the age of post-environmental politics, when investment in green jobs and energy trumps regulation? — San Francisco Chronicle
No Easy Task: Smart grid advocates have many tasks, not least of which is convincing consumers that a smart grid will lower their costs, not raise them. Changing regulations, meanwhile, is even thornier. — The Economist
Toyota Puts 2012 Plug-ins to the Test: Toyota plans to start a 100-car, three-year trial in partnership with energy supplier EDF in France to determine how many lithium-ion batteries to put in its 2012 Prius, and what kind of charging infrastructure will be needed. — Autocar
Students become sustainability teachers at Jefferson High
Shelby Wood, The Oregonian - Living Top Stories
2009 Honda Fit: The Fuel Economy Test Drive
khallgeisler - Bikes & Cars
The 2009 Honda Fit five-door sport is indeed go. I had a Revolution Orange number this week, and I tooled around town quite happily. There was enough punch for merging onto the highway, and it was as easy to park as a Mini Cooper. It was also impossible to park it in, though a UPS truck tried its hardest outside the coffee shop. Those short, rounded front corners can skirt just about anything.
The test car I had was fitted with a nav system that flipped open to reveal the slot for the CD player. Creature comforts were few, but it did have power windows and door locks. I’m not sure the little wing at the top of the hatchback kept the rear tires stuck to the road, but it added to the car’s sporty looks.
Surprisingly, the car didn’t live up to its EPA fuel economy estimates while it was in my hands. I’m not a crazed driver, but I also didn’t make an effort to drive in a fuel-friendly way (the Fit doesn’t have the eco-nanny feature that the new Insight has). There was an mpg minder in the dash, but it was small and I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to it.
After a week of mostly in-town driving, I got 22.1 mpg. The EPA estimates the car a 27 mpg city, 33 highway. I fell far short of its combined rating of 30 mpg, probably thanks to the 30-minute traffic jam I ran into outside Adidas headquarters. All that idling wrecked my mileage.
Images by Kristen Hall-Geisler.
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1 comment:
"Hey, there is a broken link in this article, under the anchor text - GreenField Ethanol
Here is the working link so you can replace it - https://selectra.co.uk/energy/guides/market/greenfield-ethanol-inc"
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