04/30/2008 08:54 AM

Page: 1  | 2  | 3

Weekly Clean Energy Roundup: April 30, 2008

Page 3

In terms of funding and incentives, HB 368 establishes the Maryland Strategic Energy Investment Fund, which combines utility fees for non-compliance with the RPS along with proceeds from the sale of greenhouse gas allowances under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

The fund will invest in a wide range of clean energy projects and programs. HB 377 increases the grants under the Solar Energy Grant Program, which now offers grants of $2,500 per kilowatt of solar electric power, capped at $10,000, and 30% of the cost of solar water heating systems, capped at $3,000. It also enhances the Geothermal Heat Pump Grant Program, which now offers grants of $1,000 per ton of cooling capacity, capped at $3,000 for residential systems and $10,000 for non-residential systems. The bill also exempts solar energy equipment and geothermal heat pumps from sales and use taxes and exempts solar energy equipment from local property taxes. Finally, HB 117 creates easements for solar energy systems to prevent projects that would block the sunlight. It also prohibits unreasonable restrictions on solar energy systems, such as homeowner association covenants against their installation. See the governor's press release.

Austin Energy Maintains U.S. Lead in Green Power Sales

The municipal utility for Austin, Texas, sold more than 577 million kilowatt-hours of electricity from renewable sources in 2007, holding onto its top spot in the United States for utility sales of green power, according to DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). More than 800 utilities across the United States offer voluntary green programs to their customers, according to NREL, which released its annual ranking of the leading utility green power programs on April 22. Total utility green power sales exceeded 4.5 billion kilowatt-hours in 2007, about a 20% increase over 2006. For the sixth time in a row, Austin Energy leads the pack for total sales. Austin Energy also comes in second for its percentage of total electricity sales that are green power sales, at 5%, beat out only by the Edmond Electric, the municipal utility for Edmond, Oklahoma, which is at 5.7% of total electricity sales.

Other leading utilities include Xcel Energy, which has the greatest number of participants in its program at 75,534. Helped by its huge size, Xcel Energy has led that category for the past five years. On the smaller end of the scale, the municipal utility for Palo Alto, California, led the nation for the third year in a row in terms of the percentage of customers participating in their program. The municipal utility achieved a 20.4% participation rate, pulling far ahead of its nearest rival, the municipal utility for Lenox, Iowa, which has a 14.3% participation rate. See the NREL press release and the top ten lists of utility green power programs (including links to earlier lists) on the Green Power Network Web site.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has also updated its list of the leading purchasers of green power. The list has changed little over the past three months, with Intel Corporation still leading overall, Whole Foods Market leading the retail pack, the U.S. Air Force leading among government agencies, and the City of Dallas, Texas, leading among local governments. However, the University of Pennsylvania managed to overtake New York University in green power purchases, helping the Ivy League to win the crown as the top conference for green power purchases. The EPA announced the conference champs on Monday. See the EPA Green Power Partnership Web site, the EPA press release and the College & University Green Power Challenge Web page.

Researchers Note Rising Levels of Atmospheric Greenhouse Gases

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported last week that the levels of carbon dioxide and methane in Earth's atmosphere increased significantly in 2007. Global levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increased by 0.6%, or 19 billion tons. More troubling is a 27-million-ton increase in methane, which hasn't increased since 1998. NOAA researchers attribute the methane increase to rapid industrialization in Asia and rising emissions from wetlands in the Arctic and tropics, but they're not quite sure which sources are causing the sudden increase. But so far, the effect remains relatively small: even accounting for methane being 25 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, last year's rise in methane levels would be equal to about 675 million tons of carbon dioxide. Last year's rise in carbon dioxide levels was 28 times larger. See the NOAA press release.

++++

Kevin Eber is the Editor of EREE Network News, a weekly publication of the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). 

« back