Nation's Should Build on Economy-Related Greenhouse Gas Cuts
DOE: $87M for Solar Research and Deployment
DOE Expands, Simplifies Loan Guarantees for Renewable Energy Projects
USDA Loans $17.4M for Greensburg, Kansas, to Run on Wind Power
Interior Department, California Launch Renewable Energy Initiative
DOE to Strengthen Enforcement of Energy Efficiency Standards
Nation's Should Build on Economy-Related Greenhouse Gas Cuts
Under the current economic slowdown, global CO2 emissions could fall 3% in 2009; the International Energy Agency (IEA) believes the world's nations can build on this to avoid the future impacts of climate change. US emissions are expected to fall 5.9% in 2009.
To support ongoing climate negotiations, the IEA released an early excerpt of its World Energy Outlook 2009, which finds the economic slowdown has already put the world on a path to achieve 5% lower greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in 2020 than they estimated just a year ago.
To achieve greater reductions and shift the world toward low-carbon energy sources, the IEA estimates that $10.5 trillion will need to be pumped into the global energy sector over the next 20 years. But the IEA estimates that fuel savings across industry, transportation, and buildings will total $8.6 trillion over the same time period, nearly equaling the investment.
The IEA scenario targets climate stabilization at the equivalent of 450 parts per million of CO2, even with higher emissions from developing countries. The IEA's World Energy Outlook 2009 will be released November 10, but until then, see the IEA press release and the climate change excerpt from the report (PDF 4.3 MB).
DOE Awards $87M for Solar Research and Deployment
DOE announced on October 8 that it will award $87 million-$50 million of it from the ARRA-to support development of new solar technologies and rapid, large-scale deployment of solar systems.
Up to $17 million will go to five DOE national labs-Argonne National Lab, Los Alamos National Lab, the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), Oak Ridge National Lab, the Pacific Northwest National Lab, and Savannah River National Lab-for R&D on PV and concentrating solar technologies.
The remaining $70 million will support deployment of solar systems, including $37.5 million for seven projects that will model, test, and evaluate the impact of large amounts of solar PV power on the reliability and stability of the electrical grid; $10 million for 40 new Solar America Cities Special Projects, located in 16 cities, with the intent of addressing barriers to solar adoption in urban settings; and $27 million for nine colleges, universities, and local organizations to lead regional programs that will train instructors for solar installer training programs. These "train the trainer" programs will support both solar PV technologies and solar heating and cooling technologies. See the DOE press release and DOE's Solar Energy Technologies Program Web site.
DOE Expands, Simplifies Loan Guarantees for Renewable Energy Projects
DOE announced October 7 that it will provide guarantees for up to $8 billion in loans for conventional renewable energy generation projects such as wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal power, as well as hydropower. DOE will draw up to $750 million in ARRA funds to support the new loan guarantees.
Past offers of loan guarantees for renewable energy generation projects have focused new or innovative technologies not in general use in the marketplace, but the new solicitation is geared toward more conventional renewable energy projects.
