Wind makes for a gorgeous evening star
THIS is the picture I think symbolizes a “green” holiday!
You are looking at a photo of wind blades lighting the sky with LED lights near Munich, Germany.
This image comes from “Wind Turbine Becomes Colossal LED Christmas Decoration” and the entire Treehugger article is HERE.
Happy Holidays!
May your tummy be full and your family be near, Dear Reader. Happy Holidays.
Energy Business Notes from Around Wisconsin
5N Plus Inc of DeForest plans to recycle thin film cadmium telluride solar panels to recover valuable tellurium dioxide. More HERE
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Proposal due January 21, 2010: Waste food that now goes into the garbage or down kitchen disposals could one day generate up to $4-million in locally-produced green energy under a project spearheaded by Dane County, County Executive Kathleen Falk announced today. Full article HERE. Full text of RFP found HERE.
USDA move: Dollars for digesters + possible food vs. forests
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A bill is moving from the House to the Senate
to create a collaboration between the USDA and the dairy industry to put much more manure from large dairies into anaerobic digestors, to give farmers carbon offset dollars for transitioning cropland to forestland, to expand farm energy efficiency, and to expand farm install of traditional renewable energies like wind/solar [IMO most likely wind]. If we do not have to endure monoculture-as-usual practices, we could see permaculture crops in those forests.
I tooled around farm sites to get a read on the ag community reaction to USDA plans.
The most debate revolves around carbon offsets. Responses:
Optimism at Lancaster Farming,
Puzzlement at Progressive Farmer,
Dismay at the Des Moines Register(especially in comments).
From Lancaster Farming: “Climate change can be a net economic winner for agriculture. Legislation passed by the House of Representatives and under consideration in the Senate will create a market for carbon offsets that can be sold by America’s farmers, ranchers and landowners to businesses that are large carbon emitters,” he said. “USDA’s analysis of the legislation shows that it will be a net gain for America’s producers. A USDA study found that the House climate bill would increase farm expenses by $700 million, or 0.3 percent, from 2012-18, which would be offset by revenue from a carbon offset market, estimated by USDA at $1 billion a year in the near term and $15 billion in 2040.”
Progressive Farmer: “how USDA plans to link the program’s benefits to “normal” crop and livestock production since perhaps 85 percent of the expected benefit is seen as coming from planting trees on crop and pastureland” at Progressive Farmer
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Des Moines:” (referring to a Texas A&M study) About 59 million acres of land nationwide would be converted to forest by 2050 because of the carbon-offset program, the analysis showed. Some 22.5 million acres of that new forest land would be in five Corn Belt states, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. Some of that land is now in pasture, but 20.6 million is now used for growing crops, according to the study. By comparison, Iowa farmers harvested about 22.5 million acres of corn and soybeans this fall.” More HERE.
And some info on that USDA Bill: Renewable energy in the U.S. will benefit from a new partnership between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the American Dairy Industry, which announced on Tuesday it will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2020 using a variety of technologies, including solar and wind energy technologies. The partnership will also provide an additional source of income for the dairy industry, which is in trouble due to the recession.
Legislation passed by the House of Representatives and under consideration in the Senate will create a market for carbon offsets that can be sold by America’s farmers, ranchers and landowners to businesses that are large carbon emitters. Farmers and ranchers will be able to install solar and wind energy systems on their farms to help offset greenhouse gas emissions. Some farmers and ranchers use solar power now to convert methane to power. The USDA will support the dairy industry’s goal through program modifications, added program enhancements that fund electricity generation with renewable energy dollars, and better marketing of anaerobic digesters to dairy farmers.
A third party will verify emission reductions and will be enforced by the USDA. The move is also designed to let industry and the USDA set policy for the farmers and ranchers rather than having the industry regulated by the EPA.
Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) President Rhone Resch challenged the American dairy industry “to look at the roof space sitting in the sun” on their farms and to not just think about wind turbines in the field. Rhone also asked the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack if the USDA was doing anything to streamline REEF (Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Fund), a government program that helps farmers and ranchers to design and plan for renewable energy. Vilsack said the USDA is focused on larger bioenergy programs now, but is planning to address the issue later. Source: Renewableenergyworld.com
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And ACEEE is sponsoring an event at the Monona Terrace
to feature solutions for dairy farms in the zones of biomass energy, energy efficiency, USDA grants, and renewable energy.
When and where here: 2010 ACEEE Forum on Energy Efficiency in Agriculture
Draft of program agenda is HERE.
Copenhagen : The value of carbon. The value of life.
After reading about Copenhagen too much, some notes:
My favorite article summing it all up is HERE.
There was a team approach: China-Brazil-India vs. UK-Denmark-US and unknown other western nations. Oddly, Canada is a top carbon polluter due to the Athabascan tar sands bitumen extraction yet it is not named in most articles on Copenhagen.
The only thing we have to hang our hats on now: what our president said U.S. goals would be:
1)Cutting our emissions in the range of 17 percent by 2020 and by more than 80 percent by 2050 in line with final legislation.
2)”… a mechanism to review whether we are keeping our commitments and exchange this information in a transparent manner….”
3)… financing that helps developing countries adapt… America will be a part of a fast-start funding that will ramp up to $10 billion by 2012. And yesterday, Secretary Hillary Clinton, my Secretary of State, made it clear that we will engage in a global effort to mobilize $100 billion in financing by 2020…”
And I see the price of a ton of carbon is still 15 cents. Meaning: absolutely no measureable progress made.
Retail solar=”Hi. I bought some solar parts and I need your help.”
The eyes of the average do-it-yourselfer grow wide with possibility: solar panels selling on the shelf at 21 Lowes stores in California now and across the nation in 2010. The reaction of the solar installer? Maybe there’s some eye rolling – unless we are looking at a new installer who is very hungry to get into the market and appreciates getting those “Help! I bought parts!” calls. Each panel is $893 and 175 watts, according to the Burbank, CA location. Lowes is selling these panels in its “Energy Centers” complete with energy monitors.
For comparison’s sake: Realgoods.com is selling a Sharp 198 Watt at $879.
Maybe it is “all good”, with so much interest in solar that retail panels pose zero threat.
But, all the same, I was surprised to see this MREA link to the “Solar coming to a store near you” article posted to facebook without any note on why and how MREA has been actively training NABCEP-certified installers and why customers should seek out individuals with this training or why Focus on Energy dollars are tied to this … Just plain odd.
Screenshots of the MREA facebook post and ensuing comments are below.
For more on the Andalay panels in Lowe’s, here is ONE ARTICLE – comments are interesting
Specs for Andalay panels-note-I don’t think that these are the Lowe’s variety, as it says these are installed by “specially trained professional installers” HERE.
WPPI Grant Money: Green Max Home – Jan 7th call / Feb 26 deadline
WPPI is offering a financial boost to getting a few homes to “net zero”. Net zero homes produce, in one year, as much energy as they consume.
According to Kurt Pulvermacher of WPPI, one Green Max grant was given in 2008 for $50,000. A 2nd Green Max grant was given by WPPI for net-zero in 2009 for $42,000.
This is a competitive grant and only a maximum of a few homes will be funded with funding dependent upon design and expenses of the net zero home. Homes may be either new construction or retrofit.
Where is WPPI territory?: Look HERE.
Contact Kay Schaub by email if you want to be in on a grant conference call January 7th:
kschaub AT wppienergy.org
Deadline for grant application: February 26, 2010
RFP Info is HERE.
Tom and Verona Chambers of Black River Falls got the first grant award. H&H did the solar install.
Chambers’ Net Zero Costs: $89,000 Total
Building shell improvements: $13,000
HVAC/Ground source heat pump: $14,000
EnergyStar Appliances, water savers: $3,700
Solar PV sytem: $57,100
Home performance consultant fee: $1,200
[A Wisconsin Energy Star Homes consultant was used in this case]
The Chambers’ home is featured HERE.
Want to see a more detailed “case study” of what a net zero home is? I like this write-up: The Hurrle home near Green Bay.
The Solar Godzilla Files: SolarCity installs $30/mo solar in Oregon + CEO calls small solar unreliable
SolarCity CEO Lyndon Reve blames slow acceptance of solar on unreliable small solar installers:
“We’ve all had our bad contractor experience when someone’s doing work on your home,” said Rive. “A lot of the small companies out there fall into that category — there are some smaller guys that do do good service, but they’re not always easy to find.”
Reve credits big solar installers for branding solar, offering financing, customer support, and known brands.
No mention made of small installers, ohhhhh, perhaps inventing the entire infrastructure and industry of solar energy. Interview of Rive HERE.
Regardless of my snappy comments about Reve, he is finding ways to slice and dice the 30% federal cash grant for solar with the aid of Bancorp and a $100 million fund.
Having piles of money in areas allows SolarCity to do some really fun stuff like Oregon’s PurePower program: “The company has also announced a new residential solar service in Oregon. SolarCity’s PurePower program allows homeonwers to pay the same rate they were previously paying for electricity from the utility company. PurePower pricing for a 3.5-kilowatt solar system in Oregon, appropriate for a typical three or four-bedroom home, starts at $30/month.” Installs begin in March 2010.
More on Oregon’s PurePower HERE.
More on SolarCity/Bancorp deal and services HERE.
How’s that working for you?: 30% Federal solar CASH grant on commercial solar installs
Have you heard much about the 30% federal cash grant in lieu of the ITC? This option is only available to businesses, and was rolled out with this spring’s recovery bill.
Basically: A business can get back 30% of the cost of the installed system in 60 days as a cash grant – so that is not dependent upon filing federal taxes or having some kind of tax obligation to put it against.
When I was at the Friday Dec 4th WI solar electric working group, Wayman Lawrence of Foley and Lardner mentioned that the businesses he works with are very happy with the cash grants, and he said that the money is coming through in 60 days. Zara Scharf of MREA said, however, that there is a great deal of paperwork that must be filled out to get the cash grant and she expressed concern that the application can be reviewed and that the money might not be delivered… but no evidence presented to back up that side of the story.
So, any feedback from those who have processed their cash grants “in the trenches” would be much appreciated.
U.S. Treasury Guidance Documents for the grant are HERE.
More on the cash grant and a reminder on some recover bill changes we saw:
(information below came from SunWize’s site.)
•For 2009 and 2010 projects, solar projects that are eligible for depreciation or amortization (typically those owned by corporate tax filers) can receive a 30% upfront cash grant in lieu of the 30% tax credit. The 30% solar tax credit for individual filers (i.e. residential systems) remains unchanged. The Treasury Department will administer the solar grant program and is required to pay out each solar grant within 60 days of the receipt of each application [Section 1603]. The solar grant is not subject to federal taxes [Section 1104]. There’s no word yet on whether the solar grant will be assignable. The same eligibility of the investment solar tax credit applies; in particular, this means that governmental and non-tax paying entities aren’t eligible. Almost all solar electric PV applications should be eligible, with the lone exception being swimming pool heating.
•For 2009 projects, corporate tax filers can claim 50% bonus depreciation expense [Section 1201(a)]. The remaining 50% of the depreciation basis is expensed according to the 5-year MACRS schedule. The depreciation basis is still 85% of the total system cost (the total system cost less one half of the 30% federal grant) [Section 1104].
•The cap on solar hot water heating equipment has been removed, making it eligible for the full 30% solar tax credit (but not the grant) [Section 1122].
•Projects that benefit from subsidized financing will not have their federal grant reduced [Section 1103]. This will put tax-backed municipal loan programs on safer ground.
•A 30% tax credit for factory equipment used in the manufacture of renewable energy equipment (including solar). The total budget for this tax credit is $2.3 billion [Section 1302].
For a quick elementary run-down of solar financing options, this LINK to Environmental Leader is nice.
For SEIA’s FAQ on federal solar tax incentives
Try HERE
And since I got curious about SunWize:
Who is SunWize? SunWize Technologies is a subsidiary of Mitsui & Co., and offers solar energy solutions to homes and businesses in the US and abroad. The company manufactures a full line of engineered solutions. Info from here.
SunWize Residential Power Systems is a large installer in California and Oregon and recently chose the Fronius IG Plus and DATCOM combination for all residential installs. Info from here. In its territory, SunWize is rolling out community solar challenges:
“The SunWize Solar Challenge is intended to catalyze an entire city or town toward achieving a significant renewable energy goal. The Corvallis Solar Challenge is aimed at adding 60,000 watts of clean, solar energy to the city’s power production in 60 days.” Info from here. SunWize is set to distribute SOLON Corporations’s Made in America panels. The panels come from a Tuscon, AZ plant. Info from here.
For corporate commercial solar electric system projects started during 2009 and 2010, solar projects that are eligible for depreciation or amortization (typically those owned by corporate tax filers) can receive a 30% Federal cash grant in lieu of the 30% tax credit. The Treasury Department will administer the solar grant program and is required to pay out each solar grant within 60 days of the receipt of each application. The corporate commercial solar electric system solar grant is not subject to federal taxes. The same eligibility of the investment solar tax credit applies; in particular, this means that governmental and non-tax paying entities aren’t eligible. Almost all corporate commercial solar electric PV applications should be eligible,
Green manufacturing flees the U.S., too: Why are we surprised?
I think we have grown accustomed to the fact that manufacturing jobs flee the U.S. for China and other parts East. And green manufacturing is no exception: Providing federal funding for solar or wind manufacturing with no strings attached does not landlock those jobs in the continental U.S.
Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association–“In China, 80 percent of the entire cost of a factory and worker training is paid for by the government,” Mr. Resch said. “Malaysia will give you a 10- or 20-year tax holiday.”
