Category: News

[Editor’s Note: This is the second installment of a three-part series about Property Assessed Clean Energy financing. Part 1, “How the Fate of PACE Could Influence the Clean Energy Economy,” is available on GreenBiz.com.]

Property Assessed Clean Energy, and similar financing programs, have the potential to significantly impact a multitude of stakeholders — ranging from federal and local governments to lending institutions, bond markets, electric utilities, homeowners and individual contractors.

Although the growing momentum of PACE programs has been stifled by the FHFA, and the future of PACE is more uncertain than ever, the business implications of PACE are worth examining. Whether or not PACE survives the political mess it is currently in, understanding the implications of policy-enabled private financing programs on the ecosystem of stakeholders will inform future financing efforts.

This article examines the high-level implications of PACE on the following key stakeholders:

• Federal Government
• Municipal and City Governments
• Electric Utilities
• Mortgage Lenders
• Banks and Financiers
• Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Contractors
• Commercial Business and Home Owners

Federal Government

The administration needs to get some wins on the board with regard to spurring the uptake of clean energy adoption on a wide scale — and they can’t all depend on pouring stimulus dollars into R&D and traditional state incentive programs (though that is helpful). With climate legislation stalled, PACE programs represent a type of nationally applicable win-win policy ideas that are low risk, but have the potential to spur significant private sector activity.  With the concerns being voiced by the mortgage industry, the federal government’s involvement in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mean that federal agencies should be incented to push for tightly regulated, well-structured, PACE programs that both achieve the clean energy goals, but also contain their scope so as to not negatively impact the mortgage giants in government conservatorship.

Read the complete article at GreenBiz

By Chris Watts

As a national phenomenon, the framework for modern environmental policy and regulation in the United States began in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Prior to the 1960s, the issue of pollution (largely in the form of air and water degradation) was considered to be a state and local problem.

The U.S. federal government’s perspective was that interference in state issues would be a violation of state sovereignty. But about 40 years ago, general awareness began to change. Both the world population and national population were exploding. Industrial development across the U.S. was creating increasing amounts of unclean air and water. Also, significant individuals and events helped to educate people about the growing environmental threats to their health and quality of life, along with dangers to ecosystems and wildlife. Examples range from the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, a book on the dangers of pesticides to the environment, to the first Earth Day in 1970.

NEPA – the foundation

In 1969, shortly after the Santa Barbara oil spill, Congress passed the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA). Still in force today, NEPA is the basis for other U.S. environmental laws and is considered a major guiding tool for regulating federal actions that would have significant effects on environmental quality.

Read the complete article at Environmental Leader

In keeping with San Francisco’s commitment to the Precautionary Principle, the Board of Supervisors passed legislation in 2005 requiring that all City department purchasers adhere to an approved list of environmentally preferable, or “green,” products. The San Francisco Department of Environment created the SF Approved List to share the very best in authoritative green purchasing information within City government and with the world at large.  To create the List, we review ingredients, recycled content, energy efficiency, and many other factors, along with collecting reports on product performance.  

This is your one-stop shop for over 1,000 green products.

Washington, D.C., September 27, 2010 – Advocacy groups and appliance manufacturers hailed a 25 percent increase in energy efficiency for most new refrigerators, starting in 2014, thanks to new efficiency standards that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced today, continuing a 40-year trend of improving energy efficiency for this essential home appliance.

The groups said the new standards are the first step in the department’s implementation of the recommendations they proposed to DOE in July for new minimum efficiency standards, tax credits and ENERGY STAR incentives for smart appliances affecting six major categories of home appliances.

“We appreciate that DOE has moved so quickly to adopt the agreed-upon standards,” said Andrew deLaski, executive director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project (ASAP). “The consensus standards not only save consumers a huge amount of energy and money, they also save DOE the energy, time and money that a contentious rulemaking process can require.”

“The appliance industry has a strong history in reaching agreement with a broad base of energy and water efficiency advocates, as well as consumer groups, to develop energy conservation standards for home appliances,” said Joseph McGuire, president of the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers. “The new minimum energy standards are a significant part of the agreement, as is the extension of the current super-efficient manufacturers’ tax credits, which we are urging Congress to act on, and a soon-to-be-submitted petition to ENERGY STAR on smart appliances.”

According to the proposed rule, a typical new 20-cubic-foot refrigerator with the freezer on top would use about 390 kilowatt hours (kwh) per year, down from about 900 kwh/year in 1990 and about 1,700 kwh/year in the early 1970s. On a national basis, the new standards would, over 30 years, save 4.5 quads of energy, or roughly enough to meet the total energy needs of one-fifth of all U.S. households for a year. Over the same period, the standards will save consumers about $18.5 billion. DOE will finalize the standards by year’s end, and they take effect in 2014.

“This big step forward for refrigerator efficiency proves that the well of innovation leading to energy savings is very, very deep,” said David B. Goldstein, energy program director for the Natural Resource Defense Council and winner of a MacArthur Prize for his work on refrigerator efficiency. “These standards pave the way for manufacturer investments in a next generation of products that demonstrate ever-increasing energy and cost savings.”

Based on the July agreement, home appliance manufacturers and efficiency, environmental and consumer advocates have agreed to jointly pursue with Congress and the administration new standards for six categories of home appliances (refrigerators, freezers, clothes washers, clothes dryers, dishwashers and room air conditioners), as well as a recommendation that ENERGY STAR qualification criteria incorporate credit for Smart Grid capability and a package of targeted tax credits aimed at fostering the market for super-efficient appliances. (See agreement at www.aham.org/agreement.)

While DOE or Congress can act on the standards, the extension of the manufacturers’ tax credit for super-efficient appliances requires new legislation. EPA and DOE will consider the recommendation to jump start the Smart Grid through incentives for the deployment of smart appliances through the ENERGY STAR program.

As part of the new refrigerator standards, ice maker energy consumption also will be reflected in product energy-use ratings, giving consumers a better way to gauge actual energy use when making a choice among refrigerators.

“Even though refrigerators have become much more energy efficient, they still account for about 10 percent of household electricity use,” observed Alliance to Save Energy Vice President for Programs Jeffrey Harris. “With the new standards, consumers will not only save energy, they’ll also have a better picture of total energy use, because the ratings will include automatic ice makers.”

Several prior refrigerator standards, including those put in place in 1993 and 2001, are also the result of joint industry/advocate agreements.

“This kind of joint recommendation can expedite new standards,” said Steven Nadel, executive director of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. “By moving quickly to adopt the agreement, DOE encourages all parties who are willing to work in a collaborative way to agree on new standards.”

Here are the energy savings achieved by the proposed standards, relative to current standards for select categories:
Refrigerator-freezers                                                Percent savings
Top mount freezer                                                         25%
Bottom mount freezer                                                    20%
Side-mount freezer with through the door ice                   25%
Compact units                                                              10-25%

Freezers
Upright                                                                        25-30%
Chest                                                                           25-30%

~~~~~

The Alliance to Save Energy is a coalition of prominent business, government, environmental and consumer leaders who promote the efficient and clean use of energy worldwide to benefit consumers, the environment, the economy and national security.

The Appliance Standards Awareness Project is dedicated to increasing awareness of and support for cost-effective appliance and equipment efficiency standards. Founded in 1999, ASAP is led by a steering committee that includes representatives from energy efficiency organizations, the environmental community, consumer groups, utilities, and state government. See standardsASAP.org.www.aham.org.www.nrdc.org.

The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers is a not-for-profit trade association representing manufacturers of major and portable home appliances, floor care appliances, and suppliers to the industry and is headquartered in Washington, D.C. You can visit the AHAM Web site at

The Natural Resources Defense Council is a national, nonprofit organization of scientists, lawyers and environmental specialists dedicated to protecting public health and the environment. Founded in 1970, NRDC has 1.3 million members and online activists, served from offices  in New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Beijing. More information on NRDC is available at its Web site:

 The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing energy efficiency as a means of promoting economic prosperity, energy security, and environmental protection. ACEEE was involved in the legislation establishing federal efficiency standards, and has been active in all rulemakings since then. For information about ACEEE and its programs, publications, and conferences, contact ACEEE, 529 14th Street N.W., Suite 600, Washington, D.C. 20045 or visit aceee.org.

Since Aug. 25, the energy commission has licensed six solar thermal power plants that would cover some 39 square miles of desert land and generate 2,829 megawatts. That’s nearly six times as much solar capacity as was installed in the United States last year, mostly from rooftop solar panels.

“Consider how important it is that California move aggressively toward renewables and how important these pioneering projects are,” Jeffrey Byron, a member of the California Energy Commission, said at a hearing Wednesday.

Regulators and developers are racing to put shovels to ground before the end of the year when federal incentives for large renewable energy projects will expire. The loss of federal incentives could threaten the financial viability of some of the solar projects.

Read the complete article at GRIST

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Council of Environmental Quality (CEQ) Chair Nancy Sutley today announced plans to install solar panels and a solar hot water heater on the roof of the White House Residence. These two solar installations will be part of a Department of Energy demonstration project showing that American solar technologies are available, reliable, and ready for installation in homes throughout the country. Secretary Chu and Chair Sutley made the announcement during CEQ’s 2010 GreenGov Symposium, which is bringing together leaders from federal, state, and local governments, nonprofit and academic communities, and the private sector to identify opportunities around greening the federal government.

Full story

Senate Energy & Natural Resources Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) teamed up on Wednesday to introduce legislation providing tax incentives to the energy sector, The Hill reports.

The bill, the Advanced Energy Tax Incentive Act of 2010, focuses on building and industrial energy efficiency, domestic manufacturing, emerging clean energy technologies and carbon mitigation, the Washington Independent Reports.

The legislation would enables home and business owners to defray upfront costs of investing in energy-saving technologies, including performance-based tax credits for whole home retrofits.  It would make $2.5 billion in tax credits available to manufacturers dealing with clean renewable energy or enhanced energy efficiency products.

The measure would also establish a $1 billion tax credit program to enable domestic manufacturers to undertake energy-saving measures that advance their competitiveness, and facilitate the growth of renewable electricity by creating a tax incentive for energy storage systems.

The bill would also revamp the tax credit for carbon capture and storage, provide credits to promote off-shore wind production facilities and the development of domestic fuels derived from algae.

A summary of the bill outlines the various credits in detail (pdf).

Read the complete article at Environmental Leader

ScienceDaily (Oct. 1, 2010) — Faster development of the promising field of cellulosic biofuels — the renewable energy produced from grasses and trees — is being significantly hampered by a “deep and thorny regulatory thicket” that makes almost impossible the use of advanced gene modification methods, researchers say.

“It’s extraordinary that gene modification technology, which has been adapted more rapidly than any other technology in the history of agriculture, and had some profound environmental and economic benefits, has been regulated virtually out of existence for perennial cellulosic biofuels crops,” said Steve Strauss, a distinguished professor of forest biotechnology at Oregon State University, and lead author of the paper.

In the report, the authors noted that exotic plant species pose a serious risk of spread and ecosystem impacts, but face much less stringent regulation or obstacles than genetically engineered crops, which are carefully designed to solve problems, not cause them.

Read the complete article at Science Daily