Control Climate Change

Announcements from the two tech companies yesterday highlight the ways that IT is increasingly being adapted to address corporate environmental goals.

Amyris Biotechnologies Inc., a firm that made its mark developing a key ingredient for an anti-malaria drug, is looking to make diesel fuel derived from sugar cane the next big thing in the biofuel market.

More than half of California’s real estate assets are at risk from rising sea levels and wildfires caused by climate change, and the state could end up spending billions of dollars each year coping with its effects, according to a research report released Thursday.

From helping employees visualize the impact of their waste to turning it into a revenue stream, innovative companies and consultants offer their suggestions for the best cheap and easy-to-implement green initiatives

The United Kingdom-based candy maker also trimmed energy use and predicts it will cut carbon dioxide emissions 10 percent by 2010.

Novato-based SolarCraft announced today it has completed the design and installation of an 83 kW solar electric system for Dahl-Beck Electric in Richmond, CA. The third generation family owned and operated electric motor repair facility is now powered by the sun.

The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on Friday on its version of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the stimulus package that the House of Representatives passed last week by a vote of 244-188.

altPOWER President and CEO, Anthony Pereira today received the Transformational Energy Action
Management Special Achievement Award for Technology Demonstration “In recognition of outstanding energy management in DOE facilities.”

In 2006 Texas overtook California to lead the nation in installed wind power generating capcity. Now, just three years later, wind turbines generating 8005-megawatts (MW), more than all the turbines spinning in California, Iowa and Minnesota, have outstripped the capacity of the high-voltage grid to move the power from windy west Texas to major cities where it’s needed.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) issued a quarterly staff progress report on the California Solar Initiative, showing that in 2008 Californians installed twice as many megawatts (MW) of solar power than the year before, and that demand for new solar projects continues to hit record levels.

American Superconductor Corporation (AMSC) is set to supply 100 sets of its wind turbine core electrical components to China’s CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Research Institute Co. Ltd (CSR-ZELRI).

Three stories out of Washington, D.C. this week show that renewable energy, climate change and green jobs are hot topics around the beltway and could play a big role in policy passed by the new U.S. Congress.

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) have achieved a record efficiency of 41.1% for the conversion of sunlight into electricity using a concentrating solar PV system.

The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) has reached an agreement with Xcel Energy to provide highly detailed, localized weather forecasts to enable the utility to better integrate electricity generated from wind into the power grid. The forecasts will help operators make critical decisions about powering down traditional coal- and natural gas-fired plants when sufficient winds are predicted, allowing the utility to increase reliance on alternative energy while still meeting the needs of its customers.

An Irish company has launched what could be the most efficient solar hot water panel ever produced. Surface Power in County Mayo says it plans to create 20 new jobs over the next 12 months with the launch and international distribution of its new product.

altPOWER President and CEO, Anthony Pereira today received the Transformational Energy Action
Management Special Achievement Award for Technology Demonstration “In recognition of outstanding energy management in DOE facilities.”

Dong Energy has decided to abandon two wind energy projects that it was planning to construct. The projects, both demonstration windmills, were set to be located at the Kyndby Power Station in the UK and one windmill at the Masnedo CHP Plant in Denmark. In a statement Dong said that the projects have been delayed to such a degree that the technical basis for the construction of the three demonstration windmills is no longer present.

Denver, Colorado - Proposed Renewable Energy 401(k) Tax Credit will help create 500,000 green collar jobs and double annual increase of renewable energy production within three years.

An unusual alliance of business, trade association and environmental groups are calling on President Barack Obama, Congress and the Senate to implement a tax credit incentive for companies that add a renewable energy fund to employee 401(k) plans. The new legislation could be added to the near completed economic stimulus bill or follow quickly after.

The U.S. Senate voted today to pass the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The bill (H.R. 1) is the US $839 billion stimulus package that the Obama Administration has been pushing as a means to help the nation recover from the current economic situation. The bill passed by a vote of 61-37, mostly along party lines.

China Wind Systems Inc., which supplies forged rolled rings to the wind power industry, announced that it has begun producing forged products at its new facility in Wuxi City after successfully completing equipment test runs.

Utility group Electrabel has revealed plans to invest in the construction of a wind farm near the city of Liege in the municipality of Modave. The Les Trinitaires wind farm will use four 2-3 megawatt (MW) machines and a total installed power of 8-12 MW.

Southern California Edison (SCE) and BrightSource Energy have reached agreements on a series of contracts for 1,300 megawatts (MW) of solar thermal power. The agreement, which now requires approval from the California Public Utilities Commission, calls for a the development of seven projects to make up the total capacity.

The Joint Coordinated System Plan (JCSP’08), the first step of a transmission and generation system expansion analysis of the majority of the Eastern Interconnection, estimates the electricity sector will need more than US $80 billion in new transmission infrastructure to obtain 20% of the region’s electricity from wind energy generation.

I have received a number of e-mails regarding my opinion concerning the stock market, solar stocks and my numerous past references to increased market volatility and the extremely high volatility in the solar sector. FYI - 2008 was the 4th most volatile market in history, only 1931, 1929 and 1932 were more volatile.

American Electric Power operating units have signed power purchase agreements for wind energy totaling approximately 250 megawatts (MW). The power will serve customers in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia. With these new agreements, AEP has contracted for 903.4 MW of wind generation capacity since 2007, when the company committed to adding 1,000 MW of renewable wind energy to its generation mix by 2011.

While the pace of installations of distributed solar systems for homes and businesses has steadily risen over the past few years, utilities have mostly stayed out of the picture. However that appears to be changing now as more and more utilities are looking at solar energy as major contributor to their current and future renewable energy portfolios.

The Switch, a provider of megawatt-class permanent magnet generator and full-power converter packages for wind power and other new energy applications, has announced that it plans to release a new drive train technology.

Saying he needed to restore order to a broken process, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar this week announced his strategy for developing an offshore energy plan that includes renewable energy.

It has been rumored in recent weeks that Ausra was dropping its near-term plans to build utility-scale solar thermal plants in the California desert. Now, Bob Fishman, the company’s CEO, has said that while the company will still move forward with development of a 177-megawatt project with Pacific Gas & Electric, it will be scaling back plans for other, similar sized projects in the near future.

At the heart of the economic stimulus package making its way through Congress is the creation of jobs in renewable energy and other environmentally friendly services. But a new report released by labor organizers and environmentalists warns that those jobs must be more than green.