Recommendations for a Cleaner, Greener Energy Future

Key policy recommendations for a Cleaner, Greener Energy Future include:

* Providing multiyear tax incentives for renewable-energy production and energy-efficiency projects.

* Setting national mandates that would require utilities to get at least 20 percent of their electricity from wind, solar and geothermal energy by 2020.

* Adding and updating the building code to require energy-efficiency measures in the construction of new buildings and the renovation of existing buildings, and setting a goal to reduce buildings' energy use 50 percent by 2030.

* Setting prices for carbon-dioxide emissions and creating a program that caps emissions from different industries and allowing companies to trade emissions allowances.

* Upgrading and expanding the nation's electric grid to enable it to support electric cars and the transport and storage of renewable energy.

* Providing incentives for utilities to invest in energy-efficiency technologies.

* Increasing the fuel efficiency of cars and trucks and investing more money in private-public partnerships that would develop transportation systems that rely on little or no oil, such as electric cars.

* Providing incentives to consumers and small businesses to buy plug-in hybrid cars and alternative fuels, including natural-gas-powered cars.

* Investing more federal dollars in cleantech research and development, including ways to capture and store carbon-dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants.

* Speeding up the process of setting aside public lands and improving the permitting process for renewable-electricity projects on public lands.

* Shifting from ethanol made from corn to ethanol made from wood chips, agricultural waste and other nonfood feedstock, and encouraging a joint U.S.-Brazil partnership to turn sugar cane into ethanol in the Caribbean.

Great Promise Ahead for Cellulosic Ethanol in America

Great promise lies ahead for Cellulosic Ethanol

Last December, Congress amended the national Renewable Fuel Standard, setting a goal that the U.S. will produce a whopping 36 billion gallons of renewable fuel by 2022. It's no surprise that much of this renewable fuel will be ethanol.

Given the rapid industrialization of Asia, global demand for fuel ethanol is steeply increasing and is expected to do so in the foreseeable future. In order to satisfy this big demand, let alone meet the Renewable Fuel Standard, there is a growing concern that the standard U.S. practice of mass producing fuel ethanol from corn won't be feasible. There simply isn't enough corn acreage available in America to meet the future domestic and international demands for fuel ethanol.

Scientists contend that the answer to this problem is cellulosic ethanol, a technology that is now under furious research and development at many universities, national labs, and private industries across the globe.

This is an interesting technology, because it makes ethanol from cellulose feedstocks such as ordinary trees, perennial grass and cropland residues instead of food crops such as corn or sugar cane.

Scientists contend that cellulosic ethanol, once it is perfected, can significantly reduce America's imports of foreign oil, while creating a big variety of "green collar" jobs including farmers, truck drivers, business professionals, engineers, and scientists.

Before cellulosic ethanol becomes a commercial reality, there are many technology hurdles to overcome. Crop scientists and chemical engineers are furiously studying the genetics, the molecular structure, and other biological aspects of trees and plants in order to improve the efficiency of cellulosic ethanol production.

Last year, our country embarked on a once-in-a-generation effort to study the underlying science needed to improve processing efficiency. In the meantime, scientists are making great headway. For example, the U.S. Department of Energy recently awarded $125 million to establish the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, a partnership between Michigan State University and the University of Wisconsin, to study the science of processing cellulosic ethanol.

Also, Michigan State University and Michigan Technological University recently partnered with the Mascoma Corp. (a Massachusetts company), to build a cellulosic ethanol plant in the Michigan Upper Peninsula.

Last May, at a scientific lecture in Copenhagen, Denmark, by Dr. Niels Lagvad of Danish Biogasol Corp. (www.biogasol.com). It was revealed that this company now has a proven, turnkey system to mass produce ethanol from a big range of perennial grasses and hemicellulosic feedstocks. He referred to the process as a "bolt-on, second-generation ethanol plant" which, in essence, attaches to the back end of a conventional plant making ethanol from food crops. "Second generation ethanol" refers to the use of non-food feedstocks to make ethanol, whereas, "first generation ethanol" refers to traditional methods that use food crops such as corn and sugar cane.

The immediate U.S. market for this Danish technology is to retrofit American corn-to-ethanol plants. In this concept, corn stover (corn leaves, stalks, and cobs) and distillers' grain (a voluminous, natural by-product of the corn-to-ethanol process) would be used as inexpensive feedstocks for ethanol production. The technology is now in the demonstration phase; a full-scale plant is planned for 2010 in Boardman, Ore., as part of a joint effort between the U.S. Department of Energy and the Pacific Ethanol Corp.

Danish Biogasol also markets the same technology to electric power plants, regardless of whether the electric plant is fueled by coal, nuclear, natural gas or oil. Why this terrific market? Electric plants routinely produce massive amounts of waste heat. This waste heat is harnessed by the ethanol plant, which in turn greatly reduces the cost of ethanol processing. Imagine a line of semi-trucks, all loaded with massive bales of locally grown perennial grass, driving to the local electric plant - which makes fuel ethanol too.

I am excited to imagine where this technology is headed because America is blessed with abundant trees and native grass. I believe we're in for some hopeful times ahead: new jobs from locally made auto fuel with no imported oil.

San Francisco Passes The Largest Municipal Solar Incentive

San Francisco Passes The Largest Municipal Solar Incentive

San Francisco, California, passed legislation on June 10 to implement a 10-year solar incentive program that will be the largest municipal solar program in the United States.

The incentive program provides solar rebates to local residents ranging from $3,000-$6,000. It provides up to $10,000 for non-profits and businesses that install solar. It also provides up to $30,000 for non-profit affordable housing. These rebates incentivize local building owners and leverage about 80% of the average solar installation cost from non-city sources (state, federal and the owner’s investment), promoting the installation of significant new amounts of solar with fairly limited resources. The highest residential incentive is reserved for residents or businesses who use an installer that hires graduates of the City’s workforce development program.

The San Francisco Solar Taskforce met for 12 months and crafted the program. The Taskforce concluded that an inclusive solar rebate program open to all local rooftops was the single most effective way to greatly increase solar in San Francisco.

The program enjoys the strong support of the full range of environmental groups and environmental justice advocates, including the Sierra Club, Vote Solar, the A. Phillip Randolph Institute, SPUR, Literacy for Environmental Justice, and the Neighborhood Parks Council, among others.

Sen. Barack Obama Promotes (CTL) Coal-to-Liquid Technology

Senator Barack Obama Promotes CTL

March 8. 2007 U.S. Senator Barack Obama, D-IL., called for increased invesment in coal-to-liquid technology at the U.S. Energy Forum in Arlington, Va.

Scale of investment, uncertainty in oil prices and a complicated environmental permitting process have prevented the industry from taking root in the United States, Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., said. Sen. Bunning and Sen. Obama, co-introduced a bill in January called the Coal-To-Liquid Fuel Promotion Act of 2007. It would allow the Department of Energy to provide loan guarantees for construction, planning and permitting of CTL plants. It would also expand investment tax credits and provide the Department of Defense funding and authorization to purchase, test, and integrate these fuels into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and military fuel supplies.

Coal-to-liquids technology was created by the Germans during World War II and further developed and is currently being used, in South Africa. Bunning said the technology is more than mature enough to be implemented in the United States -- all that's needed is investment from the private sector.

The U.S. Air Force, which has significantly invested in CTL, has already conducted several tests using a half Fischer-Tropsch and half J-8 fuel in the B-52 plane. Further tests are planned using 100 percent Fischer-Tropsch fuel and using the 50/50 blend in other planes and vehicles.

The synfuel made from coal is low in sulfur, nitrous-oxide and partical emissions. Another benefit to the military is that the lower burning tempture reduces the heat signature of jet engines.

One of the most important reasons to invest in CTL is that its a secure domestic fuel source and the American economy and military are too reliant on foreign fuel sources.