September 01, 2010

You can't miss it -- 213 solar panels and a battery the size of a tractor trailer sit alongside one of Duke Energy's electric substations on Charlotte, North Carolina's Highway 51.

And that is intentional, said Paige Layne, Duke Energy's corporate communications manager. "We found because the solar panels are out there on one of the busiest highways in Charlotte, people call in and ask us about them."

August 23, 2010

Hydropower may be green energy's forgotten cousin. But industry representatives are keen to push it hard now that the U.S. Congress is grappling with energy legislation. They say that hydro holds great potential, noting that despite being an emissions-free source only 3 percent of 79,000 U.S. dams are capable of producing such energy.

Producing electricity from dams is one way to increase the hydro sector's prominence. Generating power from smaller hydro units is another way. Such facilities are less disruptive environmentally but useful in supplying electricity to remote areas. All told, researchers say that almost 60 percent of the nation's water energy resources are potentially available for development using new technologies.

August 18, 2010

The renewable movement has gotten the green light. Now it's a matter of crafting the right policies to ensure that projects get built in a cost-effective and consumer-friendly way. Californians think they have the answer.

After getting tested by their domestic utilities, the California Public Utility Commission has come up with a "marketplace tariff" that fits with national laws. Basically, California's utilities have to buy green energy to meet the states renewable portfolio standards. But they don't have to do it at state-controlled prices. Instead, producers will bid into a system -- one that requires those utilities to buy at the lowest cost.

July 12, 2010

Long before carbon cap-and-trade or renewable energy mandates became part of the utility lexicon, California was out in front developing green energy. California is still way out in front in one important way, but there are plenty of followers, with utilities everywhere building and buying renewable energy assets from coast-to-coast.

With mandates for renewable energy in 29 states (called a renewable portfolio standard, or RPS), California is the leader with a target of 20 percent by the end of this year and 33 percent by 2020. The state is at a pace that's way ahead of everybody else's, but the significance is diminished when so many others are doing the same thing, though at lower levels. There's an expectation in the industry, even today after climate legislation became bogged down in Congress over the past year that some form of carbon regulation is inevitable. And with big-ticket nuclear still a few years away and new coal construction at a virtual standstill, utilities are in the renewables game, whether they like it or not.

July 07, 2010

The BP oil spill could give biofuels the bump they need to fuel America's automobiles and hit the road running. Ethanol advocates are saying that they are ready to step up production, although others are cautioning against the move.

Federal policies already favor ethanol production as a way to lessen the dependence on foreign oil and as an innovative to way to clean the air. Critics say that such as strategy is not working, however, pointing out that because most of today's ethanol is made from corn, it is causing food shortages. They are also saying that it is not as clean as it purports to be. Greening the transportation sector, they argue, centers for now on electric cars.