January 29, 2010

The ultimate fate of carbon policies may be up in the air. But utilities and industrial enterprises are still under pressure to report their climate-related activities to investors.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has voted 3-2 along party lines to force companies to consider their potential exposure to climate change when it comes to filing their financial statements. While the position is one that the Obama administration has advocated, its genesis formed a few years earlier as investor and environmental groups joined hands to petition the body for uniform rules.

February 17, 2010 
 
Defense contractors aren't exactly shooting for the stars. But they are aiming for a greater share of the ever-changing energy business. Their scientific and technical expertise coupled with their well capitalized businesses is giving them an inside track into the world of intelligent utilities, green energy and emissions reductions.

Most of those spacecraft and weapons makers have long had their fingers into energy-related businesses, although they reason that that market is now ready to expand. And while those contractors certainly have the money and brains to make a go of it, they are mindful that a lack of commitment has caused some past forays to remain dormant.

February 15, 2010

A critical clean coal project could kick in early this year. FutureGen, which got its start in 2003 but which lost steam late in the Bush administration, purports to be a near zero-emissions power plant that seeks to capture and bury carbon dioxide.

While the Obama administration has been warm to the idea, the facility's odds of getting built are a lot greater now that the president has given it an official thumb's up in his state-of-the-union speech. The central drawback -- the one that caused the previous administration to pull the plug -- is the potential costs. That facet along with setting the criteria to evaluate performance is presently under discussion.

February 12, 2010

Building a business case for smart grid investments is a difficult, if not an impossible, task in the current regulatory and economic environment.

Despite that, many utilities have made the reasonable presumption that efficiencies do exist, though in uncertain amounts, and have forged ahead. Similarly, the federal government, in the form of stimulus grants, has recognized the difficulty and provided funding to jump-start smart grid investments. Future progress, however, will depend on a more clearly defined business case and predictable levels of operational and financial risk associated with smart grid investments.

During last year's State of the State address, Gov. Jennifer Granholm informed Michigan's utility industry that business as usual was ending. With states like Pennsylvania, Texas, Iowa and California surging in renewable energy; with China and Europe tops in solar and wind power, and with Michigan lawmakers on both sides of aisle dawdling, she sounded a wake-up call.

Pointing to high energy costs, and Michigan's need for permanent jobs, the governor announced a remarkably comprehensive administrative effort to make Michigan a manufacturing leader in what the world needs now - wind, solar and battery technology and equipment.
 
She told utilities: Before building expensive, polluting new coal plants that tie up billions in capital, spike electric bills, and export more cash to coal country, just prove you need the blasted things.