Senate Republicans blocked a landmark energy bill today with a 53-42 vote. According to The Wall Street Journal, a vote on a new bill is expected as early as next week following negotiations this weekend.
Republicans opposed measures that would repeal tax breaks for oil and gas companies and require utilities to generate as much as 15% of their power from renewable energy, such as solar and wind power. In general, many Republicans support a measure that would increase vehicle fuel-efficiency standards to 35 miles per gallon by 2020. Congress hasn’t voted to increase Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards, known as CAFE standards, since the mid-1970s,” the Journal reported.
If you have an online Wall Street Journal account click here to read more.
In an unexpected turn of events, it appears algae - known to some as oilgae - may soon move past corn as the most sought after source of renewable energy.
Because algae can consist of as much as 50 percent oil, scientists at the University of Minnesota are hoping to convert that oil into biodiesel or jet fuel.
But first, they must find a way lower production cost.
If we can get algae oils down below $2 a gallon, then you’ll be where you need to be. And there’s a lot of people who think you can,” said Jennifer Holmgren in the Herald Tribune article. Holmgren is director of the renewable fuels unit of UOP LLC, an energy subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc.
In the meantime try to imagine flying in a jet soaring 30,000 feet above the ground and running off algae . . . interesting.
Kyoto Protocol requires countries to reduce the level of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by a certain percentage. If the countries fail to curb enough greenhouse gas emissions they must buy credits in the market.
The cost of a permit to spew a ton of CO2 into the skies surged this year after evidence of global warming mounted and European states reacted by restricting the supply of allowances. The price for a 2008 certified emission-reduction credit rose 14 percent in the three months through Nov. 27 to a record 18.20 euros ($26.85) to release a ton of CO2,” according to Bloomberg
A federal appeals court said the Bush administration failed to thoroughly assess the economic impact of tailpipe emissions that contribute to climate change and rejected the administrations fuel-economy plan for light trucks and sport utility vehicles.
“Under the rule rejected (Nov. 15), the average fuel economy of light trucks was to rise to 23.5 miles per gallon in 2010, up from the current standard of 22.5 miles per gallon, but still well below the standard for passenger cars of 27.5 miles per gallon,” according to a New York Times article.
Customers willing to pay an additional 30 cents a month will be offered incentives to offset the cost of going green, according to a recent article in the Journal Star.
The goal is for customers to install more energy-efficient light bulbs, purchase Energy Star qualified appliances, and to properly dispose of old appliances.
The plan was filed Thursday with the Illinois Commerce Commission and will offer rebates and incentives during the first of the year.
Hi, this is Amy McCullough. I am here with Jim Lindell, the national marketing director for Westin Solutions of Green Grid, Green Roof Systems, who is one of hundreds of exhibitors here at the Greenbuild 2007 Expo at McCormick Place.
Q. Can you tell me where your company is located and a little bit about what you do?
A. Sure, we are located in Vernon Hills and we also have an office in Chicago, actually offices across the country.
Q. Can you tell me about some of the advantages of green roofs and where you see them most often?
A. Certainly, there are many benefits to green roofs. We have energy benefits where we are saving energy through insulating the roof and reflecting heat from the rooftop. There are storm water benefits, where we are retaining storm water and slowing storm water runoff so we are not overloading a city’s storm water treatment facilities and in some cases a large rain event will cause those systems to be over run and they will get poured into our waterways and pollute our lakes and river and systems, so we are getting benefits there.We are extending the roof life of your water-proofing membrane, so whereas, buildings would have to replace the roof in 20 years with a green roof on there they are able to extend that by double or even triple.
Q. How long does it take for a business to recoup the money that they put into investing?
A. Sure, the numbers we are realizing now are five to seven years down the road.
Q. Have you seen a trend recently, especially with Mayor Daley promoting Green Chicago and everyone knows City Hall has the green roof, has that boosted the knowledge and the interest in the product?
A.It’s definitely boosted the knowledge and interest in our product, not just here in Chicago but more and more cities are looking at Chicago as a roadmap to doing similar things in their cities and as a result we are seeing a lot more interest in their cities as well.
Q. How has the technology changed since you started?
A. We’ve made advances in our system based on experience over that five –year period, but traditional green roofs are pretty much built the same as they have been for years. Modular systems like ours are fairly new so they are ever developing. We are seeing more and more competitors come out.
Q. Can you explain what a modular system is?
A. Sure, modular means all of our stuff is planted in basically trays, so the entire green roof system is contained in the tray. It has the tray which incorporates some water drainage features in it and it also retains some water. Then on top of that we put some soil barrier in there to keep the roots from penetrating through. Then, our engineered soil blend, and then the plants on top of that.
Q. What type of plants are typically used?
A. It depends. In what’s called an extensive system where you are just putting a green roof in for the benefits of green roof, we are using low maintenance, drought-tolerant plants so they don’t require much in the way of extra moisture so you don’t have to do any, depending on the area you planting in, like Chicago, you don’t have to do any extra irrigations. And, the maintenance of the plants themselves is very minimal. But, then we also have an extensive-style green roof, which is more like a roof top garden where you are planting more perennial types of plants, which require a lot more maintenance.
Q. Can you explain your client base to me? Are you seeing more municipalities, more corporations that are interested in this?
A. We are seeing it all across the map. We have a lot of commercial clients, we have a lot of municipal clients, and we have a lot of federal clients.
Q. Has that changed in recent years?
A. We are seeing more federal and government clients coming on board and really wanting, interest in the technology.
Market Watch, from Dow Jones, reported German wind power specialist company Nordex AG signed a “major contract” Tuesday with BP Alternative Energy North America Inc. for 60 N90/2500 kilowatt turbines.
The contract, which spans five years, is the first time Nordex will move into the United States. The first turbine is slated for delivery in the second quarter of 2009.
The article seems to question the reality of the Chicago plan, which is still being drafted and is scheduled for release next year.
Here are some highlights:
The primary goal is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions 25 percent from 1990 levels.
To do that, $2.7 billion needs to be invested in transportation improvements. (Let’s not forget the CTA’s budget blues.)
Existing homeowners need to spend $1.65 billion through 2010 to reduce energy consumption 30 percent.
Existing Chicago buildings would need to cut energy consumption by 30 percent to reach the goal of a 44 percent reduction in the amount of carbon dioxide and equivalent gas emissions by 2020.
Daley already broke a promise to use green energy for at least 20 percent of the city’s electricity by the end of 2006. According to the article, “nearly all of the power for City Hall and other government buildings still comes from nuclear-and coal-powered plants.”
Some are concerned that the final decision on whether to build the new FutureGen reactor in Illinois or Texas will be pushed back to 2008. The decision originally was expected by the end of October.
