A Good Ole’ Fashioned Revival in Texas

Proof of wind energy’s positive social impact, from deep in the Texan Bible Belt (even the superintendent’s named Mr. Bible!):

Millions of dollars in new tax revenue generated from the wind power boom sweeping rural west Texas have helped fund a rash of school building projects, the first signs of an expected economic revival.

“It’s the greatest thing that has happened here,” said James Bible, superintendent of the Blackwell Consolidated Independent School District, where the shell of a new school is rising, financed mainly by tax revenue from windmills. “It’s like day and night for the school districts.” [...]

Wind investment has provided a solid tax base allowing school districts to sell bonds to raise education funds even though land values were capped for 10 years as an incentive for developers.

“We wouldn’t even have considered the bond issue before the wind farms came in,” said Guy Nelson, superintendent of the Highland Independent School District in Roscoe. “It has stabilized the county. People who would have left are staying.”

9th Time’s the Charm?

The Senate extended renewable energy tax credits on its ninth try last night. (Although as I wrote yesterday, the bill is a mixed bag and contains tax breaks for dirty fuels.)

The bill now goes to the House, where it might face opposition from conservative Dems who want everything balanced out with new revenue elsewhere.

So basically…everything’s still in limbo.

On Tax Breaks, Should Congress Accept the Bad With the Good?

In Washington these days (and I suspect for most of our nation’s history), it’s hard to pass even the most popular legislation without it being amended, diluted, and sometimes poisoned with add-ons.

The Baucus-Grassley energy tax bill is a perfect example. Several provisions are just what we need to support the renewable energy industry and fight climate change. Via Earth2Tech:

• Extension of the Production Tax Credit: The production tax credit for power generated via wind would be extended for one year and would extend for two years a similar credit for tidal and wave energy generation.
• Extension of the Investment Tax Credit: The 30 percent tax credit for investing in solar, wind, geothermal and ocean energy equipment would be extended eight years, including residential solar installations.
• Energy Efficiency Tax Credit: Homeowners could claim a 10 percent investment credit for eight years on energy efficiency measures like insulation and efficient windows, water heaters and heating and cooling equipment.
• Plug-In Electric Cars Tax Credit: Consumers could collect a tax credit of $2,500 to $7,500 for the purchase of a plug-in electric car, depending on the capacity of the battery.

A large Congressional majority supports these kinds of tax breaks, and the only reason they’ve stalled out is the question of how to pay for them.

But rather than keep things simple (and green), Baucus and Grassley shoehorned language into the bill that supports “dirty fuels” like liquid coal. Not surprisingly, the enviro groups don’t like that one bit:

However, the bill currently contains several controversial provisions on dirty fuels that we urge Congress to strip before the bill becomes law. These dirty liquid fuel provisions in the bill would be a major setback in efforts to solve global warming. Extraction of these fuels – tar sands, oil shale and liquid coal – can produce more than twice the amount of global warming pollution as conventional oil. Supporting these fuels through tax incentives is completely at odds with mandatory carbon reductions that we expect Congress will enact in the near future.

Should Congress simply swallow the bill as is, or should supporters of a truly “clean” tax bill hold out for better legislation?

Personally, I don’t think clean energy supporters should back down, especially when they have popular opinion behind them. But what do you think?

Berkeley, the Home of Smart Solar Financing

Let’s say you’re an eco-minded homeowner, and you want to put solar panels on your roof.

Most likely, you’d get a bad case of sticker shock, since the price of doing so could run into the tens of thousands of dollars. You’d be frustrated knowing that if you could just afford the upfront capital outlay, you’d be saving hundreds of dollars a month on electricity within a decade.

If you live in Berkeley, never fear. The city has developed a way for you to get that dream solar roof:

The California city of Berkeley has approved a new financing scheme for loans to homeowners who install rooftop solar panels, a landmark programme that could inspire other US cities to follow suit.

The Berkeley scheme would finance city-backed solar loans through a small addition to the property taxes of each participating home, eliminating the need to find up-front cash to install panels that can cost the average American upwards of $30,000.

Using property taxes to repay the solar loan also would ensure that home values rise to reflect the addition of energy-efficient technology. If a home sells before its solar loan is fully repaid, its new owner would take over the loan repayments – as well as the electricity savings.

“It’s made renewables and efficiency go from something that’s a good idea, but you’re paying for it … to you paying over time and getting rewarded with added property value,” Daniel Kammen, a professor in the energy and resources group at the University of California in Berkeley, said.

The rest of the country may have to wait. Berkeley’s strong credit rating means it can raise funds more easily than other cities.

Not Surprising: Financial Crisis Will Hurt Clean Tech

There’s good news and bad news for clean tech today. The good: clean tech investments had a record quarter with $897 million. The very, very bad news: the financial sector is collapsing.

What does this mean for clean tech’s future? A bit of a crunch.

Reuters reports:

The renewable energy sector will see a 21 billion euro ($29.43 billion) shortfall in debt finance by 2020, following the credit crisis and a brake on lending, a senior banker said on Monday.

Investors at a renewable energy finance conference in London tried to digest the implications of a banking hiatus following Lehman Brothers’ filing for bankruptcy and Bank of America’s acquisition of Merrill Lynch.

The European Union has set a target of getting one-fifth of its energy from renewable sources, including wind, sun and biomass, by 2020.

European wind and solar power projects drew 18 billion euros investment in 2007 and needed about 85 billion euros annually by 2020 to meet the EU’s target, said Tanja Cuppen, a renewable investing executive at Rabobank.

However, the pace in growth of the sector, coupled with less appetite for long-term lending, would contribute to a 21 billion euros debt finance shortfall, she told conference delegates.

“The credit crunch will have a major impact on the renewable energy sector,” Cuppen said. “I think we haven’t had the worst yet.”

And from Business Green:

The collapse of Lehman Brothers and the subsequent market fallout could thin the flow of cleantech IPOs for up to two years, say analysts, as strained equity investors adopt a more conservative approach.

The cleantech market is a high-risk business, and very capital intensive, said Paul Sidlo, CEO of solar concentrator startup SunRGI, who is worried that constrained credit could cause problems for project owners.

“In the short term, it makes credit harder to get – it has an effect on capital, leasing – all the things you would do to get project funding,” he warned, adding that ventures in areas such as photovoltaic solar were still considered to be relatively high risk. “We just came out in June, so we’re really young compared with everyone else, and I’m certain that it will have an impact on raising money.”

As Clean Tech Booms, Big Oil Quietly Hops on the Bandwagon

As the prices of fossil fuels increase, investors are pouring billions of dollars into the search for clean, renewable sources of energy:

Through the first six months of 2008, the National Venture Capital Association tallied $1.8 billion in “clean-tech” investments — primarily innovations to conserve energy, protect the environment or eliminate harmful waste — a 76% increase from the same period a year earlier and a nearly fifteenfold increase from five years ago.

Check out this chart from the WSJ:

Former oil man T. Boone Pickens is now making huge investments into wind energy. And some Big Oil companies are following his lead:

In a quiet trend, oil companies have begun creating internal venture-capital funds to invest in new energy technologies. While venture capital has always been about seeking long-term returns, the more short-term goal in this case is to get an inside look at the new ideas that could one day play a meaningful role in the global energy picture. Oil companies are swimming in cash and may be at or near a global peak-production level. Add to this the growing possibility that nations could impose a carbon tax on fossil-fuel consumption, and alternative fuels could become more competitive.

Lately, Chevron has increased the share of its venture funds going into renewable energy to 33% from 18%. It has provided seed capital for BrightSource Energy Inc., an Oakland, Calif., company that turns solar energy into steam, and Southwest Wind Power, a Flagstaff, Ariz.-based company that builds small-scale wind turbines that can be placed on top of light poles.

Of course, let’s not forget that these companies might have ulterior motives:

Big Oil’s interest in renewable energy isn’t without its detractors. Some suspect that the companies want to acquire — and stifle — new technologies that emerge to compete against fossil fuel. […]

[T]he oil companies are investing relatively small amounts compared with their current gargantuan profits. This has left them open to the charge that their venture-capital activities are a form of “green-washing” — an effort to green up the image of a company that produces a lot of fossil fuels.

Renewable Tax Credits Still Not Renewed

E&E reports:

[A]s the 110th Congress reaches its final stages, credits that are popular on both sides of the aisle remain hung up in a dispute over whether and how to pay for them.

The battle has dragged on long enough to put projects and jobs in jeopardy due to the uncertainty, industry officials say. For example, the Spanish company Abengoa plans to build a large solar plant outside Phoenix that will sell power to Arizona Public Service Co., but the plan may falter without the credit, project officials say. Some credits for energy efficient homes and buildings have already lapsed. [...]

Heading into this final stretch, the path forward remains unclear. “It has been frustrating,” said Tyson Slocum of Public Citizen, “when programs and policies that have broad bipartisan support get bogged down in this stuff.”

And how’s this for glowing optimism:

“If I were to put Vegas odds on it, I would bet in favor of some deal, probably along the lines of a short-term extension, getting hammered through,” Slocum said.

Compromise on Energy?

The Associated Press reports:

Democratic leaders in the Senate plan to push a bipartisan energy proposal that would allow for some expansion of offshore drilling when Congress returns next week from a five-week recess.

The plan that would allow Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina to opt into leasing programs starting 50 miles off their shores now has the support of 16 senators _ eight Democrats and eight Republicans. [...]

The proposal, not yet introduced as legislation, would also lift a ban on drilling off the Gulf coast of Florida, invest $20 billion on developing petroleum-free motor vehicles and extend expiring tax credits for renewable energy.

Joe Romm at Climate Progress isn’t optimistic: “Success remains an unlikely. Many Dems still don’t want any drillings. Many in the GOP don’t want this to come to a vote, since it takes away their ‘drill, drill, drill’ message.”