NewEnergyNews: QUICK NEWS, August 29: SPANISH SOLAR POWER PLANTS SET OUTPUT RECORDS; WIND’S CEO TALKS ABOUT ENERGY INCENTIVES; THE BUSINESS OF MANAGING SMART BUILDINGS

NewEnergyNews

Gleanings from the web and the world, condensed for convenience, illustrated for enlightenment, arranged for impact...

Every day is Earth Day.

YESTERDAY

  • TODAY’S STUDY: AFRICA’S NEW ENERGY OPPORTUNITY
  • -------------------

    GET THE DAILY HEADLINES EMAIL: CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS OR SEND YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS TO: herman@NewEnergyNews.net

    -------------------

    THE DAY BEFORE

  • Weekend Video: All About The Doubt-And-Denial-Campaign
  • Weekend Video: Better Than Letting Money Blow Out The Front Door
  • Weekend Video: Farming The Desert For Food, Water And Energy
  • THE DAY BEFORE THE DAY BEFORE

  • FRIDAY WORLD HEADLINE-KISS THE BIRDS GOODBYE?
  • FRIDAY WORLD HEADLINE-AFRICA’S NEW ENERGY OPPORTUNITY
  • FRIDAY WORLD HEADLINE-FOUR CRUCIAL ENERGY POLICIES FOR THE WORLD
  • FRIDAY WORLD HEADLINE- LOOKING AHEAD FOR BIOPOWER
  • THE DAY BEFORE THAT

    THINGS-TO-THINK-ABOUT THURSDAY, June 13:

  • TTTA Thursday-THE EASIEST WAY TO TURN BACK CLIMATE CHANGE
  • TTTA Thursday-DISOWNERSHIP AND SOLAR
  • TTTA Thursday-GOOGLE MAKES THE CASE FOR OFFSHORE WIND
  • TTTA Thursday-U.S. SUN EVEN BRIGHTER
  • AND THE DAY BEFORE THAT

  • TODAY’S STUDY: CHINA’S NEW ENERGY PICTURE
  • QUICK NEWS, June 12: CHINA BUYING INTO NEW ENERGY WORLDWIDE; THE LOCAL HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS FROM WIND; THE 2012 TOP GREEN UTILITIES
  • THE LAST DAY UP HERE

  • TODAY’S STUDY: A SURVEY OF THINGS TO COME IN NEW ENERGY IN THE AMERICAS
  • QUICK NEWS, June 11: THE MLP, A NEW WAY TO FINANCE RENEWABLES; NUMBERS SAY UTILITIES WANT WIND; CALIFORNIA SOLAR MATCHES POWER LOST BY NUKE SHUTDOWN
  • --------------------------

    --------------------------

    Anne B. Butterfield of Daily Camera and Huffington Post, is a biweekly contributor to NewEnergyNews

  • NEW BILLS AND NEW BIRDS in Colorado's recent session (May 20, 2013) by Anne Butterfield (Boulder Daily Camera via NewEnergyNews)

    Out with the old and in with a new. Gone are the five feet of snow from April and May - and in with this sudden summer heat. The feeder and fountain in view from this keyboard are graced with migratory birds such as Evening Grosbeak, Spotted Towhee and one Ruby-Throated hummingbird that loved on that sugar water when all fragrant things were cloaked by heavy snow. And in Denver, flown from the coop are all our state legislators from their tightly compressed legislative session. What have they gotten done?

    “This has been an extraordinary legislature,” said a seasoned Democratic fundraiser in Denver, Sallyanne Ofner by Facebook message. The range of work was wide:

    For civil unions came a meaningful redress of the wrong-headed vote of 2006 to limit marriage to one man and one woman. Now LGBT couples can commit for life and legally reap respect and due benefits.

    Firearm safety has been enhanced with popular universal background checks on purchases plus size limits on high capacity magazines.

    On behalf of rape victims, parental rights of attackers over the children they spawn have been severed, and sexual assault victims have access to a payment program for their medical needs.

    One gripping disappointment was the failure to repeal the costly and conspicuously racist death penalty in Colorado.

    Also disheartening: the failure to pass seven out of nine bills to regulate hydraulic fracturing. A notable failure was minimum fines for serious spills -- needed apparently because spills now don’t invoke the maximum fines allowed. The 30-hour spill that erupted in mid-February near Fort Collins still has not been fined, according to the Colorado Oil and Gas Association. The Governor has ordered a formal review of how fines are imposed.

    Also targeted was a ban on energy industry employees from serving on the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to regulate their own companies - failed. Lawmakers also failed to require more frequent inspections at Colorado’s tens of thousands of wells, though they did secure budgeting for 11 more inspectors and a lower spill amount threshold at which companies must report. More health and water testing around fracking areas? Also failed.

    Visiting The Camera this week, representatives from the Colorado Oil and Gas Association lamented the session as being polarized, and that legislators with no knowledge of industry surprised them with a slew of bills that COGA hadn’t seen much less collaborated on. This came off poorly as they and their 23 lobbyists certainly know that the session is compressed and filled with the slew of matters just mentioned.

    Coming this fall is still more action on fracking, in a rule making session by the Air Quality Control Commission. Judging by the Governor’s oft-stated goal to see “zero” fugitive emissions from natural gas infrastructure, let’s hope the AQCC can screw some new regulations to the sticking point.

    On the bright side for clean energy, Boulder’s own Will Toor is uniquely proud of a suite of successful bills for electric vehicles that led his agency, South West Energy Efficient Project, to launch Colorado to a leading grade of A- among six western states for EV’s. New bills included extended rebates for private purchases of EV’s and conversions of hybrids. For state and local governments to purchase EV’s, life cycle costs may now be considered as well as contracting through energy service companies to have EV’s paid for through fuel savings. PACE financing for commercial buildings and parking lots was expanded to cover charging stations. Also, apartment buildings and HOA’s will have to allow charging stations. And to address an old sore spot, a decal program will have EV owners pay a $50 tax per year for road maintenance and the construction of more public charging stations.

    We will see more charging stations – this comes with nice timing as Consumer Reports just named the Tesla Model S the best car. And as Colorado’s electric power sector cleans its emissions, the use of EV’s will leverage reductions in emissions from transportation.

    But that electric sector still has serious business leftover. Colorado has until June 7th to persuade the Governor to act on the gloriously debated SB 252 that would require rural electric providers to get 20 percent of their power from renewables. Since coal costs have about doubled over 10 years and Tri-States’ coal-rich power expenses have risen four times faster than sales, SB252 needs to pass for pocketbooks and to deal with that horrific new 400 ppm of CO2 in our atmosphere.

    Author's note: Want to support my work? Please "fan" me at Huffpost Denver, here (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anne-butterfield). Thanks.

    -------------------

    Anne's previous NewEnergyNews columns:

  • Lies, damned lies and politicians (October 8, 2012)
  • Colorado's Elegant Solution to Fracking (April 23, 2012)
  • Shale Gas: From Geologic Bubble to Economic Bubble (March 15, 2012)
  • Taken for granted no more (February 5, 2012)
  • The Republican clown car circus (January 6, 2012)
  • Twenty-Somethings of Colorado With Skin in the Game (November 22, 2011)
  • Occupy, Xcel, and the Mother of All Cliffs (October 31, 2011)
  • Boulder Can Own Its Power With Distributed Generation (June 7, 2011)
  • The Plunging Cost of Renewables and Boulder's Energy Future (April 19, 2011)
  • Paddling Down the River Denial (January 12, 2011)
  • The Fox (News) That Jumped the Shark (December 16, 2010)
  • Click here for an archive of Butterfield columns

    -------------------

    Some details about NewEnergyNews and the man behind the curtain: Herman K. Trabish, Agua Dulce, CA., Doctor with my hands, Writer with my head, Student of New Energy and Human Experience with my heart

    email: herman@NewEnergyNews.net

    -------------------

    Your intrepid reporter

    -------------------

      A tip of the NewEnergyNews cap to Phillip Garcia for crucial assistance in the design implementation of this site. Thanks, Phillip.

    -------------------

    Pay a visit to the HARRY BOYKOFF page at Basketball Reference, sponsored by NewEnergyNews and Oil In Their Blood.

  • ---------------
  • Wednesday, August 29, 2012

    QUICK NEWS, August 29: SPANISH SOLAR POWER PLANTS SET OUTPUT RECORDS; WIND’S CEO TALKS ABOUT ENERGY INCENTIVES; THE BUSINESS OF MANAGING SMART BUILDINGS

    SPANISH SOLAR POWER PLANTS SET OUTPUT RECORDS CSP Plants Set Electricity Supply Record In Spain

    27 August 2012 (Solar Industry)

    “Spain's 35 concentrating solar power (CSP) plants reached two new milestones last month…On July 15, the projects met 3.25% of Spain's electricity consumption; on July 11, at 5:00 p.m., 4.1% of electricity fed into the grid came from the CSP plants.”

    “The CSP sector could be one of the most profitable for Spanish companies, provided that new regulations under consideration by the Spanish government do not create barriers…”

    WIND’S CEO TALKS ABOUT ENERGY INCENTIVES What Critics of Wind Power's Incentive Miss

    Denise Bode, August 22, 2012 (Huffington Post)

    “As the prospect of Congress extending wind energy's primary incentive, the federal Production Tax Credit (PTC), has grown in recent weeks, so have both support and criticism…Des Moines, Denver, Chicago, Oklahoma City, Houston, New York and other papers] have all editorialized in favor…[while The Wall Street Journal] continued its steady drumbeat of broadsides against renewable energy in general and the wind tax credit in particular…”

    “Historically, all energy sources have been encouraged by government, and for good reason. Ensuring a steady supply of domestic energy is vital to the productivity of our national economy…A recent study from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) points out that traditional energy sources enjoy an enormous advantage with regard to tax relief and other incentives…[because] federal energy tax policy focused almost exclusively [for over half a century] on increasing domestic oil and gas reserves and production…[and] remain in the tax code…

    “That advantage is permanent, allowing for a stable business environment that wind energy is deprived of because of on-again, off-again federal policies…Renewable energy sources are not receiving excessive support…[T]he federal commitment to [oil and gas] was five times greater than the federal commitment to renewables during the first 15 years of each [incentive's] life, and it was more than 10 times greater for nuclear…”

    “Wind energy's incentive is tax relief…in the form of a federal tax credit. To call tax relief a subsidy is to assume that all money belongs to the government. Rather, a tax credit simply leaves more money in private hands. In this case, anyone who makes renewable energy qualifies. The result has been the creation of over $15 billion a year in private investment and 75,000 privately financed jobs in wind power…[and wind's] incentive, the Production Tax Credit, has strong bipartisan support…[GOP strategist Karl Rove] called it something Republicans and Democrats can agree on…”

    THE BUSINESS OF MANAGING SMART BUILDINGS Smart Building Managed Services; Software as a Service plus Energy Management/NOC Services and On-Site Installation & Maintenance Services for Commercial Buildings: Global Market Analysis and Forecasts

    3Q 2012 (Pike Research/Navigant)

    “…[T]he adoption of sophisticated energy management systems in commercial buildings has been proven to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The ability of these systems to process and analyze huge volumes of energy-related data has shifted the way buildings are designed, built, and operated, but it has also proven challenging for the people who operate buildings on a daily basis…

    “…Recent economic conditions have caused building owners to cut back on both the numbers and types of personnel that they hire, shifting operational priorities from efficiency generating projects to those that are an absolute necessity…Smart building managed service providers have stepped to the fore…[M]anaged service vendors work closely with clients, effectively becoming an extension of the building’s own staff…”

    “The competitive landscape for smart building managed services [SBMS] is evolving at a quick pace driven by new technologies, big data, and a wide variety of service models. Large established market players and OEMs such as Johnson Controls, Siemens, and Schneider Electric have a strong foothold…More focused companies such as Ecova and Pacific Controls have leveraged their independence from the larger OEMs to build strong relationships with their clients, while large IT companies such as IBM and HP have become strong competitors…

    “[Pike Research projects that SBMS growth rates from 2012 through 2020 will outpace projected growth rates for the BEMS [building energy management service] market and will signal increasing market demand for a more service-oriented approach…In 2012, SBMS market spending amounts to $291 million. It will grow to $1.1 billion by 2020, the end of the forecast period, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of almost 18%]…”

    2 Comments:

    At 8:26 AM, Anonymous Solar Panels said...

    A solar power plant may be the solution to our need for a renewable energy source and the storage issue. A major advantage of solar power is that a solar power plant is self-sufficient, running completely off of the power of the sun. As the energy is stored or converted into electricity or heat, it does not release pollutants.

     
    At 4:00 AM, Blogger kripalights said...

    Thanks for the post. It was very interesting and informative.
    www.kripalights.com/

     

    Post a Comment

    << Home