06.23.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 3:14 pm by admin
Welcome to the new EBA Renewable Energy Committee Blog! This Blog will serve as a forum for members of the Committee, enabling them to share information, news and commentary on current developments in the exciting area of renewable/alternative energy.
As a member of the Committee, you will have access to the Blog and be able to post and comment. You will see to your right, a link to login. Once you have done so, you will be able to post any information, including policy and regulatory developments, useful links, opinions and white papers you wish to share with the Committee, other EBA members, and the Public. We encourage each of you to post not only summaries of new legal, policy or legislative developments in your areas of expertise, but also thought-provoking opinions and information regarding projects on which you or your clients are working. Our hope is that this forum will provide not only links to useful web sites and reference information, but that it will also result in interactive, spirited discussions on hot topics in the burgeoning and changing area of renewable energy, as well as serve as a means of developing business relationships and bringing people together on various projects.
Currently, in the interest of getting this project off the ground in a manageable way, only Renewable Energy Committee members will have direct access to the Blog. (Other EBA members and the Public will be able to view the Blog, but will not be able to directly post or comment.) However, we encourage all other EBA members to participate. If you are not a member of our Committee, but would like to contribute either a posting or a comment, please e-mail the information to Lynn Fountain, the Blog’s designated “Postmaster.” She will ensure that all postings and comments are uploaded to the Blog. For Committee members, please direct any questions you may have about using this new forum to her attention, as well.
The EBA Renewable Energy Blog is the first blog for the EBA. We encourage other committees to implement this new mode of interactive communication. As you may have noticed, there is a new “EBA Blog” tab on the EBA homepage with plenty of room for other blogs.
We look forward to seeing you on the Blog!
Michael A. Stosser
Chair, EBA Renewable Energy Committee
Permalink
06.28.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 4:24 pm by member
Does anyone know the folks behind this? It seems like there was good intention here, but they seem to have run out of enthusiasm or time for it (last post long time ago).
http://renewableenergylaw.blogspot.com/
Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:17 pm by member
The blog you are referencing, the Renewable Energy Law Blog, is maintained by the law firm of Shems Dunkiel, a Vermont law firm. I believe they are still updating it but not routinely. Let’s work together to prevent that from happening with our blog.
Lynn Fountain
Permalink
07.17.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 9:28 am by member
The EPA has released an update to its national Top 10 Retail Partners list, which highlights the largest national purchases of renewable energy by retail Partner organizations of the Green Power Partnership. The list reflects purchase information through June 26, 2006.
Whole Foods Market topped the list, followed by Starbucks. In the top five were Safeway Inc., FedEx Kinko’s and Staples. Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI) made its first appearance on the list, coming in at No.10.
Combined, the green power purchases of the Top 10 Retail Partners amount to nearly 900 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power annually, an increase of about six percent since the last Top 10 Retail list was released in April 2006.
EPA updates its Top Partner lists of green power purchasers quarterly. The next scheduled update is set for October 2006 and will reflect information received as of September 21, 2006.
For more information on EPA’s Green Power Partnership, visit http://www.epa.gov/greenpower.
For more information on EPA’s Top 10 List of Retail Partners, visit http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/partners/top10retail.htm.
Green Power Partnership U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Web site: http://www.epa.gov/greenpower
Mike Stosser
Permalink
Posted in Committee Business at 9:36 am by member
Michael Stosser, new Chair of the Committee, led the call. Introductions by Mike, Vice-Chairs Monica Schwebs and Bill Westerfield, and Lynn Fountain.
Edna Sussman, Chair of the ABA Renewables Committee, spoke on the ABA Renewables Committee’s brown bag luncheons. Edna encouraged our committee to follow their practice of using host locations and call-in service. Edna estimated that her committee has 250 – 600 attendees per call, half of which are probably government officials. For more information go to Renewableenergyinfo.com. Gearold Knowles complimented Edna on the ABA practice of making materials available in advance of teleconferences. Edna recommended that our Committee teleconference speakers prepare power point presentations and a reading list for each program.
Mike Zimmer suggested that our Committee programs avoid overlapping with the ABA Renewables Committee. He recommended obtaining speakers from FERC, Congress and other public agencies. Monica then recommended inviting new FERC Commissioner Wellinghoff, on the topics of transmission and distributed generation. Jeff Dennis of FERC offered to help get Commissioner Wellinghoff. Jeff, Monica and Gearold will spearhead the effort to organize that program.
Lynn informed the Committee about our new weblog or blog. She followed-up our conference call by emailing members a link to the new website, as well as the necessary ID and password to post messages. No log-in is needed to read postings. Members will have access to the web-site. The Committee is seeking postings, such as papers, news and links to valuable websites. Mike pointed out that we want to hear what people are working on. It would also be a way to suggest speakers and Energy Law Journal articles. Lynn will manage the blog.
Mike said that it’s important for our Committee to increase its visibility. He suggested a report in the Energy Bar Journal and a panel at the next EBA meeting. He asked for a concept or topic for that panel. Todd Glass observed that venture capitalists are “throwing money” at renewable energy, and that this is a good time to talk about financing. Mike agreed. He suggested that a discussion of financing should focus on what to do to get money; how to package new projects; not just how to get public incentives but how to obtain private financing. He added that there continues to be serious concerns about technical and environmental issues concerning renewables.
Bob Webb spoke about biofuels and biodiesel. He promised to give us the latest information from Texas via the blog. Mike Schnell talked about financing of biofuels. Don McCauley said he puts together an annual report to the ABA and offered to do one for our Committee. The ABA did its last brown bag teleconference on biofuels in September 2005. Roger Feldman is heading the ABA Committee on Renewable Finance. Todd will spearhead an effort to organize a biofuels brownbag program for the Committee.
Gunnar Birgisson is chair of the EBA committee on environment. Mike asked that we try to work with him on issues such as climate change and biofuels.
Mike raised the matter of frequency of Committee calls. Carolyn said she would like to have us meet monthly. Bill agreed that we should start with monthly calls in order to create some momentum. Mike said he would try to do monthly calls. He will also update the Committee email list. Mike also said that we should try to hold brownbag teleconferences quarterly.
Minutes by Bill Westerfield
Permalink
07.27.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 3:31 pm by member
The Governor of Michigan, Jennifer Granholm, directed the chair of the Michigan PSC, Peter Lark, to submit an energy plan for the 21st Century for safe, clean, affordable and reliable power; she also asked that it include a renewable portfolio standard proposal. The staff of the PSC have been working on the task since. (The plan will address electricity only; it does not address natural gas or transportation fuels.)
You can look at the work of the entire project here:
http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/mpsc/electric/capacity/energyplan/
And you can look at the work of the renewables team here: http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/mpsc/electric/capacity/energyplan/renewables/renewables.htm
The plan is a work in progress now, and it is due this December.
Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized at 3:37 pm by member
One efficient way to support renewables if you are not able to source them directly is to buy renewable energy credits that go to supporting renewable projects.
At http://www.carbonfund.org/site/ I used a calculator to calculate my family’s total CO2 footprint (from driving, home heating and lighting, and from flying) and found that I could buy sufficient RECs to neutralize that amount of CO2 for around $13 per month–so I set up an automatic monthly payment for $15 a month ($180/yr) and now don’t feel so bad about running the air conditioner when it’s hot and sticky here in the Midwest.
Oh, and it’s fully tax-deductible, so it’s costing me not much more than I was previously paying to my local municipal electric company to help them buy 250 kWh of electricity generated from landfill gas.
Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized, Member Projects at 4:36 pm by member
Ardour Capital Investments recently worked with Nova Energy Holding, Inc. to complete the final round of private placement of securities consisting of its common stock and warrants to purchase common stock. The net proceeds from the private placement totaled approximately $18.8 million. Nova intends to use these funds as working capital and for general corporate purposes in the pursuit of its business strategy to build and operate two to four biodiesel refineries with a production capacity of between 120 to 240 million gallons of biodiesel fuel per year. You can read more about Nova by accessing its website: http://www.novaenergyholding.com/
Mike Stosser
Permalink
08.15.06
Posted in Uncategorized, New Developments - Policy, Regs & Laws at 5:45 pm by member
Today, the seven northeast states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (”RGGI”) released the model set of rules intended to be the starting point for obtaining the legislative and regulatory approvals necessary for implementing the program. They also released an amendment to their December 2005 Memorandum of Understanding.
If approved, this will be the first mandatory cap-and-trade program for CO2 emissions in the United States. Participating states are: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York and Vermont. The State of Maryland recently adopted legislation requiring it to join RGGI by June, 2007.
Beginning in 2009, CO2 emissions from regional power plants would be capped at close to current levels - 121 million tons annually - with this cap remaining in effect until 2015. The states would then begin reducing emissions incrementally over a 4-year period to achieve a 10% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2019. It is projected that RGGI will result in an estimated 35% reduction in CO2 emissions in the region by 2020.
The participating states will now proceed with obtaining the necessary approvals from their respective legislative and regulatory bodies. Pending successful completion of this process, the RGGI program is expected to become effective on January 1, 2009. For additional information on the RGGI program, go to www.rggi.org.
Lynn Fountain
Permalink
08.19.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 3:24 pm by member
On August 14, 2006, the DOE posted on its website the solicitation announcement, guidelines and pre-application form for its Loan Guarantee Program (http://www.lgprogram.energy.gov/index.html).
Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 authorizes the DOE to guarantee loans that support early commercial use of advanced technologies that “avoid, reduce, or sequester air pollutants or anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases.” Note, this program is targeted at early commercial use only, not energy research, development and demonstration programs.
Lynn Fountain
Permalink
« Previous entries ·