President Obama announces $2.4 billion in grants to speed the manufacturing and deployment of the next generation of batteries and electric vehicles

As part of the $787 billion stimulus package approved in February, Congress agreed to include $2 billion in research and development grants for advanced battery technologies, and today, speaking in Elkhart, Indiana, the President announced that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will fund 48 new advanced battery and electric drive components manufacturing and electric drive vehicle deployment projects in over 20 states.

The President said the announcement marks the single largest investment in advanced battery technology for hybrid and electric-drive vehicles ever made.

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Applied SunFab Solar Module Production Line

Well it certainly looks like the sun is paving the way for our new energy economy.

According to the Worldwatch institute, an environmental research organization based in Washington D.C., global solar photovoltaic (PV) power installations jumped from 9,000 megawatts in 2007 to nearly 15,000 MW in 2008, an increase of almost 66 percent. This is due primarily to government incentive programs in the world’s top PV markets, Spain and Germany.

Worldwatch provides a snapshot of solar power market trends globally:

• Global PV cell production nearly doubled in 2008, reaching 6,940 MW. The Chinese PV industry led silicon-based cell production, primarily to meet soaring demand in Spain and Germany.
• Europe remains the leading market for PVs, accounting for over 80 percent of world demand in 2008. Top markets Spain and Germany added 2,600 MW and 1,500 MW respectively. The United States came in a distant third, adding approximately 348 MW.
• Spain’s market growth increased a whopping 364 percent in 2008, causing it to overtake industry leader Germany as the number one solar PV market.

So what are Spain and Germany doing that the U.S. is not?

According to Dr. Charles Gay, the President of Applied Solar, a leading supplier of solar manufacturing equipment, Germany and Spain have set more immediate goals than the U.S. for increased use of renewable energy. They have also provided greater government investments to jump start the market.

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On Monday, President Barack Obama reiterated his administration’s focus on science by promising a new level of commitment—one with the same intensity and urgency as that which put Americans on the moon—and stressing that “the days of science taking a back seat to ideology are over.”

“We have watched as scientific integrity has been undermined and scientific research politicized in an effort to advance predetermined ideological agendas,” said Mr. Obama.

Speaking at the 146th National Academy of Science annual meeting in Washington, D.C., Mr. Obama pledged to raise spending on research and development to more than three percent of the nation’s gross domestic product, an increase of approximately $46 billion annually. “This represents the largest commitment to scientific research and innovation in American history,” said the President.

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Obama’s focus on reducing carbon emissions, investment in clean energy and creating green jobs to boost economic growth is clear.  As a result of the package:

• energy efficiency tax credits have been raised from 10% of cost to 30%;
• the maximum tax credit has been raised from $500 to $1500 on individual efficiency upgrades;
• more expensive upgrades, such as solar panels, solar water heaters, and geothermal pumps are not limited to their previous $1,500 maximum, and;
• the $200 tax credit cap on efficient windows has been removed (however, the standards are also more stringent).

All of this means that there has never been a better time, financially, to upgrade, insulate, and/or weatherize your buildings. These investments should pay for themselves relatively quickly, given the incentives and the energy savings, and provide long term savings in addition to good PR for your company.

For example, Jiminy Peak, a small ski resort in Massachusetts, put in a wind turbine at their resort. With an up-front cost of roughly $4M and energy savings of $450,000 per year, the turbine will pay for itself in less than ten years and provide reliable electricity for many years after. Jiminy Peak has protected itself from fluctuations in energy costs and power outages, and meanwhile given itself a nice PR victory.

The Small Business Association also has a guaranteed loan program for construction and renovation including Energy Star appliances and upgrades. The 7a Loan Guaranty Program has a high degree of flexibility in what you are able to use the money for, including energy efficiency, retrofitting, and new Energy Star upgrades.

>>See also: Obama First to Enforce 34-Year-Old Energy Efficiency Rules

Scott Cooney is the author of Build a Green Small Business:  Profitable Ways to Become an Ecopreneur (McGraw-Hill), and hopes that the green economy will someday just be referred to as…the economy.

Photo credit:  BrentDanley on Flickr Creative Commons

“When you say that your town is open for Urban experimentation…  Are you taking part in these experiments?    because you look like you’ve received a large dose of Gamma Radiation”

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Where the Steel Goes…

The town of Braddock was once a thriving population of 20,000 people, all based around an active steel industry.  We know what happens to Allegheny towns when the Steel industry leaves: it’s not a pretty sight.  The town is now completely bankrupt, boasts a population of 2,500 people and a sign that says “Open for Good Ideas”.  It appears that anyone with a good Shovel Ready project idea can use Braddock as a blank canvas.  Fetterman is trying to use the Colbert Bump to bump his town back into relevance — on the back of green inventors and green ideas!

More video on Fetterman and the town of Braddock.

More on stimulus spending on Red Green and Blue

In his first address to a joint session of Congress, President Barack Obama delivered remarks with a forceful conviction that did wonders to dispel the ‘Barry the Bummer’ image the punditry has cast upon him recently.

>>Video and text of President Obama’s Address

Faced with the difficult task of portraying confidence in tough economic times, President Obama again made the case for why rebuilding America’s infrastructure is important and outlined three areas that are critical to the country’s economic future: energy, health care, and education. And “It begins with energy,” said Mr. Obama.

The energy plan President Obama outlined made the distinction that emphasis on cleaner energy production would not hinder the economy, but rather stimulate it. In regards to this country’s declining leadership in the renewable energy sector, Mr. Obama linked it to our general slide in manufacturing prowess. He said:

“We know the country that harnesses the power of clean, renewable energy will lead the 21st century. And yet, it is China that has launched the largest effort in history to make their economy energy efficient. We invented solar technology, but we’ve fallen behind countries like Germany and Japan in producing it. New plug-in hybrids roll off our assembly lines, but they will run on batteries made in Korea.

Well I do not accept a future where the jobs and industries of tomorrow take root beyond our borders – and I know you don’t either. It is time for America to lead again.”

On transmission upgrades and energy efficiency, Obama had this to say:

“We will soon lay down thousands of miles of power lines that can carry new energy to cities and towns across this country. And we will put Americans to work making our homes and buildings more efficient so that we can save billions of dollars on our energy bills.”

And just a little over two years after President Bush first stumbled through the words “climate change” in a State of the Union address, President Obama said this to an enthusiastically supportive Congress:

“But to truly transform our economy, protect our security, and save our planet from the ravages of climate change, we need to ultimately make clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of energy. So I ask this Congress to send me legislation that places a market-based cap on carbon pollution and drives the production of more renewable energy in America. And to support that innovation, we will invest fifteen billion dollars a year to develop technologies like wind power and solar power; advanced biofuels, clean coal, and more fuel-efficient cars and trucks built right here in America.”

Though I have some trouble aligning clean coal with wind, solar, advanced biofuels, and fuel efficiency, enough to string them all together in one sentence, some are more sanguine about the future place of coal. I do not dismiss coal outright, though I would argue it is misleading to say ‘clean coal’ is anywhere even close to where solar and wind are in terms of their technological development.

But I’m not a presidential speechwriter charged with the difficult job of pleasing powerful constituencies either.

Image: White House photos 2/24/09 by Pete Souza

“You know, money from Democrats can still be exchanged for goods and services, you know that right?”

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But what if there are no more solar companies left? Publicly-traded green technology companies, like those that research and manufacture those costly panels, are being hit hard in the stock market and some are facing bankruptcy; it may take more than homeowner incentive to lift them up again. Because while homeowners may buy the systems now at the new prices, the question is: Will they buy enough to keep the companies afloat?

I took a look at a few of the public solar companies to see which, if any, have survived the recent stock market crash. The news doesn’t look too good.

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Barack Obama won his first legislative battle with the Republican minority in congress and passed the Economic Stimulus package he feels is needed to jumpstart America’s economy. 

The package includes money for what many are calling the green economy.  Obama has committed $10 B annually to clean energy programs, including wind, solar, biofuels, energy efficiency, geothermal, and others.

What’s in it for the eco-entrepreneur?  Or, as many are now calling it, the ‘Obamapreneur’?

The quickest wins and lowest hanging fruit for the green economy and Obama’s plans lie in energy efficiency.  As the saying goes, the cleanest power plant is the one you don’t have to build, and with buildings accounting for 72% of all energy usage in the U.S., greening these buildings would provide good jobs, and freedom from high energy bills.  Robert Pollen, an economist at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, estimates there are $26 B worth of upgrades on public buildings alone in the U.S. that need to be done, with terrific return on investment for the government in terms of job creation and long term savings on energy.

Obama’s economic team has estimated that 5 million green jobs will be created by this $10B in annual investment, and that these jobs will be difficult to outsource or replace.

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Two freshmen U.S. senators—who also happen to be cousins—have introduced a bill that would create a national renewable energy standard (RES) of twenty-five percent by 2020.

The bill would initiate a federal minimum standard mandating retail energy suppliers to diversify their portfolios with the first requirement of six percent for 2012, and consistently increase thereafter until meeting the 2025 goal. The proposal dovetails with that of President Obama who has proposed a goal of doubling renewable energy within the next three years.

Twenty-eight states already have renewable generation standards with various timelines and targets and this legislation would not preempt states that have stronger standards.

On paper, the proposed RES would appear to surpass the EU enewables requirement of twenty percent by 2020. But municipal and other publicly-owned power plants and rural electric co-ops would be exempted from the requirements.

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And Stewart didn’t pull any punches on former Senator John Sununu who is part of the bipartisan committee that will sort out the details of how the economic stimulus package is spent. Watch it:

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And that is exactly what has happened since 1975 when Congress passed the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, requiring the Department of Energy to come up with tougher energy efficiency standards on a broad range of products—from residential air-conditioners to industrial boilers—standards that decades of administrations have failed to do.

But decades of shirking the responsibility for writing those efficiency regs are coming to an end.

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Spending in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on environmental projects being debated in Congress right now already includes $100 billion in ‘green stimulus.’ But because of the stated preference for so-called ‘shovel-ready‘ infrastructure projects, long-term infrastructure projects like mass transit and a smart grid may suffer.

The bill already includes spending for incentives for clean energy; the retrofitting of public buildings and public housing; low and moderate-income home weatherization; clean water and environmental restoration projects. But mass transit and smart grids require the kind of planning and long-term investment not encapsulated by that tidy new buzzword, ’shovel-ready.’

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Fast Company cites that:

Massive investments in clean energy promise to keep farmers, urban planners, and green-tech entrepreneurs in business for the next decade.

And they bring us a list of the ten best green jobs for the next decade.

Farmer

Forester

Solar Power Installer

Energy efficiency builder

Wind Turbine Fabricator

Conservation Biologist

Green MBA and Entrepreneur

Recycler

Sustainability Systems Developer

Urban Planner

What I found interesting in this report, and a comment that fits well with traditional employment in tough times is the emphasis on consulting services.

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Part of President Obama’s proposed economic stimulus plan includes investing in smart grid infrastructure. So, what better horse to hitch your trailer to right now if you’re a big American company looking to launch your new smart grid advertising campaign?

Oh, and it also helps if you own the network.

General Electric saw this golden opportunity and for the first time advertised during the Super Bowl with a 30-second ad called “Scarecrow.” GE describes the ad as a modern take on the classic song, “If I Only Had A Brain,” from The Wizard of Oz, imagining what can happen when the old technologies that manage our energy use have a brain and become smarter.

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Stimulus Bike says it wants to see economic stimulus funds work to promote cycling, something that could save us money over the long term (less gas money, fewer car repairs, etc.) and promote a healthier, more sustainable way of getting from here to there.

Now, under President Barack Obama’s currently proposed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the average citizen isn’t expecting to see a check in the mail a la last year’s economic boost effort (which didn’t work anyway). However, it’s possible you could benefit from reduced tax withholding in your paycheck. Stimulus Bike would like to see you invest those dollars in a two-wheeler of some kind:

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Today, the U.S. House Ways & Means Committee approved $20 billion in energy tax credits and related financial incentives as part of the Obama administration’s plan to revive the American economy. Can I get a w00t!?

The tax breaks benefit the wind and solar energy industries and encourage energy-efficiency improvements to existing homes. Other facilities that generate electricity from renewable sources such as biomass, hydropower, landfill gas and ocean currents also qualify for the credit. Facilities will have to be in place by 2012 to be eligible for the credit.

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Head past the break to view the video.

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The spread of these kinds of initiatives is great news for aspiring ecopreneurs, as the market for green building, alternative energy, and other forms of green products and services becomes the ‘rising tide that lifts all ships’.  Well, at least the ships in the sustainable sector. 

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