If this statement is being represented accurately, it would not only put Chu directly at odds with Obama administration policy, it would mean that he doesn’t really believe in how his department is distributing their $36.7 billion dollar slice of stimulus funds. The statement would also contradict Chu’s previous stances on biofuels development. Comment from DOE was not immediately available, but I’ve got a request in to confirm or deny the statement as accurate. I’ll update as soon as I hear word.

Update 8:00 PM Pacific Time 10/13/2009: DOE’s Director of Public Affairs, Dan Leistikow, responded to my request from earlier today in an email, saying “I can’t verify the quote the blogger is using from an undisclosed source at an undisclosed meeting, which is at best wildly out of context.” He also added, “Anyone who has spent five minutes listening to Secretary Chu also knows he is one of the country’s staunchest advocates for pursuing a broad portfolio of clean energy research, and has warned against investing all our resources in a single technology to the exclusion of all others.”

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Steven Chu, US Energy Secretary, announced at the start of the Solar Decathlon on DC’s National Mall on Friday that the Department of Energy (DOE) would be dishing out an additional $87 million in new funding for the development and rapid deployment of solar energy technologies.

This money is being given to 47 projects in a range of sub-fields and sectors.

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The solar capacity of the National Mall in Washington D.C. has increased exponentially in just a week as teams of college students from 20 international schools hurriedly reassembled their submissions for the fourth ever Solar Decathlon, a competition in which students must create “the most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered house.” The three-week event kicked of yesterday with an opening ceremony that featured a speech from Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who announced an additional $87 million solar-targeted award for solar energy projects. Here’s a look at some of the impressive solar submissions and the opening day events.

“Decathletes,” as the decathlon participants are called, began construction on October 1, 2009, a full week before the start of the competition. Each house was designed to be deconstructed and then reassembled for the event. The components of each house travel from each team’s school and are reconstituted as the solar-powered homes lining “Decathlete Way” on the National Mall.

Image Credit: Stefano Paltera from USDOE on Flickr under a Creative Commons license

Finishing Touches

Solar Decathlon teams hail from all over the continental United States as well as Puerto Rico, Germany, Spain, and Canada.

Here, a member of Team Spain puts the finishing touches on the roof its modern-style solar home. An inverted glass pyramid outfitted with photovoltaic panels and solar water heating collectors rests atop the house via a ball-and-socket mechanism. A solar tracking device orients the pyramid structure as the sun changes throughout the day to achieve the highest efficiency.

Image Credit: Stefano Paltera from USDOE on Flickr under a Creative Commons license

Energy Efficient House, Water Efficient Plants

The Solar Decathlon is designed to call attention to the enormous energy challenge that the world faces as well as empower young people to create solutions to the world’s energy problems. The competition has six main goals: 1) to educate; 2) to raise public awareness about clean energy, energy efficiency, and solar, in particular; 3) to hasten the entrance of solar technology into the marketplace; 4) to foster student collaboration among varying academic disciplines; 5) to promote an integrated approach to new construction; and 6) to demonstrate the potential for Zero Energy Homes, which produce as much energy as the consume.

Here, two Cornell University students work on the landscaping outside of “The Silo House,” which was designed to evoke “the character of a post-agrarian meadow.” The team, which boasts 150 members and the school’s third Solar Decathlon submission, is a true testament to “integrated collaboration” combining the creative geniuses of so many to produce a house consisting of three silos that is a net-zero energy user.

Image Credit: Stefano Paltera from USDOE on Flickr under a Creative Commons license

A Wall of Solar

In order to be eligible for judging, each house must be exclusively powered by the sun and energy efficient. Each house must also meet the following criteria: a) attractive and livable; b) maintain a comfortable, healthy interior environment c) contain adequate light; d) power household appliance and home electronic e) provide hot water; f) balance energy production and consumption.

Placing the last solar panel on the roof of their house, Team Germany’s two-story cube shaped house features an 11.1 kw solar façade made out of 40 single-crystal silicon roof panels and 250 thin-film copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) panels on the rest of the exterior. With such a technology intense design, the house cost somewhere in the range of $650,000-$850,000.

Image Credit: Stefano Paltera from USDOE on Flickr under a Creative Commons license

A View with a Purpose

As the name suggests, there ten solar contests in which the teams must compete. The contest categories include: architecture, market viability, engineering, lighting design, communications, comfort zone, hot water, appliances, home entertainment, net metering. The Net Metering contest is worth the most points and uses a utility meter to see how much net energy a given house produces or consumes throughout the competition. The most points are allocated to team who produce more energy than they consume.

The window arrangement in Ohio State’s home not only affords a crystal clear view of the Washington Monument, it is passively designed to take advantage of natural ventilation and day light. Dubbed “Ohio-centric,” by its creators, the house is made from native Ohio materials, contains Whirlpool appliances, and reclaimed barn wood.

Image Credit: Annie Coghill on Flickr under a Creative Commons license

Education on the Run

The Solar Decathlon is a teaching moment for the participants as well as the public. Throughout the competition the solar homes are open to the public in order to teach visitors about the importance of clean energy, solar technology, and energy efficiency. In addition to the contests, the event sponsors offer both solar energy and energy efficiency workshops for consumers and industry professionals. For homeowners, two daytime education exhibits displays the anatomy of a solar house and explain the types of “smart choices that can deliver us into a clean energy future.”

Here, a jogger takes advantage of an impromptu opportunity to learn about solar power and the Solar Decathlon from a University of Louisiana decathlete standing in front of the team’s home, BeauSoleil, which means “sunshine” in Cajun French.

Image Credit: Stefano Paltera from USDOE on Flickr under a Creative Commons license

Perfect Lighting

DOE Secretary of Energy Steven Chu welcomed the decathletes to the capitol city to start off the three-week decathlon. Taking advantage of the opportunity and the receptive crowd, Chu announced the latest round of DOE clean energy award money, this time $87 million to “support the development of new solar energy technologies and the rapid deployment of available carbon-free energy systems. A full $50 million of the award is come from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), also known as the economic stimulus package, and is targeted towards projects that are working to make solar cost-competitive by 2015. The money will support 47 projects in four categories: Solar America Cities special projects, solar installer training, high-penetration solar deployment, and research projects at DOE National Laboratories.

Here, Chu joins Team California in front of “Refract House,” which also employs a passive solar design that is ideally suited to sun-soaked California. The house is more than just an educational tool, with information panels that pose key questions and system that allows guests to access the answers via their cell-phones, the abode is equipped with enough information technology to function as a teacher, as well.

Image Credit: Stefano Paltera from USDOE on Flickr under a Creative Commons license

Let the Games Begin

The solar-powered festivities continue today and through October 18, 2009, when the winner is announced. You can visit the U.S Department of Energy Solar Decathlon home page to learn more about the event, the teams, the contests and to see more solar-inspired photography and multimedia.

Here, all twenty teams collect on Decathlete Way in front of their fully constructed and fully functional solar homes. After two years of hard work, these students have not only created incredible solar projects that are prepared for the intense level of competition, they have also gained skills that will shape the world’s clean energy future.

Image Credit: Stefano Paltera from USDOE on Flickr under a Creative Commons license

Rather than discard that “geothermal” resource created by the process of oil extraction, the DOE is going to show the traditional energy industry how to tap into those waste fluids to power equipment at the site.

The renewable energy division (EERE) of Steven Chu’s energetic new Department of Energy is buying the waste heat geothermal unit from Ormat Technologies to do the demo. Ormat makes both geothermal and combined heat and power units.

The DOE’s Geothermal Technologies Program at the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) will collaborate with Office of Fossil Energy to make low temperature geothermal power from waste drilling fluids using a waste heat geothermal unit.

The electricity produced would be used to power field production equipment, which would offset purchased electricity. Because this would reduce the fossil energy needed to extract each barrel of oil, this would reduce the pollution costs the traditional oil industry would be liable for under new legislation pending.

If the Clean Energy Jobs & American Power Act passes, there will be an incentive to reduce carbon pollution.

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The Heartland Institute and the Competitive Enterprise Institute are oil-funded think-tanks dedicated to turning out academic-appearing reports that have successfully confused Americans about global warming. The result has been that oil companies have successfully delayed renewable energy development in this country.

Like Americans For Prosperity and FreedomWorks, which was behind the firing of Van Jones, the Green Jobs Czar; these organizations are funded by Exxon and David and Charles Koch (Koch Industries oil empire).  Freedom works is currently sponsoring astroturf townhalls to fight energy legislation.

The plot thickens…they now have Steven Chu in their sights.

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This is the real reason the fossil industries whose profits are threatened by renewable energy go after him - and stir up emotional opposition groups to threaten him with outlandish attacks. Because he has already implemented or funded an extraordinary string of renewable energy initiatives.

He will likely be remembered as an FDR figure; the president who powered the nation with solar and wind.

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The utility needs a way to turn sometimes-too-much wind into anytime-always-there electricity.

The solution? Simple tech. Underground compressed air.

With compressed air energy storage; air is compressed and then pumped in natural underground reservoirs. The air is released later and converted into electricity. With enough storage, even fickle wind could actually supply base-load power.

So PG&E has applied for DOE smart grid stimulus funding under The Recovery Act; to build a compressed air energy storage project with output capacity of 300 megawatts. They are applying for $25 million.

By comparison, building a plant to burn fossil fuels would cost around $850 million for the same 300 megawatts of fossil energy.

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So, what do you do when you have a poorly-conceived and ill-managed project winding down (Clunkers expires at 8 p.m. EST on August 24)? Kick off another one, even more poorly thought out, and gloss it with an equally catchy name: Cash for Refrigerators.

Beginning in the fall, consumers will have access—through existing state-level energy efficiency incentive programs —$300 million in stimulus funds made available as rebates for energy efficient appliances.

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Following on Red Green and Blue’s lead last week, today’s New York Times editorial notes that the White House and their Congressional allies on cap-and-trade have all but acknowledged that the climate change argument will not be enough - on its own strength - to win support for comprehensive energy and environment legislation in 2009. So, while climate-based arguments by the movement’s superstars - like Al Gore -   are gaining wider public acceptance and near-unanimous adoption in the intelligentsia, the case is still not enough to win political support when the Senate takes the issue up in the fall.

Last week brought us climate as a security threat and White House officials are continuing to float trial balloons throughout August as they grope for a communications strategy. This week’s angle: green jobs. Steven Chu has been making the green jobs pitch a strong part of his summer road show. He continued to beat the drum as part of a round table discussion with Gore and others at Senator Harry Reid’s National Clean Energy Summit 2.0 last week in Las Vegas. Taking the measure of the two approaches, the Boston Globe editorial page joined today’s NYT in bringing the White House’s previously tacit acknowledgment of the need for a new course out into the open.

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Energy Secretary Steven Chu was recently on the Daily Show, with a carbon reduction strategy that is readily applicable: cool off our roofs.

Your home or office building has to endure the solar radiation it receives from the sun on a daily basis.  Much of this radiation gets transferred through conduction into the building, placing a further burden on your air conditioning system.  Painting the roofs of buildings white and laying softer colors of roofs on homes will reflect that heat energy back into space.

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Last Wednesday, the Senate passed the Energy and Water Appropriations Bill (H.R. 3183), appropriating $34.3 billion in energy spending for FY2010. Although the bill made good on Obama’s campaign promise to shut down Nevada’s Yucca Mountain nuclear waste facility and funds numerous Army Corps of Engineers’ water initiatives, the bill is shockingly silent with regard to Obama’s energy education program RE-ENERGYSE.

A recent article by TIME’s Bryan Walsh also calls attention to Congress’s stinginess with Obama’s Energy Secretary, Steven Chu’s proposed “energy innovation hubs,” to which the House appropriated $35 million of $280 million he suggested. This allotment is enough to pay for one hub, not the eight R&D centers called for in Chu’s proposal.

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US Department of Energy secretary Steven Chu and US Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack have announced that the two agencies will be providing $6.3 million dollars for 7 projects at research institutions throughout the US to improve the use of plant feedstocks in biofuel production.

Although biofuels have fallen out of favor in the public eye recently, the federal government — led by Secretary Chu — is still forging ahead with providing money to research next generation biofuels.

“Part of the solution to the energy problem will be home-grown energy crops,” said secretary Chu in a statement. “These projects will help us unlock the true potential of advanced biofuels, decrease our dependence on foreign oil, and create new jobs and a thriving biofuels industry in America.”

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So to liven-up the debate about carbon policy and make it a little more approachable for the kids, host Jon Stewart ‘Jizz-Ams in Front of Children on Cap’n Trade’:

This post contains additional media. Click here to view the full post.

Finishing Touches

Solar Decathlon teams hail from all over the continental United States as well as Puerto Rico, Germany, Spain, and Canada.

Here, a member of Team Spain puts the finishing touches on the roof its modern-style solar home. An inverted glass pyramid outfitted with photovoltaic panels and solar water heating collectors rests atop the house via a ball-and-socket mechanism. A solar tracking device orients the pyramid structure as the sun changes throughout the day to achieve the highest efficiency.

Image Credit: Stefano Paltera from USDOE on Flickr under a Creative Commons license

Energy Efficient House, Water Efficient Plants

The Solar Decathlon is designed to call attention to the enormous energy challenge that the world faces as well as empower young people to create solutions to the world’s energy problems. The competition has six main goals: 1) to educate; 2) to raise public awareness about clean energy, energy efficiency, and solar, in particular; 3) to hasten the entrance of solar technology into the marketplace; 4) to foster student collaboration among varying academic disciplines; 5) to promote an integrated approach to new construction; and 6) to demonstrate the potential for Zero Energy Homes, which produce as much energy as the consume.

Here, two Cornell University students work on the landscaping outside of “The Silo House,” which was designed to evoke “the character of a post-agrarian meadow.” The team, which boasts 150 members and the school’s third Solar Decathlon submission, is a true testament to “integrated collaboration” combining the creative geniuses of so many to produce a house consisting of three silos that is a net-zero energy user.

Image Credit: Stefano Paltera from USDOE on Flickr under a Creative Commons license

A Wall of Solar

In order to be eligible for judging, each house must be exclusively powered by the sun and energy efficient. Each house must also meet the following criteria: a) attractive and livable; b) maintain a comfortable, healthy interior environment c) contain adequate light; d) power household appliance and home electronic e) provide hot water; f) balance energy production and consumption.

Placing the last solar panel on the roof of their house, Team Germany’s two-story cube shaped house features an 11.1 kw solar façade made out of 40 single-crystal silicon roof panels and 250 thin-film copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) panels on the rest of the exterior. With such a technology intense design, the house cost somewhere in the range of $650,000-$850,000.

Image Credit: Stefano Paltera from USDOE on Flickr under a Creative Commons license

A View with a Purpose

As the name suggests, there ten solar contests in which the teams must compete. The contest categories include: architecture, market viability, engineering, lighting design, communications, comfort zone, hot water, appliances, home entertainment, net metering. The Net Metering contest is worth the most points and uses a utility meter to see how much net energy a given house produces or consumes throughout the competition. The most points are allocated to team who produce more energy than they consume.

The window arrangement in Ohio State’s home not only affords a crystal clear view of the Washington Monument, it is passively designed to take advantage of natural ventilation and day light. Dubbed “Ohio-centric,” by its creators, the house is made from native Ohio materials, contains Whirlpool appliances, and reclaimed barn wood.

Image Credit: Annie Coghill on Flickr under a Creative Commons license

Education on the Run

The Solar Decathlon is a teaching moment for the participants as well as the public. Throughout the competition the solar homes are open to the public in order to teach visitors about the importance of clean energy, solar technology, and energy efficiency. In addition to the contests, the event sponsors offer both solar energy and energy efficiency workshops for consumers and industry professionals. For homeowners, two daytime education exhibits displays the anatomy of a solar house and explain the types of “smart choices that can deliver us into a clean energy future.”

Here, a jogger takes advantage of an impromptu opportunity to learn about solar power and the Solar Decathlon from a University of Louisiana decathlete standing in front of the team’s home, BeauSoleil, which means “sunshine” in Cajun French.

Image Credit: Stefano Paltera from USDOE on Flickr under a Creative Commons license

Perfect Lighting

DOE Secretary of Energy Steven Chu welcomed the decathletes to the capitol city to start off the three-week decathlon. Taking advantage of the opportunity and the receptive crowd, Chu announced the latest round of DOE clean energy award money, this time $87 million to “support the development of new solar energy technologies and the rapid deployment of available carbon-free energy systems. A full $50 million of the award is come from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), also known as the economic stimulus package, and is targeted towards projects that are working to make solar cost-competitive by 2015. The money will support 47 projects in four categories: Solar America Cities special projects, solar installer training, high-penetration solar deployment, and research projects at DOE National Laboratories.

Here, Chu joins Team California in front of “Refract House,” which also employs a passive solar design that is ideally suited to sun-soaked California. The house is more than just an educational tool, with information panels that pose key questions and system that allows guests to access the answers via their cell-phones, the abode is equipped with enough information technology to function as a teacher, as well.

Image Credit: Stefano Paltera from USDOE on Flickr under a Creative Commons license

Let the Games Begin

The solar-powered festivities continue today and through October 18, 2009, when the winner is announced. You can visit the U.S Department of Energy Solar Decathlon home page to learn more about the event, the teams, the contests and to see more solar-inspired photography and multimedia.

Here, all twenty teams collect on Decathlete Way in front of their fully constructed and fully functional solar homes. After two years of hard work, these students have not only created incredible solar projects that are prepared for the intense level of competition, they have also gained skills that will shape the world’s clean energy future.

Image Credit: Stefano Paltera from USDOE on Flickr under a Creative Commons license

Read more of this story »

This post contains additional media. Click here to view the full post.

Finishing Touches

Solar Decathlon teams hail from all over the continental United States as well as Puerto Rico, Germany, Spain, and Canada.

Here, a member of Team Spain puts the finishing touches on the roof its modern-style solar home. An inverted glass pyramid outfitted with photovoltaic panels and solar water heating collectors rests atop the house via a ball-and-socket mechanism. A solar tracking device orients the pyramid structure as the sun changes throughout the day to achieve the highest efficiency.

Image Credit: Stefano Paltera from USDOE on Flickr under a Creative Commons license

Energy Efficient House, Water Efficient Plants

The Solar Decathlon is designed to call attention to the enormous energy challenge that the world faces as well as empower young people to create solutions to the world’s energy problems. The competition has six main goals: 1) to educate; 2) to raise public awareness about clean energy, energy efficiency, and solar, in particular; 3) to hasten the entrance of solar technology into the marketplace; 4) to foster student collaboration among varying academic disciplines; 5) to promote an integrated approach to new construction; and 6) to demonstrate the potential for Zero Energy Homes, which produce as much energy as the consume.

Here, two Cornell University students work on the landscaping outside of “The Silo House,” which was designed to evoke “the character of a post-agrarian meadow.” The team, which boasts 150 members and the school’s third Solar Decathlon submission, is a true testament to “integrated collaboration” combining the creative geniuses of so many to produce a house consisting of three silos that is a net-zero energy user.

Image Credit: Stefano Paltera from USDOE on Flickr under a Creative Commons license

A Wall of Solar

In order to be eligible for judging, each house must be exclusively powered by the sun and energy efficient. Each house must also meet the following criteria: a) attractive and livable; b) maintain a comfortable, healthy interior environment c) contain adequate light; d) power household appliance and home electronic e) provide hot water; f) balance energy production and consumption.

Placing the last solar panel on the roof of their house, Team Germany’s two-story cube shaped house features an 11.1 kw solar façade made out of 40 single-crystal silicon roof panels and 250 thin-film copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) panels on the rest of the exterior. With such a technology intense design, the house cost somewhere in the range of $650,000-$850,000.

Image Credit: Stefano Paltera from USDOE on Flickr under a Creative Commons license

A View with a Purpose

As the name suggests, there ten solar contests in which the teams must compete. The contest categories include: architecture, market viability, engineering, lighting design, communications, comfort zone, hot water, appliances, home entertainment, net metering. The Net Metering contest is worth the most points and uses a utility meter to see how much net energy a given house produces or consumes throughout the competition. The most points are allocated to team who produce more energy than they consume.

The window arrangement in Ohio State’s home not only affords a crystal clear view of the Washington Monument, it is passively designed to take advantage of natural ventilation and day light. Dubbed “Ohio-centric,” by its creators, the house is made from native Ohio materials, contains Whirlpool appliances, and reclaimed barn wood.

Image Credit: Annie Coghill on Flickr under a Creative Commons license

Education on the Run

The Solar Decathlon is a teaching moment for the participants as well as the public. Throughout the competition the solar homes are open to the public in order to teach visitors about the importance of clean energy, solar technology, and energy efficiency. In addition to the contests, the event sponsors offer both solar energy and energy efficiency workshops for consumers and industry professionals. For homeowners, two daytime education exhibits displays the anatomy of a solar house and explain the types of “smart choices that can deliver us into a clean energy future.”

Here, a jogger takes advantage of an impromptu opportunity to learn about solar power and the Solar Decathlon from a University of Louisiana decathlete standing in front of the team’s home, BeauSoleil, which means “sunshine” in Cajun French.

Image Credit: Stefano Paltera from USDOE on Flickr under a Creative Commons license

Perfect Lighting

DOE Secretary of Energy Steven Chu welcomed the decathletes to the capitol city to start off the three-week decathlon. Taking advantage of the opportunity and the receptive crowd, Chu announced the latest round of DOE clean energy award money, this time $87 million to “support the development of new solar energy technologies and the rapid deployment of available carbon-free energy systems. A full $50 million of the award is come from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), also known as the economic stimulus package, and is targeted towards projects that are working to make solar cost-competitive by 2015. The money will support 47 projects in four categories: Solar America Cities special projects, solar installer training, high-penetration solar deployment, and research projects at DOE National Laboratories.

Here, Chu joins Team California in front of “Refract House,” which also employs a passive solar design that is ideally suited to sun-soaked California. The house is more than just an educational tool, with information panels that pose key questions and system that allows guests to access the answers via their cell-phones, the abode is equipped with enough information technology to function as a teacher, as well.

Image Credit: Stefano Paltera from USDOE on Flickr under a Creative Commons license

Let the Games Begin

The solar-powered festivities continue today and through October 18, 2009, when the winner is announced. You can visit the U.S Department of Energy Solar Decathlon home page to learn more about the event, the teams, the contests and to see more solar-inspired photography and multimedia.

Here, all twenty teams collect on Decathlete Way in front of their fully constructed and fully functional solar homes. After two years of hard work, these students have not only created incredible solar projects that are prepared for the intense level of competition, they have also gained skills that will shape the world’s clean energy future.

Image Credit: Stefano Paltera from USDOE on Flickr under a Creative Commons license

Read more of this story »

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I’m over it.  There’s a lot of phooey balooey about compromising, reaching across the aisle, Republicans and Democrats working together, a spirit of bipartisanship, a ‘new kind of politics’…

I’m done.  Republicans have made it clear they don’t care.  Nope.  Not one iota. And they won’t compromise, even though they’re an ever-shrinking minority with no leadership, national vision, unified agenda, or interesting alternatives to Obama’s progressive agenda.  No way they’re going to let us wacko, socialist lefties have our way.  Ain’t gonna happen, Bubba.

We have to move on.  We don’t need the few dwindling hangers-on of Rush Limbaugh’s angry white man culture of hate, mistrust, and relentless pursuit of global environmental destruction.

“But wait, Scott,” you say, “we’ve worked so hard to get them to buy in, and now everyone’s paying attention to environmental issues.”  Phooey, I say.  It’s a ruse.  Let’s look at the facts.

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This column highlights the top economic stories of the week.

For a while it looked like Google might actually bailout the newspaper industry by buying a stake in newspapers that have been struggling with debt and declining ad revenues.  However, it appears that this plan ha been called off.

Meanwhile, the Treasury department has committed $ 7.5 billion in aid to GMAC, the auto lender that will use the aid to support financing to GM and Chrysler. But the questions remains as to whether this boost can actually translate to sales.

Speaking of automobiles, China is taking steps to clean up it reputation as the world’s biggest polluter by banning high emissions vehicles from entering Beijing’s inner city.

The other big news this week is that the much talked about Waxman-Markey climate change bill sets ambitious targets for curbing greenhouse gas emissions through a cap-and-trade system. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, told Bloomberg TV that the legislation is a “good compromise.”  But some critics say the proposal could actually encourage pollution. More about this here…

And Bloomberg put a positive spin on the economy this week, reporting that orders for durable goods and home sales probably rose in April as the recession has begun to weaken.

“Evidence that the 16-month recession is coming to an end continues to build,” said David Resler, chief economist at Nomura Securities International Inc. in New York. “Home sales and building activity seem to be stabilizing and manufacturing surveys point to smaller production cuts and smaller job losses.”

Has the government’s forceful intervention in the capital markets worked? Or have we simply heard this story before?
Tesla Motors will receive $465 million that will also advance electric vehicles. The first loan will finance a manufacturing facility for the Tesla Model S sedan. This vehicle demonstrates how the emerging electric car is becoming more affordable: the Model S is expected to be roughly $50,000 cheaper than Tesla’s first vehicle, the Roadster. The all-electric sedan consumes no gasoline and runs entirely on electricity from any conventional 120V or 220V outlet. It will get the equivalent of more than 250 miles per gallon, far exceeding the 32.7 mpg minimum efficiency required for large sedans. Production of the Model S will begin in 2011 and ramp up to 20,000 vehicles per year by the end of 2013. This integrated facility expects to create 1,000 jobs in Southern California.

The second part of the loan will support a facility to manufacture battery packs and electric drive trains to be used in Teslas and in vehicles built by other automakers, including the Smart For Two city car by Daimler. This project demonstrates how Tesla’s early technology will support electric projects at larger companies. Early pilot battery pack production will begin in 2011, reaching about 10,000 by 2012 and 30,000 packs in 2013. The new facility expects to employ 650 people in the Bay area of Northern California.

Full Press Release on Page 3:
Washington, DC – Today, the Obama Administration announced $8 billion in conditional loan commitments for the development of innovative, advanced vehicle technologies that will create thousands of green jobs while helping reduce the nation’s dangerous dependence on foreign oil.

The loan commitments announced today by the President include $465 million to Tesla Motors to manufacture electric drive trains and electric vehicles in California.

These are the first conditional loan commitments reached as part of the Department of Energy’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program. The Department plans to make additional loans under this program over the next several months to large and small auto manufacturers and parts suppliers up and down the production chain.

“We have an historic opportunity to help ensure that the next generation of fuel-efficient cars and trucks are made in America,” said President Obama. “These loans – and the additional support we will provide through the Section 136 program – will create good jobs and help the auto industry to meet and even exceed the tough fuel economy standards we’ve set, while helping us to regain our competitive edge in the world market.”

“By supporting key technologies and sound business plans, we can jumpstart the production of fuel efficient vehicles in America,” Energy Secretary Steven Chu said. “These investments will come back to our country many times over – by creating new jobs, reducing our dependence on oil, and reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.”

These commitments will help reduce the 140 billion gallons of gasoline Americans consume each year, lessening the nation’s dependence on the volatile world market for oil, and decreasing the cause of a fifth of the nation’s carbon emissions. The Obama Administration recently announced an agreement to raise passenger car fuel standards from 27.5 miles per gallon to a target of 35 miles per gallon (mpg) by 2016. While 35 mpg is ambitious, the Department of Energy’s auto loan program received more than a hundred applications for loans to help achieve greater fuel efficiency. The competition among advances in conventional engine technologies, next-generation biofuels, and transportation electrification holds the potential to increase US fuel efficiency dramatically over the next several years.

The Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program is an open and competitive process focusing on the best companies and best technologies in American manufacturing. First appropriated in the fall of 2008, the program will provide about $25 billion in loans to companies making cars and components in US factories that increase fuel economy at least 25 percent above 2005 fuel economy levels. The intense technical and financial review process is focused not on choosing a single technology over others, but is aimed at promoting multiple approaches for achieving a fuel efficient economy.

Applications for the loan program have included vehicles running on electricity, biofuels, and advanced combustion engines, and were submitted by both car and component makers, US automakers, US manufacturing subsidiaries of non-US-based companies, major US auto parts suppliers, and innovative startups.

Two Teslas caught in the wild  by Steve Jurvetson via creative commons license at flikr

Source: US Energy Department
Class: PRESS RELEASE

California regulators tonight approved the world’s first low-carbon fuel standard, a bold set of performance-based fuel rules that are being closely watched in more than a dozen other states and countries, as well as in Washington.

Many of the program’s details are still in flux, to be worked out by the Air Resources Board before the standard takes effect in 2012.

The goal was clear, though: achieve a 10 percent reduction in the carbon intensity of transportation fuels by 2020. Fully implemented, California’s LCFS is expected to cut those emissions by 15 million metric tons a year.

“The big picture is we want to incentivize the use of electricity for vehicles. … We want to incentivize innovation,” said Air Resources Board member Daniel Sperling.

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