Obama 2013 Budget Seeks to Make Renewable Tax Credits Permanent

President Obama's 2013 budget has proposed business-tax reform including support for renewable energy. His reforms would make the temporary tax credits for renewable energy production permanent as well as making them refundable. The budget is part of the President's energy plan to double electricity output from clean sources by 2035.

Only Sustainable 2011: The Capital of Sustainable Energy for the Americas

Between November 7 and 9, Miami Dade College is hosting the Only Sustainable 2011 event. This is one of the most prestigious events on American sustainable energy. Over 40 expert speakers and senior representatives of the energy industry will discuss the latest sustainable energy trends. More than 400 professionals and companies are expected to attend from Spain, US and Latin America.

Even the Axis of Evil is Investing in Renewables

Every nation on earth is exploring green energy alternatives even pariah states. To prove the point, even North Korea and Iran, members of what former President Bush called the Axis of Evil are Developing Renewable Energy.

North Korea wants to increase their production of renewable energy. China has agreed to collaborate with North Korea in the sector of renewable energy. North Korean officials recently visited China to learn from China’s experience in the geothermal sector.

US Protests Against the Keystone XL Tar Sands Oil Pipeline

Canada wants to build a pipeline to transport tar sands oil from the province of Alberta all the way down to refineries in Texas. Earth friendly groups see the 1,700-mile long pipeline, known as the Keystone XL, as a disaster for the environment. According to Dr. Hansen who is one of America’s top climate scientists, the full exploitation of Canada’s tar sands would constitute a “game over” scenario for efforts to solve climate change.

Now that it has Canadian approval, the fate of the Keystone XL Pipeline is in the hands of President Obama. The President will decide on the fate of the pipeline as early as September. This decision will have dire implications for renewable energy production. The more access the US has to tar sands oil, the less it will turn to renewable sources of energy.

IPCC Report Indicates that Most of the World's Energy Needs Could be Met by Renewables

The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released a report which indicates that nearly 80 percent of global energy demand could be met by renewable sources of energy by 2050. On May 9, the IPCC released the Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation. The report compares 164 different scenarios and most of these scenarios project a substantial increase in the deployment of renewable energy. The report predicts that by 2050 wind power could supply more than a fifth of our energy and with the right technical advances solar power could provide one-third of our energy.

The report indicates that renewable energy can reduce greenhouse gases by 33 percent, contribute to sustainable economic growth, create jobs, and provide cheaper electricity to poor rural areas. The report suggests that we can become so energy efficient that the predicted population of 9 billion by 2050 could use less energy than 7 billion people on the planet today.

The IPCC report was prepared by 120 scientists and it is the most comprehensive high level review of renewable energy to date. The report predicts that the costs will fall considerably in the coming years due to technological advances. The report also predicts that enewable energy options will surge and account for a much larger percentage of the total energy usage.

“Most of the 164 scenarios showed renewable energies would rise to supply above 100 exajoules (EJ) a year by 2050, reaching 200-400 EJ a year in many scenarios. In 2008-2009, 140 GW of the 300 GW of new global electricity generating capacity came from renewables.

According to the report the six of the most promising renewable energy technologies include solar, wind, bioenergy, geothermal, and ocean. The fastest-growing technology is grid-connected solar electric power, which saw a 53% increase in installed capacity during 2009. However, the report suggests that solar photovoltaics will continue to be among the more expensive options for some years.

The biggest single source, accounting for about half of the global total, is the burning of wood for heat and cooking in developing countries.This is not always truly renewable, as new trees to replace the burned wood are not always planted.

To make renewable energy more competitive we need to get the costs down. The report also indicates that renewable energy would be "economically attractive" if the environmental costs of fossil fuel emissions were included in prices.

Unlike fossil fuels, the expansion in renewable energy is not limited by any notion of a finite supply.The report concludes there is more than enough to meet the world's current and future energy needs. The report says that almost half of current investment in electricity generation is going into renewables, but growth will depend on having the right policies in place.

The report indicates that we could cut in global greenhouse gas emissions of about one-third compared with business-as-usual projections by 2050. Currently, renewables supply 12.9% of the global energy supply.

"With consistent climate and energy policy support, renewable energy sources can contribute substantially to human well-being by sustainably supplying energy and stabilising the climate," said Professor Ottmar Edenhofer, co-chair of the IPCC working group that produced the report."However, the substantial increase of renewables is technically and politically very challenging," he added.

The IPCC report indicates that, “The projected expansion is likely to continue even without new measures to promote a shift from fossil fuels as part of a U.N.-led fight against climate change.” Governments have agreed to limit the global average temperature rise to 2C at the most. To achieve the reductions agreed to at UN climate talks in Cancun, at the end of 2010 governments must make use of renewable energy sources on a very large scale. To meet international climate targets, governments will need to advance ambitious national policies and strong international cooperation to stimulate renewable investment.

To achieve even more growth in renewables requires ambitious national policies and strong international co-operation. According to UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres, "It is also clear that ambitious national policies and strong international cooperation are together the key to the swift and extensive deployment of renewable energies in all countries."

"While the report concludes that the proportion of renewable energy will likely increase even without policies," the reports authors said in a press release, “past experience has shown the largest increases come with concerted policy efforts.”

The IPCC brought together the most relevant and best available information to provide the world with this scientific assessment of the potential of renewable energy sources to mitigate climate change. It concludes that, “The technical potential of renewable energy technologies exceeds the current global energy demand by a consider amount, globally, and in respect of most regions of the world.”

The report indicated that renewable energy could provide up to 77% of the world's power by 2050, but this is less than 3% of total potential (under the 164 scenarios reviewed). The report indicates that wind power alone is capable of supplying more than 100% of future demand, and solar power many times more.

Although not included in the IPCC report, the WWF’s new Energy Report details a road map for achieving 100% renewable energy by 2050. Leading the WWF to say that the IPCC report, “underestimates the potential of deploying renewable energy even faster, especially when combined with top level energy efficiency."

The IPCC report demonstrates that with the right governmental backing we could get almost 80 per cent of our energy from renewable energy sources by 2050. If we do not see government support the IPCC report also lays out a bleaker vision for the future. Under this scenario we could consume more energy by 2050, and only 15 percent of the world's energy needs would be met by renewable energy.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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High Oil Prices Stimulate Renewable Energy

Higher oil prices stimulate renewable energy. Renewable energy enables the world economies to grow sustainably, where our current reliance on fossil fuels is entirely unsustainable.

To stimulate renewable energy we must see what is known as supply shock. A supply shock is an event that suddenly changes the price of a commodity or service. In the case of oil this will be caused by a sudden decrease in the supply relative to demand. This sudden change affects the equilibrium price.

When oil approaches $200 per barrel we should get the shock and a stimulus effect on renewable energy. This will occur when the oil supply out paces demand by something like 10 percent.

Instability in the Middle East may very well be the catalyst that causes oil prices to go sharply higher, which in turn will create the shock that will stimulate renewable energy.

There are a great many unknowns, but renewable energy will be driven by how market demand reacts to higher oil prices.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Businesses Will Lead the Transition from Oil to Renewable Energy

In this video, Jonathan Koomey discusses the important role that business will play transitioning away from oil to renewable energy sources. While he sees a role for governments, he sees business and civil society as being crucial to this transition. He discusses the options available and concudes that there is a lot we can do. There will have to be big investments in new energy and new technologies. He concludes by saying, "if we are going to make this happen the transition will have to be led by business."

Koomey is co-author of "Winning the Oil Endgame" and author of many energy efficiency related books and articles. He led a group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) that developed energy efficiency recommendations for EPA & DOE.

His cutting-edge research for the International Project for Sustainable Energy Paths, Rocky Mountain Institute, and LBNL helped establish the feasibility and desirability of using renewable energy to reduce carbon emissions, decrease dependence on oil, and boost jobs in the US & Europe.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Sustainable Growth Excludes Fossil Fuels

Sustainable economic growth is utterly impossible as long as oil, coal and natural gas provide nearly 88 percent of the world's energy needs. According to EIA (the US Energy Information Administration), total world consumption of marketed energy will increase by 49 percent between 2007 to 2035. The International Energy Agency predicted that Chinese energy demand would soar 75 percent by 2035, accounting for more than a third of the growth in global consumption.

The most egregious source of energy is coal, in India, more than 50% of commercial energy demand is met with coal and according to 2008 statistics, coal accounts for 71 percent of China's energy mix. The US is not much better with 23 percent of its total energy demand being met with coal.

We simply cannot afford economic growth that is so reliant on dirty energy like coal. Although growth is a serious environmental threat, it could also be a valuable opportunity to radically expand the clean energy economy. New innovative applications of sustainable technologies can significantly reduce emissions and old inefficient technologies can be replaced with cleaner greener technologies.

Renewable energy is the great hope for the planet because it is sustainable energy, but renewable energy is not cost competitive cheap and abundant coal. Therefore, cost considerations alone will not drive the move away from coal.

The increasing price of oil and the uncertainty of the fossil fuel markets is something that business are increasingly considering and it is only a matter of time before we remove oil subsidies. However, until we see climate change energy legislation and regulation, business have an opportunity to show leadership by voluntarily replacing coal with renewable energy.

Economic growth that includes fossil fuels precludes the possibility of a living planet.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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New Types of Insurance Reduce Risk and Accelerate the Adoption of Green Energy

Insurance companies are finding that there is money to be made in green technology. In response to growing demand, new types of policies are emerging that provide protection for businesses involved in the green economy.

Some insurance companies are backstopping warranties on solar panels, or protecting against lulls in the wind needed to drive turbines. This is helpful to start-ups whose customers can rely on guaranteed performance. These types of policies can also help to make project financiers feel more secure. The number of companies offering warranty insurance policies is growing quickly, from only a few a year ago, to approximately 12 companies today.

Some property insurance rebuilds a structure in a more environmentally friendly and energy-efficient way in the event of loss. Other policies are geared to cover the activities of carbon traders.

Green policies support modernization by encouraging the development of new technology and enhancing innovation. The research conducted by the insurance companies who underwrite these policies helps the market to better understand itself. This information can prove helpful in very practical ways, for example some insurers are advising clients on issues like solar panel installation.

The green insurance industry can expect meteoric growth in the next five years, particularly as the government introduces green energy mandates.

These new policies respond to the needs of companies who are investing in green technology and looking for ways to shield themselves from risk. By assessing, quantifying and spreading risk, these policies have an important role to play accelerating the adoption of green energy.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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