- President Bush Signs Energy Bill into Law; EPA Immeidately Uses New Legislation to Reject California's Clean Air Act Wavier Request
Posted December 19, 2007, 5:42 pm
President Bush signed the 2007 federal energy bill into law today. The new legislation will boost fuel economy standards for vehicles and increase renewable fuel production, but is actually a major step backward for the renewable electricity industry, particularly solar and wind. National Public Radio takes an in-depth look at the provisions of the new legislation, including an interview with Tom Carnahan (mp3), president of the Wind Capital Group. Mr. Carnahan discusses the likely impact of...
- House Passes Revised Energy Bill; President Bush Expected to Sign Wednesday
Posted December 18, 2007, 3:42 pm
The U.S. House approved a revised version of the federal energy bill today on a vote of 314-100. The legislation returned to the House for final approval last week after the Senate dropped key renewable energy provisions from the bill. President Bush is expected to sign the bill into law tomorrow. The AP has more.
- Senate Passes Energy Bill; Key Renewable Energy Provisions Axed
Posted December 14, 2007, 7:28 am
The U.S. Senate passed a watered-down version of the federal energy bill yesterday 86-8. Democratic leaders dropped key renewable energy provisions from the legislation after a cloture vote failed by one vote. That move leaves federal support for the renewable energy industry in limbo. The vast majority of federal renewable energy tax credits where last renewed in 2006, and are due to expire at the end of 2008. The House version of the bill originally included an extension of important credits,...
- One Vote Short; Senate Fails to Proceed With Federal Energy Bill
Posted December 13, 2007, 7:50 am
The Hill is reporting that the Senate vote to proceed with the energy bill fell short by one vote, 59-40. According to the article, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid plans to strip out the renewable energy tax package and try to pass the remainder of the bill this afternoon. CNN also has a report on the vote.
- U.S. Renewable Energy Use to Double by 2030
Posted December 13, 2007, 7:36 am
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its annual long-term U.S. energy forecast yesterday (large pdf). The EIA's new analysis anticipates that renewable energy use will double by 2030. According to the Annual Energy Outlook 2008 Report: The use of renewable technologies for electricity generation is stimulated by improved technology, higher fossil fuel prices, and extension of the tax credits in EPACT2005. The reference case also includes State RPS programs where the legislation...
- Senate Energy Bill Showdown Expected Tomorrow
Posted December 12, 2007, 6:40 am
According to reports, Senate Democrats plan to press ahead this week with an energy bill that maintains a substantial renewable energy tax package. Democratic leaders have dropped plans for a 15% renewable energy portfolio standard, but believe that they can pass a revised version of the bill which still includes portions of the $21 billion renewable energy tax package passed by the House last week. The original House version of the bill stalled in the Senate on Friday when it failed to gain...
- Federal Energy Bill Stalls In Senate
Posted December 7, 2007, 11:36 am
The Hill reports: The Senate Friday voted against taking up the energy bill approved by the House earlier this week, making it likely that some provisions in the House bill will have to be stripped in order for Congress to complete a final energy package. In a 53 to 42 vote, the Senate rejected a motion by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to invoke cloture on the House energy bill, which could have led to a vote on the package itself. Immediately after the vote several senators rose to say...
- U.S. House Approves 2007 Federal Energy Bill; Senate Cloture Vote Expected Saturday
Posted December 6, 2007, 1:08 pm
The U.S. House of Representatives has approved the energy bill (H.R. 6) on a vote of 235-181. The AP reports: The House approved the first increase in federal automobile fuel efficiency requirements in three decades Thursday as part of an energy bill that also repeals billions of dollars oil company tax breaks and encourages use of renewable fuels. The bill, passed by a vote of 235-181, faces a certain filibuster in the Senate and a veto threat from the White House. Democrats characterized the...
- House Floor Debate on Energy Bill
Posted December 5, 2007, 7:27 pm
The House is currently debating the new version of the energy bill (H.R. 6). Check out CSPAN for live coverage of the debate. Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the bill "will be a shot heard round the world for energy independence for our country." Renewable Energy Access has a good article on the current bill by Scott Sklar, of the Stella Group, Ltd. A summary of the current legislation is available on Speaker Pelosi's website.
- House Dems Push for RPS and Renewable Energy Tax Package; Energy Bill Showdown Expected in Senate; Veto Looms
Posted December 5, 2007, 8:56 am
It's time to install wind turbines in the halls of Congress; you could power several thousand homes with the hot air blowing out of Washington this week on the federal energy bill, and things are only starting to heat-up. Just when it looked like the House had abandoned plans for a federal renewable portfolio standard (RPS) and an important renewable energy tax package, Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that both measures will be included in the final bill. According to the AP: House Speaker Nancy...
- Federal Energy Bill Negotiations Continue; Fate of Renewable Energy Provisions Uncertain
Posted November 29, 2007, 5:05 am
The Wall Street Journal reported late last week that chances for a comprehensive federal energy bill are improving (subscription required). Congressional negotiations over the compromise legislation continue, with renewed interest in federal fuel economy standards sparked by rising oil prices. According to the WSJ report: "lawmakers are moving toward adopting separate fuel-economy standards for cars and sport-utility vehicles as part of an accelerated effort to get a sweeping energy bill passed...
- Google's New Goal: Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal
Posted November 28, 2007, 4:04 am
The Washington Post reports on Google's new renewable energy R&D efforts: Google Inc (GOOG.O) said on Tuesday it plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to help drive down the cost of electricity made from renewable energy below the price of coal. The project, dubbed Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal, is hiring dozens of engineers and targeting investment financing at advanced solar thermal power, wind power, enhanced geothermal systems and other new technologies, Google said. The...
- Federal Energy Bill in Legislative Limbo
Posted November 14, 2007, 7:29 am
The New York Times editorial this morning asks: Where's That Energy Bill? Two months ago, Washington was filled with hope that Congress would produce an energy bill that would begin to address the two great challenges of oil dependency and climate change. Each chamber had approved respectable if incomplete measures that could be combined in one outstanding bill. Then the bills disappeared into the back rooms as Democratic leaders tried to negotiate a final product. These talks have now reached...
- Stage Set for Conference Committee Negotiations on Federal Energy Legislation
Posted October 5, 2007, 7:30 am
Congressional staffers have started preliminary talks in an effort to reconcile the separate energy bills passed by the House and Senate this summer. The discussions set the stage for conference committee negotiations later this fall, with the goal of producing a final federal energy bill before the end of the year. Both the House and Senate passed competing versions of energy legislation earlier this summer. The Senate bill, H.R. 6, was passed on June 21, 2007. the House bill, H.R. 3221, was...
- DOE Announces Final Rule for Advanced Energy Technology Loan Guarantee Program
Posted October 5, 2007, 4:32 am
The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced yesterday that is has published final rules for the Advanced Energy Technology loan guarantee program authorized by Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct). The loan guarantee program is designed to stimulate investment in and development of clean energy technologies. DOE has requested congressional approval for authority to issue $9B in loan guarantees in FY2008. In conjunction with the publication of the program's new rules, DOE also...
- House Committee on Energy Publishes White Paper on Climate Change Legislation Policy Options
Posted October 3, 2007, 3:32 pm
The House Committee on Energy has released the first of several planned white papers on potential climate change legislation. The Committee's first white paper provides background information on the potential scope of a national carbon cap-and-trade program. Future white papers will address "a number of other cap-and-trade design elements and additional topics, including: cap levels and timetables, measures for containing costs in a cap-and-trade program, carbon sequestration, offsets and...
- Wired Magazine on the Future of Cellulosic Ethanol
Posted October 2, 2007, 8:24 am
This month's cover story in Wired magazine focuses the growing cellulosic ethanol industry. The article provides a nice background on the basic chemistry of producing ethanol from plant cellulose and looks at the technical challenges facing the industry. While the chemistry of converting cellulose to ethanol is conceptually simple, the cost of the process is still too high to support production at an industrial scale. The article highlights three companies working on innovations that may lead...
- Climate Week: Review of U.S. State Department & U.N. Climate Change Meetings
Posted October 1, 2007, 11:42 am
On E&E TV today Eileen Claussen of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change discusses last week's dueling climate change meetings, one hosted by the U.S. State Department and the other by the U.N.
- Wind Energy On Demand? A Closer Look at Compressed Air Energy Storage
Posted September 30, 2007, 10:40 am
David Marcus, of General Compression, discusses the benefits of compressed air energy storage systems (CAES) over at Renewable Energy Access.com. The technology is designed to store wind energy by using electricity generated during periods of high wind speeds and low electricity demand to pressurize air in storage tanks. When electricity demand increases the compressed air can be used to generate power even if the wind isn't blowing. General Compression hopes to market a "wind energy on demand"...
- Second Year
Posted September 21, 2007, 9:43 am by John
Second year, oh second year how tame I thought you'd be, New faces, new places how new it was to me. Class anxiety, Socratic fear feelings that haunted my days, Now only to start again the beginning of a new phase. Stress levels rise, deadlines approach the end is far from sight, Cornell and I, together at last scream - I just might. Second year, oh second year how tame I thought you'd be, Same faces, same places it's all the same to me. :x John