“We view ourselves as a target-rich environment for doing a better job with taxpayer dollars and being good stewards of the environment,” said John McHugh, secretary of the Army during a call with the media today. “To meet our longer-term objectives…we have to do better.”

Courtesy Green Tech CNET News

Produced by AllEarth Renewables, the 382 AllSun Trackers were manufactured just four miles from the site of the solar farm, and make up the 2.2 MW farm in South Burlington.

The pole-mounted trackers use innovative GPS and wireless technology to actively follow the sun throughout the day, producing more than 40 percent more energy than fixed solar.

Using inverters on each tracker to boost energy performance, this project is the largest solar installation in North America to use such a configuration .

This info courtesy of Solar Energy News.  Read more here:

http://www.brighterenergy.org/25251/news/solar/iphone-puts-finishing-touch-to-vermonts-largest-solar-farm/

In the first quarter of 2011, renewable energy production in the United States surpassed nuclear production in overall quantity and percentage. Also, the percentage of natural gas is growing slowly, while coal is declining.

Entrenched energy industries like to say that renewable energy can never provide a significant amount of U.S. energy needs. And while it’s true that some technologies still face barriers to widespread implementation and others, while technically renewable, might not be very green, renewables as a percentage of U.S. energy generation are creeping up steadily — and not just in California, with its target of 33 percent renewables by 2020.

In the first three months of 2011, renewable energy — hydroelectric, geothermal, solar/PV, wind, and biomass — made up 11.7 percent of the U.S. energy production mix, surpassing nuclear at 11.1 percent. The same period last year, nuclear was 11.6 percent, and renewables 10.6, according to a June report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (Table 1.2).

“The rise in conventional hydroelectric generation was by far the largest absolute “fuel-specific” increase as it was up 10,759 thousand megawatthours, or 52.2 percent,” according to Electric Power Monthly. This was largely due to heavy spring rains in Washington, Oregon, and California, which accounted for 71.5 percent of the national rise.

However, environmentalists find objectionable the two biggest technologies that make up the renewables sector: hydroelectric power at 35 percent and biomass at 48 percent.

While large hydroelectric power doesn’t emit emissions (at least not after accounting for the materials and energy expended in building it), it has harmful impacts on river ecosystems and has therefore fallen out of favor as a power source in the developed world.

As for biomass, there are many types of feedstocks, and each much be evaluated individually for its emissions profile, it’s water footprint, and other considerations, such as whether farm fields or forests need that material to decompose in place to retain soil or ecosystem function.

Wind was next highest at 13 percent of renewables, or 1.5 percent of total U.S. energy production, up from 1.1 percent the same time last year.

This represents a 20.4 percent increase from March 2010, and the third-largest fuel-specific increase, according to the report. “Wyoming, California, and Illinois had the largest gains, but the increase was widespread,” it said.

Nearly one quarter of all venture capital in the U.S. right now goes into clean tech ventures, compared with less than 1% in 2000.  With that kind of investment, we can expect to see this market segment take off.  Now that’s progress! 

The solar photovoltaics market grew an average of 40% every year over the past decade, from 2.5 billion in 200o to $71.2 billion in 2010.  The average cost of installing solar has dropped by almost half.  The wind industry grew similarly, with an average of 30% growth per year from $4.5 billion to $60.5 billion last year. 

More than 1.4 million hybrid cars are on U.S. roads now, compared to less than 10,000 only ten years ago, and companies involved in green construction and the smart grid are proliferating, according to the report.  Thank you, Clean Edge, for the reminder that we are indeed making progress in this arena– and the head’s up that the momentum is building! 

Read more in the excellent LA Times article here:  http://tinyurl.com/4rb5t7p

President Barack Obama touted gains made by a Wisconsin renewable energy firm as the kind of innovation that will bolster the United States.

“I’m here because this business and others like it are showing us the way forward,” Obama said in the weekly address.

Obama said in the coming days he will highlight “innovators across America” who are relying on new technology to create jobs, and allow U.S. firms to beat competitors.

Read the full text from Reuters Green Business section here: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/01/29/us-obama-address-idUSTRE70S3H120110129

Now an independent foundation released a report stating that Texas’s renewable energy future could include almost 23,000 jobs a year and $2.7 billion in local and state tax revenues.  Could clean tech follow high tech and biotech as Texas giants?

The report, announced earlier this week at the State Capitol in Austin, is the work of the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation.  In sum, the study proposes the state could become a catalyst for the renewable energy industry, and envisions three scenarios:

• For an approximate $13 increase in residential energy bills, the state could gain a 20% growth in its renewable energy capacity, which in turn would create the best possible scenario, the presumed 22,900 additional clean energy jobs added annually.  State revenues would also reach the aforementioned $2.7 billion mark.  Many residents would probably balk at this—or would the “price of a postage stamp” daily argument work?
• In a baseline scenario, a statewide $4 utility bill increase would create about 6000 new jobs annually, and net a 15% percent increase in Texas’s renewable energy capacity.  Texas would also gain close to $1 billion in revenues, with the state and municipalities splitting that gain about 80-20%.
• If Texas stays the course, there would be some modest growth in job creation, economic growth and tax revenues, but nothing approaching the baseline or best-possible scenarios

Read the rest here:  http://tinyurl.com/2ubknlr 

Read the full article here: 

http://www.austinenergy.com/About%20Us/Newsroom/Press%20Releases/2010/solarSchools.htm

The factors that differentiate “green” construction derive from a new set of expectations relating to structures and their function. Green buildings aim to maximize efficiency in their use of water, energy and other resources, to minimize waste, pollution, or other contributions to environmental degradation, and to create environments that contribute to health and productivity.

The Green Jobs Guidebook (Environmental Defense Fund 2008), thought by many to be the definitive green jobs report to date, lists 41 job classifications directly related to green building. Among them: Green Building Project Design and Development; Green Building Design and Engineering; Green Building Operations; Energy Efficiency Services and Installation. Other green jobs that relate to construction include: Solar Power Installation; Maintenance, Development and Manufacturing; Wind Power Installation; Geothermal Operation and Development; Plant Environmental; Health and Safety Facility Positions; Environmental Consulting; Municipal Waste Treatment and Recycling.

In addition to new methods and materials, the culture of the green construction site can be different. According to Bill Stough, “maximizing energy efficiency and material efficiency so there is less waste being generated on a construction site – the waste that is generated on the construction site is reused to the maximum extent possible.” For example, deconstructing a building in preparation for new construction is another aspect of high performance building standards that requires special training. Recycling of building materials and debris left over from clearing the site earns points for green building certification through programs such as the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating system. In addition, secondary jobs are created in the marketing of the refuse – jobs for processing the material and making it ready for use in other, less valuable products, called “downcycling”