Energizer Newsletter
January 13, 2009
Volume 2, Issue 4
Extension Clean Energy Outreach
by Leigh Fortson
Extension Regional Communications Coordinator and REA (Renewable Energy Advocate)
Clean Energy Review ‘08
Craig Cox, Executive Director of Interwest Energy Alliance, penned a comprehensive review of the progress we’ve made regarding clean energy in the past year. Here are some highlights: Over 190 new megawatts of wind energy came online throughout Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming in 2008, including Utah’s first utility-scale wind project, bringing the total wind capacity to 2,042 MW region-wide. Solar projects added over 15 MW to the West’s power grid in 2008, while a 24 MW biomass plant using wood waste products opened in Arizona.
Vestas Wind underscored its commitment to the U.S. market by opening a major new factory in Colorado – and announcing plans to build three more factories in the state in the next 18 months.
The extreme volatility of fossil fuel prices in 2008 provided a reminder that the “fuel” for power generation from wind and solar energy is free, locally available and inexhaustible. The national economic downturn provided a reminder that renewable energy projects create important new jobs in rural areas, and new manufacturing jobs in cities and towns throughout the region.
The year was marked by regulatory work in several states throughout the West. In Colorado, this work included implementation activities at the Public Utilities Commission on transmission-expansion legislation and lengthy work on Xcel Energy’s trailblazing Colorado energy resource plan. Xcel's plan calls for at least 1,000 MW of new solar and wind acquisitions by 2015 and closure of older, inefficient, coal plants to meet carbon-reduction goals.
The Western Governors’ Association launched an ambitious region-wide process to identify and quantify the West's renewable energy zones. Throughout the West, transmission planners looked at strengthening capacity, both for intrastate and interstate delivery, of electricity generated from the region’s wealth of renewable energy resources.
In state legislatures, Arizona, Colorado and Utah all passed tax-related legislation providing important long-term tax certainty for renewable energy projects, while Utah passed its first statewide renewable energy targets into law.
Diverse stakeholder groups worked collaboratively in many venues throughout the West, focusing on issues from protection of wildlife and native plants to renewable energy integration issues.
For more details on work throughout the West in 2008, visit IEA’s Activities and Accomplishments page.
25x25 and The Obama Impact: Who’s Involved?
25x25 gave a breakdown of who in President-Elect Obama’s Cabinet will have the greatest impact on clean energy issues. The bi-partisan group of professionals will head the departments cited after their name.
Steven Chu, Department of Energy. Chu is currently the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a Nobel Prize-winning physicist. Chu is a champion of second-generation biofuels and solar technologies, focusing the Berkeley lab's scientific resources on energy security and global climate change, in particular the production of new fuels and electricity from sunlight through non-food plant materials and artificial photosynthesis.
Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture. Vilsack is the former governor of Iowa and another champion of land-based renewable energy development. He is also the former chairman of the Governors' Biofuels Coalition that pushed for further development of cellulosic ethanol, in which products such as woodchips and switchgrass are used as feedstocks, and promoted wind energy as an alternative source of electricity.
Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State. New York’s Senator Clinton is a member of the Senate 
Committee on the Environment and Public Works and a co-sponsor of the 25x'25 resolution. She was a strong supporter of renewable energy provisions in the 2007 Energy Act. Her advocacy of measures that would stem climate change is expected to be carried into the international arena. Senator Clinton is expected to diversify energy supplies by investing in renewable energy technologies such as wind and solar, and her promotion of the environmentally responsible recovery of oil and gas resources. She also championed energy-efficiency in cars, homes, and offices.
Ray LaHood, Transportation Department. The Illinois lawmaker voted for legislation that would have eliminated tax breaks for oil and gas companies and diverted them to the development of renewable fuels. LaHood also voted for an amendment to the National Science Foundation funding bill that created a K-12 curriculum on global warming, climate change, and the actions people can take to lower greenhouse gas emissions. The six-term congressman Ray LaHood was recently honored for his work in promoting Illinois' 25x25 Renewable Energy Alliance.
Tom Daschle, Secretary of Health and Human Services. Former Senate Majority Leader Daschle was one of the first national political leaders to embrace the 25x'25 vision when the campaign was launched in 2006. He has long promoted the clean air benefits of renewable energy and is expected to tout the health advantages inherent to improved air quality as the Obama administration develops energy policies that reduce polluting emissions.
Ken Salazar, Interior Department. As a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, 
the second-term senator from Colorado says he "will do all I can to help reduce America's dangerous dependence on foreign oil…as we take the moon shot on energy independence. That energy imperative will create jobs here in America, protect our national security, and confront the dangers of global warming." Salazar also said he wants to help "build our clean energy economy, modernize our interstate electrical grid, and ensure that we are making wise use of our conventional natural resources, including coal, oil, and natural gas."
Hilda L. Solis, Labor Department. Her legislation authorizes up to $125 million to establish national and state job training programs to help address job shortages that are impairing growth in green industries, such as energy efficient buildings and construction, renewable electric power, energy efficient vehicles, and biofuels development.
Lisa Jackson, Environmental Protection Agency. The agency regulates the nation's renewable fuel standard which determines how much ethanol, biodiesel and eventually other biofuels get used each year. Her past experience includes management responsibilities at the EPA's regional office in New York; for enforcement programs at both EPA and DEP; and for New Jersey's Land Use Management Program. Jackson helped create the Northeastern states' Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and also served as vice president of the RGGI's executive board.
Carol M. Browner, Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change. Her position has been coined as "climate czar" and Obama says she will coordinate environmental, energy, climate and related matters for the federal government.
Nancy Sutley, White House Council on Environmental Quality. She has instituted a number of energy saving programs in Los Angeles where she currently serves as the Deputy Mayor for Energy and Environment. She has previously served as a gubernatorial energy advisor and the Deputy Secretary for Policy and Intergovernmental Relations within the California Environmental Protection Agency.
John P. Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. A Harvard professor of environmental policy, Holdren led major studies for the Clinton administration's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology on U.S. energy research and development strategy.
National 25x'25 Alliance leaders say stronger support for renewable energy within the incoming administration will help mobilize the 25x'25 base in 2009 and expand grassroots support for the policies needed to create a clean and green U.S. energy future.
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25x25 joined nearly 40 other agencies, associations and officials to write a letter to Congress asking that money be invested in creating more jobs and boosting the economy through invigorating the renewable energy industry. Here’s what the letter said:
| Dear Majority Leader Reid, Speaker Pelosi, Senator Durbin and Representative Hoyer: To help resuscitate our nation’s economy and create hundreds of thousands of well-paying jobs, we ask you to support strong funding for agriculture-based clean energy development programs in the economic recovery package. Our three-part recommendation includes the following: First, we recommend including at least $1.2 billion/year in mandatory supplemental appropriations for important Farm Bill Energy Title programs. In catalyzing the construction and operation of new clean energy facilities, the Farm Bill Energy Title programs are major job creators. For example, the Rural Energy for America Program already is funding new wind and solar power, biogas, bioenergy, geothermal and energy efficiency projects in nearly every state in the country. The Bioenergy Crop Assistance Program will accelerate dedicated energy crop plantings. A Biorefinery Assistance Program will help build new advanced biofuels production facilities, which require additional financing in a tight credit environment to break ground. Second, Congress should extend the federal Production Tax Credits (PTC) for renewable energy, cellulosic biofuels, and biomass for five years. Congress should change the structure of the PTC, solar and fuel cell investment tax credits (ITC) and accelerated depreciation related to renewable electricity production to make these provisions fully refundable; projects also should be able to utilize other financial incentives without a reduction in the amount of ITC and PTC that an entity can claim. Further, renewable tax credits generated in 2008 and 2009 should be permitted to carry back against tax liability over the past decade to the extent of new renewable investment in 2009. Congress also should create a level playing field for producers of renewable electricity by modifying the PTC so that all renewable energy sources of electricity will be eligible for the full credit. These improvements will improve industry’s access to capital, catalyze new project development, drive new job creation and increase the tax base for communities across the country. Third, we encourage you to extend and expand successful clean renewable energy and conservation bond programs which provide PTC-like incentives for electric cooperatives, public power, and municipalities to build new renewable energy facilities and invest in energy efficiency. Similar to the incentives available to local investors and others, these bond programs will create thousands of well-paying jobs and diversify our nation’s energy supply. In sum, these agriculture energy programs will generate billions of dollars in new economic activity across the country. They will provide new jobs in construction and plant maintenance and operation. They also will stimulate local ownership and infrastructure development, put people back to work and generate much-needed tax revenue to finance schools, roads and other public needs. Thank you for your consideration. |
Governor’s Energy Office Update (www.colorado.gov/energy)
The GEO's Energy $aving Partners (E$P) Program provides Colorado's low income households with a range of energy efficiency services, such as a free Home Energy Kit. The kit includes low cost energy efficient products and information to qualified households, while also reaching out to families that may qualify for additional services, such as a free E$P Home Energy Audit.
The Home Energy Kits are assembled by young adults employed by the Mile High Youth Corps (MHYC) in Denver. As an added benefit, these young adults are exposed to energy efficiency and conservation concepts that can be applied within their community.
To learn more about the GEO's E$P Program, visit the website above, and to learn more about the Mile High Youth Corps, visit www.milehighyouthcorps.org.
Shedding New Light on Solar Possibilities
In an article published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology News, solar energy is about to be available more than during sunlit days, and at a much more affordable rate than before. The article states that two MIT researchers, Daneil Nocera and Matther Kanan, were inspired by photosynthesis performed by plants and have developed an unprecedented process that will allow the sun's energy to be used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gases. Later, the oxygen and hydrogen may be recombined inside a fuel cell, creating carbon-free electricity to power your house or your electric car, day or night.
“Sunlight has the greatest potential of any power source to solve the world's energy problems,” said Nocera. “In one hour, enough sunlight strikes the Earth to provide the entire planet's energy needs for one year.”
James Barber, a leader in the study of photosynthesis called the discovery a "giant leap" toward generating clean, carbon-free energy on a massive scale. "This is a major discovery with enormous implications for the future prosperity of humankind," said Barber, a Professor of Biochemistry at Imperial College London. "The importance of their discovery cannot be overstated since it opens up the door for developing new technologies for energy production thus reducing our dependence for fossil fuels and addressing the global climate change problem."
Nocera hopes that within 10 years, homeowners will be able to power their homes in daylight through photovoltaic cells, while using excess solar energy to produce hydrogen and oxygen to power their own household fuel cell. Electricity-by-wire from a central source could be a thing of the past.
To read the entire article and understand the science behind this discovery, go to: web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/oxygen-0731.html
Learn about Financial Incentives
North Carolina State University has created a Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy (DSIRE). 
This resource is a comprehensive source of information on state, local, utility, and federal incentives that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency. The specific incentives in Colorado include grants, loans, rebates, tax assessments, tax exemptions and more. To learn more, go to: www.dsireusa.org/. Thanks to Jon Mugglestone, Gunnison County Extension assistant, for bringing this to light.
Solar Power on the Wild Side
The Colorado Department of Wildlife is taking advantage of the sun.
In southwest Colorado, two water aeration systems powered by photovoltaic panels are helping to keep trout alive at a reservoir. By using photovoltaic solar panels the DOW can deliver power to remote areas where electricity is unavailable or very expensive.
At Road Canyon Reservoir in eastern Hinsdale County, two aeration systems powered by photovoltaic panels were installed in mid-November. The reservoir is quite shallow and can become stagnant after water stops flowing into the impoundment in the fall. When oxygen runs low, the fish in the reservoir die.
The equipment and installation cost $80,800. A grant from the federal government totaled $57,000, and Mineral County matched it with $23,800.
The two floating solar-powered machines can move 10,000 gallons of water per minute, explained Brent Woodward, district wildlife manager in the Creede area.
The floating pumps, each powered by three photovoltaic panels, pull low-oxygen water from the bottom of the reservoir to mix with water at the surface that is high in oxygen. Each pump impacts an area of about 35 surface acres on the 160-acre reservoir. Because the water is pulled from the bottom there is no surface disturbance. The machines also are equipped with batteries that enable operations to continue for 72 hours without sunshine.
During winter, ice could form near the machines but it will be thin. Ice fishers are warned to stay well away from the floats. During the summer, boaters also are asked to stay at least 50 yards from the machines.
In three other remote areas in southwest Colorado where electricity is unavailable, solar-powered water pumps are pulling water from wells and helping with the effort to bolster the populations of Gunnison Sage-grouse.
On Bureau of Land Management property in western San Miguel County, the DOW is working in cooperation with a local rancher to provide water to desert bighorn sheep. After a windmill pump fell into disrepair, the DOW shared costs with the rancher to install a solar-powered pump at the location.
"These photovoltaic systems are very helpful and low cost," said Jim Garner, a wildlife conservation biologist from Montrose. "There's no way we could afford to get regular sources of electricity to these sites."
Building A Sustainable Home--Online
Solar Energy International is offering Building for the Future Online. This web based workshop provides the opportunity to learn about the principles behind designing and building residential structures that achieve optimal year-round comfort, reduce energy consumption, improve indoor air quality, and limit environmental impact. The emphasis is on integrated design using a whole-building approach, applying building science and integrating green design strategies into the environment. In addition to online curriculum, participants will receive The Building with Awareness video, the book Your Green Home by Alex Wilson, and industry related hand-outs, and numerous Internet resource links. A course glossary, extensive resource guide and case studies of successful sustainable homes are included online.
You can begin the program anytime, but should expect to spend 8-15 hours per week on the program. It officially begins February 23rd and ends April 5. For more information go to, www.solarenergy.org.
Upcoming Events
9th Annual Harvesting Clean Energy Conference
January 25-27, 2009, Billings, Montana
Even though this is promoted for those who live in the Northwest, we’re told that this is one of the best conferences going that teaches people about renewables. It is a gathering to advance rural economic development through clean energy production. Clean energy offers practical, profitable opportunities for our farmers, ranchers, rural utilities and towns, tribes, and regional economy. Harvesting Clean Energy is designed for Northwest farmers and agriculture leaders, tribes, rural utilities and economic development officials, lenders, elected officials and public agencies, as well as energy developers and consultants. For more, go to: www.harvestcleanenergy.org/conference/index.html
Platts 9th Annual Caribbean Energy Conference
January 29-30, 2009, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Sponsored by Solar Energy International
2nd Annual AEE Solar Dealer Conference
February 18-21, 2009, Mesa, Arizona.
Sponsored by solar Energy International www.solarenergy.org
Optimizing GSHP Systems: A commercial Design Course
February 24 – 26, Omaha, NE
Practical GeoExchange Solutions is hosting a ground source heat pump (GSHP) design course. The course will provide overviews and examples of real-world commercial projects, how these projects were approached, how to identify solutions and how to test these solutions using commercial loop design software. To learn more about the course, visit www.practicalgeo.com/workshops.html
Renewable Energy Technology Conference and Exhibition
February 25-27, Las Vegas, NV
25x25 is partnering with the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) to present this seminar
www.retech2009.com
National Renewable Energy Summit
March 31-April 2 Washington, DC
Sponsored by 25x25. The first day is a plenary session that focuses on the opportunities and challenges to producers in agriculture and the forestry industry to lower their emissions and carbon footprint. Subsequent days offer break out sessions covering a wide range of issues.
www.25x25.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
Renewable Energy for Educators (4-H Agents Take Note!!)
June 22 – 25, Carbondale, CO
Sponsored by Solar Energy International, educators attending this seminar will learn about the impacts that our energy use has on the planet and how to best teach youth about solutions: energy conservation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy technologies.
Each day will include a hands-on element that can be employed in the classroom. In addition, participants will walk away with practical knowledge that they can apply in their own lives. Integrating renewable energy education into youth development can provide an element of excitement for science education and hope for the future.
Teachers who teach any age group will benefit greatly from this special workshop. This workshop has been designed to meet the 5th-9th grade Colorado Science Standards.
Receive Two Extended Studies Credits through Mesa State College!!
The cost of the credits is included in the tuition for this workshop.
Each participant will receive:
- Access to SEI's renewable energy kits for use in the classroom
- Curriculum and lesson plans on renewable energy and energy issues
- A variety of teaching tools and materials to help engage students
- Experience creating hands-on projects that can be implemented in the classroom
To register for this course please call SEI - 970-963-8855. There is currently no on-line registration.
CSU Energy Website
To learn more about wind, solar, geothermal, and biofuels, visit our energy website at: www.ext.colostate.edu/energy.
Furthermore
Go to hes.lbl.gov/hes/db/zip.shtml and you can do an online calculation of your own energy use and carbon footprint. It’s easy to use. Tell your communities about it.
Send me anything that’s newsworthy that you’re doing in the world of clean energy and renewables. We need to keep our colleagues up to date on what’s going on in Extension and the value of our role!
Leigh Fortson
Extension Regional Communications Coordinator and REA (Renewable Energy Advocate)
Colorado State University Extension
2764 Compasss Drive, Suite 232
Grand Junction, CO 81506-8746
(970) 241-3346, FAX (970) 241-3643
leigh.Fortson@ColoState.EDU
