More Companies Discover The Economic Wisdom Of Energy Efficiency

Good investments are hard to find in this economy. Housing prices are falling. Spiking oil prices send shock waves through the stock market. Some experts worry about the safety of municipal bonds. It is tough all over.

But one investment is almost a sure bet. It's not a standard investment, such as a mutual fund. And you don't earn money as much as you save money. But the result is the same: more money in your bank account.

What is this sure-fire investment? It is energy efficiency.

Minimum investment can lead to maximum returns. According to this report, every $1 investment in energy efficiency leads to a savings of $4. The consulting firm of McKinsey & Company reports that energy-efficiency programs could save $600 billion by 2020.

Some companies are reaping large returns from energy-retrofit projects. AT&T saved $44 million in 2009, Dow Chemical is investing $100 million in efficiency measures and News Corp has saved a bundle.

More on those efforts is available here, here and here.

The owners of the Empire State Building and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill also are believers . There is a reason why federal energy officials call efficiency the low-hanging fruit of clean energy.

But, like many investments, there are upfront costs and other barriers to entry.

It has been an uphill slog in many ways. Some politicians propose deep cuts to efficiency programs, PACE programs (which would provide a financing mechanism for property owners to finance energy upgrades) were all but curtailed and budgets are in disarray.

But a potential $600 billion in savings awaits. And a strong energy-efficiency program could have a significant impact in places such as the San Joaquin Valley of Central California. In Fresno, where I live, my summertime power bill can exceed $500, and is my second-largest expense behind my mortgage.

Incomes here are low. The unemployment rate exceeds Appalachia figures. We have some of

worst concentrated poverty in the nation. Lower power bills would enrich residents, provide jobs and potentially stimulate the economy.

Photo of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill by earthfirst.com

Hidden costs of fossil fuels amplify case for clean energy

Hidden costs lurk everywhere.

Buy a car on credit and pay double the sticker price. Same with a house. For instance, adjustable mortgages and balloon payments contributed mightily to the real estate meltdown. And taxes take a big bite. Just ask any small businessperson.

Maybe that's why we Americans like our energy costs low, or at least relatively.

But there are hidden costs there, too. Harvard Medical School's Center for Health and the Global Environment released a study in February that pegged the estimated hidden yearly cost of coal-generated electricity at a high of $538 billion, or an additional 18 cents per kilowatt hour. Peswiki.com listed the commercial cost of coal power at 4.8 to 5.5 cents per kWh.

For some perspective, solar costs between 15 to 30 cents per kWh and wind 4 to 6 cents.

"Coal carries a heavy burden," the "Mining Coal, Mounting Costs" report said. The Harvard study factored in health costs (11,000 deaths annually from lung cancer, heart, respiratory and kidney disease) and environmental impacts of fly ash spills (53 from 1974 to 2008) and mountaintop removal (500 removed and 1.4 million acres transformed).

The beauty of coal is that it's cheap, relatively simple to extract with today's technologies and domestic. There also is quite a lot of it. However, as the study points out, digging it up and burning it to create electricity does have drawbacks, at least with current practices. Addressing those would add to the price substantially and any increased regulations generally are opposed by the industry.

Natural gas performs better emissions wise and is easy on the pocketbook at 3.9 to 4.4 cents per kWh. Domestic reserves are expected to skyrocket as well with newly refined fracturing drilling techniques.

Oil on the other hand has its own troubles. As of this writing, oil per barrel prices had surpassed $105 and the one-year forecast had risen to $121, according to oil-price.net. And as the growing conflict in Libya illustrates, crude oil brings with it a high political cost.

Conflict between Libyan strongman Moammar Qadhafi and eastern separatists have caused California gas prices at the pump to climb 50 cents per gallon in the past month, according to californiagasprices.com. The development has politicians concerned it could derail the shaky economic recovery and consumers grumbling. Should commodities traders remain nervous and prices high, the cost of everything from food to services will climb.

For instance, I heard on National Public Radio that several airlines have already raised rates half a dozen times this year due to increasing fuel costs.

But this is a relatively transparent cost, outlined daily by major media outlets. The less visible but no less costly is what Gal Luft, executive director of Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, calls the "terrorist premium." In the report, "Oil and the New Economic Order," Luft says that premium costs the United States $65 billion to $85 billion a year.

Oil internationally receives a litany of subsidies from countries that shield consumers from up to three-quarters the cost of the fuel. As I wrote in a past post, the International Energy Agency in a report released this past summer says its analysis revealed that fossil fuel consumption subsidies amounted to $557 billion in 2008. This also elevates cost.

Green energy, by comparison, gets a pittance in subsidies. London-based research group Bloomberg New Energy Finance says, "governments last year gave $43 billion to $46 billion of support to renewable energy." This came by way of tax credits, guaranteed electricity prices known as feed-in tariffs and alternative energy credits. Germany is a leader in this groups with its solar feed-in tariff, but that may be decreased.

And making this debate continually interesting are advances improving the efficiency of solar power. Technologies concentrating the suns rays and various methods of creating power storage are elevating the ability of the renewable to compete.

I love the "battery" concept that uses a silo filled with water and a massive counter weight that pushes out the water to generate power when the sun sets or wind stops. The underground silo is filled with water by energy generated from the solar or wind system.

And more traditional battery technology is making massive strides. I tweeted recently about the lithium-water battery. No kidding. It may work.

So who knows how this will develop? Obviously, my nonprofit is biased. We'd like to see the San Joaquin Valley take off as a leader in all things renewable, generating spin-off businesses and inspiring entrepreneurs to make sense of all this harvestable energy surrounding us. And create some jobs in the process.

The Greening of California Farms

California farmers just keep getting greener.

Growers, packers and shippers - and dozens of those dot the bountiful San Joaquin Valley of Central California - are increasingly discovering advantages to renewable energy, predominately solar.

This Packer story notes that three more farming enterprises - Live Oak Farms of LeGrand, DeBenedetto Orchards of Chowchilla and Henry Mesple Farms of Fresno - are installing solar systems to help power packing and cold-storage operations, headquarters and water pumps.

These projects are more evidence that California farmers, who already lead the nation in renewable energy, are serious about cutting their carbon footprints and their energy bills.

Consider this quote to The Packer by Bob Giampaoli, managing partner of Live Oak Farms: "Sustainability has been a priority for Live Oak Farms since our first harvest."

It also makes sense economically. Water pumps and other farm-related uses accounted for 13% and 11% respectively of the energy consumed in Fresno and Kern counties in 2009, according to figures we've cited.

Renewable energy, particularly solar, makes sense in the San Joaquin Valley in other ways too. We have lots of sun, ample land for solar arrays, lots of flat roofs for rooftop systems, access to the transmission grid and sky high power bills.

Photo by visitsunworks.wordpress

Algae biofuel develops momentum; could we see $30 bbl fuel?

Algae keeps nosing around clean energy news.

It doesn't have the sunny cache of solar or the exotic qualities of wind, tidal and geothermal power. But the rapidity of algae fuel's reported advances are hard to ignore. At least for this former reporter.

In my backyard at the University of California, Merced, researchers received a grant to "perform a comprehensive life cycle analysis study of algae biofuels." The money, a modest $142,747, is part of about $3.5 million issued by the California Energy Commission's Public Interest Energy Research program.

Algae takes a back seat in the grant to other projects that include improving grid reliability, energy efficiency and automobile fuel economy. But, hey, it's algae. Pond scum. This is the stuff that may be grown in wastewater settling ponds, harvested and turned into diesel fuel. Or food additives, you never know.

But the important thing is algae wasn't left out. It's not cold fusion. This stuff shows true promise as an alternative energy source.

CEC Commissioner Jeffrey Byron put it this way in a statement from the agency: "California's strength comes from the ability to invest in energy research across the board."

No kidding. And this pond scum just may keep oil prices from breaking the bank. Cambridge, Mass.-based Joule Unlimited announced that it has created a "cynobacterium" that secrete a product identical to ethanol or diesel fuel, according to Joule biologist Dan Robertson, quoted in dailytech.com.

This breakthrough, the company says, could enable the production of 15,000 gallons of diesel per acre annually. The company says it can do it for $30 a barrel.

That has yet to be proved commercially, of course. But developments are coming hot and heavy across the globe. Biodigest.com rattled off a handful of promising developments in Australia, topping off the list with serious production efforts by Aurora Algae and Algae.Tec.

And Oilgae.com/blog/, an aggregator of stories, lists multiple posts daily. One that caught my eye highlighted a peer review of the draft report “Biofuels and the Environment: First Triennial Report to Congress,” scheduled by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The report will give Congress a taste of what's coming.

Expect pond scum to do more than lurk in a puddle on the floor with lobbyists during discussion.

I do like to include practical applications in these rants. Nothing epitomizes that more than the biofuel-powered Bentley Continental Supersports convertible, reportedly capable of more than 200 mph. The vehicle debuted this week at the Geneva Auto Show in Switzerland. Ami Cholia of inhabitat.com writes: "an on-board fuel supply system monitors the content of the fuel tank to make sure that power and torque remain constant regardless of the ratio of petrol to biofuel."

Pretty cool. So it can handle anything you throw at it and still go fast. We put fuel oil in a bug once and it ran. Barely. We had to clean the plugs, but it got us out of a jam.

The Bentley, I assume, would be better.

Biofuels still must prove themselves. Ethanol, even as an additive, has gotten mixed reviews. For instance, the lawnmower mechanic in Old Town Clovis told me if I kept using that "cheap garbage gas" I'd continue to have problems with my mower's carburetor. Her gripe? Ethanol. It gets gummy and nasty if allowed to sit too long. (Hint: use stabilizer.)

UC Merced plans to analyze emerging algae biofuels technology and provide feedback on the rather interesting concept of extracting fuel that doesn't require much land, water or tending. And pond scum grows rapidly in any kind of water. The leftover material, after oil extraction, could be used for fertilizer.

"We will consider the efficient use of residual algae biomass as an energy rich waste stream and new harvesting techniques that could improve the sustainability of the overall process," wrote J. Elliott Campbell and Gerardo Diaz of UC Merced and Joseph M. Norbeck of University of California, Riverside.

As I read over their proposal, I determined that the process of extracting and refining sounds far above my paygrade. But as I was scanning through one of the many algae related websites, I found this do-it-yourself book: "Making Algae Biodiesel at Home" (Making-Biodiesel-Books.com, $99.99). It says it can, among other things, show the home brewer how to build an 80-gallon algae photobioreactor "for less than $215."

Somehow it doesn't sound as promising as my once prolific beer-brewing efforts in Anchorage before I was married. But who knows? The practice may catch on.

All you need is a biofuel Bentley.

More California Farmers Embracing Renewable Energy

As major users of energy, America's farms are natural candidates for renewable-energy efforts. That is especially true here in the San Joaquin Valley, where farming is a $20 billion per- year enterprise, temperatures hit triple digits, power bills are sky high and air pollution ranks among the worst in the nation.

As it turns out, farmers, especially in California, have made substantial gains in the use of alternative-energy sources. With about 25% of all facilities, California led the nation in 2009 with 1,956 farms and ranches producing renewable energy, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Solar dominated, with 1,906 California farmers using photovoltaic and thermal solar panels. The majority of those - more than 64,000 panels - were installed since 2005. Wind energy was used on 134 farms in California, while methane digesters were installed and used on 14 properties.

Solar power also has blossomed on farms nationally over the last four years. Prior to 2000, only 18,881 solar panels were on farms and ranches. Between 2005 and 2009, more than 108,000 panels were installed.

"Farmers and ranchers are increasingly adopting renewable-energy practices on their operations, and reaping the important economic and environmental benefits," said U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

Farmers in nearly every state reported savings on their energy bill. The survey also noted that subsidies and other sources helped finance some of the installation cost. In California, about 41% of the average $79,000 cost of installing solar came from outside sources.

All this makes me wonder what the future holds. Technological advances, such as this small-scale biomass project with ultra-low emissions suitable for urban areas, are coming fast, and the price of solar continues to fall. Some people predict parity is just around the corner. Possibly in 2012.

And one has to wonder if increasing oil prices, and the increasing realization from military and Big Business that green is good, will spur more energy-saving and renewable efforts among California farmers and corporations.

Farmers in the San Joaquin Valley have adopted some cool renewable projects - such as this grape grower in Delano - and I'm betting more are on the horizon.

photo by cleantechnia.com

Pacific Gas and Electric To Hook Up More Solar

Pacific Gas & Electric has released more information regarding three large solar farms that it plans to build in Solar Valley, oops, I mean the San Joaquin Valley. It turns out the solar arrays will be built near Five Points and Helm, according to this story in The Fresno Bee.

The projects will generated a combined 50 megawatts of electricity, which PG&E says is enough to power 15,000 homes, and is the first big push by the utility to own and operate facilities, according to Tim Sheehan's story in The Bee.

We here at the San Joaquin Valley Clean Energy Organization believe that the region from Stockton to the Grapevine is an ideal spot for solar energy. We have ample sun, access to the power grid and lots of former farmland that is no longer productive - and flat.

Mike Jones of PG&E agrees. Sheehan quotes the power-generation manager as saying this, "The Central Valley holds tremendous potential as a source of clean energy for California."

And it comes at an opportune time. The solar sites will provide about 500,000 hours of paid work when the unemployment rate in Fresno County is about 17%. It also comes when utility companies are encouraged to increase their amount of green power to 33% by 2020.

The PG&E plants follow a similar one by Southern California Edison in Porterville. Budgets are an issue of course, but California has shown its willingness to embrace solar and other renewables. Maybe this is just a precursor of what could come.

New State Program Could Help Families Become More Energy Efficient

I live in your basic suburban tract house near Fresno. Fourteen hundred square feet with four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a backyard pool. It was built in 1993.

Two dogs. One cat. One wife. Kid in college. But our monthly electricity bill during the summer, when Fresno fries under triple-digit temps, has been known to exceed $600. We like it cool, but not that cool.

I'm thinking an 18-year-old air conditioner could be part of the problem. Experts say that every jump in SEER rating equates to 7.5% increase in savings. So, going from a SEER 10, for example, to a new SEER 15 could potentially cut my power bills 45% .

And that's where a new California state program could benefit me, and others in a similar situation. The Energy Upgrade California plan launched this week by the Energy Commission provides up to $4,000 in rebates to homeowners who make energy-efficiency upgrades.

Using the program's Web portal, property owners can enter their zip code or county name to learn about available upgrade programs, rebates, financing options and participating contractors available to them.

Initially, the program will be available for single-family homes and multi-family properties of up to four units. Later in 2011, the program will expand to multi-family properties of five or more units. In fall 2011, the program will be expanded to include commercial properties.

Upgrades are available in two rebate packages: the Basic Upgrade Package and the Advanced Upgrade Package. The Basic Package consists of seven required elements designed to improve energy efficiency by approximately 10%, and includes a fixed rebate of $1,000. The Advanced Package is customized for the property owner, with rebates based on the energy savings achieved between 15-40 percent, with rebates ranging from $1,250 to more than $4,000, depending upon the utility provider and energy savings.

Here is a San Jose Mercury News story on the program, plus links to the CEC press release and to the Energy Upgrade California Web site.

photo by remodeling.hw.net

REXPO VII Gives Green Tint To Stockton

I lived in Stockton for a few years in the late 1980s. My wife and I were newly married, and she was a features reporter for The Stockton Record. I really like the community. It is ideally located, in my opinion. It's close to the San Francisco Bay area, a short drive from the state capital and relatively close to some big-time skiing.

It is in some ways a leader in the green movement, but we moved away before the Greater Stockton Chamber of Commerce created REXPO, an annual conference that highlights sustainability and environmental stewardship. This year's event, REXPO VII, is from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 9 at the Hilton Stockton, 2323 Grand Canal Blvd.

Panel discussions and exhibits are highlights. This year's panels are on clean energy collaboration for businesses, education and government; bottom line benefits of being a leader in climate change; and grant programs and financing.

Panelists include Paul Johnson, executive director of the San Joaquin Valley Clean Energy Organization in Fresno; Sam Geil of Geil Enterprises; Joseph Oldham of the city of Fresno; and Seyed Sadredin of the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District.

Panama Bartholomy, deputy director of the California Energy Commission, is the luncheon speaker.

Here is more on the event from The Stockton Record.

image from centralstockton.news10.net

From Solar To Landfills, The Military Leads The Way To Energy Independence

As politicians in Washington do their partisan dance around clean energy, the military is moving full speed ahead. The Department of Defense recognizes that renewable energy reduces our dependency upon foreign oil, saves American lives and cuts costs.

As this item in Clean Technica states, the military is embracing all things renewable - even generating energy from landfills. At Fort Benning, GA, for example, two new power stations will convert landfill gas to electricity.

Even better, this technology is mobile. The so-called Powerstation can be redeployed on relatively short notice. Like solar backpacks, it is another example of the military's increasing energy independence.

Here, the Department of Defense outlines its platform on renewable energy, and its quest to reduce the role of oil. To further establish its point, the Department of Defense has aligned with the Department of Energy to "strengthen national security" through continued development of clean-energy technology.

Here is a quote from a press release announcing the partnership between the two federal agencies:

"Advances in innovation are helping to solve our military challenges, protect our troops, and enhance our national security. At the same time, these efforts have the potential to yield spin-off technologies with both military and civilian applications that will help create jobs in the U.S. and speed America's transition to a clean energy economy," said Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman. "Our joint efforts in everything from advanced vehicles to energy storage to grid security are protecting our men and women in uniform, promoting America's economic prosperity, and improving our environment."

The military has installed solar panels to help power a base in Nevada, planted cool roofs in Texas, and is interested in portable wind power when possible. The military equates its efforts to national security, saying its reliance on fossil fuel leaves the nation vulnerable to hostile nations. There is more in this report from a military advisory board.

About $20 billion of its budget goes toward energy, and every $10 increase in the per-barrel price of oil costs the department an additional $1.3 billion. With incentive to change and a can-do innovative nature, the military is uniquely positioned to lead the charge toward a future of renewable energy.

Utility To Operate Big Solar Farm Near Fresno

In the same week that Southern California Edison flipped the switch on its new 5 million watt solar project near Porterville, it was announced that a neighboring utility will build three solar plants near Fresno.

The three projects, which are part of Pacific Gas and Electric's commitment to increase solar power over the next five years, will generate a total of 50 megawatts of electricity - enough for thousands of houses.

Solon Corp will start constructing a 160-acre solar plant in April for PG&E somewhere "in the vicinity of Fresno," Solon officials said in this press release. At 15 megawatts, it could supply power for up to 15,000 homes when finished in October.

The system will be a cluster concept with fixed-tilt mounting, and will feature remote control and monitoring.

Not to be outdone, Cupertino Electric Inc. of San Francisco will build a 15 megawatt and a 20-megawatt plant for PG&E, also near Fresno, according to the Central Valley Business Times.

The proposed arrays are more examples of the San Joaquin Valley's emerging solar-energy industry. With vast expanses of open and flat land, easy access to the power grid and ample sun, the region from Stockton to the base of the Grapevine could be the new "Solar Valley," according to officials at University of California, Merced, which conducts solar research.

The San Joaquin Valley is one of the largest agriculture regions in the world. Many observers think think solar could be an additional cash crop on marginal or poor farmland.

photo by ecofriendlymag.com

The Power Of Energy Efficiency

We here at the San Joaquin Valley Clean Energy Organization realize that, when it comes to energy efficiency, minimum investment can reap maximum returns. It has been proven time after time after time that plugging up holes, upgrading lights and making relatively simple and inexpensive changes can yield big-time savings.

U.S. energy officials have even altered their favorite line of "energy-efficiency is the low-hanging fruit" to this: "energy-efficiency is fruit on the ground."

Here's a story that chronicles the case of a Southern California homeowner who installed solar panels - but found that energy conservation and efficiency were the sweet parts. http://www.scpr.org/news/2011/02/24/ee-solar/

Southern California Edison Turns On Solar In Porterville

A ground-mounted Southern California Edison solar project in the San Joaquin Valley - and one of the largest utility-owned sites in the state - is to be activated today. The impressive display of 29,400 panels is on 32 acres of city land adjacent to the Porterville Municipal Airport.

The panels will generate enough power for 4,300 houses, according to this Fresno Business Journal story from October. Talks of the project first arose as an inquiry more than a year ago and a lease was signed last summer. Here's an earlier story from the Porterville Recorder.

The installation is one of several owned by Edison in California. The panels are mounted and placed at a 25 degree tilt, optimum for this specific location. The utility paid the $18 million cost of the project, which is tied into a nearby distribution circuit.

Photo by edison.com

Could Solar Parity Lead To Solar Valley?

One of the biggest complaints against solar power has been that it can't survive without subsidies. Critics may have to soon come up with a new argument, a noted futurist says, because costs are coming down quickly as technological advances accelerate.

Ray Kurzweil told grist, an environmental online magazine, "The costs are coming down rapidly - we are only a few years away from parity. And then it's going to keep coming down, and people will be gravitating towards solar, even if they don't care at all about the environment, because of the economics."

Not everyone agrees. Brian Merchant of Treehugger argues that the powerful lobbying and political forces behind so-called "dirty fuel" won't let solar take hold anytime soon. "Relying on technology alone isn't likely to get us there," he says.

All this talk raises possibilities in the minds of myself and Mike Nemeth, my colleague, at the San Joaquin Valley Clean Energy Organization, which is dedicated to promoting energy-efficiency and renewable power in the resource-rich California interior.

Our office is in Fresno. Just a few miles away is some of the most productive farmland in the world. Agriculture here is a $20 billion industry, and it consumes a lot of power.

Plus, it gets hot here, as in I-can't-touch-the-steering wheel-of-my-car hot. Summer temperatures often are in triple digits, and residential and commercial power bills soar. A friend of mine once joked, "Is my power bill supposed to contain a comma?" As fuel prices climb, more people are thinking solar.

A solar boom could transform this region. The San Joaquin Valley could lead the nation in renewable energy, as well as agriculture. Farmers could, as this story in Agweek states, create a whole new cash crop.

The Valley has thousands of acres of former farmland sitting fallow. That land, which is laser flat and environmentally safe, is ideal for solar farms. A big transmission line extends down the west side of the Valley, and acres of warehouse rooftops in Fresno and Tulare counties are ideal candidates for rooftop solar systems.

There's a reason why University of California, Merced, which is conducting groundbreaking research in solar power, has dubbed the 240 or so miles from Stockton to the Grapevine "Solar Valley."

Job-order contracting may be what's for dinner

Job-order contracting was developed to give governments a simpler option to bidding out every routine repair, replacement and maintenance job.

The concept offers up a single contractor to provide services over a period of time. Costs on future jobs would be kept low because they're based on bid prices for similar work, almost like industry-accepted parameters an auto mechanic uses to charge for labor. If his book says seven hours to swap a transmission or truck bed, that's what he or she uses.

Same thing with the job-order contractor. And in this case, the argument goes, the JOC would be able to keep costs low on even small jobs because the larger scope of the job over time.

Job-order contracting was designed in the 1980s by the military "as a way to overcome problems with the traditional design bid build method," according to a fact sheet by Arizona State University and the Alliance for Construction Excellence.

Interesting. At least it appears so. California Courts has approved about a dozen JOC companies for services in the statewide court system, and other organizations across the state are doing the same. The California Court services were bid, as is the acceptable practice.

I'm working on a similar proposal for work at 26 jurisdictions. But mine is a little different. This is for one-time work, energy efficiency retrofits, and it's relatively small potatoes as these things go. In addition, my nonprofit, the San Joaquin Valley Clean Energy Organization, is offering companies only the opportunity to be recommended to cities.

The jurisdictions I represent have money through the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program for replacing lights, pump motors and air conditioning units. This money comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, also known as federal stimulus.

But the money's not very stimulating until it can be spent. We've worked nearly a year on administrative duties meeting myriad government regulations specific to our unusual circumstances and are just now getting ready to start work. Most of the cities and counties in our partnership would like to have had this work completed already.

And time is running out. We are able to use this method of contracting because of that time crunch since it is advertised to speed things up. ARRA funds must be spent in the next 12 months or be lost.

It is up to each or our individual jurisdictions whether to use the job-order contracting option. Otherwise we bid out the work through conventional means. That's a time-consuming process and likely will be tough on small cities not expecting to have to go through the process.

I just gave an update to a city I'm working with, saying: "Every city will have to bid out the work. However, I'm trying my best to come with an alternative that has to do with job-order contracting and indefinite quantity construction contracts. It's a fancy way of saying a jurisdiction chooses to go with a pre-selected contractor using a 'price book' of already low bid pricing. We're bidding out the opportunity for the SJVCEO to recommend a company or process for this, and I'll keep you posted."

I'm no expert. I like to use the disclaimer that I spent 23 years working for newspapers, researching topics that were published daily. I've dug into this topic with my usual zeal and spoken with multiple people across the country. What I've discovered sounds like a promising prospect for time-strapped governments.

We'll see how it goes.

California's Central Valley is a Petri dish for clean energy

A Fresno patent attorney wanted to know the most pressing legal needs of clean energy companies in the San Joaquin Valley.

Her emailed question made me think. The industry remains in its infancy but likely won't dawdle in Huggies for long, especially if petroleum prices continue upward as analysts suggest. Oil-price.net still lists $99 barrel on its one-year forecast, and pump prices continue to climb.

In my response to this attorney, I included concerns of solar, energy efficiency and biomass industries.

"Land use is a big deal," I wrote. "I have heard that because of increased difficulties getting federal land secured, solar companies are moving to get private land deals. So far those are with municipalities and small solar operations, teaming them with wastewater sites (big electrical users) in hinter-ish lands."

I also mentioned potential interest by Westlands farmers looking for a new source of revenue for farmland due to restrictions on irrigation water. Hundreds of acres of parched and dead grape fields and orchards greet passers by in this incredibly fertile sun-drenched valley.

My co-worker Sandy Nax, who was also my compatriot on the now mothballed Fresno Bee business desk, says the Central Valley is a veritable Petri dish for clean energy with its abundant sun, wind in the Sierra foothills, methane rich dairy waste and bio-plant-rich farmland.

Should a series of studies prove correct -- that clean energy will produce scads of jobs nationwide and in California -- I believe a large role will be played by those bitten by the powerful American entrepreneurial spirit. I told the patent attorney to keep an eye on start-ups, especially those related to water and biomass.

For instance, the more than $800,000 fine levied on two biomass plants in Merced and Madera counties by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently will likely worry folks in that industry. The Fresno Bee's Mark Grossi called it "one of the state's largest air-pollution fines in recent history."

Biomass defines the process of burning woody material and ag waste to generate electricity. Emissions are a part of that as they are for biogas from methane.

Another sector worth a look, perhaps from an attorney's perspective, is construction. Net-zero homes, the passive house movement and others will likely become dominant features of the new home market. A part of that is retrofits, something we're quite familiar with at the San Joaquin Valley Clean Energy Organization.

The practice of auditing buildings and upgrading systems that show inefficiencies is gaining converts and consumer interest. Some big players are starting to do this elsewhere. For instance, the Empire State Building is now a model of efficiency after a massive overhaul.

I was talking about the status of the clean energy movement with Valley hydrogen power expert Gene Johnson, and he said the best bet for change is talking up the subject to our young people. "Education is the key to this whole thing," he said.

I convinced him to be one of the potential speakers in a program we're working on with Valley high schools and colleges to prepare students for clean energy and entrepreneurial opportunities. Gene is one of those amazing people who can inspire people after 5 minutes in his presence. For example, he decided he wanted a hydrogen powered car so converted a glossy yellow Chevy SSR to run on the clean burning fuel.

Gene's pretty optimistic about the future of clean energy. "Once people see food and gas prices going up ... they'll realize self-sufficiency is the best way to deal with it," he said. Gene's definition of self-sufficiency is pretty global and refers to the United States being able to produce all its own energy, from multiple sources.

Sandy and I keep up with news, and on the subject of clean energy and energy efficiency it looks pretty good. Our hope is that this industry takes off in the next couple of years. That may be optimistic, but things are definitely happening.

The jolt of federal stimulus money money didn't hurt. But it's limited. In fact, we're working on a couple of stimulus grants that sunset in the next 12 months. So we are biased -- a bit.

We were heartened by a post on grist.org by Bracken Hendricks and Jorge Madrid with the Center for American Progress in which they called "clean energy technology one of the fastest-growing sectors of the global economy and it is projected to grow to $2.3 trillion by 2020."

They also said American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the official name of stimulus money) sustained the nation's fledgling clean energy industry when it was struggling due to the economy and global competition.

Nice to hear. I put a comment on their post saying as much.

A Green Thumb On America's Rooftops

Have you ever looked closely at a map of California? Fresno and Tulare counties are almost dead center.

That is significant for one very good reason. A central location means companies that truck merchandise can reach the bulk of the state's 37 million or so residents in one day. That's why Best Buy, Gap, Walmart, Sears and other heavy hitters have massive distribution centers in the region.

And those warehouses have expansive roofs. Hundreds of thousands of square feet could generate power through rooftop solar, or they could cut energy costs and water runoff by going green - literally.

Borrowing a concept popular in Europe, green roofs - complete with sod and plants - are being planted in New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, Portland and other American cities, according to this fascinating story in environment 360 by Bruce Stutz. The vegetation requires little upkeep, and helps lower power bills and water runoff.

As evidence, Stutz cites a U.S. Postal Service distribution center in Manhattan that has cut storm water runoff into the city's municipal water system by up to 75% during the summer and 40% in the winter. The green roof has also has cut the building's energy use by $30,000 per year.

Chicago has really embraced the concept. That city added 600,000 square feet of green roof last year, and has 600 projects planned. However, Illinois was also the site of an interesting structural collapse when a portion of a green roof fell in. According to this New York Times story, ice could have prevented meltwater from draining.

Portland has a program for residential and commercial properties. “It was a cost/benefit evaluation,” city storm water specialist Tom Liptan told Stutz. “The issue here was storm water. We were trying to find a way to reduce the burden on the city. If we trap it on the roofs, we don’t have to build bigger pipes to carry it or cisterns to store it for treatment.”

Climate and environment help dictate the type of plants to be used, and their effectiveness. Researchers at Colorado State University tested a variety of species and came up with recommendations. Here is a link to their findings, and links here, here and here to studies of regions with Mediterranean and desert climates.

Energy and water conservation in California are becoming bigger issues, particularly in light of stories like this. Maybe making rooftops do double duty would help.

Photo of green roof of U.S. Postal Service building

New Web Site Provides Resources For Teachers Of Renewable Energy & Job Seekers

My outfit, the San Joaquin Valley Clean Energy Organization in Fresno, is dedicated to fostering the development of renewable power and energy-efficiency projects in a 240-mile resource-rich region in the heart of California.

The Valley has abundant sun, and thousands of acres of flat former farm land ideally suited for large-scale solar facilities. The Tehachapi wind farm is just off its southern tip, and energy companies here have ready access to the transmission grid and to the human and academic resources of nearby universities such as UC Merced, Fresno State University and Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.

Dead center in California and sandwiched between three major metropolitan areas, the San Joaquin Valley is positioned to play a prominent role in the emerging green-energy movement. We are helping that along.

The SJVCEO has unveiled an online resource for teachers, students and job seekers as its part of a larger Employment Development Department grant. The Web site contains lesson plans for high school teachers, links to help-wanted sites and green employers, reports and white papers and other information.

The site is still a work in progress, and will expand as we find more stuff to post. If you have any suggestions or recommendations for the site, please pass them along.

Photo by fastcompany.com

Universities Find Green Funds Save Them Some Serious Green

Budget cuts. Furloughs. Higher fees. Universities and colleges across the country are facing uncertain financial futures. Increased energy efficiency would cut power bills and reduce costs, but finding a way to finance those improvements is difficult when budgets are in such disarray.

That's where Green Revolving Funds come into play. The funds pay for improvements and then the cost savings from those improvements are plowed back into the funds to pay for more energy-saving programs.

At least 52 colleges in the United States and Canada have a total of $66 million in Green Fund investments, according to a study by the Sustainable Endowments Institute. The average fund is $1.4 million, but range all over the map. College of Wooster in Ohio has the smallest fund at $5,000 and Harvard (of course) has the largest at $12 million.

At least three colleges in California have them: California Institute of Technology; Stanford University; and California State University, Monterey Bay.

The funds are used to finance upgrades that cut energy bills or their carbon footprint. Many of the retrofits are fairly basic - replacing shower heads and lights - but have yielded some impressive results. Once again, it has been shown that minimal investments can reap big rewards. Consider Iowa State University: It paid $3,039 to implement energy-savings devices on 500 computers and saved a projected $49,000. The payback period: 23 days.

Oberlin College replaced 30 shower heads and got a one-year payback. Converting a tractor to run on vegetable oil led to a payback of one to two years for Oberlin. Swarthmore College replaced T-12 light bulbs with more efficient ones - and garnered a two-year payback.

Western Michigan University funded 101 projects, reported an average payback of 2.1 years and a return on investment of 47%. "Since 1996, our total project costs are approximately $5.85 million per year and our annual cost savings are approximately $2.75 million...By focusing on overall operational cost reduction - as opposed to funding projects on a simple one-time basis - we have made great strides," the university reported.

Harvard reported a return on investment of 30%. It invested $16 million in upgrades and received an annual savings of $4.8 million. Not only is Harvard getting paid back in a little over three years, but it has reduced its its annual carbon footprint by some 14,100 metric tons.

Weber State University set a goal of $1 million in annual energy savings by 2015. In 2010, the university was already at $440,000. Even to non-math majors like myself, those kinds of investments make sense.

But how do you create a Green Revolving Fund? The colleges surveyed used a variety of methods; some dipped into the administration budget to provide seed money. Others used student fees, utility company rebates, foundations and donations and endowments.

As we know schools of all kinds face tight budget restrictions, but the study predicts more Green funds will be formed as a way to provide a secure investment with promising returns - while helping the environment at the same time.

Photo of Cal State Monterey Bay by stateuniversity.com

Support For PACE Programs, Consumer Study Shows

California and 15 other states were just starting to roll out Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs to help homeowners finance energy-efficiency modifications and reduce power bills when concerns from a federal housing agency essentially stopped them in their tracks last year.

But a a new survey shows many homeowners support PACE-type programs, and would consider adding an assessment to their property taxes to make their houses more energy efficient.

About 42% of 1,000 people surveyed by Pike Research said they were "extremely" or "very" interested in using a PACE program. Of those, 63% said they would install a tankless water heater or solar panels. More than 50% said they would install a more efficient air conditioner or boost insulation.

Not surprisingly, the homeowners who supported PACE programs generally have power bills exceeding $200 per month. They also tended to adopt new technology early.

More than half of the homeowners who said they were "somewhat" or not interested in participating in a PACE program said they did not want any more financial liability. An additional 30% said they didn't understand the PACE concept.

PACE programs require little or no upfront costs and have repayment periods of 15 to 20 years. If the property is sold, the payments are transferred to the new owner. Such programs were gaining favor in 2010 when the Federal Housing Finance Agency, worried because the PACE assessment would be repaid before a mortgage loan in a default, expressed concerns about the program.

Those concerns froze many PACE programs because Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which are regulated by the FHFA, guarantee more than 50 percent of all home loans in the United States.

There is momentum to revive PACE programs. Some states and cities have filed lawsuits. Others have adopted PACE programs for commercial property only, or are tweaking the original PACE concept.

Officials at Pike Research, which analyzes clean-technology markets, said the findings "illustrate a clear market" for PACE programs. They suggested the programs could be a boon for makers of water heaters, air conditioners, solar companies and other manufacturers of green products.

Researchers also noted that more homeowners would likely be pick up the PACE when the economy shows signs of recovering. "As the global economy slowly recovers and the appeal of energy-efficiency improvements grow, availability of attractive financing will be a key component to the market's development," Pike researchers said.

Even the Sub-Mariner can't stop the rising sea

Back during the Golden Age of comics, Bill Everett in 1939 conceived of the under-sea superhero Namor, the Sub-Mariner, as a scourge against evil.

His target, initially, was the Nazis.

"He is a rare hybrid endowed with great strength, power over the undersea world, the ability to breathe both in and out of water, and the gift of flight," writes blogger and Sub-Mariner expert J. Chivian at chivian.com. "He fought valiantly with the Allies in both the Atlantic and Pacific during World War II. He has been King of Atlantis."

Namor left the comic scene in 1955 but returned in the 1960s, or Silver Age as it's known to fans. But this time around, he was furious not with the Axis powers but with earth-dwellers in general for fouling his oceans with leaky barrels of nuclear waste and assorted garbage and for exterminating sea life with nets and pollution.

He's likely less pleased today (although I stopped buying the Marvel books in the early 1980s and know nothing of his present-day adventures). A two-page release issued this week by the California Energy Commission's Public Interest Energy Research Program said that rising sea levels will have significant impacts, causing coastal flooding and erosion.

"Melting of the land-based ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica, as well as the thermal expansion of warming seawater, has contributed to a rise of global sea level at an average rate of approximately 3 millimeters per year from 1993 to 2010," the release said.

The release describes a research project coordinated through the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences. The council is assembling a committee of experts that will seek answers to four goals: determining potential sea level rise in 2030, 2050 and 2100 "along with the uncertainty associated with these values"; providing local data for ocean winds, el niño effects, storm frequency and others; recommending planning guidelines for local governments; and conduct case studies to help governments plan ahead.

The project is to be the first California-specific assessment for sea-level rise and likely will be controversial. And why not? Nobody wants to hear that coastal land faces threats to erosion.

After the 1964 Alaska Earthquake, Kodiak Island sunk an estimated four feet. On tiny Raspberry Island where my family's processing plant was based, high tide subsequently washed over the top of the dock, rendering the whole operation useless. The Seldovia plant was destroyed as well.

Just the personal losses were immense, and that's just a single story. Imagine hundreds of thousands and millions of lives and businesses affected. The project undertaken by the council may be California specific, but the issue has world-wide implications.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson said in testimony before the House Energy and Commerce's Subcommittee on Energy and Power recently that the threat of climate change (and thus stuff like melting polar caps) is real. She said the EPA found in 2009 that man-made greenhouse gas emissions threaten the health and welfare of the American people.

"EPA is not alone in reaching that conclusion," she said in an appearance meant to oppose legislation that would block a move by President Obama to beef up The Clean Air Act. "The National Academy of Sciences has stated that there is a strong, credible body of evidence, based on multiple lines of research, documenting that the climate is changing and that the changes are caused in large part by human activities."

Jackson went on to say that 18 of the nation's "leading scientific societies have written that multiple lines of evidence show humans are changing the climate ... and that ongoing climate change will have broad impacts on society, including the global economy and the environment."

Assertions to the contrary, she essentially said, are full of malarkey.

Sub-Mariner would not be pleased.

Janet Ritz, editor of the-environmentalist.org, put some perspective on the coming changes in a piece for the Huffington Post. "The new climate reality will force everyone, no matter what their belief about climate change, to live in an unstable climate," she said.

Ritz outlined studies that foretell the disappearance of species, longer winters, harsher droughts and "where floods happen so fast they defy forecast and correctly earn what used to be the hyperbole of 'biblical.'"

She didn't say anything about Namor's wrath. I can imagine Smilin' Stan Lee crafting devastating drama with our undersea friend saving the day but not the war. Our hero, in one of Lee's episodes, would walk back into the ocean wondering, "What have they done?"

Sun, wind & geothermal get federal boost

The U.S. government has unleashed a relative torrent of measures -- but a relatively modest amount of cash -- to accelerate President Obama's clean energy objectives.

And because they involve wind, sun and geothermal, it's almost as if the god of thunder, also known as The Mighty Thor, son of Odin, played a role. The connection, I admit, is a little obscure, but Marvel just ran the first of the ads for its live-action movie on the wielder of the mystic Mjolnir during the Super Bowl.

The genesis of all this hubbub is the President's goal of generating 80 percent of the nation's electricity from clean energy sources by 2035.

The U.S. Department of Energy wants to bring solar prices down to about 6 cents per kilowatt-hour with its "SunShot" initiative. It has a long way to go. Solarbuzz.com reports that the high solar condition industrial industry index is 16.59 cents per kWh.

DOE's plan is to help reduce the cost for utility-scale installations by about 75 percent to about $1 a watt.

I can hear Thor say, "By the bristling beard of Odin," right about now. (Although I'm a closet comic buff, I got the phrase from Jared at blogintomystery.com.)

"America is in a world race to produce cost-effective, quality photovoltaics," said Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, in a statement. "These efforts will boost our economic competitiveness, rebuild our manufacturing industry and help reach the President's goal of doubling our clean energy in the next 25 years."

U.S. outlay: $27 million for "projects to support the development, commercialization, and manufacturing of advanced solar energy technologies."

Offshore wind received the coordinated might of the U.S. Department of Interior and DOE to "support offshore wind energy deployment and several high priority wind energy areas in the mid-Atlantic that will spur rapid, responsible development of this abundant renewable resource."

Wind remains a big departure from the old-style turn-it-on-and-let-it-run practices of years past in electricity production. Wind turbines are getting bigger and have to be in often remote areas where the wind blows, generating sporadic energy. Transmission lines have to be upgraded or new ones built. And back-ups into the existing grid have to be built to accommodate power spikes as more wind power comes on line.

In the Boulder, Colo.-based Pike Research report "Electricity Transmission Infrastructure," out last year, officials wrote: "In order to reap the full benefits of renewable energy and smart grid technologies, the capacity and information-carrying ability of transmission systems must be increased substantially."

No easy task.

So Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Energy Secretary Chu announced what they dubbed "major steps forward."

"This initiative will spur the type of innovation that will help us create new jobs, build a clean energy future, and compete and win in the technologies of the 21st century," Salazar said.

He also said the government is working to synchronize research and development initiatives with "more efficient, forward-thinking planning."

U.S. commitment: up to $50.5 million in project funding.

The final naturally occurring energy targeted (at least in this round) is geothermal.

The DOE wants to test the reliability and efficiency of geothermal power generation at oil and gas fields to determine the low-temperature technologies. Work will be done at the Rocky Mountain Oilfield Testing Center near Casper, Wyo. to reduce costs.

DOE's Geothermal Technologies Program is currently paying for 17 projects with a capacity of 3 gigawatts, or enough to power 2.4 million homes by 2020, officials say.

One of the sites, Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 3 near Midwest, Wyo., produces oil and 45,000 barrels of 190-degree water per day from one formation and 28,000 barrels of 210-degree water per day from another. Initially discarded, heat is now extracted from the water and used to operate a 250-kilowatt generator.

Obama said we're going to have to go after and develop cost-efficient ways of extracting energy from all forms of alternative energy. And this pushes the needle forward.

I'd add that we'll have to do it more efficiently and with better regulation. And as my friend in the Texas oil patch says, "Don't forget oil." We will need the stuff and the assistance of the energy companies that produce it to improve our air and national security through domestic ingenuity.

And as for Thor? He'd be all for it. Just be careful of his brother the Evil Loki.

Photo: Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 3 waste water discharge courtesy montaraventures.com.

Cal State Bakersfield Using More Sun Power

California State University, Bakersfield, is the latest campus in the state to use a parking structure to generate power. Officials fired up a 1.2 megawatt system Wednesday.

The $9.5 million system will produce enough electricity to power more than 3,100 houses, or about 30% of the college's annual needs, according to this story in The Bakersfield Californian. The solar-system is affixed to a parking canopy.

Increasingly, universities and other entities are having parking structures do double-duty as power generators. Fresno State partnered with Chevron Energy in 2007 to build covered parking with a solar roof to generate about 20% of its annual power supply.

California colleges, in particular, are embracing solar energy. Butte College in Northern California and West Hills Community College District in the San Joaquin Valley near Coalinga are among the first in the state to use renewable sources to cover all their power needs.

As this blog states, it makes sense for campuses to use renewable power in this era of cost cutting and tight budgets. If they are spending less money for energy, they have more left for textbooks, professors and can keep fees down.

Tulare Project A Showcase For Renewable Energy

When it comes to on-site energy generation, the city of Tulare is in some pretty heady company.

The community of 60,000 people uses biogas and fuel cells, and is installing solar power to help power its wastewater treatment plant. The ambitious clean-energy program, described in this case-study analysis, netted the city a 16th-place ranking on the Environmental Protection Agency's national list of top 20 producers of on-site power. That follows an award from the California Sustainability Alliance last year.

With 9.5 million kilowatts of annual generation coming from green power, this city in the resource-rich San Joaquin Valley ranked ahead of supermarket chain Safeway and just behind Macy's stores in California and Hawaii. And those production figures are likely to increase when city officials finish installing the fourth fuel cell and grant-funded solar plant.

About 38% of the electricity used to power the wastewater treatment plant comes from on-site green sources. The completion of the solar system (partially financed with Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants) and additional fuel cell will boost on-site green power usage even more - probably enough to push it up to 13th on the list - just behind Kohl's Department Store, said Lewis Nelson, city public works director.

Nelson says fuel cells are well suited for wastewater treatment plants. In 2010, Tulare was expected to save about $570,000 with the system.

The city's investment after a $4 million incentive was $3 million, which means it could recoup its costs within five years.

Tulare is the largest governmental user of electricity in Tulare County, much larger even than Visalia which has twice the population. "That is because we have seven large cheese plants in Tulare and a separate industrial wastewater treatment plant for that high-strength wastewater," Nelson says.

The city's new industrial treatment plant, with a capacity of 12 million gallons per day, is tied with one in South Carolina for the largest in the nation, he says. It is the fourth-largest in the world.

Tulare is the only San Joaquin Valley city on a list that includes San Diego (No. 2 with 69 million kilowatts of green power generated from biogas, small hydro and solar), San Jose (No. 6 and biogas), San Francisco (No. 9 with biogas and solar) and Portland (No. 10 with an impressive mixture of biogas, small hydro, solar and wind).

The largest on-site green-power generator is Kimberly-Clark, which produces a whopping 176.5 million kilowatts through biomass. The U.S. Air Force (biogas, solar and wind), Walmart in California and Texas and a BMW manufacturing plant in South Carolina round out the top five.

Reedley College Plans Green Summit

Healthy living, new developments in construction and alternative energy are just some of the topics that will be covered at Reedley College's annual Green Summit. The event will be from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 14 in the student union and quad.

This will be Reedley College's third summit. The goal is an opportunity for the community to experience sustainable living through a variety of sources. Eco films, sustainable-living workshops and green exhibitors and demonstrations are planned.

Past events featured demonstrations from various departments on campus. The automotive department has run emissions tests on vehicles; chemistry students discussed alternative fuels; and the Green Club offered recycling solutions.

This year, organizers are looking for presenters, exhibitors and vendors. People and businesses interested in showcasing their products can reserve table space for a $25 refundable deposit. Information, reservations: Linda Launer, Reedley College, 995 N. Reed Ave., Reedley, Ca. 93654, 559-638-3641 ext, 3471, or linda.launer@reedleycollege.edu.

San Joaquin Valley Gets Nod In Proposed Legislation

The San Joaquin Valley gets a prominent mention in proposed legislation to expand the green-energy economy in California.

The four-pronged Clean Energy Jobs Initiative calls for a 33% renewable-energy portfolio standard, funding for a new version of the popular but ill-fated PACE program, enhanced grants for skills training and reduces red tape for clean-energy projects in the San Joaquin Valley.

The legislation introduced by Assembly Speaker John A. Perez (D-Los Angeles) and Senate President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) is another attempt to expand the state's renewable-energy platform, and responds to President Obama's national agenda, the authors said.

The act expands previous legislation that accelerates siting of renewable solar-energy plants to include wind and geothermal projects, but the San Joaquin Valley gets a shout-out in a component of the bill sponsored by Coachella Democrat V. Manuel Perez.

That component requires the California Department of Fish and Game to prepare a regional plan for renewable-energy development in the Valley, and makes $7 million available to Valley counties to facilitate alternative energy.

The Valley, because of robust amounts of sun, potential sources of biofuel, lots of fallow former farmland, access to the grid and its proximity to the state's major population centers, is considered a potential leader of green energy.

The proposed bill also would direct $8 million annually from the California Energy Commission to help finance 90 high school level green academies that target at-risk students. The schools would have to partner with a business or industry in the clean technology or renewable-energy sectors to provide matching funds for the grants.

In addition, the legislation proposes the creation of a Clean Energy Reserve as an alternative to Property Assessed Clean Energy program, which the Federal Housing Finance Agency opposes because of a perceived default risk.

The Reserve would use $50 million previously designated for PACE programs, and would be used to create a reserve or other credit opportunities for certain lenders. Unlike PACE, lenders, not borrowers, would apply for the credit enhancements, according to this Solar Industry Magazine story, and finance energy-efficiency improvements.

"I believe this is a strong package that will help California immeasurably," Assemblyman John A. Perez said. "Green manufacturing has the potential to create millions of jobs in the coming decades. Those jobs are going to be created somewhere and they must be created here in California."

Green power purchases trend upward

Last year I used no green power. Not a single kilowatt from a solar panel, biogas plant, wind turbine or hydropower operation.

So what, right?

That might be changing. No, I'm not putting solar on my roof. Too expensive. I've done the standard home efficiency upgrades -- insulation, windows, doors, new 95 percent efficient furnace. But that's another story.

Regular consumers like myself may soon be taking a cue from companies like Intel Corp., Kohl's Department Stores, Whole Foods Market and Starbucks and buying green power. The four companies are ranked as the best performers on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Top 50 list of green power purchasers.

No. 1 Intel, which retained its top spot from last year, has purchased a phenomenal 2.5 billion kilowatt hours of green power for 88 percent of its energy needs. The sources for this power were biomass, geothermal, small hydro, solar and wind.

No. 2 Kohl's has purchased 1.4 billion kWh of biomass, small hydro, solar and wind for all -- that's right, 100 percent -- of its energy needs.

Starbucks made a big jump over the past year to the No. 4 spot. Last year, it was No. 16. Whole Foods moved up a notch to No. 3, pushing out January 2010's third-place finisher PepsiCo. PepsiCo dropped off the list.

Usually green energy is purchased by paying extra for energy from wind power, hydro or solar. Those power purchases can be through utilities, brokers that specialize in green power or green power producers themselves. These purchases can be a little speculative as all energy is equal once it hits the grid, but the concept is sound.

Some green power users are self generators. The top three on the EPA list all include on-site generation.
"Generating our own green power in combination with purchased green power helps us to lessen our environmental footprint and become more sustainable," said Fisk Johnson, SC Johnson Chairman and CEO, in a statement. "As a fifth generation family company, it is part of our DNA. We are committed to doing what's right for our consumers, communities and our planet. Supporting clean sources of energy is a 'win-win' for everyone."

SC Johnson, the privately held maker of products like Windex and Glade, produced 25.5 million kWh of its own electricity, or 13 percent of its total, through biogas. The company built its first landfill-gas cogeneration turbine in Racine, Wis. to provide power for its largest factory, which is 2.2 million square feet.

EPA's on-site producers list is topped by Kimberly-Clark Corp., which produces 176.5 million kWh through biomass. No. 2 on the list is the City of San Diego, which produces 69 million kWh through solar, biogas and hydropower.

An interesting on-site listing is No. 18 Zotos International, which derived 60 percent of its power, the highest percentage among the Top 20, for 6.5 million kWh through two on-site wind turbines. Zotos, based in Darien, Conn., makes hair care products and wants to boost green power purchases to 100 percent of consumption by 2012.

Said Anthony Perdigao, Zotos chief sustainability officer, in a statement: "Generating green power helps our organization become more sustainable, while also sending a message to others across the U.S. that supporting clean sources of electricity is a sound business decision and an important choice in reducing climate risk."

Companies appear to be getting the message. Intel's purchases nearly doubled from two years ago, and the rest of the top purchasers increased their green power significantly from 2009.

California's Global Warming Solutions Act sets a rather lofty target of the state getting a third of its energy from renewables by 2020. The law has spurred growth in renewable power production and facilities construction. However, if the trend of corporate green power purchases continues, that goal may indeed be reachable.

With demand comes increased supply, lower prices for green power and opportunity for the sector in general.

Maybe we'll all be checking a box on our utility bill that says "green power" and pay a nominal fee. Or, better yet, no fee at all.