August 26th, 2010 () Clean Energy, Energy Efficiency, Green Economy, Utilities › Glenn Mauney › No Comments
On August 2nd, North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue signed into law HB 1829, an expanded Combined Heat and Power (CHP) and renewable energy tax credit. For the first time, investments in CHP systems are now eligible for North Carolina’s 35% renewable energy tax credit. This new incentive sponsored by Representative Paul Luebke and supported by [...]
July 23rd, 2010 () Clean Energy, Climate Action, Green Economy › Jennifer Rennicks › No Comments
After decades of scientific data gathering, years of growing public and business support and more than three months of an unmitigated environmental catastrophe, it is reasonable to expect that citizens and leaders would all support a paradigm shift in U.S. energy policy.
In fact, even before BP’s Gulf oil disaster began, President Obama and Congress promised [...]
July 8th, 2010 () Energy Efficiency, Green Economy › Seandra Rawls › 2 Comments
This blogpost was co-authored by Marcus Strong, energy policy intern for SACE in the summer of 2010.
Often in politics, we don’t immediately see the effects of actions, whether it’s a decision maker’s vote on a piece of legislation, a court overturning a case, or a constituent writing to Congress urging a stand [...]
June 22nd, 2010 () Clean Energy, Offshore Drilling, Upcoming Events › Jennifer Rennicks › No Comments
On summer weekends visitors and residents alike head to beaches across our region to surf, fish, swim and play. One hard reality of the still-ongoing Gulf oil disaster is that at least 100 miles of Gulf coastline cannot welcome people or animals due to the oil and tar balls that continue to wash up [...]
May 18th, 2010 () Green Economy, High Risk Energy, coal › John D. Wilson › No Comments
In 2008, Southeastern utilities spent six times more on coal from Colombia (yes, the country in South America) than they did helping their customers cut energy waste at home.
In fact, the Southeast spent over $10 billion in 2008 to import coal from other states and countries to fuel power plants, according to a [...]
May 7th, 2010 () Green Economy, Offshore Drilling › Dr. Stephen A. Smith › 1 Comment
As oil continues to gush into the Gulf of Mexico, Congress has yet to pass an important extension of the $1.00 per gallon biodiesel blenders tax credit. 2009 has been tough for the industry, and finding real alternatives to oil-derived fuels like petroleum diesel is critical in order to bring our nation’s addiction to dangerous [...]
April 21st, 2010 () Energy Efficiency › John D. Wilson › 1 Comment
Today, Vice President Biden announced that the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance was among the recipients of $452 million in Recovery Act funding from the Department of Energy’s Retrofit Ramp-Up initiative. According to the release and other sources, SEEA will receive $20 million to support the Southeast Community Retrofit Ramp-up Consortium.
The Consortium includes cities such [...]
April 14th, 2010 () Energy Efficiency, Green Economy › John D. Wilson › 6 Comments
We already know that energy efficiency offers a “vast, low-cost energy resource” … so why has a new report, Energy Efficiency in the South, triggered a strong reaction from Grist, the New York Times, and many people online?
Maybe the reaction was generated by the prestige of the research team that collaborated on this report, but [...]
April 1st, 2010 () Clean Energy › Tom Larson › 1 Comment
Renewable energy expansion can drive Florida jobs growth–we just need to post our “Open for Business” sign. Orange County, Florida (home of Orlando), is inviting cleantech investments, in engineering, manufacturing and development of innovators by entrepreneurs and at our centers of higher education. This is the Sunshine State: Power generation from local biomass, collection of sun energy [...]
March 19th, 2010 () Clean Energy, Green Economy › Dr. Stephen A. Smith › 3 Comments
Opinion Editorial by Stephen Smith
Originally published March 19, 2009 in the Orlando Sentinel
Aaron Deslatte’s column, “Legislature 2010: Can Lawmakers Create Jobs?” on OrlandoSentinel.com recently, provided a good overview of the efforts that the state Legislature is considering to lower Florida’s high unemployment rate.
In Deslatte’s column, House Speaker Larry Cretul says, “We’ve all heard ‘government doesn’t [...]