New Tax Credit for CHP in North Carolina

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 [...]

TVA Announces Old Coal Retirements

Last Friday the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) announced a new vision for its energy portfolio at their August Board meeting. (We will be blogging on this in more detail soon.)
TVA CEO Tom Kilgore expressed the hope that TVA will become “one of the nation’s leading providers of low-cost and cleaner energy by 2020″. One of [...]

Time to crack down on toxic coal ash

SACE is closely following the issue of coal ash waste, and the proposed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule to finally regulate the toxic by-product of burning coal.  To highlight the importance of this issue and the opportunities to get involved, we are re-publishing our national ally 1Sky’s post on coal ash below.
After reading this post, [...]

Tracking the Biodiesel Industry

Policies that will Help Grow the Industry
The past 12 months have been a rough time for the biodiesel industry and some believe much of the biodiesel industry’s problems are self-induced. The industry has been betting that two federal policies, a tax credit (blenders credit) and production requirement (called the Renewable Fuel Standard), would help turn [...]

SACE is carbon neutral

SACE is officially certified as “carbon neutral” after working to lower its carbon footprint and offset 100% of its carbon emissions. SACE’s first priority is to invest in office energy efficiency improvements, make healthy travel choices, and to operate extensive recycling programs in our offices to minimize our total carbon impact as much as feasible. [...]

Cold snap burning you up?

Across the southeast and beyond, we’ve been “enjoying” a pretty crisp cold snap. For my family, it started with a lovely, deep and playful snowfall the weekend before Christmas. That brought the kids outdoors - but the recent colder temperatures made outdoor activities planned for New Year’s a hurried affair.
We’ve also been using our fireplace. [...]

Algae to Energy in the Southeast

One of the planet’s simplest organisms — algae — may play a significant role in our work to create solutions to global warming. High oil-producing algae can be used to make biodiesel and, at the same time, provide a means for recycling waste carbon from fossil fuel combustion.
To learn more, I recently attended a conference, [...]

TVA may shut down least efficient coal plants

The Tennessee Valley Authority, which operates the oldest fleet of coal plants in the South, is looking at shutting down its oldest coal-fired facilities. In April, I blogged about the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) admitting it would be “very difficult, if not impossible” to meet court-ordered pollution controls that would clean up four of its [...]

Cleaner cars: coming to a road near you

After decades idling in the slow lane, our nation’s automotive policies are finally on a fast-track.  Surrounded by auto makers and executives, President Obama announced today that his administration will craft a single new national standard to improve automotive emissions and increase the mileage of cars and light trucks:
“For the first time in history, we [...]

TVA struggling to meet court-ordered clean ups

The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported yesterday that that the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) admits it will be “very difficult, if not impossible” to meet court-ordered pollution controls that would clean up four of its oldest coal-fired power plants in the eastern part of the TVA system.
The clean ups are a result of a 2006 [...]